And it’s a fate the Sydney-born actor has come to view as a gift. “Because the thing about that,” Bartlett tells The Watchlist, “is it means I can go on to another great character.” Which is about to happen again: this week, the world will be introduced to Dennis in the dark comedy thriller series Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed. Unlike Armond, Dennis is unflappable even when faced with the most diabolical of circumstances, providing Bartlett a fresh opportunity to inhabit a different type of role. To
prepare, he read 2024’s Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne, which allowed him to gain insights into what it’s like to only access a narrow spectrum of emotions. “And as a very empathetic person, that was challenging,” Bartlett says, noting Armond’s unbridled fury was easier to understand than Dennis’ calculated approach. “I’m very like Armond. I think we all have an Armond inside of us,” he says with a laugh of the character that put him on Hollywood’s radar in 2021 and earnt him an
Emmy the following year. “But if I have a rage, I will never take it out on somebody. I may take it out on an inanimate object …” Reasoning that nobody is 100 per cent good or evil, Bartlett says he’s particularly drawn to complicated characters because they reveal uncomfortable truths about human behaviour – and they’re simply more fun to play. “If it’s a ‘rogue’ or bad person, or just a person who does bad things, it’s more interesting when we’re confused by that,”
he says. “Sometimes they can be really charming or compassionate, and that makes us question ourselves and what would happen if we leant into our shadow selves.” ‘YOU CAN STILL BE LEFT FEELING LONELY’ The perfect example of this arc can be found in single mum Paula, the protagonist played by Tatiana Maslany in Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed. Created by David J Rosen, the series sees blackmail and murder added to Paula’s already messy life after she develops an online crush on a seemingly sensitive chat
boy. Reflecting on the moment at which the audience meets Paula, Bartlett explains, “She’s overwhelmed, she’s busy at work, she’s got a young child, she’s fairly recently divorced. “She’s got so many things going on that she hasn’t got time to socialise, but she’s desperate for connection. “So she dives in [to online chatrooms]. “You’ll see there are some great things about it, but it also can open up this whole other world.” Once considered niche or taboo, cybersex culture seems particularly relevant to storytelling
today, with recent Apple TV comedy drama series Margo’s Got Money Troubles and season three of HBO Max drama Euphoria delving into this terrain. “It’s such a present part of the lives that we live in terms of communication, connection and dating. It feels natural that it would be in the conversation,” Bartlett tells The Watchlist. “One of the things that’s really interesting about it is that we have all these ‘connections’ at our fingertips. “You can go on a dating website. You can hook
up for sex. You can have deep conversations about philosophy with people [online] if you want. “There are all these opportunities for connection,” he notes, “yet it’s not in person. So you can still be left feeling quite lonely.” At 55, Bartlett says this world “wasn’t something I grew up with, and isn’t something I gravitate towards”. Even so, he adds, “I know some people find their life partners that way. And it can be very satisfying in terms of intimacy, sex or whatever. “But
there’s also a potential to really be manipulated because you’re not in the room with somebody. So this whole fantasy can be built, and maybe it turns out to be real. “Or maybe it turns out that they just want you to send them money.” Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed premieres on Wednesday on Apple TV. For more from Stellar, click here.
Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, Apple TV, Dennis, Bartlett, Emmy, Armond, Sociopath: A Memoir, Patric Gagne, Tatiana Maslany, Paula, cybersex culture, blackmail, murder, dark comedy thriller