You might best know Lionel Boyce as the baker, Marcus in the hit FX series The Bear. Boyce was recently nominated for an Emmy for his work on the show. Season three of the series is now streaming in full on Hulu. Before signing onto The Bear, Boyce collaborated with rapper Tyler, the Creator on several projects — including the sketch comedy TV series, Loiter Squad.
For his Treat, Boyce reveals that his life could have gone in a much different direction. He grew up playing sports, but eventually found his way onto the small screen. He draws a parallel between his journey and that of Truman Burbank from Peter Weir’s prophetic 1998 film The Truman Show. Boyce also notes a common theme of characters seeking personal autonomy throughout Weir's considerable filmography.
This segment has been edited and condensed for clarity.
[The Truman Show is] a movie that I always loved and I've always gone back to. The more I think about it, what I've realized that I love about it, is the idea of belief in self when no one else will believe in you. I think a lot of [Peter Weir’s] movies are about that — where it's a character who's come to a conclusion, and no one can change their mind, despite how hard everyone tries to pull [them] back in the other direction.
The more I think about it, it's like the moment in the story of Icarus that I've always loved. It's less about the ending of it, but there's a moment where he's flying at the highest point just before his wings start to melt. It's like, complete absolute autonomy and freedom. It's like, despite what everyone's told you, it worked. I mean, it doesn't work forever… it crashes and burns. [Weir’s] movies exist in that space, and he ends his movies before the crash and burn.
I've always loved the scene [in The Truman Show] where his wife is doing the ad straight to the camera and he's like: 'What are you looking at? 'What are you doing? This is absurd.’ He sees what we see and he calls it. To me that's the breaking point: waking up, none of this is real, what is my life? This is awakening, then he goes and hides, and no one finds him. It's like the start of the final unravel.
I think about autonomy a lot with him because it's a similar thing for me in my career. I grew up playing sports and then I found my way into the world of film. I can understand and relate to someone having an idea of their life going in one direction and then an opportunity opening itself up with [a character like] Marcus. It's someone saying: 'Hey, I see you have ability and skill in this.' They piqued their curiosity. For him, he explores and goes down this new path. It's his to make. Season one [of The Bear] was [Marcus] discovering that, and season two is like [him] making it his own and finding a way to express himself in his autonomy.