The Bear actors Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Matty Matheson discuss the best part about working on the hit show. They dive into what it's like to play their characters, Chicago accents, and that intense Christmas episode from last season. We learn a little bit about what it's like to be part of the cast and being on set. Plus, how many times a day does Ebon get called "cousin"?
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00:00Are you a Swifty and have you gotten to meet Taylor since your Showstopping love story scene?
00:06First of all, thank you for saying Showstopping. That's really sweet.
00:10Am I a Swifty? I don't know. That's like a tall order. I'm working on it.
00:16Hi, I'm Eben Moss-Bachrach.
00:18And I'm Matty Matheson.
00:20And Esquire's asked us to explain a few things, so...
00:24Take a look.
00:25Let's dive in, shall we?
00:26Dive.
00:30How did it feel when The Bear won big at the Emmys?
00:36Felt really good.
00:36Felt good.
00:37Felt celebratory.
00:38Yeah, it felt nice.
00:39Yeah. This is not the first time we kissed.
00:42No.
00:42Traditionally on The Bear, whenever we complete a scene, we all kiss each other.
00:46Yeah, it's like a nice...
00:47Yeah.
00:47Yeah, like a round robin of like appreciation.
00:50So it's a nice way to sort of...
00:51We just wanted to share that kind of love with everybody.
00:53Exactly. So this is like a behind the scenes.
00:55Yeah.
00:55Eben, you supposedly nicknamed Matty's acting technique as the
00:58Math-It Acting School of Dramatic Reading.
01:00Please explain.
01:01There was a technique there.
01:03Yeah.
01:04Do you remember?
01:05Well, you know, I think it was just me becoming Phak.
01:08And then when you saw that transition, I think that transition sparked you
01:13to really understand my process.
01:15And that was the Math-It.
01:17You saw the Math-It become itself.
01:19I was also trying to help Matty's business grow.
01:22He's got a lot of different arms of his businesses.
01:25And I thought that Math-It would commodify a kind of thing for you.
01:30And, you know, you might be able to get some...
01:32Help see some loonies.
01:33Yeah. And I think, you know, the way that I act, I think I could share that.
01:37Correct.
01:38That skill.
01:39When the two of you are in a scene together, who's the first to break?
01:42I would say that's a trick question.
01:43We're both professionals and we're pretty locked in.
01:45We don't break.
01:46I don't think we do break.
01:47We don't break. We're in character. We show up.
01:49Yeah.
01:49We're in character when we leave. We're still in character.
01:51Takes a minute to shake it sometimes.
01:53What's the key to perfecting the Chicago accent?
01:56There's a certain tightness and the spreadness kind of in the mouth.
02:00You know, things that I say to myself to kind of help place my word is in the mouth.
02:04I do like to say jar-den-air.
02:06I say jar-den-air a couple of times before a take.
02:09Yeah.
02:10But that's a little bit stronger than where I am normally.
02:12Yeah.
02:12I say like exactly.
02:14Interesting.
02:14A couple of those things.
02:15And I'm not really there in Math-It.
02:17So like, I haven't really even thought about trying to get an accent.
02:21No.
02:21No.
02:21No.
02:22I haven't got there.
02:23How many times a day, Eben, do fans call you Cousin?
02:28Many times.
02:28Many times a day?
02:30Yeah.
02:30Yeah. I don't mind it. It's nice.
02:31It's nice.
02:32Especially when I'm on a run, kind of tired.
02:34Yeah.
02:34Cousin!
02:35Keep going, Cousin.
02:36Keep going!
02:37Thanks, Cousin.
02:38Yeah. Yeah, it's nice. It's nice.
02:40How have your co-stars informed your acting style?
02:42They've informed everything. I was in a natural before.
02:46And I think the reciprocals of knowledge that they've spent their lives
02:52working towards, and they're just, you know, I'm like a little mouse in a cage,
02:55and they're the water, and they're just kind of feeding me.
02:58I mean, I think it's interesting because you are a great communicator.
03:01But I think when you started, you had a sort of separation between what you thought acting was
03:05and what you thought sort of your normal thing was.
03:07And I think what you tried to do is sort of bring those two things together.
03:10Yeah.
03:11Right.
03:11You made me feel very comfortable.
03:12Good.
03:13Yes.
03:13Eb?
03:14Yeah.
03:14Are you a Swifty?
03:16And have you gotten to meet Taylor since your Showstopping love story scene?
03:21First of all, thank you for saying Showstopping. That's really sweet.
03:25I've never met Taylor Swift. Am I a Swifty? Maybe I'm like...
03:29A Jason?
03:30Like a beginner Swifty or something.
03:33I don't know. That's like a tall order. I'm working on it.
03:38Fishes was the most talked about episode of the last season.
03:41What was the on-set vibe like after shooting this dinner scene?
03:45We all had a really nice time together, telling stories, being together.
03:49Everyone was excited to be there. We were excited to have all these wonderful actors.
03:53And then when we started to shoot the scene,
03:55definitely the temperature in the room changed.
03:57Didn't feel very good at that table.
04:00And then, you know, they would call cut and there would be a big reset
04:03because the table was a bit of a mess.
04:05And we'd sort of all go off into the living room of the Berzato house and
04:08talk and chat and be nice again.
04:10And then we'd have to go back.
04:11And again, it would start to feel kind of yucky in my tummy.
04:13Yeah, it was intense.
04:15It was like, you know, there's that many people caring about their craft
04:19and trying to deliver a scene that is a massive moment in time.
04:23When it was all said and done,
04:24I think everyone was very happy with what they put into it
04:28and kind of went back to a little bit of a chiller vibe.
04:30Yeah.
04:31You know, but it was an amazing experience.
04:34This is a headline that says,
04:35I've never liked Crocs, but Maddie Matheson just convinced me to give them a chance.
04:39Maddie, how would you describe your personal style?
04:41Well, just great overall, casual.
04:45I've said that like I kind of my personal style.
04:48I look like I deliver mail.
04:50Sprinkled in there is like a little bit of like a juvenile delinquent with a very rich dad.
04:54Yeah, that could be it.
04:56That's nice.
04:56Some pieces from dad.
04:58Yeah.
04:58Nice suits and stuff.
04:59Yeah.
04:59Steal from his closet.
05:01Yeah.
05:01You know, style icon for sure.
05:03I love dressing myself.
05:05You know, still no stylist.
05:07You know, still we're out here just putting clothes on.
05:09Just happy to get dressed every day.
05:11You need clothes.
05:12You might as well look good.
05:14Maddie is a real chef.
05:15How true to life is the depiction of restaurant life in the bear?
05:18Uh, I think is real.
05:19Every single restaurant is different.
05:21Every chef is different.
05:22Every operator is different.
05:24Every every problem in the restaurant.
05:27They're real.
05:28You know, it's very similar to like live theater.
05:31Like everything's happening behind the scenes and then service hits and you need to be there.
05:35You need to be present.
05:36You need to be ready for service.
05:38And it's it's really intense.
05:39If you could sit down for a meal with any character besides your own, who would you choose and why?
05:44I think I would in real life like to spend time with Richie.
05:50I think eating at a restaurant with Richie would be amazing because he wants to learn.
05:55He's very excited about them and he's trying to understand them.
06:00And I think a dining out with Richie would be very fun.
06:03I would be psyched to have dinner with Marcus.
06:06He's like seems so open-minded and he has almost he is a very joy like quality
06:12and really is interested in sort of taking the ride.
06:15And so I wouldn't like to go to especially sort of a more interesting restaurant with him.
06:18I think it'd be a good dinner.
06:20I think that'd be beautiful.
06:21Ed, what dish can you cook the best?
06:25Let me see.
06:26You know, it changes what I'm interested in cooking.
06:28Recently, a dish that I've been making that I know you like to make too is the like a Genovese
06:34sauce, a meat sauce, which is like a like a stew beef cooked and lots and lots of onions,
06:39red onions, different kinds of onions cooked for a very long time.
06:42It all kind of reduces and the meat starts to fall apart.
06:44It makes this really delicious, earthy kind of ragu.
06:47Yeah, it's beautiful.
06:49So that's what that's I think that right now, that's one of the top dishes in my quiver.
06:54What's your favorite dish they've cooked on the bear?
06:56Well, on set, like Courtney, who's our producer and chef,
07:01she and her team make fresh focaccia a lot.
07:06And whenever they make that, it's like a huge hit.
07:09And so whenever Coco actually makes something for everybody, it's it's fire.
07:13A little footnote to this focaccia is I did bring my own personal sourdough starter,
07:20like my little mother through the TSA, smuggled in this little bit of yeast,
07:25kind of, and that got incorporated into the focaccia.
07:28I was a very proud dad.
07:30Yeah.
07:31Thanks so much for watching, Esquire.
07:33Yeah, have a good day and make sure that you watch the bear.