Will Sharpe imagines Mozart's day-to-day in 'Amadeus'

"People who have lived in different countries or who are mixed race, you do sometimes end up with this feeling that you're not really sure where your home is or how to identify. If I go back to Japan, I can speak the language, but kind of in a very wobbly way ... like a very Western version of a Japanese person."

"Sharpe likens the relationship between the two men to a brotherhood except that the pious Salieri feels "neglected by God [while] Mozart is getting all of the attention and is having music showered upon him." To prep for the role, Sharpe spent months learning specific piano pieces and practicing the art of conducting."

"There's this sense that Mozart was someone for whom music just fell out of the sky into his lap. But I was sort of curious to try and imagine: What does that actually look and feel like in his day-to-day life?"

"He doesn't know how to read a room. There's a lot written kind of speculatively about neurodiversity. And I tried not to be too literal about that or to retro-diagnose him, but [I] definitely wanted to play him as slightly "other." And he doesn't understand social norms or can't understand why people are offended."

Will Sharpe moved from Japan to England as a child and often felt he did not fully fit in, describing uncertainty about where home is and how to identify. He brings that outsider energy to the Starz limited series Amadeus, adapted from a 1979 stage play. The story follows 18th-century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, portrayed as an eccentric genius who expresses through music what he cannot say. The series presents a fictionalized rivalry between Mozart and court composer Antonio Salieri, framed as a brotherhood with Salieri feeling neglected by God while Mozart receives attention and music. Sharpe prepared by learning specific piano pieces and practicing conducting, aiming to imagine Mozart’s day-to-day experience. He also plays Mozart as socially awkward and slightly “other,” avoiding retro-diagnosing while emphasizing difficulty reading social norms.

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