"Love & Death" actors Elisabeth Olsen and Jesse Plemons believe while the overall process of playing a character remains the same, there is "added pressure" when the story is based on true events.
The actor duo currently star in "Love & Death", a miniseries based on the true story of Candy and Pat Montgomery and Betty and Allan Gore - two churchgoing couples enjoying their small-town Texas life until an extramarital affair leads somebody to pick up an axe.
Olsen, who plays Candy in the HBO MAX Original series, said the weight of essaying a real person is apparent but an actor has to let go to be able to perform freely.
"We have to abandon that weight and pressure or we will just feel stuck and too scared to make a choice. There's also some imagining that we have to do when there's a real person and when it's not a real person.
"Your imagination is just what your job is without the fear of comparison," the actor, known for biographical drama "Kill Your Darlings" and playing the superhero Scarlet Witch in Marvel Cinematic Universe, told PTI in a virtual roundtable interview.
It's important for actors to remember that "there's another prism", she said.
"The other prism is the script in the director's point of view and we are trying to take up our lane to serve this other story. And the other story isn't necessarily also completely trying to tell every single person's truth, yet it's not fully really in our control anyway," Olsen, 34, added.
Plemons, popular for his performances in "Breaking Bad" and "Judas and the Black Messiah", echoed his "Love & Death" co-star's sentiment.
"In a lot of ways, it's the same," said the actor, drawing parallels between playing real and fictional parts.
"You're still kind of creating a character based on your impression of what you have. It's either just a script and you fill in the blanks and connect the dots in your mind and answer whatever questions you need to answer. With a true story, you just have more," he added.
Preparing to play Alan, who has an affair with his wife Betty's friend Candy, was a "fun process", Plemons said.
"Those early weeks and months of just kind of digging around and seeing what you know, reading as much as you can and then just seeing what strikes you and what sparks some idea. So it's similar. There is some added weight, pressure.
"If the person actually lived, you do feel a responsibility to tell again their full story as you perceive it. You hope the way you perceive it is close and something that if they happen to watch it, they wouldn't be totally appalled by it," the 35-year-old actor added.
Billed as a riveting crime drama, "Love & Death" is an 80s-set series directed by Lesli Linka Glatter ("Mad Men" and "Homeland") and written by David E Kelley of "Big Little Lies" fame.
The first four episodes of the mini-series are streaming on Prime Video, with the remaining three episodes dropping weekly on Thursday till May 25.
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