Will Arnett gets serious in his latest role playing a middle-aged New York City comedian facing divorce in Bradley Cooper’s 'Is This Thing On', saying that stripping down for the project was ‘terrifying’ for him as an actor.

Hollywood

Actor Will Arnett stars in the new film 'Is This Thing On,' marking a significant shift from his comedic roots to a raw, dramatic role. The film, inspired by the life of comedian John Bishop, explores the unraveling of a marriage and a man's journey to find his voice on stage, with Arnett drawing on personal experiences, including his own public divorce.

Arnett credits director Bradley Cooper and close friendships for grounding him during the project, describing the experience as both terrifying and fulfilling. He also highlights his ongoing connection to Toronto, his involvement in charitable work, and the importance of comedy and community in his life.

Will Arnett risks it all in raw and ‘terrifying’ new role

And you suck. You suck. Give it up for me, I'm doing great. I'm paying rent on a shitty apartment and mortgage for a house that I don't even live in anymore. So I'm the only one who doesn't know about this? Get ready for a whole new Will Arnett, risking it all in a dramatic acting role, but a comedian with a secret. We sat down to find out how it came about. Hey, Will. Hi. Eli Glasner, I'll be chatting with you. How's it going? Good, how are you? Real good. Great film, holy cow. Hey, thanks. I frankly didn't know you had it in yet. It's a... Well, I mean, I'll take that as a compliment. Well, you're kind of naked out there, you know? Like, it's off, there's no hiding. And sometimes naked. Yeah. Yeah. Shit got real, as they say. It did. Is This Thing On is about the life of a standup comedian loosely inspired by the real life of John Bishop. It never even entered my head that I sound anything that's not English. But underneath the punchlines is a story about a marriage that's unraveling and a husband who finds his voice on stage. I think I'm getting a divorce. What tipped me off was that I'm living in an apartment on my own, and my wife and kids don't live there. That was probably the biggest clue. All right, well, talking about no hiding, I wanna start by just talking about this full circle moment because I'm thinking of the young Will who went out to New York City, Strasburg, gonna be a serious actor, all of that. And then your life takes a different kind of path. You've got this undeniable funny bone. And now here you are in a dramatic role set in New York City. If you told 1990s Will about this, would he believe you? First, he'd be like, what are you doing here? What's happening? Yeah, it's a lot of things. It's a dream come true, and it's a dream forgotten come true. It's a buried dream, if you will. I left Toronto for New York in 1990, and I went down and went to Strasburg. The way that I studied was with the intent of doing roles that sort of stretch me dramatically and that sort of thing. I didn't have any background in comedy. And a young agent at William Morris said you should talk to the people in our voiceover department. That voice and Arnett's sense of humor were perfect for everything from scheming squirrels. We gotta get those nuts. To the star of the Hollywood satire, BoJack Horseman. How do you feel? Awesome. And the ultimate self-serious superhero, Lego Batman. Don't you think it's time you finally faced your greatest fear? Snakes? No. Clowns? No. Snake clowns? Was there a moment shooting this film that you kind of stopped to think, like I got here? Maybe not the way you expected, but now here you are. A million times. Yeah? Yeah. It wasn't lost on me, but I've never done anything this sort of stripped down. And it was terrifying for me in that way as an actor. Are you gonna be okay? I'll be okay. I'll be okay. For Arnett, who'd been through a very public divorce, there were parallels in this project about Alex the comedian. For you, this is kind of a radical turning point. Yeah, Alex and I were going through a lot of the same things. Kind of in parallel paths in a lot of way. Part of what helped working with Is This Thing on director and friend, Bradley Cooper. There's a scene near the end of the film where Alex goes on stage. There's a lot of tension built up to it. The club is filled with people and the crew and Bradley follows me on the stage. And then he starts walking around me and he's saying, avoid me, avoid me. And those are moments when you're really dialed in to that emotion, that it comes out in a way that's unexpected. And he drops the camera and we both stand there in front of 200 people and just hug and cry for five minutes. That's beautiful. Yeah. From developing the film with Bradley Cooper, his old roommate turned director, Arnett's always used his close friends as a way to ground himself. Such as with Smartless, the smash hit podcast he started with Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes. It started with just the three of us talking to one another. Shocking how little both of you know about anything. Can you be a different, can you be more yourself on something like Smartless in a way that you can't typically in Hollywood? Probably. I mean, Smartless, we never talk about what we're gonna say on camera, on the show. We always just kind of let it roll out. For us, it's a, you know, we get kind of giddy and goofy because we're so genuinely happy to be around each other. If friendship is one of Arnett's anchors, where he's from is the other. My name is Will Arnett and this is Toronto. He's a lifelong Leafs fan, a devoted FIFA ambassador promoting the upcoming World Cup and always makes time for his home city. And for Toronto to host is kind of like this crazy dream come true. What does Toronto do for you? When you get a chance to come back? I come back quite a lot. You know, my family is here. You know, especially now, as I get older, I like to come back even more. I like to be reminded of my roots. The world's a crazy place. I think the Canadians have pretty good perspective. We have a little Toronto message for you, actually. I'm going to play for you. It's a good one. It's from Mitzi from the hospital. You truly care about your hometown and all the people who rely on our hospital when it matters most. Our teams, patients and their families are deeply grateful. Want to tell the people who she is? Yeah, Mitzi is at Michael Garron Hospital. And you give them a lot of your time. Why is that? Yeah, it's so nice to hear her say that. My dad had a connection to the hospital and they asked me to start taking part in their raising funds through this event called Laughter is the Best Medicine that we've done, I don't know, eight or nine times now. So again, the through line of comedy, Will. Yeah. I always remind people, medicine is still the best medicine. Yeah, right, okay. If you show up at a hospital and they offer you laughter, you should find another place to seek medical attention. But yeah, I think that there is something therapeutic about comedy. You know, we have to, I love that about Canadians. They love to laugh at themselves and at each other. I feel like the kid I was when I was 20 again. I just, yeah, it's my hometown. How Canadian is Will Arnett? This Canadian. A few years ago, I was looking at a house to buy in California and it had a really steep driveway and I'm not joking. And when I first looked at it, I walked up to it and I was like, boy, that's going to be tough when it gets icy. I'm not, and then I went, what am I talking about? See, there you go. Right, and I was like, oh, it's built in. Put the Order of Canada pin right there. That's perfect. It's built in.

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Jerusalem

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