Jordan Roth Brought Broadway and Fashion Together to Create His 'The Shards' Role

Aesthetic construction is one of the most striking pillars of Ryan Murphy's work, and in The Shards that attention to visual detail took on an extra layer through direct collaboration with the cast. Actor Jordan Roth, who plays Hollywood producer Steven Reinhardt in the series, revealed that creating his character’s style was a shared process. 

"Ryan called and, of course, I said yes immediately, almost before I even called him back," Roth told Omelete in exclusivity.

Right from their first conversation, Murphy made it clear that he didn’t want to impose a ready-made characterization for the role. Instead, he suggested that they build Steven’s aesthetic together, giving the actor room and a voice in the references:

"When Ryan first called, he said we would build Steven’s look together, which I thought was just a nice thing to say, but he really meant it."

The main creative direction the producer gave to shape the character’s look involved the high fashion of the time. Roth shared the inspiration the director offered to guide his work: "The clue he gave me was that he imagined Steven looking to the runways of Europe, looking to the music scene, looking to avant-garde fashion for his own personal aesthetic. And that kind of allowed me to start my research there."

That approach gave Roth space to organically connect his background onstage and on the runway with this new television role. Known for his striking presence in American theater, he explained how he brought those two worlds together: "For me, it was a combination of my life on Broadway, but also my life in fashion. What I’ve been doing there is really building characters from the outside in."

Roth explained that fashion works as a mirror of the inner facets every actor searches for within themselves when bringing a fictional figure to life. Reflecting on his creative process in building the enigmatic film producer, he said:

"We find what is true about ourselves in these characters we’re bringing to life. It was as much an outside-in creative practice as it was an inside-out one."

The result of this fusion between Murphy’s vision and Roth’s repertoire is a magnetic character who captures the glamorous and cynical side of Los Angeles adults in the 1980s. Through refined costume design, the production precisely conveys the duality of a luxurious world that hides dangers and obsessions beneath its gleaming surface.

The Shards is now streaming on Hulu.