A wave of dread swept over Walton Goggins on the first day of work on Prime Video’s post-apocalyptic drama “ Fallout .” He was on location by a lake, and was so thrown by the heavy makeup and bulky wardrobe of his outlaw character that he wondered whether he would make it to Day 2. “The heat index was 106 degrees,” he recalled.
“I couldn’t see. My periphery was off. I couldn’t hear so well.
I couldn’t swallow. After a couple of setups, I sat down on a log and thought, ‘I don’t know if I can do this. I really don’t.
’” Goggins was stepping into the role of the Ghoul, a 200-year-old gunslinger. Think of Clint Eastwood’s the Man With No Name without a poncho or a nose, and you get an idea of the Ghoul’s look. The actor said he was “extremely overwhelmed” not just by the makeup, but by the process of becoming the Ghoul: “I had to get in the mindset of carrying around the pain he’s been walking with for 200 years.
” “I’m getting too old for this s—,” he thought. It was then he remembered experiencing the same anxiety when first stepping into many of the featured roles that have established him as one of the industry’s most versatile performers. “I realized I felt this way on ‘The Shield,’ on ‘The Hateful Eight,’ on ‘Vice Principals,’” Goggins said.
“And it kicked in that if I don’t have that fear at the beginning of an experience, that’s when I know I need to do something else with my life.” His fear lifted,.