How Seth MacFarlane Got Charlize Theron To Be On 'The Orville' | SDCC 2017 | Entertainment Weekly

[Music] welcome back to entertainment Weekly's coverage from Comic-Con I'm Jessica Shaw here with the Creator cast of the Orville the show I am most excited for September 10th at 8 on Fox is the premiere welcome to Comic Con is this so exciting to be here yes so basically the premise of the show it's set a you know several hundred years in the future it's the USS Orville um Seth you you created the show and you play the captain uh the captain who I I wrote down he's the uh you're nobody's First Choice that was one of the we were lucky enough to see just like on the show yeah everyone's first one here on the show nobody's first one yes yes which I'm sure you'll find a way to work into some negative review of my work like you always do but that's okay entertainment that's fine that's fine we love you that's why we're here no it's no it's um it's uh yeah this you know this is a show that's kind of been percolating uh in my head for a long time and uh you know I've always been a fan of the genre and the mix of sci-fi and comedy is something that that kind of I think has has the the time has come for people uh the audience is there I think was success of things like Guardians of the Galaxy and Deadpool um people are kind of ready to embrace this kind of goldilock zone of those two genres yes even I when I first saw it I I thought Galaxy Quest which is just one of my favorite movies and I love that and I oh honey it's much better than that of course I thought Galaxy Quest and then I thought McFarland's gonna improve on that that was where I went um well tell us what we're GNA see because there's only been like a little bit of a teaser and I'm very intrigued by it because it's an hourong show um and I was kind of at first I thought it was this going to be a 30 minute show so I'm guessing there's there is um maybe more of an exploration of relationships and stuff like that so it is yeah you know this you know one of the things we we look if were if we were a half hour show you could get away with joke joke joke joke joke and just you know you could be a sitcom with an hour there's an obligation to and not just an obligation it's is a pleasure actually to be able to kind of expand on character relationships to tell some stories that have a real Arc um that really have Stakes that go somewhere and that's what we've set out to do we've really set out to um draw people in in that Way Beyond the humor every week and we are an episodic show which in this day and age is oddly rare where it's like each week it's its own story it's the same characters every week but it's has a beginning middle and end and you can watch episode two and episode five back to back and it's not like you're going to have missed some key thread that uh that you need to enjoy it what did you all think when you read the script before you took these roles brilliant it God that was one of the best scripts I've read in a long time and completely original it's not done and Adrian you play uh the captain's ex-wife who's the first officer and and uh uh T his better half better half better half X better half exactly you um so well tell us about that relationship well that's the thing I mean there's still love between these two people and she you know she did something horrible ultimately and and they split and now um wait what did she do to wait find out okay um but now she's back and he to deal with it in like the most amazing situation of his life he has kind of this dark thing come over him but um that's part of like the relationship I think Seth was talking about it's the heart that draws you through all of these these storylines it's like yes it could be you know a procedural but it's not it's you know you really care about these characters and you want to see will they or won't they I mean there's a little bit of a Ross Rachel thing happening here so it's like you know and between all of the characters there's so many different relationships all the characters there Ross Rachel thing absolutely really don't know what's going to happen some crazy things happen on the ship so um I'm a little obsessed with The Blob the kind of gelatinous floor blob uh voed by nor McDonald's um I kind of need to hear more how did you come up with that was the network like yeah to that's totally normal let's have a gelatinous floor blob that talks floor blob you know it's it's it's a Sci-Fi show and you know budgetary constraints always kind of mandate that sci-fi can characters be humanoid which you know if you talk to astrophysicists and whatnot they'll tell you like look most likely nothing will look anything like a human if we ever find life in space it'll look completely different so it's nice to kind of populate this world with you know where where we can with things that are utterly non-human and and you know I'm not sure that we've figured out a way to do a CGI character on a weekly basis in a way that fits within a TV budget we're working on it um but Norm is like look Norm McDonald to me has always been one of theun funniest guys alive and uh I I I couldn't really see anyone else doing that so what's that phone call like are you like hey Norm I went like full banana like hey Norm um yeah yeah it's 1986 and I'm hey Norm do you want to play blob yeah yeah then he said sure that was pretty much it was like a 10-second phone call and that was it I love it dealmaker that's awesome uh John Fabro directed your pilot tell us about that yeah I was a big fan of him just in general so when I found out he was doing the pilot it was just icing on a cake for the project and to be able to work with everybody here and this guy who I've known for a long time yeah I you know I had to fight between you know just doing the job and also just being a fan you know because everybody up here is like oh everybody's amazing and I actually outside of what I do like what you do so it's you know it's a perk of coming to work and he really is an actor director too I mean he you know like his work I mean the other day like right before he started shooting H inst stantially like swingers were on was on and I was like oh man and then you see him and like this is the same guy in this body of work for all these years but he gets up in there he's so kind he's so gentle and so generous and he he's attentive and listens you know um and you just really want to do well you really want to do well for him with him and it's a process and you feel like very collaborative and um yeah I mean he just really knows what he's doing too and he's so easy you know and funny and he djed our rap party he did is he a good DJ he's a great DJ don't bother him he's like don't don't talk to me like in you know he'll make a grilled cheese on wa wait so John is like directing he's catering he's DJing it's true story yeah wow and you have some other you have like Jonathan Franks right and Brandon Baraga directing too like I love that there's you've got like a theme going on there got a lot of John yeah well you know look it's it's these I mean those those people are all from an era of sci-fi where it was a little more aspirational it was a little more positive it was a little more fun I think I think we're kind of I I am Hunger Games out I I think if I see one more dystopian movie about how bad the future is going to be I'm just going to kill myself like it's just it's just it's just like enough and and I miss that stuff and and and those people all come from that world where that was just what they did they just found ways to create future like you want to live in the future M and even though we're we take place 400 years Ahead of our time you still deal with all these problems that Humanity has like relationships or social issues social issues cultural like clashing like people how do you how do you coexist with with a species that has a completely different value and belief system then you and what what's the what's the what's the right and what's the middle ground so we're all you know these are all things that you know which is great cuz every every episode um there's always these real problems that will that that that that we have to deal with and there's humor that's Laden in there but it's that I think that's what makes it um gives it gravitas and weight is that you know there's some actual things that don't work out so well like not happy endings and things like that so you know I like that you know we don't um there are aliens but it's still very real we do in reality but it's also I think it's an interesting um it's an interesting needle to thread you know being really funny and also like you said just having you know like Adrian you said like addressing social issues and stuff which you know I imagine there's a lot going on in in uh our present day planet Earth right now that I'm guessing uh this is a commentary on yes but the challenge of sci-fi is to actually come up with original ideas so every week these scripts come up with original ideas which are fun it's a whole new adventure you know that's a huge challenge which Seth and the team have made easy each episode's like a mini movie yeah and it's also there's a there's a casualization of sci-fi to me that no one ever does that whenever I see it I I'm always it just sucks me right in and and what what I mean by that is you should be able to do a show with no but if your characters are set up right you should be able to do a show that takes place in one room with just two or three of your characters on the ship and no Space Battles no action no nothing and you should be able to sustain it just based on their relationships and that to me is is when sci-fi does it right and that's what we're trying to do um tell me about Charlie sarin being on uh that news came out and people were like going crazy is she know you guys leaked it um my VI you tell me you tell me what happen wow I think they should watch it um yeah you know I I uh you got that one scoop get the rest of it oh are there more guest STS no no no no it's no it's uh I I can't tell you anything I can't I can tell you that she's in the show she's fantastic as always mhm is that another one of those like hey in 10 seconds I'll be on it well I had uh you know I had worked with her on the Western that I did and had the one of the best experiences of my life and and and you know call and ask her to do the show and you know Char Charlie is awesome she's the best and she she astonishingly said yes and yes I'll come do your little TV show um and she was great she was fantastic I can't tell you anything about who she plays it's all surprised you told us oh have I not you told us plenty and you guys are on like after football so clearly feel good no seriously the best of Television you have this massive lead in so it just must be like must feel good that they clearly like the network is in I mean that's my not of TV I mean was football and watching the show even if I wasn't in the show that would be like yeah because by that time I'm sufficiently like you know Ed and I'm ready to go you know and I'm like hyped up on foot go to space people should watch the show drunk is that what you're saying is that what you just that's well I think that's what it never hurts to do anything with a little alcohol in you know exactly listen true words have never been spoken thille premieres Sunday September 10th on 8 so excited for the show thank you guys so much me we'll be back with more energ weekly coverage from Comicon

Channel: Entertainment Weekly

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Keywords: theorville, the orville, seth macfarlane, charlize theron, jon favreau, science fiction, the orville trailer, comic con, the orville star trek, the orville pilot, the orville cast, adriannepalicki, halstonsage, scottgrimes, petermacon, pennyjohnson, normmacdonald, chadcoleman, the orville seth mcfarlane, the orville charlize theron, charlizetheron, comic-con 2017, sdcc2017, the orville comic-con, theorvillesdcc, san diego comic-con, orville, familyguy, sethfamilyguy, Entertainment Weekly, EW

Id: 0j7fDtSfqlY

Length: 11min 18sec (678 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 26 2017