Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Chris O'Dowd

Episode Date: August 19, 2018

Chris O’Dowd was already big in the U.K. before he moved to Los Angeles, but he made a name for himself in America playing Officer Nathan Rhodes in the smash comedy "Bridesmaids." In this week’s "Sunday Sitdown," Willie Geist talks to the actor about his journey from Ireland to Hollywood, and how that film launched him into a series of roles in movies, television and Broadway. O'Dowd also opens up about his latest role in the hit series "Get Shorty," a different kind of character for an actor known for his charm and sense of humor. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist back with you for another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Thank you again, as always, for clicking. My guest this week is the Irish-born actor Chris O'Dowd, one of the funniest and most charming guys in all of Hollywood. You remember him breaking out in bridesmaids when he played the love interest to Kristen Wigg? Remember he was the traffic cop, kind of obsessed with Kristen Wig? They work it out in the end. We talk about that role. I think you'll find just a funny, cool dude, you know, trying to come up in the business and

London. He worked at a call center. I always love the odd jobs the actors have before they become the actors they are. I worked at a call center for a, I guess like a wildlife fund. And he would try to drum up business and donations by making up endangered species. And he said so often it was amazing that people didn't notice. It speaks to his ability to weave a yarn. He's the youngest of five kids. He said he had to be funny and to tell stories to get noticed. And he's done that. Now he's co-starring in the Epics series. Get Shorty. Ray Romano is his co-star. Remember, it was that movie in 1995 with John Travolta, a famous book as well. We do want to point out, as we have our excellent conversation. We're at a place in Little Italy, downtown Gelsso and Grand. Great spot. But upstairs

was a busy, bustling restaurant. So you might hear a little background noise as we have our conversation. But I think it's a good one. I hope you. you enjoy it. Here now with Sunday Sit Down with Chris O'Dowd. Thanks for doing this. I appreciate it. No pleasure. So let's talk a little get shorty. Okay dokey. I'm in that. We pick, yes you are, prominently in fact. Let's pick it up in season two for fans from season one.

Where do we find Miles? What's going on? So what's been going on? We just made a film. It turned out to be decidedly mediocre, which in a way is the worst way for a film to turn out. If it's terrible, then you can kind of disown it or blame somebody else. you've got your name on it and it's mediocre that it's hard to take that crown of thorns off so you kind of sit in it and the character tries to make it better he's going through this horrible time with his wife so season two kind of turns into a something about kramer versus kramer

situation in terms of the get shortiness of it and we make we try to make another film which doesn't run smoothly I'm shocked to hear. To be surprised, yes. How much fun is Miles for you to play? Because I think a lot of people associate you with movies where you're sort of like a lovable guy. And in here, there's a real, real darkness.

Is that more fun for you to play? I mean, it's certainly a nice, it's a nice shoe to walk in for a bed. More of a steel-tudded, studded to carry the euphemism to death. But it is nice to play a character who can, intimidate people. That's not something I get to do very often. Somebody who's very physical, a front-foot character who's more dynamic than most of the, as you say, somewhat hug-able rather than headbuttable kind of characters.

What's the term you use? You're not a sex symbol, you're a... A spoon symbol. Meaning... There were certainly, I don't know if it's true anymore, but there was definitely a time when women didn't really want it, like, um, sleep with me. They just wanted to be spooned by me. As I get older, it's more like a dessert spoon. It's a bit sweeter and kind of an odd aftertaste. What are the things I love about reading how you prepare for these roles is that you give characters backstory for yourself that may not be on the page.

Right. Because you need to develop a story of this person's life and what motivates him. What's the backstory for Miles for you? Oh, well, Miles moved around a lot as a kid. His father was from the traveler community in Ireland, and his mother was from the settled community. He ended up in Fremanna as a teenager, where they got in some trouble he had an uncle who was involved in the IRA,

and ended up back down in Dublin, as a kind of a 19-year-old, got in a bar fight and had to leave the country. ended up in Las Vegas where he was running the door, got in another bit of a scrap, and ended up in Perump, Nevada where he bumped into Amara. It's very specific. Yes. Detailed.

None of this came with the script. No. No. But you have to build the foundations of a part, otherwise you're a little top heavy. And we do, once you take on a role, particularly in TV where you know it's going to have a greater life than on the first page of a pilot script, it can be usable. You know, so at the end of season one of Get Shorty, we do go to Ireland and have a little kind of a story that I had come up with about why movies were so important to this guy,

which were a story that I had heard from Northern Ireland during The Troubles, where it was It was hard for Catholics or Protestants to find a safe place. Churches weren't even necessarily safe. But cinemas were considered safe. And you could go in and watch a movie and know that you're not going to get the whatever kicked out of you. And that's where he developed his love was film, was doing that with his uncle. And so we did end up writing a scene of kind of where that happens, where he goes to a Steve Martin movie, which I imagine was the jerk or something.

and it was a safe haven. Do you go this deep on all the characters, every movie you do? Do you develop this much story for them? Or because this is such a leading, prominent role, did you feel like you really needed to build out? I mean, I'll do a little, I'll certainly feel like I'll build as much as I feel like it needs. Sometimes if it's something that I can relate to very quickly, and sometimes it doesn't matter.

Like sometimes it's so relatable that it can only get confusing or something if you try and build too much. But something like this where I didn't, it's not a character that I'm familiar with in terms of his actual characteristics and why he's tough and why he loves this and why he loves that and why he's always running away from stuff and why he has

this sense of responsibility that has been brought on by the fact that he keeps running away and that seems to be what drives him almost more profoundly than anything else is that the guilt that he keeps on moving. I needed to know why that was happening. So when I tell people there's a show called Get Shorty, they say, oh yeah, I saw that.

And they're thinking of the movie, Get Shorty, right? Or they've read the book, Get Shorty. Sure. Is it helpful to you to have people familiar with the material, or does it make it more difficult because they may identify the material with the previous book and film? I think the two things are different.

I think it's nice that people have read the book because it means that they're familiar with the, the general tone of what we're aiming for. And it means that they're already a fan of that kind of crime writing. And the fact that the characters are all different than the movie means that it doesn't matter either way in a way. But it's kind of nice that if they have seen or read it before that they're still willing to give it a go means that, OK, well, we've got a good chance with that demo.

This might be in their wheelhouse. And I hadn't seen the movie until we finished rapping in the first season. Oh, really? I had kind of known about it, and maybe I'd seen an odd clip from it, because you just can't not. And then I got the show and decided to not watch it. I just thought it would be on half of it. But I was really curious, and then I watched it and really enjoyed it. I mean, it's very, very different, but I did watch it and think, oh, I could have stolen some stuff.

which now I probably will do for season. So that was intentional not to watch it first because you didn't want to feel like you were being derivative of that. Exactly. I didn't want to feel like I was using anything. Particularly, you can use all the stuff in the book, but if you're using some of the movie, that's just theft.

Right, right. Straight up theft. We were talking a minute ago about Ray Romano, or your co-star on the show. What's it like working alongside him? Well, he's just the sweetest guy. I mean, he's he plays kind of desperation better than anybody I know.

It's lovely to see that fear in his eyes. He's a little bit of a germaphobe, which is fun if you have to kind of get in a kind of a scrap with him. He's like, ah, you want to, yeah, it's crazy. But he's so present in his sense. scene, he's still got those kind of comedy intentions of trying to find the funniest button for the end of a scene, which is great.

And he's a pro. So, yeah, I really enjoyed hanging out with him. What sort of weaknesses do you exploit in terms of the germs? How do you find a way in on that? There was a few times this season where we're kind of in trouble together, and I have to, like, cover his out. And the first time I was like, I'm going to do it in rehearsal, I'm like, I'll just put my hand on your mouth. He's like, yeah, that's good. I got some Purell. You get all squeeze. But yeah, he's crazy. He's a really serious guy. By the way, your impersonation of Bray Romano

and tail swing. That's about what it is. I've got three vowels. That's it. That's all you need, really. Yeah. Like a dog slowly waking. So I'm going to talk about the roots of your sense of humor. Okay. Where it came from. Is it because you were the youngest of five and you sort of had to be funny by virtue of being the little kid around the house? I'm sure there's definitely an element of that. All my siblings are all very funny.

And I think there is the kind of, you know, to stay alive. It helps to make people laugh. And then I think as a teenager, I was a funny-looking thing, really. I was six foot when I was 11. So I was a big fella. But not really a... It was all bone and nose. I was mostly a bone and nose man.

So what they called it, old bone and nose, oh, doubt. Coming down the street like a stupid spider. And so women were quite repulsed. And humor is helpful in those occasions to turn them around to the way of the good. Or something. There's some nonsense like that, other words. So when did you start performing then? You were funny, but then when did you go to a stage for the first time or decide,

hey, I could do something with this bone and nose and make a career out of it? I think in school I did a musical. I did Greece. Oh, you did? You familiar with Greece the musical? I never. Who would you play? I played one of the smaller roles.

I believe his name was Johnny Casino. And he sang a song called Born to Hand Jive. Sure. And it was my first time in front of people. And I remembered thinking even then, this is a wonderful feeling of the nerves you could tell you around

all these other kids your own age and everybody's nervous but I'm like oh but isn't it the best feeling in the world but then I kind of forgot about it I was very sporty at that time

so anybody from miles around could come and see the bone and nose man throw a ball or whatnot they would come from all the surrounding fields to laugh at the bone and nose man as you fell to the ground freak you and the bearded lady

Yes. And also, you know, 12-year-old basically with a beard. And then I went to college and studied something else. I studied politics and sociology. But while I was there, I did a play kind of by accident and really enjoyed it. And where my college was, there was a little drama society kind of under the stairs that was somewhat filled with all the freaks that the rest of the college didn't want to have anything to do with. lots of people who hadn't fully decided what their sexuality was, or some of them who hadn't decided really what their sex was, or what they were as people. And somehow they all kind of congregated to form this quite beautiful little beast

of kind of little plays and things that I found very magnetized too. And I didn't leave there, really, for three years. We were just, that was suddenly home. And I had come from a very rural area to a very kind of, as urban as Ireland gets in Dublin. And suddenly I felt like I had found a great home. And I think I've looked at even doing films and TV as the same as that since, really,

that you find this little community as much as anything else. Like the fact that you're doing something that you like is great, but the best part of it is just hanging around. With people who come from very different places and have interesting views on the world. Is it true that LA law deserves a little bit of credit for your acting career? Yes. Well, only that I wanted to be a lawyer when, for maybe five or six years.

And the only reason I can think why that was was because I loved watching LA law and presumed that's what it would be like. So it wasn't the acting, it was more the legal side of it that you're interested in. Yes, no, it wasn't, the reason, I think the reason I ended up in LA and doing some work was the other thing, which was that it was set in LA and it looked nice. So when I was watching LA law and thinking I wanted to be a lawyer, really what I wanted was to be in LA. And you found...

But it turns out that it wasn't a documentary. None of it was... They tricked you with that one. It was quite nonsense ago. In retrospect... Harry Hamlin fooled you? Yes, that's right. There was a lot of lying.

You would not expect from a lawyer. No. No. No. Or an actor. No, no. But that's, yeah, that's true. And then I ended up down in this kind of dungeon doing these plays for three or four years

and just loved it and then I ended up going to drama school and that was there. What was the decision to get on a plane and come to Los Angeles? You'd had some success in the UK and television. Yes. At what point did you say, okay, if I want to take the next step, I'm going to have to get on the plane and go live out L.A. law in Los Angeles. It was, I think, more than anything, if I'm honest, I had just broken up with somebody.

I had this like seven-year relationship and I just needed to get out of town because I was kind of heartbroken. And I have this very visceral memory like I was going through a listening to Bon Eaver phase and going through an airport with my headphones on and just bawling my eyes out, walking down a travel later.

And it was one of those cries. It was close. where I wasn't hiding it, really. I was too gone. I probably had a couple of drinks in me as well. I was just doing full on bawling crying. I'm going to Hollywood alone, yes. Were people looking at you?

Yeah, very much so. Very much so. Kind of like, oh, that's, but it's too much. You know that kind of thing where they're like, oh, you pour up, but it's too much. I don't want to get involved in that. Put it away. Like I was flashing. I was flashing them emotionally.

So how did you get yourself out of that rut? And also, there's not an actor I know who doesn't go to Hollywood and first go, oh my gosh, this is a little overwhelming or a little depressing or a little frustrating or whatever that first year is like. Yeah, I don't know if I had gone over with any hopes or dreams really other than trying to get a little bit of work. And I remember my first night flying in was Oscar night for whatever, you know, coincidence. I was not going to the office.

I was flown in, but I was going over to do some job or something. This was maybe a couple of years before I had made the actual move, and I was going over to shoot a pilot or something. And a portrait had a few bags with me, and a portrait brought me up to this room in this hotel that the company would put me up in. And I remember that on the TV, the Oscars were on, and you could see the lights coming out from wherever the theater was.

And then I looked out onto the balcony, and you could see these lights kind of coming out. And I was like, I can't believe this. That it's kind of like, it's there and it's there. And it's like, how was this suddenly? I said to the porter, he was like, this isn't just insane. That it's like, this is happening here and this is happening here. And he walked out onto the balcony and he said, yes, this is nightclub.

I'll ask a five mile, five mile that way. Welcome to Hollywood. Yeah, I'll be like, yeah. You got some more. truck. I love the stories of job actors have while they're trying to, you know, supplement their income and where they can pay for it. And one of yours was working at a call center. Yeah. Where you became famous for weaving tales about endangered species. Yes, that's right. So really, I wanted to thank you for fighting for the tiger swan the way you did. Yes. You're welcome.

May they live longer prosper. What was that job like? Well, it was, Ultimately, it was okay, you know. It was, I was working predominantly for charities that were already being, I was kind of calling people, relatively cold calling people, but they already had subscriptions to whatever charity I was doing. This one, mostly it was for quite a famous animal charity that I probably shouldn't really talk about. But they loved animals, wanted to save them worldwide. And you do it and you're doing it for, you know, you don't mind lying to people on the phone if you know that it's going to save animals. And so, yeah, I did.

I made up a lot of animals that were endangered. Just to amuse yourself? I think predominantly to get money. I thought, like, if I make animals that nobody wants to kill a tiger swan or any other. And also a lot of the animals that were endangered. in reality, we're like newts and bats and nonsense that people want to date. So it's a hard sell. So is the tiger swan what it sounds like?

A swan with a tiger print? It's a swan with a plumage of a Bengal. Of a Bengal tiger. And people would say, of course, people aren't idiots. And they would kind of say, I haven't, you know, I haven't heard of it. And I'd be like, they're rare. That's why I'm calling. You'd say hand over your credit card number.

Let's wrap this up. You've just saved a lot of lives today, Mississippi. Well, thank you again for saving the tiger swan. No problems. Now thriving in the wild. Yes. I think you would agree that bridesmaids was your big breakthrough role, certainly here in the U.S. anyway.

How did you meet Judd Apatow and what, was the audition like for that? Did you go in thinking I've got a good shot at this job? I think initially when I had heard about it, I thought, okay, well, I can have a go at it. You know, why not? Anybody, you know, guy, I have a dream. And I went in. That was the opening bit of pretty woman in case you weren't familiar with it. And then I arrived at the audition and they have this thing where you sign in to let the Cassinger, you know that you're there, which is just a basic piece of paperwork, except then it's like all of these incredible actors

that you feel. And it was the moment where I was very nervous, and then I saw this list of great kind of people. And it suddenly just really calm me down because suddenly it was, oh, I've got no chance of this. So now I can just go in and have fun. And the audition was with Kristen and Paul Feig, the director. We did the scene a couple of times, and then we improvised for around an hour.

We just had such fun. Had you met Kristen before that day? Wow, so you went in cold without ever... Yeah, I'd never met anybody. I'd met the casting director for something before, but everybody else was new to me. And I just felt good. It felt... I hadn't done that much improvising before, and it felt fun to try it.

And I didn't feel as out of my depth as maybe I would if I went and did it now in a funny kind of hole. It's like, you know, when like a 19-year-old in the World Series or something, they're like, they don't feel the pressure. Right, right. So it was great. And then I met Judd for the first time the next day. He was not that. And he said, okay, come to my office. And I was nervous meeting him because in a lot of ways, Judd was.

kind of the reason I was in America because he was making the kind of films that I felt would be a good fit for me and he was they're done kind of knocked up and super bad and things like that and I'm like that's what I find really funny and they weren't really doing stuff like that in Britain which I think was one of the reasons I left and so meeting him was kind of nerve-wracking and he said you know this bridesmaid film it's gonna be this is gonna be great it's gonna be really really funny. And we talked kind of for 15 or 20 minutes and he kept talking

about how good it was going to be. And at no point did he say oh, by the way, you've got it. Laterally, he said that he just forgot. Just talking generally about the movie? I'm like, if I haven't got it, then you're being... Did you ask him at the end? No. No. Oh, he just walked out?

No, it would have seemed really presumptuous. So I called, you know, my agent called this, you know, how did you get on? I'm like, good, I think. I mean, I don't know. And then they're like, oh, no, you got it. You got it.

That was a fun day. You couldn't have had any sense at the time, although I'm sure it was a blast to make how big that movie was going to become and how big it's continued to be. We were talking about on cable, it's on TV all the time, and a new generation is pushing into sort of that classic tier of movies. What did that experience and what of that movie mean to your life and your career? I mean, it opened a lot of doors.

I mean, when we were making it, I thought it was a fun movie, but it's, I was going through this kind of phase of my process where I didn't read parts of scripts that I wasn't in because I didn't want my, I didn't want it to cloud anything I was doing. And so I didn't really know that much about the movie. And what I was filming with Kristen was quite sweet and there was some funny stuff in it, but it was very naturalistic. I felt like we were making a nice little movie. And then I didn't see what the girls were doing. And then when I watch it, I'm like, oh, my God, this is a riot. Like, I couldn't, I thought, wow, this is some of the most hilarious stuff I've ever seen. And I wasn't familiar with Melissa's stuff for Rose William.

My Rudolph, they were all just, and I'm so glad that I hadn't seen any of it, because I think I would have tried to be really funny. and that would have been out of place and what the nature of the job was. So if you're only reading and performing your own parts and you watch that bridal shop scene, your head must have exploded. And I'm like, what do I need to go to the toilet in?

Where's my policeman's hot? Watch this. Oh my gosh. You can tell me if this is true or not, but there's a rumor about you in auditions, that you create something to help the casting director and the director of the film remember you.

And that is that you pretend you've just been bitten by a dog. Is that true? It's totally true. Really? This is something I did just right out of drama school where I had, like, everybody, I know, it's crazy. But right when everybody comes out of drama school,

they're all come out at the same time. And they're doing the same general kind of meetings with cast and directors or producers. and trying to make an impression. And I'd been doing it for a few weeks, and I felt like I'm not making any inroads here. They're meeting all of these people. And somebody said to me, who had kind of been doing okay,

they said, just leave them with something to remember you by. And he presumably meant like a great, funny send-off line. But in my head, I was like, got it. So I would go into every audition, pretending I'd just been bitten by a dog. So I just were walking. What does that look like when you walk in? I can't imagine why I thought that was the thing to do.

And now when you bring it up, it's like, oh, it's a crazy person. So do you come in limping or how does that manifest itself? You were going on, gee, oh, Christ, do you see that? What? No, they're like the Cocker Spaniel. I'm all right. I don't think it's drawing. Sorry, what was the...

And so I would do this. I guess in my head I thought, well, I like the guy who was... I liked the guy who was bitten by a dog. But I had to stop doing it because I was doing it all the time and I was feeling like, this is, you know, maybe it's doing something. And then I went in and I did it on a ditch. I'm like, oh, God, Jesus. Yeah, no, there was just mud outside and then I had like a baby's rat.

I had to pull the baby's rattle off it. And then it just went from my bloody ankle. And they were like, God, that's so weird. And I was like, yeah. And they said, because the last time you were here, you were hit by a dog. Oh, back around. I'm like, that's okay, we got to. Now it just looked like I was an attractive dogs.

I was walking around with chum in my pocket. But it's worked out for you. Look at you. That's your advice to young actors. Pretend you've been bitten by a dog. Yes, or I've taken dogs. So make it a different kind of a creature. So I take it you didn't use that for the bridesmaids audition.

No. It was too late by then. Yes, yes. They figured you out. Yeah, and there's no dogs in L.A. It's harder. In the streets of London and New York, you can do it. Yeah.

Yeah, but that was pretty insane in retrospect. But here you are. I remember telling that story on the radio or something once. And then lots of cast and directors got in touch and said, you did that to me! Oh, is that right? Yeah, in London. The word was around London.

So this is a busy wig for you. We talked about bridesmaids with Rose Byrne, and now you're in Juliet naked with her. Yes. as well as Ethan Hawk, incredible cast. What can people go out to the theaters expect this weekend? Oh, it's really fun. It's a film about a guy who's obsessed with a singer-songwriter from the 80s and 90s,

who's now a recluse, who's played by Ethan Hawke. I play The Obsessive, and Rose and I are a couple in it, and things aren't going great for us. And my obsession is far greater for Ethan Hawke than it is for my own partner. And my basement is kind of surrounded in his image and probably not a single picture of our retired relationship. And she's had it up to here. And he releases an album. He's been a recluse.

He releases his first album in 20 years. Her in her kind of contempt for the whole situation writes a scaling review of it on my own blog. And that causes him to get in touch. and they end up having something of a moment. So it's... An extended moment. An extended moment. Yes.

Which, of course, I'm very jealous about, but also quite proud of her. Right. You're sort of conflicted. So that's the... But he's something of a man-child. He's one of those characters that believes you are what you like, rather than you are what you do.

or how you behave. I think we are kind of drowning in all of this content suddenly in our lives. So we can kind of ring fence our own personality by saying, I like this show and this kind of musical artist and this wonderful daytime TV hose or whatnot. And that means then that we don't have to make our behavior consistent because we are this kind of thing. And this character is a bit like that.

He is more of a listener to music than to his part. This does feel like when I watch it, it's like it's a Chris O'Dowd film. It's smart. It's funny. It's got a good tight cast. Do you think that way about your career? Those are the kind of movies you want to be? You've talked about sort of trying the big budget Hollywood thing.

They're like, you know what? Not my bike. Maybe that's not what I want to do. Yeah. Is that how you seek out movies like Juliet Naked? I just don't like it when I'm not. a movie where people feel they need to touch my hair. That's a good standard.

Yes. No, I'm definitely more engaged with things that I feel like I believe. And I've touched on things that are a huge kind of things and it just wasn't for me. But I'm always available. If there's another Avengers movie. James Planned. But, no, this film is definitely in my wheelhouse because it has a character

who's probably got some arrested development. And it does have some very comedic moments while also being relatively grounded. So you're right in that it feels familiar. That's great, man. Thanks so much for the time. Oh, what a treat. I appreciate it.

Thank you. It was fun. My thanks again to Chris O'Dowd for a great. conversation his new movie juliet naked is in theaters now and you can catch new episodes of get shorty sundays at 9 p.m. on epics thanks to all of you for checking out another episode of our podcast. If you like what you hear, make sure to click subscribe for more of the full-length unedited conversations with my guests every week and be sure of course to tune in to sunday today every Sunday on NBC. I'm willie

geis. Thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit Down podcast.