John Magaro’s Hollywood profile has never caught up with his talent. So is he finally ready for his close-up as the rookie TV producer at the heart of true-life thriller September 5?
John Magaro has been acting for more than 20 years, plying his trade on stage, in studio fare, independent films and TV, often playing smaller roles in big films or larger parts in smaller ones, with the occasional lead thrown in. “I consider myself a journeyman actor, where you work and go from job-to-job and care about the craft,” muses Magaro, who stars in true-life thriller September 5, a film that might finally transform the Cleveland native into more than just a “character actor”.
When Magaro was offered the role of ABC Sports producer Geoffrey Mason in September 5 — which details the US network’s coverage of the horrific events at the 1972 Munich Olympics when eight Palestinian terrorists infiltrated the Olympic Village, killing two members of the Israeli team and taking another nine hostage — he was starring in and producing an indie feature, and could relate to the pressure Mason and the ABC crew were working under.
LaRoy, Texas was Magaro’s first time as producer, and the 2023 production had replaced one actor and was almost shut down when it couldn’t find another. “I would find myself acting in a scene, then, after they called cut, having to put out a million fires. When I went home and read [September 5], there was something about it that resonated with me, subconsciously. I also found it an intriguing story. It reminded me of All The President’s Men, a film I love.”
Despite being born 11 years after the events depicted in September 5, Magaro was very familiar with what happened. “My mother is Jewish, I was raised Jewish, so I think it was a little more present for us,” says the actor, who had seen Kevin Macdonald’s Oscar-winning One Day In September, which documented the events, and was an extra in Steven Spielberg’s Munich, which outlined the revenge taken by the Israeli government on those they deemed responsible.
But until reading the September 5 script, co-written by Moritz Binder and director Tim Fehlbaum, Magaro was not aware the ABC Sports team, which was based across from the Olympic Village, had found itself broadcasting the unfolding hostage story to hundreds of millions of people around the world. It was the first time TV had tackled such an event live, and the ratings success ushered in a new era of news broadcasting.
Geoffrey Mason was, in real life, an experienced sports producer who helped build ABC’s broadcasting compound at the Olympics. In September 5, he is played by Magaro as young, inexperienced and ambitious, ensnared in an ethical and professional predicament, caught between his boss Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard) and his mentor Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin), one pushing him to follow the story wherever it leads, the other asking him to question what he is putting out into the world.
Once Magaro was cast, the real Mason reached out immediately. “He was anxious about the entire project, so he wanted to talk to me, and I wanted to talk to him,” says Magaro. “But once he realised I wanted to be as honest as possible, he was at ease, because he understood my commitment to the research and learning as much as I could.” Through Mason, Magaro spent months familiarising himself with live control rooms, including at American football and NBA basketball games. “They helped me build a picture around what it must have been like to be there that day, and give me a base to do what I wanted to do with the character.”
Finding his tribe
Magaro was born and raised in Ohio. After graduating with a theatre degree from Pittsburgh’s Point Park University, he thought he was destined for a career in regional theatre until he “fell ass-backwards into film”. At first, that meant taking whatever roles came his way, with small parts in features such as Vadim Perelman’s The Life Before Her Eyes and Wes Craven’s My Soul To Take. “When you start, you can’t say no to anything. You have to work.”
Magaro moved to New York and found his tribe, “actors I respected, fellow journeymen,” such as Dylan Baker, Bobby Cannavale and Chris McDonald who would play poker together every Tuesday night in a pub. “I would find myself going in there, getting these guys drinks,” says Magaro. “Just to be around people, to see there is a future in it, that there is a community in it, and that we all care about each other and want to see each other succeed. Those people gave me a base and a focus and remain a huge presence in my life.” Baker appears in LaRoy, Texas, which premiered at Tribeca before a limited cinema release through Brainstorm Media.
But as Magaro’s career started picking up, he found it “harder to muster the energy to do things I didn’t want to do. Even though I’d find myself broke, when I was called in to audition for things I didn’t really respond to, I couldn’t get there.” Independent cinema was where his heart lay. “I found myself getting cast in things I liked more,” he says. “Not necessarily that paid more, but things I would want to watch.”
Magaro appeared in Carol, The Big Short and was terrific in Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow, which earned him a Gotham Awards nomination. “Not a lot of money there, but such a rewarding experience.” The film brought him a modicum of attention, as did Celine Song’s Oscar- and Bafta-nominated Past Lives, in which Magaro plays the husband of Greta Lee’s character, forming one corner of a love triangle as she reconnects with a childhood soulmate.
“It’s been a slow build, continually trying to do good work,” he says. “Occasionally, you have to pop into a film for money. But indie filmmaking is the chance to stretch your legs as an actor and grow. If you’re not constantly growing and learning, I don’t see much point in doing it.”
Currently co-starring in Paramount+ spy show The Agency, Magaro has reunited with Reichardt for The Mastermind, a 1970s-set art‑heist drama, and plays real-life jazz musician Keith Jarrett in Köln 75. He is also in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride — a Frankenstein-inspired tale starring Christian Bale and Jessie Buckley — having been recommended by his September 5 co-star Sarsgaard, who is Gyllenhaal’s husband. Magaro declines to say who he plays: “I don’t want to give it away. He’s an integral part from the beginning to the end. It’s a crazy, chaotic film.”
Paramount’s Republic Pictures acquired global sales rights to the Munich-shot and largely German-financed September 5 back in July, with Paramount itself then stepping in for distribution rights (outside Constantin Film markets Germany, Switzerland and Austria) after strong reactions at Venice and Telluride. That gives the film vital heft, but Magaro is not expecting his career will change too dramatically as a result.
“I don’t know if one film has ever tipped the scale for me. It’s all been rungs up a ladder,” he says. “Past Lives helped a little bit. First Cow helped a little bit. The Big Short helped, Carol — but Carol and The Big Short were nearly 10 years ago.
“I feel I’ve constantly had to reintroduce myself to the public. I may be the most forgettable actor in Hollywood,” he says, self-deprecatingly. “And in my own delusion I’ll say that’s because I try and be a chameleon in what I do. When the camera is rolling and you’re collaborating with people, that’s the most magical experience.”
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