"99% of the people don't know who I am": Billy Crudup explains why he can openly speak his mind

Actor Billy Crudup will be seen in the upcoming movie Jay Kelly, where he stars alongside Adam Sandler, George Clooney, Emily Mortimer, and others. He attended this year’s Venice Film Festival and shared his thoughts about speaking his mind.

As seen in a clip from the festival shared by Us Weekly, he said that he considered himself an interpretative performing artist. While discussing his thoughts, he referred to a recent Gallup poll, which found that 88% of American electorates paid no heed to what celebrities said. Billy Crudup added:

“Which actually I felt great about because I think 99% of the people don’t know who I am. So, therefore, I can say whatever the h*ll I want. But I haven’t had anything interesting to say yet so that’s where I am at.”

Billy Crudup said he wanted to support people like Noah, who focused on creating the kind of event everyone would experience. He felt that as long as he could do that, he was making a meaningful contribution to the world. The actor went on:

“If I have anything additional to say, I will probably keep it to myself or write it in a journal. But if I do have something political to say, I typically try to explore it in my work so I haven’t found any complicated way of navigating the present state where you feel like you need to comment on everything just by virtue.”

Billy Crudup shares how he got his name

Billy’s full name is William Gaither Crudup. During a conversation on the Live with Kelly and Mark show earlier this year, Mark asked him why he preferred Billy over William. The actor said he was named after his grandfather, Billy, who died before he was born. He said his mother became fond of that name. Billy Crudup also revealed:

“Actually, she only calls me Bill now, now that I think about it. I guess I changed it around.”

Kelly surprisingly asked how he became Bill, and the actor said it could be when he misbehaved as a teenager. He said the shortened version was easier to say out loud while he was being scolded. The actor mentioned:

“There was a guy named William in my 8th grade class who had sweet feathered hair and there was about two months where I thought, ‘Yeah, if I changed my name to William maybe I would have hair.”

Mark asked if anyone had ever told him to change his name. Billy said yes, explaining that his first agent brought it up. He initially thought it was his last name that caused concern, but it turned out to be his first name. The agent worried that, since Jimmy Carter’s brother Billy was linked to “Billy Beer,” it might hurt his career.

Mark asked Billy Crudup if he had been working in the industry when Jimmy Carter was president. Billy said he had been alive then but had not started acting yet. Mark added that he had also been around during that time, but Billy had been a little kid.

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Also read: Noah Baumbach returns to Venice Film Festival with Jay Kelly, earns 10-minute ovation

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