Will Arnett tells a story about lying on his Sullivan Street couch, wondering if he’s just delivered the best scene of his career or the worst.
He’s just wrapped the “vampire scene” in Bradley Cooper’s “Is This Thing On” — a brutal, unraveling stand-up set where his character Alex loses his grip on reality in front of a comedy club audience. There’s no certainty, no safety net. Just the raw vulnerability of a 55-year-old actor who spent decades hiding behind heightened characters and is now stripped down to nothing but truth.
Arnett has made a career out of playing characters who deflect emotion with wit, archness or bravado. From “Arrested Development” to “BoJack Horseman” to the self-parodying swagger of “The Lego Batman Movie,” he’s long been one of comedy’s most recognizable voices — literally and figuratively. But in “Is This Thing On,” Arnett delivers something startling with a performance stripped of irony, vanity or comedic armor. It’s a performance that aches.
And, perhaps most surprising, Arnett co-wrote the film, shaping a story that ultimately demanded his own emotional risk.
“I’ve played a lot of characters that have been heightened over my career,” Arnett says, almost wincing at the word career. “I always blush at that term. But for me, playing something that was much more stripped down, Bradley and I would talk about a lot when we were shooting. He would just say, ‘You have to let it all go. You can’t worry about all this other stuff. You can’t think about a result. You got to just try to be.’ And I’d be like, ‘Oh, this is hard.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, it’s really hard. We have to start from zero every moment.’”
Starting from zero became Arnett’s daily mantra. It was a reminder that dramatic acting isn’t about technique or tricks but about surrendering to the discomfort. He watches actors like Benicio Del Toro and Paul Giamatti, marveling at how they make the impossible look effortless, questioning whether they experience the same paralyzing doubt he felt on set.
“I remember watching ‘The Holdovers’ and what Paul did,” Arnett says with reverence. “I wonder if people realize how hard it is because you go, ‘Well, yeah, that’s not hard. He’s not speaking in a weird voice.’ But behaviorally, what he did is so hard.”
The journey to “Is This Thing On” began years ago when Arnett met John Bishop, the real divorced father whose Monday night open mics became his therapy. Something about Bishop’s story resonated immediately — the pressure of single fatherhood, the search for relief, the way comedy can become both escape and confession. But Arnett admits he initially lacked the courage to dig as deep as the story demanded.
“I couldn’t have imagined that we would make the movie that we got to make,” he says. “Originally, especially the first couple drafts, I don’t know if I didn’t have the guts or the gear. It wasn’t what it ended up being once Bradley came on. Bradley was a big part of recognizing how we could really dig into this story and really go to those places, those emotional places.”
Those places proved more treacherous than Arnett anticipated. Scenes left him feeling “waist deep in mud,” wondering if he could even finish. He exercised muscles dormant since his early twenties, when he studied at Lee Strasberg and had time to obsess over craft without worrying about school drop-offs or making rent. The luxury of focus had been replaced by the reality of a father navigating a different kind of pressure.
But age also brought clarity. Somewhere between his 40s and now, Arnett started throwing fucks out the window — a phrase for shedding the weight of other people’s expectations and his own limiting perceptions which I bring up. His hit podcast “SmartLess” with his friends Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes reminded him that joy matters more than approval. Turning down roles that felt predictable, even when they paid well, taught him that connection trumps comfort.
“My baseline is my kids,” Arnett says simply. “And then I got to a place where I realized I’m really hell bent on just looking for joy in my life. I try to lean towards where the love is and not spend so much time hung up on stuff that’s not working.”
That philosophy extended to casting. When Laura Dern signed on to play Alex’s ex-wife Tess, Arnett found a scene partner and an anchor. Their dynamic — two parents who’ve failed as a couple but never as a team — became the film’s emotional North Star, a relationship defined not by leverage or blame but by an unspoken agreement that their kids come first.
“We never wanted to show them leveraging the kids, except for one moment,” Arnett explains. “It was just about scheduling. If you’re a parent, you get it. You’re only as happy as your least happy child.”
Cooper’s direction created space for that specificity. He pushed Arnett to trust the stillness, to find the performance in what wasn’t said. Arnett delivers what many are declare is a career-best performance, though he’s still not entirely sure how he did it.
“It felt like I was just learning a lot as I was doing it,” he admits. “And I would have these moments where I’d get really frustrated because I was thinking, ‘Am I doing it? Am I doing it the right way?’”
The answer, it turns out, was to stop performing altogether and simply exist. After 30 years of making audiences laugh, Will Arnett is finally making them feel.
On this episode of the Variety Awards Circuit Podcast, Arnett discusses his transition to dramatic roles, his personal and professional growth, his future projects and his thoughts on celebrity culture and gratitude.
Also on this episode, “Wicked For Good” director John M. Chu on his long journey through the franchise. And the Roundtable looks at the Gotham Awards, National Board of Review winners and AFI lists for Oscar predictions, plus what to look for with Monday’s Golden Globes nominations. Listen below!
Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures
Read excerpts from her interview below, which has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Was it challenging taking on your first big dramatic role in “Is This Thing On?”
You know, we talked about going from day one. The first week we did all the stand-up, and it was kind of a good entree for me, for everybody. It was a great call on Bradley’s part to shoot all the stand-up stuff first. We shot at the Comedy Cellar because through the stand-up, we really track Alex’s development and his emotional journey in a lot of ways.
Once we started to shoot all the other scenes, I had a better understanding of where we wanted to go. But even scene to scene, there were times where it was really hard for me because that was a muscle that I hadn’t exercised in a long time — probably since I was studying acting when I was 21, 22 years old. I didn’t have a lot of responsibility. I wasn’t worried about getting my kids to school on time. The focus and the dedication that it takes — I sort of underestimated it.
We’d get into doing these scenes, and there were moments where it’s like, ‘Wow, can I even get through that?’ You feel like you’re waist deep in mud.
I often wonder, “Do they go through this?” How do they do that time and time again? And I think I’m even in more awe of what they do when I watch these really, frankly, beautiful performances.
Bradley and I would talk about a lot when we were shooting. He would just say, ‘You have to let it all go. You can’t worry about all this other stuff. You can’t think about a result. You got to just try to be.’ And I’d be like, ‘Oh, this is hard.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, it’s really hard. We have to start from zero every moment.’
It is scary. I’ve always blushed at the idea of talking about process… But it does feel new. It’s new for me to sort of break down the process because it did feel like, truthfully, I was just learning a lot as I was doing it.
Who are some of the actors who inspire you?
I watch a guy like Benicio Del Toro, and I see how he moves and what he does. Sometimes the way that he makes things look so effortless — to me, a guy like him is kind of my North Star because he makes it look so easy. He does it without any tricks.
Paul Giamatti is another one. I remember watching “The Holdovers” and what he did. I loved that movie. Such a good movie. And watching Paul in that performance, I wonder if people realize how hard it is what he did. Because you go, “Well, yeah, that’s not hard. I mean, he’s not speaking in a weird voice.” But behaviorally, what he did is so hard to do.
I don’t know Alexander Payne, but I just out of the blue — I was so moved by it — I just kind of like a fanboy said, “Hey, your movie really moved me.” I don’t know what possessed me, but it really resonated.
What kind of roles are you seeking nowadays?
I think at 55, you go through life and experience shapes you. You get all sorts of different perspectives. I feel like I have more — I don’t know if I’m a slow learner, but it took me a long time to kind of throw some of the fucks out the window. I’m much more — I know what’s important to me now more than ever. My baseline is pretty secure. My baseline is my kids. I know that sounds like it is for a lot of people, and it is for a lot of people for good reason. That’s my baseline.
I’m really hellbent on just looking for joy in my life. I try to now lean towards and go towards where the love is and not spend so much time hung up on stuff that’s not working.
What I realized was, doing this process, it finally occurred to me that I should choose to do stuff that I connect with. I know that seems like a really simple concept, and I probably didn’t have the luxury to do that before in a lot of ways. Nobody’s throwing a pity party, including myself. But now I’m like, well, anything I do is going to take me away from home. Anything I do is going to be something that I’m going to want to do well. So I better feel connected to it.
What are your thoughts about how the media portrays a celebrity versus who and what they’re really like?
Celebrity culture is so interesting. I was on Conan’s podcast a couple weeks ago, and I read him this quote that really resonated with me. There’s that writer, Irish writer Sally Rooney. She wrote the book “Normal People” that they made into a show, and then she wrote “Intermezzo” and this other book, “Beautiful World, Where Are You?”
At the end of it, she has this character describing — she’s a famous author, and there’s so many tweets about her boyfriend saying this author deserves better than her boyfriend. And she goes, “Isn’t it interesting we live in a world where a complete stranger thinks they know — just because they’ve read my books and seen my picture — they know what’s better for me than I do? Not only that, not only do they think it, they say it publicly, and then they get praised for saying it, and other people agree. And in that way, they are totally insane.”
I’m not seeing somebody get in the elevator in that building there, in the law office, and saying, ‘You know, hey, stay in your lane.’ Because you don’t know them.
And again, I hear myself talk, and then I go, “Oh, somebody’s going to go, ‘You’re throwing a pity party.’” But perception is how you see yourself. All we have is our own perception. It’s the whole game. Weirdly, it’s kind of a theme that we have in our film too, about what is that perception of ourselves. That is all we have.
What’s next for you and could we see more “Murderville” from Netflix?
I’d love to do more “Murderville.” I’d love to get Bradley on it. He’d be really good at it. It was a really fun thing to do. Tom Davis, who created “Murder in Successville” in the UK, based it off that great idea. It was helpful in helping us develop it over here. I love doing it. It scratched so many itches on so many different levels for me because it was super fun.
I’m surprised — I don’t know, it just didn’t work, if I’m being totally honest. It didn’t work within whatever financial formula. It’s never been officially canceled or anything like that, but they just haven’t moved forward. They have their new division of what they consider alt comedy or whatever, and they just couldn’t agree with us on a budget. I remember having a really snarky phone call with them about it. I was like, “What do you guys — this costs nothing to make.”
But yeah, I’m totally open to more if we can get the money. We make it really fast, and it’s really fun to do. It’s just a high-wire act.
Anything else on the docket?
I don’t know, honestly. We made this movie this calendar year. We started preproduction this year, wrapped at the end of April, and Bradley delivered it in October, two days before the New York Film Festival. We’ve been out doing promotion for the film ever since. There hasn’t been really a chance to think about that in any real way.
I’d love to do more Lego Batman. I love Lord and Miller. Those guys are the best. That was a really fun time in my life, making those movies — “The Lego Movie” and “Lego Batman” — with those guys and Chris McKay. I had some of my bigger laughs with those dudes as we were trying to discover the character. I’ve talked about it before over the years, but we had a laugh one time in the booth when we were reading this line and coming up with these bits where Chris Miller ended up having to leave the room, and Phil was on his knees. We were freaking dying.
“Is This Thing On” opens on Dec. 19.
Variety’s “Awards Circuit” podcast, hosted by Clayton Davis, Jazz Tangcay, Emily Longeretta, Jenelle Riley and Michael Schneider, who also produces, is your one-stop source for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each episode, “Awards Circuit” features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives, discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines, and much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts.
