What’s the appeal of The Mysterious Benedict Society? There’s something called the Emergency in the book [on which the movie is based] that’s creating all this panic and anxiety. We were in production in the middle of the pandemic, and this just seemed to parallel what was happening, and so I was just really drawn to it. Tell us a little bit more about your characters. Benedict is this kind of mad scientist—erratic, kind, affable and nutty professor-ish. His brother, Curtain, is just the opposite, incredibly manipulative and cunning. It was fun to play those opposites. Tell me a little bit more about how Mr. Benedict feels about recruiting the kids. He’s this wealthy benefactor who gathers these incredibly gifted kids together to start the Mysterious Benedict Society through a series of tests and puzzles with the intention of them coming together to find and fight this thing called the Emergency, which is causing the world a tremendous amount of anxiety. But the thing that Benedict sees in these kids—that I absolutely loved, is these kids, their superpowers are not supernatural, their superpowers are intelligence and empathy. And I just am crazy about that because those are the things that break through fear and break through anxiety. He knows that these kids are the kids to do the job. The Mysterious Benedict Society has a really interesting tone. It reminded me of Willy Wonka. It does. It has a very whimsical Willy Wonka vibe. Benedict is loving and he really cares for these kids. But, yeah, I can totally see that parallel. His brother, Mr. Curtain, comes off slick and he’s a little more manipulative. But Benedict just has a huge heart. Do we find out what made Mr. Curtain become the darker of the two twins? Yeah, we do. All of that is uncovered as the story goes down, and there’s a lot of really fun surprises. A lot of the shows that you do that are aimed at a young audience are animated, like Toy Story 4, so you don’t work with kids. But you got to work with the kids on this one. What was that like? It was great. It’s so wild because we started this show in August, smack in the middle of a pandemic, and it was new ground for everybody. At the end of the show, the crew was so kind to give me this book of their pictures with masks and then their pictures without masks. Because for five months, I never saw their faces. I never saw anybody’s face, and it was so bizarre. As for the kids, we all got to know each other but we were very separated because no one could hang out like you typically would. Even Kristen Schaal, MaameYaaBoafo or RyanHurst. Typically, we’d hang out on set, tell stories and find out about each other, but we were all put into our isolated areas and so it was a really different experience. But these kids are just fantastic. Everybody was excited and handled the challenge. And also, I have to say, and I’m sure you’ve heard this a lot talking to actors who were fortunate enough to work during the pandemic, I am so grateful to these crews. These producers, line producers, and the crew that really stepped up to the plate with a lot of uncertainty and really kept us all safe. What’s the status of Forky from the Toy Story movies? He had a little miniseries on Disney+. Forky would go around and ask a lot of questions because he’s brand new to the world and didn’t know much going on. So, he’s like, “What’s love?” “What’s a friend?” “What’s cheese?” All this stuff. He was just very, very curious all the time. If they ever asked again, I’d of course jump at the chance. This is your first series that you’re No. 1 on the call sheet. What did you learn from Julia Louis-Dreyfus from Veep about how to lead a series? I love that question. I am incredibly fortunate having watched her for the seven years we did that show, and she was No. 1 on the call sheet, but she came in knowing that this is an ensemble, this is a team. If anybody had an idea, if anybody had a question, there was no eggshell walking. Because my thing is, when you have egos, when you have entitlement, it just sucks creative energy out of a space. And Julia was just the opposite; she was giving, and funny, and loving and open. Everybody was open to ideas; there was no hierarchy. And so, I tried to model that. Again, when you say that, it still feels weird for someone to call me No. 1 on the call sheet. But I think I was just so fortunate to have that experience and just tried to treat everyone with respect and be thankful and all that stuff. You’re always going to be known for Veep. What was that experience like? This sounds cheesy, but it’s true: It’s the relationships. We got very close. We still hang out and are very much in each other’s lives. I never really watched the episodes, but I always watched the gag reels, because that’s what I remember—the times that we were cracking up, chatting and hanging out. Birdgirl, Arlo the Alligator Boy, Archibald’s Next Big Thing Is Here, HouseBroken are all animation. As an actor, is there something great about animation? Because in real life you’re limited by how people perceive you, but in animation you can just let your imagination go crazy and you can play any character. If I’m honest, animation really intimidated me at first. As a comic actor for so many years, so much is non-verbal. So much is about the face, the expression you give, the excitement you bring in your body, and all this kind of stuff. And to find ways to transmit all of that into your voice, I was like, “Oh, am I going to be able to do this?” Look at Gary [his character] on Veep. He was called a bitchy mime one time because all he did was just stand by Selina and give weird facial expressions. With comedy, it’s so much about the nonverbal; but over time with animation, you learn to almost give the same performance you would if you were in front of the camera in front of the microphone. And then just trust that it does transmit. But the great thing with animation is you’re right, there’s no parameters. It’s like all of a sudden, the animation director will be like, “OK, so at this point there’s a large purple monster about to grab you and so you’re running.” And then he’s like, “And then you’re going to jump over the bridge, and then all of a sudden your car blows up and turns into a lollypop.” The world is so limitless and it’s so fun to just completely play with that. Rugrats celebrates its 30th anniversary this August. You’re playing Chuckie’s dad on the new Paramount+ series. What do you think keeps it going? I think there’s a real nostalgic factor. It’s an incredibly fun show. It’s that thing that really planted something in peoples’ minds and hearts when they were watching it. There’s a real nostalgic component to it, in addition to Rugrats being a great show. On the adult side, you have Nine Days coming up, which was nominated for two Film Independent Spirit Awards. Tell me a little bit about that and who you play. It was directed by EdsonOda, a really talented director. We shot it in Utah. WinstonDuke plays this character named Will, who is a God-like figure that makes the decision as to who is going to live. Through a series of flashbacks, you see Earth and peoples’ lives. Anyways, all these candidates are watching people live life, and he’s observing, and we’re observing how they do it. But really, I cannot wait for people to see it. It comes out July 30 [nationwide on August 6]. It is a stunning movie. I’m very proud to be a part of it. Edson is just a beautiful filmmaker. I grew up watching I Love Lucy. She was such an amazing physical comedian. [The series is about] a lot of stuff that happens within that one week. You find out about Desi and Lucy’s relationship. Aaron Sorkin’s directing it, and JavierBardem is playing DesiArnaz and NicoleKidman is LucilleBall. What did this last year in quarantine teach you about yourself? A couple things. I used to poo-poo technology. I used to be like, “It’s isolating us. It is taking away connection with people.” But man, this year proved that wrong. I was in Vancouver for five and a half months and I wasn’t able to return. At first when I took the job, I was thinking I could fly back and forth, and then COVID hit. FaceTime saved me. I was able to connect with my family twice a day. I’m just so grateful to where our world has come to where we can go through something like this and still be able to connect. However, with that said, I know I’m going to walk away from this so appreciating walking into a crowd of people, or having a dinner party, or not having the anxiety attached to hugging a friend, and stuff like that. It really makes me appreciate what we had before and the power of human connection.
