In Wasteman, Cal McMau’s feature debut, the beligerent Dee (Tom Blyth) moves like a feral child against his obstacles. A recent transfer to a prison too crowded to care, Dee goes to any length to prove that he belongs at the top of the proverbial food chain. When a bloody brawl with another inmate triggers a lockdown and brings a small army of guards down on him, he goes ballistic, smashing his own bloody face against their plexi shields. It’s something of a departure for Blyth, who tells Inverse that he prefers “keeping the lid on the kettle” — and has spent the past few years proving as much in quiet, slow-simmering dramas. Unlike the buttoned-up Coriolanus Snow, or his take on Billy the Kid, Dee is a caged beast in every sense of the word.
“Literally, I based the character on this documentary I saw of these cannibal chimpanzees that eat each other,” Blyth tells Inverse. McMau balked at that dramaturgical choice at first, but “it was so fun to play this guy who was just bouncing off the walls. It was a different muscle that I got to use.”
