Jason Segel is making modifications to the lives of others in Apple TV+’s new collection Shrinking, however one piece of recommendation he obtained years in the past admittedly modified his personal life.
The How I Met Your Mother alum was about 21 years previous when he “got the best piece of advice” he “could hope for.” In an unique interview with Parade.com, Segel recalled, “My mentor Judd Apatow said, ‘You’re a weird guy. The only way you’re gonna make it, is if you write your own material,’ and that changed my life.”
Another “great piece of advice” that has caught with the Windfall star got here from his late highschool appearing coach.
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“When I went off to do my first movie, he said to me, ‘Never forget, the best actor in the world is stuck in their small town doing dinner theater because they’ll never have the chances you’re getting right now.’ And I think about that a lot too,” Segel shared.
The actor’s newest function in Shrinking sees him play a grieving therapist and within the phrases of his character Jimmy, a “psychological vigilante,” who tosses the rulebook out the window and tells his sufferers what he actually thinks.
Segel created the Apple unique collection with Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein. “We wanted it to feel like life, sloppy and messy and funny and sad and confusing,” Segel mentioned.
The End of the Tour star famous that a part of the message of Shrinking “is that you’re not in this alone—that if you look around you, have a million safety nets, but it takes the first act of asking for help.”
Continue studying to seek out out what Jason Segel needed to say about his new comedy Shrinking—premiering Jan. 27—plus working with Harrison Ford and taking part in “nice guy” characters.
Did you envision your self for this function of Jimmy while you guys had been creating the collection?
Jason Segel: You know, it truly occurred in a really fortunate approach for me. Bill Lawrence, who created Ted Lasso and Scrubs, referred to as me about two years in the past and mentioned, “You wanna try to make a show together?” And we talked about a number of, however then he and Brett Goldstein from Ted Lasso, Roy Kent, got here they usually pitched me this present for me to star in and it simply felt like a complete bullseye to me and I signed on.
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In what methods do you are feeling such as you had been capable of relate to this character?
Well while you meet my character, I’m in the midst of type of a nervous breakdown. He’s at all-time low. He’s grieving the lack of his spouse. In addition to that, he simply feels caught. He does not know methods to get out of this gap he is in and I feel that we have all handled that, some model of all-time low that we do not know methods to discover our approach out of, and that to me is one thing that may be a actually nice space for comedy since you’re so determined. And I feel desperation is hilarious.
Could you discuss to us concerning the resolution to inform this story as a comedy? Because it may have simply been instructed in a darkish approach.
Yeah, I feel calibrating the tone was our large mission all through all of this. Because we did not need it to be only one factor. We needed it to really feel like life, sloppy and messy and humorous and unhappy and complicated. So we had been continually calibrating not simply entire scripts and episodes, however scene by scene and line by line, methods to be sure to left feeling hopeful.
Playing the great man appears to return so naturally for you. What do you like about these characters?
You know, even when I attempt to play any person horrible, they find yourself being likable. I am unable to assist it. Maybe it is the way in which that my face is constructed. I do not know. Like, I do not know why. But we tried to make use of that to truly assist this character be extra daring and unlikable and cross ethical and moral strains as a result of we had some sense that it might nonetheless really feel like he was making an attempt his finest. And that even when he was reckless, it was out of affection.
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We see that when he is shouting at Liz from the balcony. He’s so indignant, however even on the finish, you are like, “Oh, but he’s protecting his daughter.”
Yeah, have a look at him, have a look at him so mad! I do know. You ought to see me in actual life, like moving into an argument. It’s simply embarrassingly pathetic, like, “Aw, look at him stomp his feet.”
Can we discuss concerning the solid? Jessica Williams and Harrison Ford!
Come on, proper?!
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How was it working with Harrison Ford and having him name you “kid?”
It’s actually humorous, as a result of he calls me “kid” and I name my daughter “kid.” Just naturally, and it is like type of a gorgeous lineage. We have a mentor-mentee relationship on the present, however I feel it actually does border on a father-son relationship. Jimmy desperately desires Harrison’s approval. He is sort of a surrogate father determine.
Jason Segel as Jimmy Laird and Harrison Ford as Dr. Paul Rhodes in “Shrinking” on Apple TV+
Apple TV+
Actually, initially, I believed he was your father within the present.
Yeah, I get it although. Because I’m so good-looking and Harrison is so good-looking. It looks like we should be associated.
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Totally. Are you an enormous fan of Harrison’s work?
Oh, after all!
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Were there any fanboy moments on set?
I attempted to not fan out and he did a very good job of creating me really feel like a recent as an alternative of a fan. There is a good second although, the place generally a crew member who’s coming in as a day participant only for a day does not know something about what they’re displaying up for essentially. And any person confirmed up randomly sporting a Star Wars T-shirt with younger Harrison Ford on it. And Harrison Ford walked as much as them and mentioned, “You know who that is, right?” And they circled and noticed that it was Harrison Ford. And it was one of many best appears of shock and confusion I’ve ever seen in my life.
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Yeah, I feel that one of many issues that is straightforward to not do in your life are these fixed private check-ins: “I made some decisions X number of months or years ago, are those decisions working for me?” And I used to be working a lot in my 20s that I did not do a kind of check-ins till How I Met Your Mother ended at 33 years previous. And I took some actual day off in my life to consider like, “Well, now when I look in the mirror, I’m like a man. I need to maybe think through everything that I’ve decided and see if it’s still working for me.” It was a very essential couple of years.
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Did you be taught something about your self taking part in this character?
I attempt to make that the purpose of doing any of those jobs, is what am I gonna discover throughout this era and what am I gonna attempt to be taught? And I feel that one of many issues I discovered is that it’s totally straightforward to substitute understanding what the instruments are for truly utilizing them. Sometimes in remedy, for instance, you may suppose that simply going and speaking about stuff for every week, week after week after week, is definitely progress, however it’s actually simply stagnation as properly. Paid stagnation. And so the present is about breaking ourselves out of those holding patterns.
This interview has been edited and condensed for readability.
The first two episodes of Shrinking premiere on Jan. 27 on Apple TV+.
Next, laugh and cry along with these 75 How I Met Your Mother quotes.
