Stephen King’s “Carrie” features some unforgivable antagonists, and Billy Nolan is one of them. The part of Billy, which was played by John Travolta in Brian De Palma’s 1976 movie adaptation, went to Arthur Conti for Mike Flanagan’s series adaptation of “Carrie,” a modern reimagining of this iconic story about growing pains and self-acceptance. Billy is a juvenile delinquent and the boyfriend of Chris Hargensen, a mean girl who has it in for Carrie White due to a plethora of complex reasons.
The son of comedian and ventriloquist Nina Conti and grandson of actor Tom Conti, Arthur Conti only has a handful of screen credits to his name so far, but there’s a good chance you’ve seen at least one of them. He made his TV debut as the Queen’s page in HBO’s “Game of Thrones” prequel “House of the Dragon,” and he followed that up by playing teenage villain Jeremy Frazier in the 2024 horror comedy sequel “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” Conti also appeared as Alex in the surrealist slasher flick “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” and as Emmett Dyer in the drama film “& Sons.”
Playing Billy Nolan in Carrie was ‘cathartic’ for Arthur Conti
Billy Nolan is a horrific bully in every version of “Carrie.” He and his girlfriend Chris band together to humiliate Carrie in Stephen King’s source material, taking extremely cruel measures to push her to her breaking point. In Mike Flanagan’s “Carrie,” which has echoes of David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks,” Billy and Chris (played by Alison Thornton) aren’t evil caricatures, as their problematic actions are fueled by underlying feelings of insecurity. This callousness isn’t excused at any point, but we’re shown more layers to their motivations as the episodes progress.
In an interview with ComicBookMovie, Conti explained that Chris and Billy’s actions aren’t consciously driven by malice at all times. “They don’t have any understanding of what they’re actually doing, really,” the actor said. “And that’s sort of what’s the most chilling about it.” Conti went on to say that he and Thornton couldn’t be more different than their on-screen counterparts. “I think Allison and I are quite sort of sweet, mild-mannered people. So it’s cathartic for us to let loose a little bit. And we had a lot of fun finding that dynamic between us.”