Jim Parsons shares how special the Tony Awards are to him while talking to THR on the red carpet. Plus, he talks working with Jessica Lange, calling it "life changing."
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00:00We, oh my gosh, we're coordinated.
00:02We're dating now.
00:03We came here tonight together.
00:05This is our wedding, actually.
00:07Listen, congratulations, this is your first Tony nomination.
00:10Yes, it is.
00:11What are the emotions going through your head right now?
00:13Oh my goodness.
00:14Well, the emotions kind of started the moment the nominations came out.
00:17Like, I kind of wasn't prepared for it, but theater's been my heart and soul.
00:21That's the first thing I ever did as an actor, and it's just very special.
00:26Theater itself is close to my heart.
00:28And if you are fortunate enough to be in the New York theater scene,
00:31Broadway and even off-Broadway, you feel how small it is.
00:36And you feel it when you're here.
00:37Everybody knows each other.
00:39It's unlike any other industry event that I've ever been to.
00:44And working with the one and only Jessica Lange,
00:46what was that experience like for you?
00:50I don't want to sound overly bold and say life-changing, but life-changing.
00:55I mean, you cannot act with somebody like Jessica Lange for months on end
01:00and not be affected by it.
01:02And I can be specific.
01:03She is so playful.
01:06And I don't mean like a prankster or something,
01:07but I mean like in the most dramatic of moments that she nails,
01:12she's still being so playful.
01:14And it's a lack of preciousness and just so much imagination.
01:19That's what it is.
01:20She even says that.
01:21She goes, I think imagination is the most important thing for an actor.
01:23And you can feel that coming off of her.
01:24She is instantly in whatever the moment is with you.
01:27And she's also, little known secret, an easy laugher on stage.
01:33She's so present.
01:35That's what I think it is.
01:36She is so present with everybody.
01:38If anything goes wrong, it cracks her up.
01:41And it is the funnest thing to be on stage and watch her laugh at something.
01:45She keeps acting, but she is like, Jessica broke.
01:49She's just laughing in my face.
01:51Was there any funny mishap or something that particularly happened
01:54that made you all kind of break character?
01:56One night, I'm sitting at her feet in a chair she's in,
02:00and I came up and I hit the ottoman stool.
02:04And there were these fries or whatever that had been brought out,
02:07and they flew all over.
02:09And she just cackled.
02:11And Celia hadn't been looking.
02:13She was studying something else.
02:14And then she saw Jessica looking at her and crying.
02:16She was laughing.
02:17What the hell happened?
02:20But I stayed in character, Ms. Lange.
02:23And I carried on through the scene, and we got past it.
02:27It's such a joy.
02:29I love it.
02:30I'm so happy that you've been having such a joyful experience with this.
02:32I also wanted to ask, I know that a lot of young performers
02:35and artists that are watching tonight,
02:37what advice would you have for them about building a career on stage?
02:41Well, to work at any opportunity you can.
02:47I still feel this very strong.
02:49When I was first starting, and I was a student, and I was very young,
02:53as soon as I committed to saying yes to as many opportunities as I could
02:58and performing in as many venues as I could,
03:01like small rooms, a garage, outdoors, whatever it was,
03:05that's how I learned the best, was just on the fly.
03:08You just had to get it done.
03:09You had to get it done.
03:11And eventually, you can get choosier, perhaps, or whatever,
03:14but there's nothing to be substituted for the experience of being on stage
03:18in whatever that stage is, live in front of people,
03:22and having to make it work right then.
03:24Because there's no editor, and there's no cut.
03:26It's just going on, and then it's over.
03:29Thank you so much for your words.
03:31Thank you.
03:32Good luck tonight.