Facebook Twitter Instagram
    • Services
    • Aircheck for Actors
    • Demo Reels
    • Audition Prep/Self-Tape Reader
    • Mailing Labels
    • Contribute
    • Industry Links
    • Advertise
    Daily Actor
    Daily Actor YouTube Page Daily Actor FacebookDaily Actor Twitter Daily Actor Instagram Daily Actor Pinterest
    • Acting Tips
      • Actors on Acting
      • Advice Columns
      • Acting Quotes
      • Audition Tapes
      • How To Become An Actor
      • How to Memorize Lines
    • Monologues
      • Monologues from Plays
      • Monologues from Movies
      • Monologues from Musicals
      • Comedic Monologues
      • Dramatic Monologues
      • One Minute Monologues
      • Monologues for Women
      • Monologues for Men
      • Monologues for Teens
      • Monologues for Kids
      • All Monologues
    • Acting Resources
      • Acting Resume
        • Acting Resume Templates
      • Acting Classes
        • Los Angeles Acting Classes
        • Las Vegas Acting Classes
        • San Diego Acting Classes
      • Acting Schools and Colleges
        • Los Angeles
        • New York
        • BFA Acting Schools
      • Casting Websites
      • Headshot Photographers
        • Los Angeles
        • New York City
        • Headshot Printing
      • Acting Techniques
        • What is Method Acting?
      • Stage Directions
      • Demo Reels: Everything You Need to Know
    • Interviews
      Featured

      Interview: Donna Benedicto: “Not every character needs to fit into a box”

      Recent

      Interview: Donna Benedicto: “Not every character needs to fit into a box”

      May 1, 2023
      Jesmille-Darbouze-A-Dolls-House-Broadway-Interview

      Interview: Jesmille Darbouze on Her Role in ‘A Doll’s House’ on Broadway, Working Without Props and Why She Almost Stopped Acting

      April 27, 2023

      Interview: Lilah Fitzgerald Talks “Dream Come True” Roles in ‘Monster High’ and ‘Lucky Hank’

      April 13, 2023
    • Actor Blogs
    • Reviews
      • Movies
      • Theater
      • Books
      • Products
    • Actor Services
      • Airchecks
      • Demo Reels
      • Website Design
      • Mailing Labels
    Daily Actor
    Home » Film » Jason Segel on His Early Acting Jobs and ‘The Five Year Engagement’: “I find romantic comedies very predictable, and that’s what most people don’t like”
    Film

    Jason Segel on His Early Acting Jobs and ‘The Five Year Engagement’: “I find romantic comedies very predictable, and that’s what most people don’t like”

    Chris McKittrickBy Chris McKittrickApril 27, 2012Updated:September 16, 2018No Comments5 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

    jason-segel-five-year-engagementFrom television, movies, and even singing and dancing with the Muppets, Jason Segel is just about everywhere right now.  But what sets Segel apart from many other comedians is the active creative role he takes in his projects — for instance, he co-wrote Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Muppets, and his upcoming romantic comedy, The Five Year Engagement with his collaborator Nicholas Stoller (who also directed both Sarah Marshall and Engagement). 

    In an interview with NPR, he discusses his early acting roles, his writing process, and a surprising type of role he’d like to have one day.

    Segel might seem like he has only been in the industry for the last three or four years, but Segel actually first became noticed in the short-lived but much-loved television series Freaks and Geeks.  However, that fame was fleeting, and he reveals, “I did a show called Freaks and Geeks when I was very young. And I had the naivete and arrogance of youth. You know, I really assumed that when the show got cancelled, like, oh, it doesn’t matter, you just keep rolling, you know. I’m about to be the biggest star of the world. And then I was met with five years of unemployment. It just – with nothing. And I hadn’t gone to college, so I had no fallback plan. And I literally thought, oh my God, I’ve blown it. I am going to have to, like, move back in with my parents and go back to college and figure out some new plan. And then Judd Apatow said to me, listen, you’re kind of a weird guy.”

    Part of the problem of finding roles came from Segel’s towering height, which led to Apatow suggesting to him that he’d have to create his own roles.  He points out, “I’ve been 6’4″ since I was 12… So, at 21, I was too tall to play a kid anymore, and I was still too young to play an adult. And so I was caught in this sort of purgatory. And he said, look, the only way you’re going to make it is if you start writing your own material.”

    Though Segel has a heart for romantic movies, anyone who has seen even the opening scene of Forgetting Sarah Marshall could tell you that the movies he writes are certainly different than  the typical female-lead rom-com.  Segel admits he isn’t a fan of those movies, saying, “I find romantic comedies very predictable, and that’s what most people don’t like.  The movies that I love and model after — like Annie Hall, When Harry Met Sally, and, in particular for me, Broadcast News — [have] the tone of life, which isn’t a set-up/punch line every two minutes. I think you get bored of that movie.”

    As a result, when he was writing Engagement with Stoller, Segel says they would insert outlandish scenes just to prevent the movie from drifting to far into “rom-com” territory.  He says, “Just by nature of us being funny and the movie being largely improv, whenever we felt it going too far in that direction we would do something outlandish.  There’s a scene that is my favorite in the movie that we call the ‘all-night fight’ that is painfully real in terms of the way people fight — it’s not perfectly worded. It’s sloppy. It’s the fight where [Emily Blunt] tells me we’re going to be staying in Michigan.  We could feel that it was getting heavy, and so I told her I needed some time alone, and then so she goes to leave, and I say ‘No, I want to be alone with you here. Can you just lay here and be quiet like a normal person?'”

    While Segel is best known as a likable lead or quirky supporting character in comedies, he certainly hopes that he’ll have more opportunities in the future.  He reveals, “I would love to play a villain someday, in that I think that what I’ve done with my whole career is walk this tightrope between charming and creepy, and I always fall on the charming side — I’d like to fall on the creepy side and be like one of those very charming Gary Oldman villains.”  Yet perhaps he doesn’t have that in him, since upon reflecting on the roles he has played he adds, “But I think the common denominator of all the characters is that I think it’s very important to be nice in life. When I left the house, my mom said to me, ‘Please don’t ever forget the person you are out there is a reflection of the job I did as a mother.’ So I always think the thing of paramount importance is to be kind to people.”

    I don’t know… I’m not sure I could ever see Segel as a villain after performing a song like “Life’s a Happy Song” in The Muppets.  Seems more in line with that whole “being kind” thing he was talking about instead.

    Related

    Previous ArticleLilla Crawford to Star as ‘Annie’ in New Broadway Production
    Next Article Trailer: Judd Apatow’s ‘This is 40’ starring Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Megan Fox, John Lithgow, Melissa McCarthy, Robert Smigel, Albert Brooks & Jason Segel

    Related Posts

    David Harbour Black Widow

    David Harbour on Building a Character, Finding Contradictions and Mastering an Accent

    September 3, 2021
    Nicolas Cage in Pig

    Nicolas Cage on Using a “More Quiet and Measured Performance Style” in ‘Pig’

    August 17, 2021
    Aubrey Plaza in Black Bear

    Aubrey Plaza on Auditioning and Why UCB Was the “Best Time” of Her Life

    August 12, 2021
    Add A Comment

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Popular Pages
    Become An Actor | Acting Tips | Acting Quotes
    Acting Resume | Resume Template
    Headshot Photographers
    Los Angeles | New York
    Print Your Headshots
    Acting Schools & Colleges
    Los Angeles | New York
    Monologues
    Movies | Plays | Comedic | Dramatic
    Men | Women | Teens | Kids
    • Contact
    • About
    • Advertise
    • Resource Listings
    • Write A Column
    • Contribute
    • Privacy Policy

    Disclaimer: Daily Actor at times uses affiliate links to sites like Amazon.com, streaming services, and others. Affiliate links provides compensation to Daily Actor which helps us remain online, giving you the resources and information actors like you are looking for.

    © 2023 Daily Actor

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.