Ron Perlman Talks Conquering the Role of a Lifetime in Hand of God

"They should have counted me out a long time ago. I'm well aware of that. But here we are."

When Ron Perlman is talking, you don't stop him. The 65-year-old actor has an impressive presence that's unexpectedly offset by his lively energy and constant jokes. Today he's in the final shooting week of his new Amazon series Hand of God (premiering September 4), and his mood is bright. He's friends with every crew member and even the repetitive takes of mundane scenes don't put him off. "We have less than four and half days to go," Perlman says. "It seems as though everyone is lamenting the fact that it's coming to a close. It flew by."

For Perlman, who shot the pilot for Hand of God over a year ago and waited at the mercy of fans to vote for it to become an official series, everything has added up to this experience. His role as Pernell Harris, a corrupt judge who suddenly believes God is compelling him on a path of vigilante justice, is his favorite in a long career of diverse roles, from 1986's The Name of the Rose to the title character in the Hellboy series (though he readily admits that American directors rarely knew what to do with his mug). The complexity and emotional depth of this part, according to him, surpass everything else he's done.

"I will make no bones about the fact that, whatever happens with the show beyond season one, this was one of the highlights," he says. "This was one of the most engaging, challenging, sublime pieces of material I've ever had a chance to labor within and try to help solve these riddles. Some of them are really twisted and some of them are really painful. [Our show's creator] has taken me to places that are incredibly personal and incredibly uncomfortable—more so than any other character I've ever played. Everything I ever wanted to get out of being an actor is all encapsulated in this one exercise."

"I need to feel as though I'm doing stuff that still scares me."

That Hand of God creator is Ben Watkins, a former writer and producer on USA's Burn Notice, which doesn't exactly give you an idea of his latest project's ambition. Its dense plot follows Perlman's Pernell as he grapples with grandiose ideas about God, power, and the difference between right and wrong. The show takes no political or religious stance. Instead it asks questions about humans' relationship to organized religion and faith. As you watch Pernell become convinced that his comatose son is the vehicle for the word of God, you also see him struggle to understand what compels us to act. "These are big themes," Perlman says. "And Ben Watkins managed, in one hour of television, to create a world where all those themes could exist at once. Almost like Shakespeare does."

Perlman came to Hand of God after wrapping his six-season arc on Sons of Anarchy, as he was looking for what he simply calls "good material." He was drawn by the burgeoning possibilities of television. He's generally uninterested in blockbuster films and feels that TV has the opportunity to create new, uniquely imagined spaces the way small independent films can. "It's very rare you find these beautiful little films," he says. "They're still there, but they're becoming more and more diminished in terms of the scope of cinema. When I found out that Sons was coming to an end for me, I began looking and reading stuff. Hand of God was the third script I read. I'd never seen anything that encompassed a discussion as vast as this one."

Perlman, raised by Jewish parents with pragmatic approaches to religion, lives by the Golden Rule to "love thy neighbor" but isn't necessarily religious. He does recognize the importance of popular culture engaging the subject, and he credits Amazon for not being deterred by what could be construed as difficult or controversial subject matter. "A lot of people automatically just rejected this show because the word 'God' was in the title. The minute somebody starts talking about religion, whether they're taking a position on it or not, there's a defensiveness from the communities that are deeply invested in that. Almost a knee jerk. A network has to take all that into consideration when they make a decision about putting something out that they're inviting the general public to participate in."


Perlman likes testing those boundaries. He recently launched a film studio, Wing and a Prayer Pictures, dedicated to releasing the sorts of "beautiful little films" of which he's so fond. He has several projects in production and is gearing up to direct a script he's been hanging onto for years ("I won't say how long because it's a little embarrassing, but it was the only movie—and remains the only movie—I ever wanted to direct"). 

At his age, Perlman could retire, or drift into comfortable cameo parts. But he won't. "I feel as though: What's the point in coasting?" he says. "What's the point in doing the same thing every day? What's the point in reaching a certain place and saying, 'Okay, I'm good now. I'm going to fish and play golf.' I could do those things. But they're definitely not nearly enough. I need to feel stimulated. I need to feel like I'm contributing. And I need to feel as though I'm doing stuff that still scares me. If you stay the course and go through the shit that really scares you, chances are you're going to come out of that a little bit stronger and a little bit wiser. And if not, fuck it, you were on a great ride."

He grins that charming yet gruff Perlman grin and offers an amendment. "If you would ask the guy this week who's playing King Lear, 'Can you get a better role than this?' he would say 'No, this is as good as it gets.' Well, that's what I would say about Pernell Harris. It's cool to get to be my age and find out I can still be surprised and still keep finding new bars, higher bars, than I've ever experienced before. They should have counted me out a long time ago. I'm well aware of that. But here we are."

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