'Shrinking': THR Presents Q&A With Jason Segel, Jessica Williams, Ted McGinley & More

it seems like wherever Ted is the internet hasn't been invented yet you guys know obviously lives I didn't know this was your Vibe man hi I'm Saya Rankin senior editor of The Hollywood Reporter and thank you so much for joining us for thr presences panel with Apple TV plus is shrinking I'm here with Bill Lawrence Brett Goldstein Jason Siegel Jessica Williams lakita Maxwell Ted McGinley Luke Tenney and Michael Yuri and I wanted to ask what everyone's thoughts were on the literal Cliff Hanger like can we make jokes about that or go crazy um I want to see how these guys reacted because I tell you something Brett and uh uh Jason and I when we pitched the show we pitched this um really at the start even before we we wrote The Pilot um and I wasn't sure how it would look when it was cut together but man it is a it is a solid kind of pull the rug out moment do you guys see the episode what'd you think oh yeah it made my wife it made my wife very concerned when they were on the hype physical energy shift from the couch just this [Laughter] it shocked me I was so shocked and I was so glad it wasn't me I thought for sure it was gonna be I'll tell you the weird thing about streaming television and and these people are all probably better at it than I am is you get to see fan reactions in real time and the writers always give me crap because I'm prone to do spoilers and then afterwards say uh spoiler and they're like you have to say spoiler before you say the spoiler but the point is yeah so the point is that on social media when I see people going like oh there's got to be consequences to Jimmy's behavior I'm like can you wait a second it drives me crazy because you you as a writing staff you set these things up to pay off not only this year but next year in the third year and so you just want to tell people you know by the way someone the other day was like spoiler hey neurologists aren't supposed to have sex with their patients I'm like really we didn't research that at all that's probably not an issue it makes me crazy all right sorry yeah it does make me curious for I guess Brett Jason Bill like was this always like did you write this knowing that this was going to roll out one by one in like that kind of the version of old-fashioned TV and if so did that go into like did that change at all how you write the Show versus like knowing people would binge it all in one all at once you got you got to do both because uh um um Brett and I had experience with apple that they said that we never really released more than two or three at first and then if the show works it goes one at a time and uh the show's working and it's gonna go one at a time but you have to both thread this weird needle of writing self-contained episodic thing you know shows that still hold up because I'd still say in a great scenario double the amount of people that have watched the show week to week well now as they hear about it and as the word of mouth makes it grow jump in and watch the whole thing in like a couple days so it has to be both simultaneously either I'm going to move a lot like this because I'm the only one standing for um here what like there's obviously a lot of reasons why an actor would want to say yes to being on the show but for each of you like what was the number one thing that like pulled you in was it Jason like was it the were you a Ted lasso fan was it the storyline like what was everyone's like Clincher I would say um yeah whoever wants to go well I had done a sitcom for a long time and how I met your mother was nine years and so in my head that was something that I I just didn't want to do again not because I didn't have a great time but it's just it was a decade of my life you know um and and then I swung pretty hard and did a bunch of Dramas after that show ended because I wanted to try my hand at that and see you know answer some questions for myself about what I could do and what I couldn't do and then when this show came along uh and and Bill and Brett pitched it to me it really felt like the synthesis of everything that I had tried to like get good at from 20 years of doing this job there were um set comedy pieces and frat falls off of bicycles and then we're also scenes like that ripped your heart out with lukita and so for me all of a sudden in a weird way like I felt like oh everything I've been trying to pull together makes sense with this show it's like exactly what I think I might be really good doing anyone you are yeah thanks you're very good at that it's weird that nobody has jumped in to say that they wanted to work with Bill Lawrence but it's not a big deal I mean no I'm not sure we need me I really want to enjoy the real truth of it is I've been kind of hopping from Project to project hoping someone new bill I thought that hey my wife about covet I'll answer for Chris to I wanted the opportunity by a husband again like did was she like oh God no let's not work together again no you know what is annoying I'll let Brett answer because Brett and Krista had decided that she was going to do this long before I was told yeah I was I was always I uh I am a Christian fan and sort of wrote apart for Christa and Bill was just gonna have to deal with it and uh and also I think she's [ __ ] brilliant have you seen it yeah she's so good it's very good and I also I really liked giving giving her the chance to do something different and you know I joke with her but like she seems like such a nice person in this show and that is something we've never seen it's really good she's a really really good actor and by the way I I don't think Ted McGinley is on the internet as much as I am at but I am without a doubt leaning into the fact whether it's true or not that you're playing me because you are saying things that I've never had the courage to say to my wife that's very nice I would I would uh I wish I could get to your level yeah but if you think whatever Ted is the internet hasn't been invented yet as you guys know obviously lives I didn't know this was your Vibe man it's like yeah I don't have a fight I don't want to come hang in your parlor wait are you guys cool if I do this Zoom from the Louvre yeah eating a large Turkey Leg while I was sitting it was like a professor with like Tanner yeah oh yeah this is insane I will I will tell you that I've read a lot of power scripts over the years and I had never read anything this good and I the one thing because I didn't I I didn't tell anybody really I was in the show because I didn't know if I was allowed to but also I I didn't have very much to do and it felt sort of inconsequential and so I didn't want people to tune in to see me and then not really see me and uh but when I read it I couldn't believe how great the script was and the day we did the reading on stage uh I I was blown away and I had tears like real tears at the end of that and I and I thought I have never been a part of something so smart and so highbrow and so inclusive and at this point in my career to be a part of it in any way was such a blessing and and I've tried many times to work with Bill and he threw me a bone graciously and so I was so excited there were so many reasons to be on the show this cast is Beyond anyone's expectations to get to work with them is a dream so like I feel like the luckiest guy in the world to be a part of it I feel like yeah I feel like we're done thanks for having us guys everybody close your laptop cheers I'll go I'll go around the horn really quick and these guys because to me it's such a treat to work with Ted Jessica's somebody that comedically is just such a lightning rod and they're so fun to try with Bretton for Brett me to try to coerce into doing this thing um and uh uh by the way I want to give a shout out to Debbie romano and uh Brett Bennett casting directors because they have been telling me to put Michael Yuri in something for years and years and years and they would not take another answer and he absolutely crushes you know Jason's awesome I love him this is Guy Harrison Ford uh I had dinner with him last night he's super excited he's cranky even and happy at the same time it's what makes it but then the other thing I want to say is we all say too that this show would not work if we weren't able to find a young actor and a young actress that can stand Toe to Toe with Harrison Ford and not be overwhelmed and do scenes with all these uh monsters and give back as good as they get and uh so we you know Brett and I often talk about how cool it is to when somebody says all these shows the cast is so good even though you had nothing to do with it you just go hey thank you you know and uh everybody here is crushing it that's the the big win I was curious Luke um everyone else too but um for you did you read um did you have a kind of a scope of the whole season when you signed on or were you just reading uh the pilot script because like your role gets like progressively more comedic as it goes on right but like maybe if you just read the pilot you'd be like oh wow this is a really it could seem like maybe you have a really really heavy Dramatic Lift um but yeah I'm kind of curious what you knew about the role uh when you said yes yeah I just got the pilot I got the pilot I read that joint a few times and I hit up my homie Esteban to help me tape and I kind of felt this I I never really felt haha's kind of fall out of me reading the script but like the situations in that first episode were so comical just by themselves and then the dialogue on top of it just really kind of made me laugh in a real honest way but I I really thought perhaps I was going to be just one of an or Sean was going to be just one of another set of Jimmy's clients just trying to improve I didn't realize it was going to shift into a sort of there's a lot he's investing in this client therapist relationship because it it looks to me like if Sean does well it says a lot about Jimmy's new process and perhaps it'll work for others and uh there's a lot of responsibility in doing that and then playing the vet but I had no idea that Sean was going to be so involved and I definitely did not anticipate being able to like do anything funny funny and that's just man like I think about episode eight where I'm just in the in the art museum with Jessica with Crystal with Jessica watch back in five and it was just so much fun but every time I get an opportunity to just kind of be around these comedic geniuses taking notes taking notes soaking it in everybody's so warm so kind but I am grateful that I I kind of get to do a little bit of both in the show some where it's pretty just honest drama and another just slapstick humor which is great you can tell when you when you meet actors you can tell when someone's funny or not like and when we we were seeing people for sure and there are a lot of people who just came in they played it very very heavy very straight and they were good and they were good dramatic actors but just talking to them for two minutes before the reads you were like yeah you're not funny this is this you you this is not gonna this isn't gonna work you can do the drama stuff it's not gonna go anywhere and when we've met Luke immediately we're like holy [ __ ] look at this guy yeah to blow smoke at everybody the one thing that Brett and I kind of put out was that this is a show and you know somebody that's in the room or over here in the writer's room now every actor and actress have to be able to bounce back and forth between moments of drama and emotional depth and sometimes in the very next scene you know think about Jessica you know when she was doing that scene with a uh Jimmy right off the bat you know in the uh uh uh third episode you know right up you have to be able to switch from silly to dramatic and back to silly uh and still have it be authentic and shows like this generally don't work unless everybody can pull it off and every you know so far I'm very lucky that so far [Laughter] all right Jessica what was your like if you had to pick one moment that felt like the most fun of like the comedic elements the scenes um what would it be and secondarily unless this was going to be your answer what was your favorite thing your favorite line that you said to Harrison because you've had some really good English um I think I I mean the reason why I wanted to do this uh initially was I really wanted to work with Jason I love Jason I wanted to specifically work with Jason and Brad and Neil who's the and I and I and I love like a lot of the people that work at deucer um just can't think of anybody but I I honestly really the reason when I sign on to do Gabby they only had a couple episodes they kind of had a loose idea of who Gabby was but they wanted to tailor her to whoever was playing her and uh they also said oh that's you know it's a comedy set we can improvise a bit and so with my background that really excited me so I just kind of took the leap mostly just kind of trusting Jason in that world that he lives in with the dramatic and the and the comedy um and my I I had so many this was like the best set ever for me and I felt like I really got the opportunity to fly thanks to the the set um that you guys created and uh my favorite scene maybe now that I've looked at it back is probably that same with Harrison and um uh well with Paul and Julie yes and Wendy and uh that day was really fun and I mean I've had a lot like I love working with Krista I love working with Jason and like Michael makes me laugh like there's oh and Ted [ __ ] kills me um and and Luke but there's we have what's great about this show is that there's so many different Combos and I'm really excited about exploring the combination of characters in the next season but with Harrison um there's nothing better than like a grumpy old white guy and like this really bubbly bubbly Millennial like black lady and so I like just being annoying to him and it's really fun to bother Harrison but probably that scene with Harrison and Wendy and did you bother him in real life it's only as a character I think I think it's only in the character like I don't think I'm confident enough to bother him in real life but I do like having permission to be just as annoying as possible to this like old white guy and and give you with it because they all deserve you expect me to just drop my panties that's probably the same answer my favorite one for everybody by the way really no I mean look you can't you can't do a panel without saying eat a dick Pam first time all over Instagram it's everywhere man I feel like a lot of like women of color fell in love with Ted because a lot of the discourse on Tick Tock and Twitter were like get you a man that rides for you like Liz's husband where they're like I love that I can I can also watch I can watch Makita making fun of Harrison's hat all day I've been getting a lot of people just talking to me about hacks in Japanese you guys all know how that hat originated on our show do you guys know Harrison tricked me yeah all right so he he he brought the hats in and because he brought the hats into his character it is now open license for every actor and actress on the show to mock the hats yeah that's funny perfect lakita um harp on you being the youngest one of the group but as someone who once was the youngest of most groups like hold on to that um but um what like do you were you instantly comfortable um like with everybody or did it take you like what was the point at which you felt like you got to know everybody or like were in like really in it or were you are you as incredibly confident off screen as you appear on screen or like kind of how does that work for you uh I am an anxious ball of anxiety so thank you for saying that um I was I think instantly comfortable with Jason not to further gas you up but when when um we read for the first time I I think that it was really apparent to both of us that we um had chemistry and I felt really really comfortable with him acting with him I hadn't you know fully had a conversation with you but uh feeling the space that an actor will give you over a screen if you can find like that intimacy then I knew that I was going to be comfortable with him um in the day-to-day on set but then the first week I was freaking out I was not like I was not keeping my cool I I remember we were shooting in the house in in Pasadena and I I told Jason at one point I was like dude this is crazy I'm freaking out and he's like you don't need to be like best friends with everybody right away like you're here to work let's do our job I'm here to support you you're doing amazing and he would like literally just cheer me on at the end of every scene and really quickly I mean because everybody's so warm we all got really comfortable but yeah I was freaking out for the first little bit it was just yeah someone with anxiety I'd like to say lukita is the most self-assured person I've ever met I have been at parties with lukita where she is just so casually talking to the most famous people with like no sweat just like oh I do this what are you up to what are you up to and I I'm like in awe of lakita I have to say it took me it took me 20 years to even pretend to be as comfortable as lukita maybe pretending but it's really it's a it's an amazing thing to witness it's a really it's a really important thing when you're acting right this is why I think lukita and Luke and I mean everybody is so special but being being the youngest of the of the crop there is like a real desire when the camera is pointed at you to show off like do you think that's what you're supposed to do like it's it now's your moment the camera's pointed at you and both of them just like resist any of that like trying to manufacture trying to impress you and are just honest and real and funny and listening and it I learned a ton from everybody on the show um especially Bill especially bill I wanted to kind of ask everybody to to like compare or contrast themselves like to their characters or like who they most maybe which character they most connect with but maybe Michael I'll start with you because I feel like you're character has the potential for people to assume that that's exactly how you're going to be in real life just because it seems so natural and funny and like um people might expect you to be like ripping off zingers uh left and right but how how closely uh does that character mirror yourself um yeah um I mean I guess kind of he's so he's like so bubbly and and uh front footed and I and I guess I am I am front footed in bubbly to an extent but I also I also like battle anxiety I'm not somebody like dive head first into uh social situations like he is I would never join um a a cornhole tournament with a bunch of strange I would never have the guys to do something like that but um but I guess where I I related to him and and this was something I didn't quite know was going to happen and they're so amazing the writers are so amazing at tailoring the characters to us but when I first read this I got the first script first episode which I'm not really in I I appear pumping gas brilliantly in the first episode beautifully it's really beautiful especially at the table read but I don't really get to uh you know do anything but but my audition scenes were all from the second episode and so I was like how does this guy fit into this world and I knew somebody who was walking around saying everything goes my way in this world must be covering up for something and so I knew something was going to be coming down the pike and I wasn't quite sure what it was and then when it did when this this guy this sort of fragile guy that covers I was like this is the guy I understand I understand this person who um leads with this confidence and and and and and and sort of false sense of Joy um but it wasn't until that guy came along that I was like oh now I'm now I feel like I'm really really him but that's also you know lukita was talking about the generosity of Jason on set this is a whole bunch of really generous collaborators and it started in the table read when we read the first episode and all I had to do was pump gas and I thought well I'm sitting here with everybody I have a name tag and I'm not saying I'm not even I have nothing to say what am I going to do you know like they're gonna think who is this guy what is he doing up there sitting with all these people and then bill Bill gave me this incredible introduction he said oh and here's the oh wait wait wait wait and he stopped the thing he's like he's like this is a guy he's in the show and he doesn't even have any lines but here he is and he's pumping gas and he go and then he I got to get this huge really the biggest laugh of the day and that was like that like that kind of generosity it was another day where when Jason and I had a whole like four six four four five hours stuck in a car with Harrison and we just we just had him and we could ask him anything it was like he we got a lot of dish that night and when it was over I was sort of sad that it was over it was like you know the middle of the night I was like I don't want to go home now I want to keep talking and and I said to Jason I said that was really great that was so fun and Jason said he looks at me and with this like sweet twinkle and goes aren't we lucky I like to hear someone like him who was such a you know like you know star say like realize the same thing that I realized was just like you gotta you get four and four and a half hours in a car with Harrison Ford and you get to take advantage of that and he's cool about it that's really lucky you're really you're really lucky and he and he recognized that and that kind of generosity I mean that that happened every day on the show we have a really lucky group and I would like to say it does start this is actually not to gas you up Bill it does start with Bill like to to get the phone call from Bill saying hey I'd like to make a show together is about as dreamy as it gets and it it the whole thing was permeated by like it's it's um there's a bunch of nice people around here and I think you feel that all the way down bill has the no [ __ ] policy and I think that it does it's a really important it's a really important thing um it's too nice and now I'm uncomfortable so the joke doesn't work anymore um and then I'm gonna answer really quick so last time I'm gonna speak because I promised I would I'm going to answer as Krista and because she wanted to say and she texted me on the phone that uh she doesn't always like it that uh Bill steals stuff from my actual life like she's yesterday was outside polishing rocks because that's what she does with her time she doesn't want anybody to think that she we wrote it as a character and then she decided to do it she's like I've been doing it first and then you stole it and it made her mad but she uh wanted to talk about uh how lovely the whole cast is uh how welcoming they are to her and how insecure she was because Brett and I were asking her to do something uh usually she's just kind of an acerbic edgy you know comedic snarky uh uh uh character and she was so nervous about going into scenes with all these people having to be somewhat human and emotional beneath it all but she said everybody was so supportive she talked about the day that she and Jason were yelling at each other across balconies you know and uh and that she and Jessica the first time they squared off and house part of Jessica was so she just wanted to put out a big thank you to all the actors and actresses as Krista Miller and then she said she loves her husband she did I'd love to say thank you well before we run out of time I do want to ask whatever I can about season two I guess first who here knows obviously there's a few that we know know what happens but cast do you guys know anything about what happens in season two yet I know I saw the board I saw the board I saw the boy I saw the white board I saw what they were doing I know everything what is a word to describe uh what we can expect I can tell you how we pitched the show we pitched uh the first years about grief and the second year is about forgiveness and I won't say what the third year is about wow is uh very very cool big surprises in the very first one and uh uh part of the fun for Brett and me and the other writers and and Jason because he's in on you know breaking the stories and all that stuff is when we we this year because we know all all these folks and and we have a shorthand part of the fun will be getting them scripts before we start talking to them about where their arcs are going and talking to them about what they're doing and uh you know and then you just get to sit back and watch them Elevate the stuff and uh and then take credit for all the things they do on their own that you had nothing to do with that's the most fun part of this job and then the other thing we got to try we've got to try and con Brett into being in the show sometime where they said that that um well they need to call me because I haven't heard from them in weeks you know uh White House they had to put stuff in the Press so that he would read it yeah and Brett you'll you'll read right if we if we have something that we think you might be okay for yeah yeah all right I'll read I'll do I'll read with the cousin directors yeah with the assistant hilarious we'll see it if it's good yeah if it's good we'll all see it if it's not there's no skin off your back because it'll never get to us absolutely fine with me that's how it should be humble does anyone have anything that they're desperate to do in season two like whether it's like a little so I don't know are we gonna like Luke maybe it's like get behind the wheel of the food truck um or something like that anyone I'm glad you asked two things right off the bat and I actually haven't told the writers this but the first is more cooking because I freaking love it and I've been working the second is more fighting I don't know what capacity but I've never done more action in my life than the Apple TV plus comedy and let me tell you it was riveting also I've been for the past like six months training Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu so I can look less trash in the event that y'all have that stuff written yeah this is great news you have a fight scene early I'm ready in MMA build no spoilers oh spoilers not telling me who spoiler alert I will tell you I'll tell you off here off air great just give us a work Zoom [Music] um when I asked for like a state of the union all the actors you just see a lot of this yeah I don't even know why that would be difficult but yeah you can ask Brett not only are we gonna do that but uh I've been making a list of things uh that we're gonna talk to the it's gonna be such a good work Zoom before we start of all sorts of good things I'm just I'm prepping great I'm prepping well I thought it'd be about cursing too much but that has nothing to do with this thing HR is gonna pop into the zoom room my uh my favorite review of the show was from a religious website that said it should be called swearing oh my God my dad won't watch languages too bad so I'm sorry so my sister's a pastor and I don't know I don't know how she's doing it I'm just like yo you really watched it she's like yeah thank you I love you did you guys you guys get the call from your you know it's my mom call anytime it starts with does it have to be and I'm like no do Jessica and lukita have to talk about the sex like mom um we are okay we've gone over our time so I think leaving it at the sex is a problem exactly the tone that Apple TV plus was hoping for out of this out of this panel we always do like to end and I've seen these guys and and women doing it on their own with there's so much to watch out there there's a landscape right now that there's amazing shows that I haven't seen or even heard of and when I find like oh my God there's so much TV on that's really good uh I think we're all so grateful that people are watching this show and digging it and talking about it and so a big thank you to you and big thank you to everybody that's uh uh watch the show tough to find an audience nowadays so we're really grateful for it thank you very very much thank you thank you thanks thank you guys so much for joining us foreign

Channel: The Hollywood Reporter

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Keywords: thr, the hollywood reporter, hollywood reporter, entertainment, hollywood, thr news, the Hollywood reporter news, thr interviews, the hollywood reporter interview, hollywood reporter interview celebrity, celebrity interview, entertainment news, 2023, Shrinking, THR Presents, THR Presents 2023, Jason Segel, Jessica Williams, Ted McGinley, Lukita Maxwell, Luke Tennie, Michael Urie, Bill Lawrence, Brett Goldstein

Id: dIQUOnty5sU

Length: 34min 0sec (2040 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 26 2023