Why John Emmet Tracy Succeeds In Playing Villains

Actor John Emmet Tracy has a lot of tricks up his sleeve after acting in many film, television, and theater projects over the years. The Chicago native has been directed by Steven Spielberg and appeared in over 100 theatrical productions all over the world.

Tracy has had a decade-long relationship with both the CW network and DC Comics, portraying major villains in projects such as Batwoman, iZombie, Supernatural, and Smallville. Yellowstone fans recently saw him return as the villainous “Ellis Steel” in season four.

With all of the tools and knowledge John possesses as an actor, it’s his understanding of and philosophies with playing antagonists that has brought him on-screen success and recognition.

“It really isn’t something that when you’re playing a character you can think too much about. You don’t want to play some sort of stereotype of a villain,” Tracy said. “The idea is to kind of motivate and justify what the character thinks they’re doing. They think they’re on the right side and they’re fighting for something, so you sort of figure out what your character wants and why they want it.

“Villains are there for a lot of reasons. I think collectively as a society when we watch movies or films or even read a book, we can gather around our dislike for a villain. It sort of brings people together.

“It’s an interesting place to be because you know you’re there to serve the story in a way that puts up a roadblock for the hero. I think the real challenge and the real fun of it is figuring out why these characters are the way they are and then trying to justify that as you’re playing them without playing too villainous.”

John noted it’s also vital not to overthink the approach when playing foe.

“There’s sort of like the character brain and the actor brain,” Tracy said. “You know you’re there to serve the story, you know you’re there to let the hero shine and do that kind of thing.

“I think also at some point you put away your research and you just look at the other actor and you start working with them and kind of pursuing what you want and letting them change you and you change them. The interesting thing I think about villains is that one of the reasons audiences can gravitate towards them is because for the most part, we know what good people are going to do.

“If it’s a hero, we can sort of predict where they’re coming from. With villains, there’s not a real simple template. They can come from a lot of different angles and they can surprise you. I think surprises are interesting. That’s one of the things that makes playing a villain fascinating and fun.”

While being a part of the smash hit that’s Yellowstone, John noticed a lot of the moving parts behind the scenes that were making the series a phenomenon to audiences at home.

“You can sort of tell when you’re there and you’re watching the cinematographers set up a shot and you’re thinking, ‘Oh man, I can sort of see what they’re going to do here,’” Tracy said. “And Yellowstone gets the top writers. It’s mostly Taylor Sheridan writing, once in a while it’s someone else.

“But they get the top directors, the top directors of photography and when you watch those people work and you watch them come together, and even shorthand collaborations, when you watch Taylor talk to Kevin Costner about a moment, you think to yourself, ‘Okay, these are people at the top of their game, they know they’ve got a strong fanbase that loves these stories, so they take that responsibility quite seriously.’ Yeah, it’s just watching the high level of professionalism of everybody around, and that’s every department, hair, makeup, wardrobe and cast.

“It’s great to be surrounded by those actors and it just makes the job easy. That’s one of the great benefits of working with people at such a high level like that.”

Speaking of impressive creative talent, John spent nine days working with Spielberg on The BFG (2016), which was more than enough time to gather takeaways as to what’s made him an icon behind the camera.

“In The BFG, the role was larger and there was another entire section of the film that didn’t end up making it. So in the final cut, it turned into maybe one of the smaller roles I’ve played, but it will forever be one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had because you’re watching Steven Spielberg work, (actor) Mark Rylance, and the rest of that incredible cast.

“We were all right there with Mr. Spielberg, watching him work, watching him make decisions and little things would happen. For example, I remember one day on set they were rehearsing a sequence that we were all in and Mark Rylance, who was playing the giant, took a bottle out of a bag and the props department had put a little bow around the neck of the bottle and it had the Union Jack flag on it. I don’t know that anybody had seen the prop until he took it out, and Steven loved the prop; he thought it was really well done.

“So he said to Mark, ‘I’ll tell you what, when you take that out, just blow on that bow and I’ll do a digital effect that will make the whole thing unfurl for the audience. And I was standing right next to Steven Spielberg when he decided that and I thought to myself, it’s amazing that he can just dream up an idea, his company is DreamWorks right, he can think of an idea and make it happen.

“So many times we’re used to creating art out of limitation, ‘Well we can’t do that, so let’s do this instead.’ And it was interesting to be able to watch him just dream things up and make them be. I’m sure that gave work to a CGI team for a few days. He just was able to make it happen.

“Something [else] that was interesting about Steven Spielberg that I never really experienced before, he shoots a take quite a lot of times and as soon as he finds the one he likes, he’s done and says, ‘I’ve got what I need.’ Most directors, once they’ve got one they like, they’ll do another one for ‘safety’. I never saw Steven Spielberg do a take for ‘safety’. As soon as he saw what he wanted he’d say, ‘I got what I wanted. We’re moving on.’ I thought that was great.

“A third thing, something else from working with Spielberg that was fascinating was that he would rough edit the film every night after shooting. I think it’s because he’s scheduled on so many films going forward that he knows he’s not going to be able to come back. After an incredibly long day of shooting, everyone else would go home, he would then go in the editing bay with his editors and start working so he could see what he did the day before.

“That way he knows if he has to pick it back up again the next day or move on and that’s pretty rare because he’s seeing the film come together day by day as he’s shooting it. And that was really interesting too because you knew on Tuesday that he was happy with Monday, or you knew if he wasn’t as well.”

Tracy also recognized, in working with Spielberg, that top filmmakers have to be a jack of all trades.

“I’m guessing the reason he is where he is, or any great filmmaker is where they are, is because of a vision and also the ability to synthesize things,” John said. “I think directing is one of the most difficult jobs because the great directors are good at the technical side of it, they’re good at the emotional side of it; they’re good with wardrobe, they’re good with cameras, they understand which prop will work and which one won’t.

“They sort of have to be these renaissance people that can look at every little detail and picture the whole thing in their mind at the end and to my way of thinking, he is perhaps the best that we’ve ever had.”

Although Tracy triumphs in playing villains, the actor has a wide range and unique ability to commit to whichever type of character he’s portraying, visible in his 97 acting credits on IMDB.

John has two films currently in pre-production, The Moon Thorn and The Tunnel.