J. K. Simmons Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters
J. K. Simmons joins GQ as he revisits some of the most iconic characters in his career so far: from Spider-Man’s J. Jonah Jameson in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, to his animated role as Omni-Man in Invincible.“J. Jonah Jameson was based on Stan Lee,” says Simmons. “He confessed to me at the time that he was a little jealous that they didn’t ask him to play the part in the movie.” Watch the full episode of GQ’s Iconic Characters as J. K. Simmons breaks down his most iconic movie roles.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00You know, J.J.J. was kind of based on Stan.
00:02That was his comic version of himself.
00:05And he confessed to me at the time that, you know,
00:09he was a little jealous that they didn't ask him
00:11to play the part in the movie.
00:13♪♪
00:17The Marvel Cinematic Universe.
00:20Crap, crap, mega crap.
00:23I'll give you 200 bucks for all of them.
00:25That seems a little low.
00:26Take them somewhere else, then.
00:28I was not a comic book guy.
00:30My dad was a farm boy from Illinois,
00:31my mom was a city girl from Chicago.
00:33And we'd go to, outside of Gerlau, Illinois,
00:37to visit Cousin Weed on his farm.
00:39Was big into Marvel comic books.
00:43All the big Marvels, but Spider-Man was his boy.
00:46He was his favorite.
00:48And he, even at that age, like,
00:50appreciated that Spider-Man was just this regular kid
00:53who, something happened,
00:54and he gets turned into a superhero,
00:56but he still wants to be this regular kid
00:59in his real life.
01:01And that was the genius of the Sam Raimi trilogy of,
01:05you know, that brought Marvel to, you know,
01:08what it is today.
01:09He didn't make a movie about Spider-Man.
01:10He made a movie about Peter Parker
01:12and made it so relatable for audiences.
01:15And thank you, Sam, for championing me
01:19to play J. Jonah Jameson, which was, you know,
01:21I had vivid memories of J.J.J. from the comic books.
01:25A guy with a mustache and a big flat top
01:27and this big mouth full of white teeth
01:29and this angry snarl.
01:31Wait, wait, I got it.
01:32Dr. Octopus.
01:34But I like it.
01:35Of course you do.
01:36Dr. Octopus.
01:38New villain in town.
01:39Doc Ock.
01:41Genius.
01:42What, are you looking for a raise?
01:43Get out.
01:44I had already done two films with Sam for Love of the Game.
01:47You know, I went and I auditioned and everything,
01:49which is, I was certainly used to doing at the time.
01:51I mean, it was such a fun chance to play,
01:54even though I love playing grounded,
01:57subtle, real, intense characters.
02:00As I read every Spider-Man comic I could get my hands on,
02:04it just more and more screamed,
02:07this is a character, as much as any character in the movie,
02:10maybe more, that needs to jump off the pages
02:13of the comic book and be larger than life in his energy
02:18and have this Preston Sturgess kind of rhythm
02:21and vibe to it.
02:22I had never met Stan and didn't even know,
02:24and this is kind of obvious to anybody
02:27who's really paying attention or smarter than I am,
02:30that J.J.J. was kind of based on Stan,
02:35comic version of himself.
02:38He confessed to me at the time that he was a little jealous
02:42that they didn't ask him to play the part in the movie,
02:45but having seen you do it, I thought you were fantastic
02:50and you were very, very nice things,
02:53which obviously coming from the man
02:56was a great, great compliment.
03:00There you have it, folks, conclusive proof
03:02that Spider-Man was responsible
03:04for the brutal murder of Mysterio,
03:06an interdimensional warrior who gave his life
03:09to protect our planet and who will no doubt
03:11go down in history as the greatest superhero of all time.
03:15My reintroduction as J.J.J. in the Tom Holland movies
03:20with John Watts directing, who I did not know,
03:23and Amy Pascal, who I knew from the very beginning,
03:26I mean, like the movie was in the can.
03:28I don't even know whose idea it was.
03:30It was Amy, it was John, if it was somebody else.
03:33Hey, we could squeeze in a little J. Jonah Jameson here.
03:37I mean, why not get J.K. and see if he'll do it?
03:41And of course I was intrigued by the idea.
03:44You know, we're not gonna do like, you know,
03:45the flat top and the mustache and the cigar and all that.
03:48And I was like, what?
03:51That's like half of the guy, what do you mean?
03:55We're not, you know, trying to wrap my brain around that.
03:57And they were like, well, it's, you know,
03:59yours were so, you know, so great.
04:00And so like, felt like a period piece and da-da-da-da-da.
04:03And, you know, we're, this is, you know,
04:04this is, we're modernizing the franchise
04:06and he's not a newspaper guy.
04:08He's a media mogul of this and that.
04:10We were shooting a day or two later
04:14and we shot it in somebody's office.
04:16It wasn't on a stage.
04:17It was like, you know, it happened fast.
04:20I honestly think they didn't have time to get a wig made.
04:23I think it may have come down to that.
04:26I just kind of pitched, you know,
04:28I want to have the same like color thing going on.
04:31I really would like to keep the mustache, keep the cigar,
04:35keep, I mean, it's the same character, right?
04:37It's the same vibe.
04:38And they were, oh yes, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely.
04:41So I, you know, we made that compromise
04:43and I need to ask that question someday.
04:46They probably wouldn't admit it.
04:48["Whiplash"]
04:50Whiplash.
04:53Now, are you a rusher or are you a dragger
04:56or are you going to be on my fucking time?
04:59I'm going to be on your time.
05:00Obviously, it's one of the most genius pieces of writing.
05:04It was one of those things that I read
05:07and just, I mean, I don't know if I was literally shaking,
05:12but I could 100% see myself as Fletcher
05:18in every sentence, every frame of the movie.
05:22I understood who this guy was,
05:25what he wanted, what he needed.
05:27And I knew that I was the right guy.
05:31Tenor, let's start the pickup to 11.
05:34Three, four.
05:35Same spot.
05:36Three, four.
05:39Okay, all right.
05:40Well, you're in the first chair.
05:41Let's see if it's just because you're cute.
05:44Three, four.
05:46Yep, that's fine.
05:47The first thing he said was,
05:49JK, I want to sort of take some of the onus off of you.
05:52I want to put you at ease with the musical aspects of this.
05:55We'll have a technical advisor for you, a conductor.
05:58For a lot of the long shots,
05:59we can just use a body double to do the actual,
06:02so don't be intimidated.
06:04And I'm staring at him like,
06:07dude, I'm a classically trained musician.
06:10I wanted to be Leonard Bernstein.
06:12I'm a conductor,
06:13so I'm not just going to be some actor up there
06:15waving his arm.
06:16I will learn these scores.
06:18And then another piece of kismet,
06:20he had no idea that Miles had been playing drums
06:22since he was 15 years old,
06:24and that he wouldn't have to fake all of it.
06:26And he said,
06:27I want you as the actor,
06:29so don't be intimidated.
06:30And that he wouldn't have to fake all the drumming either.
06:33Not my fucking tempo!
06:38Sorry, guys, I hate to put you through this.
06:42If you need to fucking take a dump
06:44or get a coffee, whatever,
06:46now might be a good time
06:47because we're going to stay here
06:48until I find a drummer who can fucking play in time.
06:50What was most important to this character?
06:53Jazz, music, art, nothing else mattered.
06:57There is no perfection in art,
07:01but attaining perfection in your art
07:06is still the goal.
07:08He is such a psychopath
07:11that nothing else matters.
07:13While that's not me,
07:16I do understand wanting to make great art.
07:20Was I rushing or was I dragging?
07:23Rushing or dragging?
07:24Rush, I don't know.
07:25Start counting again.
07:26One, two, three, four.
07:27One, two, three, four.
07:28One, two, three, four.
07:29Stop.
07:30Rushing or dragging?
07:31Rushing!
07:31So you do know the difference!
07:33People should watch that short film.
07:34It's really great.
07:36And it was made for no money.
07:38There was such a clear path into this character
07:41from what Damien had put on paper.
07:43When we were making the short film,
07:45I was concerned that this kid
07:46was in over his head as a director.
07:48Obviously, he was a brilliant writer.
07:50I mean, Damien's like getting to make a movie in Hollywood.
07:54His, you know, dream project with professional actors
07:59and the self-confidence that he had
08:02by the time we got to the set with Miles and me
08:06was remarkable.
08:11Faster!
08:15Faster!
08:17Faster!
08:20Miles said in one interview at one point,
08:22somebody was asking about this scene
08:24where I've just been rehearsing and rehearsing the band
08:26and they walk out of the stage door
08:28and walk down this alley exhausted.
08:30And some interviewer was asking about that
08:32and Miles said, you know what?
08:33It's a lot easier to just be exhausted
08:35than to play exhausted.
08:37And that was the case in that scene.
08:39But at the same time, it was a nonstop labor of love
08:44for the three of us, for sure, the four of us,
08:47you know, almost everybody on that set.
08:50Juno.
08:52I'm a show business ignoramus, still.
08:55A little less so than I was back then in 2000, whatever.
09:00So I had an audition for a movie called
09:03Thank You For Smoking.
09:05Drove out to Santa Monica for an hour
09:07from my place in Hollywood.
09:09And of course, as always, they're behind schedule
09:12and, you know, it's pre-production
09:13and they have a million things going on.
09:15And I wait for almost an hour
09:17and, you know, the director's not there yet.
09:19I go out to my car and I'm debating
09:21whether I'm gonna put another two bucks in the meter
09:25or whether I'm just gonna say, you know what?
09:27I wanna go back home and have lunch with my wife.
09:30And this guy is parking in front of me
09:33and comes out of his car and he goes,
09:35J.K.
09:36And I'm thinking, wow, I don't usually get recognized.
09:39And when I go, hi.
09:41And he goes, it's Jason, I'm the director.
09:43I'm so excited to see you.
09:44And I'm like, wow, I'm so excited.
09:46And he goes, Jason, I'm the director.
09:48I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry to be late.
09:50And I was like, oh yeah, I was just coming out
09:51to plug my meter and we went and met.
09:54And he foolishly trusted me with the role of B.R.
09:57in an underrated movie, by the way,
09:59Thank You For Smoking, Jason Reitman's first feature.
10:03Fast forward, he and I, despite the fact
10:05that I'm his father's generation,
10:07he becomes not just a friend,
10:08but another kind of mentor to me
10:10because he knows the film business
10:13and the film art inside and out.
10:16And when I go, do you want to play poker?
10:19He says, no.
10:20And I go, perfect, want to join my poker game
10:23and we'll take some of your money.
10:25He shows up, he hands me a script.
10:27This is really great.
10:29And it kind of just talks about
10:31what wonderful writing it is.
10:32What he doesn't say is,
10:34we want you to play Juno's dad, Mac McGuff.
10:38Jason, unbeknownst to me,
10:41was having producers and money people
10:45and big time movie stars to play the parents,
10:49a pop star to play Juno.
10:51Jason puts his heels into the ground
10:54and he says, I want Elliot Page to play Juno.
10:57I want J.K. Simmons to play the dad
11:00and I want Alice and Janney to play the stepmom.
11:02So, Juno, how was your little maneuver last night?
11:05Well, which maneuver, sir?
11:07The one where I moved an entire living room set
11:08from one lawn to the other,
11:09or the one where I downed a 64 ounce blue sushi
11:13in 10 minutes?
11:14Juno, did you by any chance barf in my urn?
11:17I'll never forget my first day arriving
11:19at the set up in Vancouver
11:20and somebody introduced me to Diablo
11:23and I just, it was like an out-of-body experience.
11:27I couldn't stop myself from just giving her
11:29this big fatherly hug because she had written
11:33such a brilliant father character who loves his kids.
11:38I had kids.
11:39I didn't have a teenage daughter,
11:41but it was enormously helpful to me
11:45to be a father in playing Mac McGuff
11:48and to play the scene where Juno tells us
11:51that she's pregnant and it was a scene
11:54that could have so easily been played
11:57as what Juno was afraid of.
11:58Oh my God, dad is gonna be so pissed off, you know?
12:01No, I don't, I mean, who was the father, Juno?
12:07It's Pauly Bleeker.
12:10Pauly Bleeker?
12:12What?
12:14I didn't think he had it in him.
12:15Being a dad, I was just heartbroken.
12:18Whatever choice she ends up making,
12:22it's gonna be difficult.
12:23Such a big part of what makes that relationship work
12:28between Juno and her dad.
12:29And then we get to see the great scenes
12:30where they go together to Jason and Jennifer's house
12:33who were so great.
12:35June Buck has a wonderful sense of humor,
12:37just one of her many genetic gifts.
12:39And then the scene at the kitchen table,
12:40the post-birth scene in the hospital.
12:42I mean, it was such a creative gift
12:46and just a gift to my psyche and my soul
12:51to be able to play a loving, wonderful guy.
12:58Someday you'll be back here, honey.
13:02On your terms.
13:03It's something that I will always look back on
13:07with gratitude to Jason and to everybody involved.
13:12♪♪
13:15The Yellow M&M.
13:19So you think Santa would like these red and green M&Ms?
13:21I had just done New York Undercover,
13:24a Dick Wolf cop show,
13:25where I played a uniformed cop, a New York cop,
13:28fast-talking, questionably ethical,
13:32well, no, bad cop on the take, you know?
13:35Young bucks are hard to read.
13:38Never can tell where your ambition might take you.
13:40I might've been in the middle of shooting that
13:41or had just finished it.
13:42And I show up at this audition
13:44and there are little character descriptions
13:46of the red M&M and it says,
13:47he's this fast-talking, wise, blah, blah, blah.
13:50And the yellow M&M is slow, sweet, kind of dumb, you know.
13:54I'm in red M&M mode, right?
13:56And I go into the, you know, you sign in,
13:59you check, you wait, hi, guys.
14:00You go in, Janet Eisenberg, this wonderful casting director.
14:04Oh, JK, hi.
14:05So yeah, so you'll read yellow and it's gonna be,
14:08and I was like, whoa.
14:09It was like I was talking to Scorsese about, you know.
14:13I said, nah, I mean, I'm red.
14:16Hey, he's a fast-talking, blah, blah, blah, blah.
14:18I gotta be red.
14:19And she's like, I mean, you absolutely could.
14:22You know, you're a wonderful actor.
14:23I really see you more.
14:25And we had this ridiculous back and forth
14:28with her talking me into auditioning for the yellow M&M.
14:33Thank you, Janet.
14:35He does exist.
14:36They do exist.
14:40Uh, Santa?
14:41Billy West, of course, is cast as the red M&M
14:44and we've been doing it, is it 30 years?
14:46I mean, it's been a long time.
14:49As that campaign grew and Billy and I became
14:51sort of entrenched as red and yellow
14:55and the salary went up, you know,
14:57that was the first time that I felt like
15:02I'm in a position now financially
15:04where I don't have to take every single acting job
15:08and be away from my family for, you know,
15:10three weeks in wherever.
15:12I can do what I wanna do and I can try to stay home,
15:16have a life and a career at the same time,
15:19which I know is weird in the show business.
15:22When you're making a movie,
15:23you're supposed to not have a life.
15:24But that has been and continues to be,
15:28thank you, M&M Mars,
15:30a great character to play
15:33and a really, another blessing in my life.
15:36["Livestock"]
15:42Livestock.
15:43That's what you are.
15:46My livestock.
15:49Because now, Tobias,
15:51your ass belongs to me.
15:53Speaking of blessings in my life,
15:55Tom Fontana, thank you.
15:57One of the best bosses anybody could ever have anywhere.
16:02People don't know how much they owe
16:05to Tom Fontana and Oz.
16:07Vern Schillinger, he's the head of the Aryan Brotherhood
16:10in this maximum security prison.
16:12We didn't even have scripts,
16:14full scripts to audition for.
16:16He had scenes that Harold Perrineau's character
16:19in the box, where Harold Perrineau's character
16:21acts as the Greek chorus and talks directly to the camera
16:25and fills us in on what's happening.
16:27And he had most of the actors
16:28just reading some of those scenes.
16:30He just wanted to get a sense for how they are
16:32with his words.
16:34And he told me about Vern
16:36and what the character was gonna be.
16:37And this is, I mean, I'm not making the big M&M box yet.
16:42I'm from hunger, right?
16:43And this is an unbelievable opportunity,
16:47but I'm afraid of it
16:48because I don't wanna be typecast
16:53as the Nazi bastard for the rest of my career.
16:55I just, my heart and soul could not do that.
16:59But I also recognize brilliance when I see it.
17:02And I'm like, I wanna be a part of it.
17:04But foolishly, maybe, but wisely, ultimately,
17:06I expressed that, my trepidation to Tom Fontana, you know?
17:13And he was very understanding of it.
17:15And he said, look, I will find a way into this character
17:20for you that will work.
17:23Will think he's something else.
17:27And he'll, our everyman character that Lee Turgison played,
17:31will think he's gonna be a mentor or a bodyguard
17:34or, you know, a friend.
17:36And then as things unfold,
17:38then he'll turn out to be the most evil bastard
17:40on the planet.
17:42All that took place in about the first half
17:43of the first episode.
17:45And by the end of that episode,
17:46I'm tattooing his behind and, you know, whatever.
17:50Another day at the job.
17:51I've been looking for you.
17:53Yeah, what do you want, Charlie?
17:57Heard you crippled Billy Keene.
17:59The Aryan Brotherhood is grateful.
18:01That was the first time I got recognized
18:02on the street all the time.
18:03And people would come up to me and go, I hate you.
18:06Except a couple times, like guys would come up to me
18:10and go, right on, brother.
18:11I dig what you're saying, man.
18:13And I'd be like, okay, okay, let's pretend.
18:18Not really that guy.
18:19We turned so many heads when Eamon Walker and I,
18:22Eamon Walker, who, first of all,
18:23people don't realize is English.
18:25I'm telling him about baseball
18:26and how baseball is the best game on the planet.
18:28And he's like, no, man, cricket.
18:29And I'm like, pfft.
18:31So I take him to the Tigers.
18:33My team is playing the Yankees.
18:35And people, the reactions we got,
18:37seeing the head of the Black Muslims
18:39and the head of the Aryan Brotherhood,
18:41and he's wearing a Yankees cap, like a,
18:44and I'm wearing my Tigers cap.
18:45And people were just like, whoa, whoa, whoa,
18:47what is happening here right now?
18:49Typical of the sort of camaraderie level
18:53we had on that show.
18:54That was such a blessing for so many actors.
18:58I mean, kicked off the careers
19:00of so many wonderful young New York actors
19:03who, you know, gone on to do other great stuff.
19:06♪♪
19:10Invincible.
19:12This is the beginning of a long journey for you and me.
19:15Along the way, you're gonna need to do things
19:18you don't want to do or might not think you can do.
19:22It's okay to be scared.
19:24It's natural to doubt yourself.
19:26But if you can push through that
19:28and do what needs to be done, you'll do just fine.
19:31Invincible came to me out of the blue.
19:34And I read, I think, the one script that was available
19:38and thought it was really good.
19:39They actually had first approached me
19:41about playing a different character.
19:42And I read it and I thought,
19:43well, this is, like, really smart and weird and cool.
19:50And this sounds silly because it's animated.
19:54But I just kind of didn't see myself as the character
19:57that they were saying they would want me to play.
20:00And I passed on it.
20:02And then, I don't know how much later,
20:04they came back and asked me to play Nolan Omni-Man.
20:08Why did you make me do this?
20:10You're fighting so you can watch
20:12everyone around you die.
20:14Think, Mark.
20:15You'll outlast every fragile, insignificant being
20:18on this planet.
20:19I don't think I knew how twisted it was at the time.
20:22I was just reading the first script, maybe the first two.
20:25So, to me, it was another interesting dad character.
20:30Steven Yeun and Sandra Oh, I think, were already attached.
20:33And I thought, they're both fantastic
20:34and I'd love to work with them,
20:35even if it's on a recording studio doing animation.
20:40Coincidentally, they were recording them
20:42about three quarters of a mile from my house.
20:44So, it took me about four minutes on my bike
20:46to go to the recording studio.
20:48So, I was like, yeah, sure, yeah, I'll do it.
20:50No idea that it would become the hit.
20:54I mean, it's iconic.
20:56It's completely blown up.
21:00And I get comments from strangers on the street
21:04about Invincible and Omni-Man,
21:08as much as I do for any of the other things
21:11we're talking about here today.
21:12It's had such an impact.
21:14And especially with animation,
21:15where literally there's no boundaries.
21:19The creative team can take it wherever they want to go.
21:23And it's really been a fun journey
21:25to be on and to be continuing.
21:27♪♪
21:30BoJack Horseman.
21:32Look, honey, I've been in this business a long time, okay?
21:35Long time.
21:36And as I once said to a young Ed Begley Sr.,
21:38it ain't a done deal till the deals are all done.
21:41BoJack Horseman came out of the blue, too,
21:42and I hadn't seen the show.
21:44And I read the script, and I was like, this is hilarious.
21:48And they wanted me to play a character that's,
21:50you know, a voice character, obviously,
21:51that's kind of different from,
21:54rarr, rarr, rarr, rarr, rarr, you know,
21:56J. Jonah Jameson to play this,
21:57you know, the nudgy turtle agent guy.
22:00That was a no-brainer to jump on board
22:03and do my fun, silly, recurring character
22:06on that, like, just weird, subversive, hilarious show.
22:12That was really fun.
22:13♪♪
22:16Legend of Korra.
22:19I have done my best to guide Republic City
22:21towards the dream my father had for it.
22:23But you are right.
22:24It has fallen out of balance since he passed.
22:27I thought I should put off your training
22:28in order to uphold his legacy.
22:31But you are his legacy.
22:33Legend of Korra was all about our kids
22:37who had been gigantic fans, as we were,
22:40of the original Avatar cartoon series
22:43and the themes of that and the execution of that.
22:46It was such a good show.
22:47We watched it with our kids.
22:48Yeah, when that opportunity came up,
22:50absolutely jumped at it.
22:52You don't know how happy I am
22:53to hear you so full of hope again.
22:56It's been a bit of a bumpy ride, huh?
22:58I've come to realize life is one big, bumpy ride.
23:02Unfortunately, because it takes a long time in animation,
23:04you record it and then, you know,
23:06sometimes longer than a feature film.
23:09It comes out a year later or a year and a half later.
23:11Our kids were, like, really not interested
23:13in me being in that.
23:16I was so crushed at the time.
23:20But they were thrilled when I did guest spots
23:23on SpongeBob and The Simpsons.
23:25That's an unusual playing style,
23:28but still, he sounds magnificent.
23:31What you're experiencing
23:32is the phenomenon known as transference,
23:33where you project your feelings towards your mother
23:34onto your art teacher.
23:35Anytime you find yourself wanting to hug Mrs. Hakamuchi,
23:37snap this rubber band on your wrist.
23:40That was more their vibe.
23:44Being the Ricardos.
23:46Is everything all right?
23:47The three of us are on an empty soundstage
23:50at two in the morning.
23:50She's drunk, I'm not, so yeah, everything's great.
23:54Why do you ask?
23:55I was terrified of doing Being the Ricardos.
23:58The script is great, I'm just,
24:00I have never been a fan, as an actor or audience,
24:04of biopics.
24:05I mean, talk about iconic characters.
24:07You know, Bill Frawley, all four of those characters,
24:11Lucille and Ricky especially.
24:12It was intimidating.
24:14I did not want to do it.
24:16Finally, you know, Aaron and I connected
24:18and he put my fears at ease
24:21and he kept saying genius things like,
24:25I don't want impressions, I want impressions.
24:27I want who he is, you know.
24:29And you're going, you're selling me a car here.
24:32I mean, of course you want an impression.
24:36Everybody has seen I Love Lucy.
24:39It's still on the air.
24:41We have to do impressions.
24:42Well, yes and no.
24:44I mean, when we were recreating the show within the show,
24:47when we were doing scenes from I Love Lucy,
24:50yeah, we were doing our best to mimic.
24:53But when I was playing Bill Frawley,
24:55he gave us such, such freedom
24:58to just inhabit these characters
25:01in the way that we felt worked,
25:04in the way that we could,
25:05in the way that we were capable of.
25:07Untie this coat.
25:09Not until you kiss and make up.
25:11I'll never make up with him after the things he said.
25:14What about the things you said to me?
25:16She said my mother looks like a weasel.
25:18Apologize, Ethel.
25:20Oh, come on, Ethel.
25:21Tell him you're sorry.
25:24Well, I'm sorry your mother looks like a weasel.
25:27Obviously, it turned out to be a wonderful movie
25:30and another in my long list of blessings.
25:34Thank you, Aaron.
25:35♪♪
25:38The Union.
25:40Hell of a wake-up call, huh, Mike?
25:44Who are you?
25:44Tom Brennan, local 1225.
25:47The script just landed in my inbox
25:49and I was immediately predisposed to want to do it.
25:54I love Mark.
25:55We'd worked together years before
25:57on a movie called Contraband.
25:59I've been a big fan of his forever.
26:01He's one of those actors that
26:03there's never a false moment with him on camera,
26:05whether it's a gritty drama or a comedy
26:09or a sort of mashup, which is ultimately what The Union is.
26:12It's a really good, intricate spy story,
26:15but there's really fun banter.
26:16And I think it was right after I got it
26:19that they said, oh, by the way,
26:20you might've heard of Halle Berry.
26:22She's playing Roxanne.
26:24And I was like, wow.
26:25And then as the cast list continued to grow,
26:27Adewale from Oz that I knew,
26:29Jackie Earl Haley, Lorraine Bracco,
26:31who I didn't work with, but who's fantastic.
26:34Yeah, I was very excited to sign up.
26:36I need some answers.
26:38Okay, what do you want to know?
26:39What do you mean, what do I want to know?
26:40Am I being kidnapped?
26:41One of the ways you can tell
26:42whether or not you're being kidnapped
26:43is if a guy tosses you the keys
26:45to a $200,000 sport utility vehicle
26:47and offers to buy you breakfast.
26:49A spy movie where there's high stakes,
26:50we do have to save the world.
26:52And there is that tension and those twists and turns,
26:55but with a intermittent sort of banter in between.
27:00Now that I think of it,
27:01not all that unlike a Marvel movie,
27:03a Spider-Man movie.
27:04We're saving the world,
27:05but we're cracking jokes while we do it.