Fargo - Oliver Platt on Why He Wanted to Play The Supermarket King plus That Surprising Movie Tie-in

As Stavros Milos in FX’s adaptation of Fargo, Oliver Platt plays a character who, in just five episodes, has had his medication tampered with, discovered his dog murdered, seen his store overrun with crickets and taken perhaps the bloodiest shower on film since Psycho. Last week Platt spoke to SpoilerTV and other press outlets about his experience filming in Calgary-as-Minnesota, Stavros' connection to the film, and what’s ahead for the series.

Despite some initial hesitation over how the Coen brothers’ classic 1996 film would translate to the small screen, Platt was quickly reassured once he got a hold of the pilot script. “It’s ultimately all about the writing,” he told us. “One of the first things you’re looking at is where does this guy start and where does he end, and how do they get him there?” Noting the exceptionally bumpy road that Milos has been on since the series kicked off and how fun it was to play, the actor pointed out, “His head has been messed with, so artfully screwed with, and it's just a delicious sort of menu of obstacles for an actor.”

From episode two onward we’ve seen Billy Bob Thornton's hilariously villainous Lorne Malvo mess with Oliver’s character, all in an attempt to hustle some cash from the self-proclaimed Supermarket King. “Orchestration actually isn’t a bad word to describe the whammy that Billy Bob put on me,” he said. And as for whether or not we're going to see Malvo ramp up his continued assaults on Milos’ psyche over the next few episodes, Pratt assures, “Indeed you are.”

A flashback in episode four provided a gift of sorts for fans of the film, anchoring the series into the same universe as the movie before it. “We got the episodes as they were written,” Platt told us of how far in advance he knew his character would serve as a tie-in to the movie, discovering nearly $1,000,000 dollars buried at the side of a road in the film by Steve Buscemi's character Carl. It was the Milos' wild journey - from God-fearing family man, to business maverik, back to God-fearing and tortured - that attracted Platt to the role. Of his collaboration with writer Noah Hawley early on he noted, “We developed this idea that he had come from Chicago with his family and that he was on hard times.” The opportunity was too much to pass up, “It was a story that took this guy and everything he believed in and turned it on its head.”

Fargo has been quick to attract viewers, becoming an instant fan-favorite and quickly dispelling any fears that it might not live up to the film. Platt, much like the rest of the cast that I’ve spoken to, seemed genuinely excited to be part of such a unique production. Noting that he believed American television was in the middle of its 2nd or 3rd golden age - and pointing to Breaking Bad and The Americans as recent TV favorites of his - the actor also spoke highly about his experience filming in Calgary (doubling as Minnesota) despite the ridiculously cold temperatures. “The landscape - it’s a very, very well chosen location in terms of feeding that sense of expanse and sort of desolation and maybe loneliness of these people.”

The next new episode of Fargo, "Buridan's Ass", airs Tuesday at 10/9c on FX. For more on the series and all my SpoilerTV work check out my Twitter, and if you missed it, my chat with Colin Hanks (Gus Grimly) is here. I'll be talking to Allison Tolman (Molly Solverson) on the 21st, so if you've got any questions Tweet them to me or leave them in the comments! The full transcript from Oliver Platt's press call can be read below.