In “Manhunt,” the Apple TV+ miniseries about the hunt for John Wilkes Booth in the wake of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, Tobias Menzies plays Secretary of War Edwin Stanton as an immovable but vulnerable force, marching forward sadly, angrily, but most of all steadily. It was Stanton, one of Lincoln’s former rivals, who led the charge to track down Booth (played in the series by Anthony Boyle), while also fighting to keep Lincoln’s Reconstruction plans in place. Moving inexorably forward, through Confederate sympathies and the asthma that would ultimately claim his life, Menzies’ Stanton rarely allows himself a smile; he’s wound tight, often working his jaw into a faint grimace.
He means business. The real Menzies, too, comes across as quite serious, but also friendly and thoughtful, especially when discussing his craft. Known to American audiences through series including “The Crown,” “Game of Thrones” and “Rome,” Menzies is also a creature of the stage; when we spoke he had recently finished starring in “The Hunt,” adapted from Thomas Vinterberg’s film of the same name, at St.
Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn. “What’s great about theater is that it keeps you very honest,” he said from his London home, a nondescript baseball cap perched atop his head. “It’s very clear when something is working and when the atmosphere in the room is starting to really get electric, and it’s very clear when it’s not that.
” Menzies gi.
