February 13, 2025 • 48 mins
We’re looking back at Katie’s 2022 conversation with Adam Scott, who you’ll know from some truly bingeable TV, including “Parks and Rec,” the cult-fave “Party Down,” “Big Little Lies,” and now the psychological thriller, “Severance” from Apple TV. Adam is one of those actors you feel like you know. But going into this conversation, Katie realized she didn’t really know anything about him. On this episode of Next Question with Katie Couric, Katie and Adam talk about his cuss-loving hippie mom, his fondness for forts, and his youthful, almost delusional, drive to become an actor. They dive into the uncanny timeliness of “Severance” and also go back to Adam’s youth and his Harrison Ford ah ha moment. No doubt, you’ll come away loving Adam Scott just as much as you thought you did.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, everyone. I'm Katie Couric and this is next question.
You know, when I was getting ready to interview the
actor Adam Scott, I wasn't sure what I was in for.
I didn't know that much about him. Of course I
recognized him from a lot of different roles, but I
really didn't know what to expect, and I have to
admit I ended up really really liking Adam Scott. Hello, Adam, Hi. Hi,
(00:27):
it's Katie. Hi. I learned a lot about him during
the course of our conversation. That I would have loved
his mom, That he lives close to the house we've
been rinding in LA for the past couple of months.
That he loves building forts. You're going to think it's
really weird, but I'm doing this under a blanket because
this room is super echoey.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
I don't mind.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Let's just pretend like we're in a fort that we
made as kids.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I love it. I love forts, and I love cozy its,
and it's cozy and fort like.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
And that nothing was going to stop him from becoming
an actor, even though he may do with bit parts
scraping a living together for fifteen years. Nevertheless, he persisted.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
You look back and you're like, oh my god, I
was nowhere.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Ironically, after wanting to break into Hollywood for so long,
the first big acting gig he got was playing a
Hollywood want to be stuck in a dead end catering
job and the now cult favorite show Party Down. Were
you were you that guy?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yes, it was you were You.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Were totally that guy. That is bananas.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I remember that. I remember you. Yeah, what are you
doing working here? Well?
Speaker 1 (01:45):
You remember me from anything else? Spoiler alert. It works
out for our dear Adam. He has starred in some
truly vengeable TV, from Parks and rec to Big Little
Eyes to now Front and Center in a new series
called Severance.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Hello, my name is Mark S and I have of
my own free accord, elected to undergo the procedure known
as Severance.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
We get into the show, Adam's scrappy beginnings, that magnificent quoth,
and much more. I hope you enjoy our chat as
much as I did. I'm excited to talk about Severance because,
oh cool. When I first saw billboards advertising your new
show on Apple TV, I thought, Wow, that is really
(02:39):
extraordinary timing. Here we are on the heels of a
pandemic that has left so many people of all ages
rethinking the workplace, rethinking, you know, what we want to
do with our lives. There's the Great Resignation, which other
people have called the Great Reset. But it seems almost
(03:00):
uncanny that this show is coming out at this moment.
Was it complete serendipity or was it did you foresee
something happening in the culture.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
It was complete serendipity. I mean the show was written
pre pandemic, and we were going to start shooting April
of twenty twenty and had to delay, you know, obviously
for seven months and started that. We started shooting the
day after the election in November twenty twenty, and so
(03:36):
we were shooting right in the heart of pre vaccine
New York pandemic. It was, as everyone knows, it was
a crazy time. And so no, I think it was
complete serendipity. But you know, Dan Ericson the creator and writer,
(03:56):
and Ben Stiller, the director and executive producer, you know,
kind of the creative forces really behind the show, you know,
as serendipitous, but I think also the the kind of
everything we're feeling right now and kind of the result
of everything that's happened the past couple of years. You know,
(04:19):
you have to think that the seeds of this have
been planted for some time. It's just we were accelerated, Yeah,
for the past couple of years.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
That's so interesting. I think you're so right. I think
millennials and now gen z people, I don't know gen
z ers. I think this sort of restlessness and this
questioning of career tracks and the idea. I remember giving
a commencement address and saying most millennials will change jobs
(04:48):
and average of fourteen times in their lifetime, you know.
And I think we've seen this slow shift from people
who work for one company their entire lives, retire with
the of old watch a lunch and a pension, and
this very different view of work and priorities. So I
(05:09):
think you're right. Everything accelerated. I think all these pre
existing trends accelerated during the pandemic. But while you were
shooting it, did you sort of feel like this feels
very of the moment. We've kind of captured lightning in
a bottle in terms of some of the themes that
this show presents.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
You know, it was tough to see the forest for
the trees while we were shooting because it was such
a gargantuan task in front of us, in front of you.
I remember Amy Poehler used to call it being at
the bottom of show mountain when you're just starting a
new show that no one knows what it is, so
(05:53):
there's no definition to it, and you're at the bottom
of the mountain when you know when you're at episode
one of hopefully as many as possible, but you have
to shoot the show, but you also have to construct
and define it, find the tone, all of those things
that make a show work. You have to sort of
(06:17):
figure it out as you're doing it, because there's no
really knowing what it's going to be, what it's going
to feel like until those cameras are rolling and you
have everyone in the room doing it, and so it
is like being at the bottom of a mountain. And
that's how it felt. And for me, never having been
(06:39):
at the center of something quite so big and challenging,
I just was, you know, day to going, trying to
just jump from one lily pad to the next, keeping
up with the work and.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Under these extraordinary circumstances in the middle of COVID, where
you guys were probably being tested on a regular basis,
and having to keep your distance and wear masks when
you're not you know, when they don't say action. I
mean that that must have been really tough.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
It was really interesting. And the isolation of it what
you just said, they you know, the moment they called cut,
putting a mask and a shield up in front of
your face. We never even saw the cruise faces for
the ten months we're working on the show. And then
also you go home, and I was away from my family.
(07:38):
I was in New York, so I live in Los Angeles,
so I was by myself in an apartment in New York.
And pre vaccine, New York was, especially in the fall
of twenty twenty, was pretty lockdown. It was pretty and
it was pretty eary.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
As somebody who lives in the city too, you know,
you would walk out on Park Avenue and in the
middle of the day and there it was empty, no cars.
I mean, honestly, it was like a movie.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
I know, it was crazy. It was like a mid
nineties like Wolfgang Peterson movie or something. So so yeah,
I would shoot the show for twelve hours or whatever,
get in a van, go back to the apartment, eat, sleep,
wake up, get in a van, go to the show,
(08:29):
and the show was this kind of stark, isolated, strange environment,
and so it was very severance, like my kind of
existence parallel to the show.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
It was.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
It was very very strange, and I was, you know,
grappling with a loss in my life and alone for
the first time in six months after this intent time
with family, you know, like we all did, we really
buckled down. I buckled down with my two kids and
(09:06):
my wife for six months and had this extraordinary time
together and then to suddenly just be boom, You're by yourself,
uh uh, in a in a in the city and working,
and you know, it was a it was like slamming
the brakes on and then getting into a car you've
(09:27):
never driven before and trying to figure it out. That's
a metaphor that I'm not going to keep following.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
I was so excited to see your your mug on
the billboard and that pretty serious head of hair of yours,
although it was kind of slicked down in the billboard.
I'm not obsessed with hair. Your hair just happens to
look lovely today, Oh, thank you very much, very fresh
and maybe just washed. But anyway, you know, tell me
(09:55):
about the plot a little bit about your character the
show and how this whole idea was turned into I
guess what I would describe as a psychological thriller of sorts.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Yeah, I think I think I think that's right. I
think it's a bunch of different things, kind of there's
a few balls that are in the air with the show,
and I think that's what really kind of got Ben
really Ben still really interested in it. It is that
(10:31):
it has this sort of this the entry into the
story sort of feels workplace, like a fun workplace comedy
in a way, like office space or the officer parks
and rec even this sort of light, fun bantery way in,
and then you sort of sense that there's something a
(10:53):
little more sinister maybe lurking underneath, and then you kind
of realize that this is this fun office vibe that
involves people who have no idea what they're doing there
or who they are. Yeah. I mean the conceit of
the show is that we live in a time where
(11:15):
there's this technology where you can get a chip inserted
into your brain that bifurcates your memories. So when you
go to work, once you cross the threshold of your workplace,
you lose all of your memory of who you are
in the outside world, and your entire life and perspective
on your life is there at work, and so that
(11:37):
is who you are. And then when you leave at
the end of the day and cross that threshold once again,
something is triggered in the chip in your brain and
you have no access to the memories of what just
happened at work, and you have no idea actually what
your job even is. You just live in the outside world.
So the idea is you can completely focus on your
(12:00):
personal life and then you can completely focus on your
job and never the twain shall meet. And so the
work life balance is finally solved. There is a complete
balance in the work life conundrum.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
So I'll never leave here.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
You'll leave it five well, actually they stagger exits, so
five point fifteen. But it won't feel like it, not
to this version of you anyway. Do you have a family,
You'll never know.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
I have no choice.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Well, every time you find yourself here, it's because you
chose to come back.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
And tell us about the character you play. By the way,
it sounds like Office Space meets Black Mirror.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Yeah, yeah, sure, yeah, I think Twilight Zone and Black
Mirror are certainly touchstones as a fan. When I first
read the scripts, that's the stuff that I love watching
and have since. Twilight Zone was a huge thing for
me as a kid, and so reading it, I you know,
(13:11):
it was something that I would want to watch as
an audience member. Yeah, my character Mark is in the
outside world. A couple of years ago he lost his
wife and you know, two and it's been two and
a half years and he is not doing well. He's
not moving on, and a couple of years ago decided
(13:36):
to get severed because he just didn't want to feel
this pain twenty four hours a day so he can
wake up in the morning, have breakfast, drive to work,
and then boom, he's leaving work and getting his car,
driving home, eating and going to sleep. That's his life.
He doesn't have to feel anything for eight to ten
(13:56):
hours a day. And I think also part of his
reasoning for this is that this grief and this pain
is in a way all he has left of his wife,
and he's that's, you know, whether consciously or not, why
(14:18):
he's grasping onto this and holding onto it, why he
doesn't want to move on, is because this is what
he has and being able to check out for most
of most of the day is a way of holding
on to it while not having to necessarily deal with
or feel it.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Interesting And do you think it's a metaphor for how
sort of unhealthily entwined our personal lives have become with
our work lives. In other words, the constant connectivity thanks
to technology has made it really difficult for us to
(14:58):
have what was for so long considered our two separate lives.
You know, even for me when I started out in
television news, I would go to work, I would come home,
and that was time with my family. Now I had
to do homework, you know, the night before, which was delivered.
It sounds so quaint in an envelope with actual you know,
(15:24):
papers and xeroxys and articles. Yeah, and Manila folders and
all that jazz. But I still felt that when I
was not physically at work, I wasn't thinking about work
twenty four to seven. And now the lines have been
so blurred. So it is sort of this part of
(15:46):
the solution for that all encompassing professional side that we
now have.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Yeah, I guess, so, I guess that's the that's the idea. Yeah,
I mean I know that it's it sounds great to
be able to sever the two things because I always
pictured that as well. I always pictured once my professional
life got anywhere and I had any traction or any stability,
(16:20):
and especially once I started we started a family that
I would work and then come home and honey, I'm
home and she has them.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Martini and your bedroom slippers.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
And exactly like mad Men or something. You know, that's
sort of what you always picture. But by the time
it happened for me, there was no you know, you
walk through the door and there's a buzzing in your
pocket and you know it's twenty four seven. There really
is no stopping. No matter what you're doing for a living,
(16:55):
you have to really draw the line for yourself and
if you want that separation, you have to put it
in a drawer. But then, you know, if you're not
reachable for two hours, uh, you know, people think there's
something going on, there's something wrong, and it's it's now
(17:17):
unusual to just be unresponsive for a certain amount of time.
It is a strange a strange, strange time. And certainly,
you know, like you were saying earlier, how it almost
feels like the pandemic or lockdown or whatever sort of
accelerated what what what was already happening with the gig
(17:39):
economy and and and and all of that. Yeah, it's
a strange I mean what you were talking about with
I would assume with the Today Show when you would
come home and get to be with your family and
then get that that big packet of homework that must
have been you know, it's it's sounds like it sounds exhausting,
(18:01):
but there is something really comforting about it now and
sort of straightforward about this is what you have to
do for tomorrow and that's what it is, and you're
not going to be bothered and this is this isn't
all going to be turned upside down and changed right
and changed, I mean, unless there's some big worries right.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Right, there's a big news story. But it's funny because
you know, I always remind myself that iPhones didn't come
out till two thousand and eight, and so all through
the nineties and the early two thousands, you know, I
could be with my kids at the park without an eruption.
I wasn't looking at my phone, you know, Flip phones
(18:42):
were just kind of coming out then, and I could
be so much more present. And I remember reading that
Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins, when they were married, had
a house rule that they wouldn't answer the phone between
five and eight, which is so funny now when you
think about it, because people don't even have landlines anymore,
(19:03):
and now we're all addicted to our phones and to
be able to be away from it for three hours
is almost a herculean feet So it's just crazy how
it's it's almost how much this new way of living
has slowly, and I would say malevolently, seeped into our
(19:25):
our very beans, you know, and I don't think for
the better. Coming up, Adam's aha moment, done du dun
dune done du duh. Oh that sounded bad. Right after this,
(19:51):
I wanted to take a moment because I know you're
from Santa Cruz, Adam, and I'm just curious. I always
love to hear people's origin stories, and I'm curious how
you got bitten by the acting bug in the first place,
and how you found yourself on this Thespian road, if
you will.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Yeah, the Thespian Avenue actor lane. Yeah, yeah, you know.
I think it was really pretty simple. And maybe shallow
but or not shallow. But I think it was pretty simple,
(20:31):
which was I was always sort of interested. But then
I saw Raiders of the Lost Art, and I think
it was right at the age because it came out
in what eighty one eighty two, and so I was
eight nine years old. I remember seeing that movie. I
(20:52):
remember getting back to my friend's house and rushing to
a phone, to a landline and calling my mom because
I had to unload all these feelings because I had
just seen something and nothing would ever be the same again.
This movie didn't stop. It was just fun all the
(21:17):
way through, and it was hilarious. And you know, you
watch that movie now and there are jokes, not just
like funny as sides, there are jokes and good ones
and and I just it just blew my mind. And
you know, you know back then, you know, I went
(21:38):
to see that movie so so many times, and I
still love it and have to watch it a couple
times a year. But I think that was the beginning
of I say simple because it was as simple as
I want to do that, that looks like, there's what
(21:59):
else would you could you possibly want to do the
other than that?
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Then the Harrison Ford.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Jesus, that looks great.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
I mean talk about getting the girls.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Yeah, getting the girls, getting to Jesus dirty. You're jumping
from one thing to the other, smarter than everyone else,
making mistakes but then making up for it. He's a
flawed guy. He also was a professor. My dad was
a professor, so there was a lot of that too.
Like I saw my dad and him. I still do
(22:32):
when I watch any Harrison Ford thing, I feel I
kind of see my dad in that. But the professor,
the college professor, which is what my dad was before
he retired. And so so it was just the perfect
recipe for me and millions of others. I mean, obviously
it was this phenomenon and then Temple of Doom. Maybe
(22:57):
I may even like that more. I just love of
that too. So that was kind of the start of it.
And it was just like the secret I harbored for
years and years that this is what I wanted to do,
but I was embarrassed by it, so I never really
told anyone that this is what I planned on doing
until years and years later. But that was the that
(23:21):
was kind of the start of it. It was Raiders.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
It's amazing isn't it how one film can be so transformative?
And yeah, which is I think the beauty of all
different kinds of art forms, whether it's a book or
a movie or a piece of art anyway. But so, yeah,
when did you start for real pursuing this career. Did
(23:47):
you do dinner theater?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Adam, No, but I've been to the dinner theater and
that's an experience actually getting like, you know, baked Alaska
while you're watching Dames at Sea? Like what else? What
else could you ask for? I I did the you know,
(24:09):
theater in high school and and all of that, and
then and then went to acting school after that. You know,
when I was like a junior in high school, I
finally kind of said I think I can do this.
And there was sort of a social stigma of being
a theater person at my high school, so I didn't
really want to commit fully, but but then did and
(24:33):
and sort of let it out there that this is
something I want to pursue. And went to acting school
after high school and in Pasadena, California is where the
acting school was, and I was in ninety one. I
came down here and went to the school for a
couple of years and then came here to Hollywood in
ninety fall of ninety three and just started, you know,
(24:56):
doing extra work and our background and scrounging around for auditions,
just doing anything I could, you know.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, well, you know, I've been in LA for a
couple of months and it's made me think of, you know,
the entertainment industry a lot, and being an actor must
prey on every insecurity you have. And it no wonder
so many of the kids who who have fame early
on in their lives are so screwed up later. I mean,
(25:27):
it is, It is really destabilizing. How do you handle
kind of the uncertainty and the really I guess capriciousness. I'm,
by the way, very impressed by my vocabulary during this
podcast me.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Too, excellent, Thank you, But I wouldn't expect anything less.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
I'm pulling out all the I'm pulling out all the
saft words today for some reason. But you know, how
do you handle the uncertainty of being an actor? And
you know, always kind of now that I've made you
probably start getting pitted out by even discussing this, but
the uncertainty of where your next role is going to
(26:05):
come from?
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Yeah, that sort of thing never goes away. I mean
I think, you know, I think back to starting out,
you know, kind of hustling for roles and stuff, trying
to piece something together and fall of ninety three, so
I was, I was, you know, I auditioned for Scream
and Scream too, and I know what you did last
(26:28):
summer and all of that. I was around for all
of that stuff and didn't get any of it. And
like I was, you know, went on thousands of auditions
and was rejected thousands of times and made my living
doing like guest spots and stuff and cobbling something together.
(26:51):
But it wasn't until fifteen years in that I even
started to get real traction. But had kind of diluted
myself and too, thinking that I was getting traction all
the way just to keep going. But then once you
actually get traction, you look back and you're like, oh
my god, I was nowhere and the people that loved
(27:14):
me were so generous by kind of being, you know,
helping keep me afloat with that delusion all along, or
you know, so anyway.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
So you just kind of delude that's how you kept going.
Because I imagine there are many of people who come to Hollywood,
you know, hoping to be discovered at the soda Fountain,
you know, or you know, just having one perceptive soul
in a casting in an audition see something in you,
or that's right, kind of give you your first big break.
(27:48):
But so many people just never get that and that's right,
you know. And so it sounds like you deluded yourself initially.
But is that? Is that how you kept going? You
kept you kept just saying, well, I'm kind of all
that right now, and I'm just going to kind of
build on this or what other things kept you from saying,
(28:08):
you know, I'm going to go to business school or
I'm going to I'm going to get in the business
side of the industry because this is for the birds.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
There was something, yeah, I mean there was something that
I always sort of felt I had that and doubted
over and over and over again and gave up on
over and over again. But something I felt like I
(28:38):
still kind of had to offer no matter what. And
I don't know how I kept believing in that because
there were so many times where any logical person would
have abandoned it. But I think there was a lack
(29:01):
of other options because I, like I said, from Raiders
of the Lost Dark, never wanted to do or even
thought about doing anything else. So I hadn't nurtured any
other real interests or skills, and.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
So if you didn't make it as an actor, you
were kind of hosed at him.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
I think, I think you're right. I think that's you're
hitting the nail on the head, which is why it's
been terrifying and still is terrifying. You know, you never know.
You know, Also, as I was, you know, going through
the nineties and stuff, and I did see a lot
of people get discovered at the Soda Fountain and get
(29:45):
this big flush of fame and attention or get that
plumb role in this or that, and then you see
them disappear. I've seen so, you know, I've been here
almost thirty years. I've seen so many people come and go.
I've seen people come and stick the landing and know
what to do with it. Like you see Matt Damon, right,
(30:06):
what would he's you know, he's someone that I used
to see on auditions and and then you see him
know exactly what to do and how to do it.
But then for every one of him, there's a hundred
others that just kind of come and go, and I'm
so glad I didn't get scream or I know what
you did last summer, because I would have sucked, or
(30:27):
I would have not been ready and not known what
to do with the opportunity and made stupid decisions. So
you know, it's it's it's kind of a puzzle.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
I wanted to ask you real quick about some of
your favorite roles because it seems that you've done, you know,
a real variety. Adam, tell me about some of the
highlights that when you look back, you're like, Wow, that
was just that was just perfect. You know.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Yeah, I've been super lucky and that I I do
have several of those. I can look back on it
with so fondly. For such a tough business, sometimes I've
landed in several spots where it's just been terrific and
(31:16):
so much fun. And I certainly attribute that to luck
more than anything, like you were saying, luck plays a
huge part, and I've certainly been lucky.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
You know.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
I think that something that really turned it around for
me just internally was Party Down, which was a show
I just did with my friends. Right. It wasn't for
career reasons. I don't think my representatives were particularly interested
(31:52):
in me doing this. It didn't seem to have any
advantages at the time, and it was simply because I
wasn't able to get anything else, and my friends were like, hey,
how about we just do this, and it seemed fun,
and so so I did it and it was fun.
(32:13):
It was the most fun, and that really makes a
difference in what you push then push out into the
world that you're all enjoying yourselves, you know, and and
sort of discovering this fun thing together, which is what
we were all doing on that show, and feeling like,
(32:35):
probably no one will ever see this, so let's just
do it for us and each other and have a blast.
And that's what we did, and then got to do
twenty of them two seasons, and then eventually years later
people did catch onto it and found this audience, and
(32:56):
so that was sort of the reason I say it
was sort of I don't know if I said it
was a game changer, but it sort of was just
internally because I felt like, oh, this can be super enjoyable,
and that makes a big difference in what I put
out there in my work. When I watched it, I
(33:18):
can tell that's better because I'm having a lot of
fun and just sort of letting myself have a lot
of fun. So that and then Parks sort of came
out of that, Parks and rec and that was another
example of this is a terrific, lovely group of people.
(33:39):
And we became fast friends. And that was five years
I was doing that, and it was, you know, driving
to work every day with your friends and doing silly
things and heart felt lovely things as well. That was
a really beautifully written show and character and everything. And
(34:00):
so I think with those experiences it kind of set
a new blueprint for me as far as what I
should do. And it was a good lesson, like do
something that is fun and that you would want to watch.
And that has never really failed me. Not that I've
(34:21):
always done that. I've certainly done things for other reasons,
but it usually works out for me when when those
are the components. See, not everybody gets along, Nathan, I mean,
can't we just be comfortable not liking each other. It
doesn't have to be a reason.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Of course. You also, I know Adam played the slightly
loserish husband of Reese Witherspoon in Big Little Lies, which
must have been an interesting experience working with all those
strong women, right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
It was incredible, And that was something I Parks and
RecA just ended and I wanted to try and do
something a little more dramatic or whatever, and and really
sought that out and and went and and auditioned a
few times. I really wanted to do that, and really
(35:18):
had wanted to do anything with Reese for years and
years and was so excited to to to land that
and get and get to do that. And it took
place in Monterey, which is right next to Santa Cruz,
and so I kind of felt a little connected to
it geographically, and uh yeah, and getting to work with
(35:40):
those incredible women was was was an experience as well.
They're also so talented and uh and smart and so
smart and cool. It was really it was really a great.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Experience speaking of strong women. When we come back, Adam
talks about his incredible mom and the weight of losing
a parent before we go, I want to want to
(36:18):
talk about your mom. First of all. I know you
lost your mom, I believe Adam in twenty was it
twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Yeah, right before. Luckily it was March fifth, so it
was right before everything sort of turned upside down.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
But that was, I know, just a devastating loss. You know,
I've done a lot some fundraising or contributed to Project
ALS because I became very friendly with Jennifer Estes, who
started Naked Angels, a theater company in New York City,
who was diagnosed with ALS when she was very young.
(36:54):
And it is such a cruel, heartbreaking disease. I mean,
you know it firsthand. And what was your mom sick
for a long time or was it relatively fast?
Speaker 2 (37:07):
It it really tore through her quickly, it was, you know,
it's a particularly cruel disease. It's it's just devastating.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
And.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
It it was just a couple of years, uh it
you know, she was in her early seventies and and yeah,
it moved quickly. I know sometimes it moves slower, but
with her, it was just a couple of years, sort
of end to end. And yeah, it was, it was.
It was devastating. It's a sort of disease where you
(37:41):
just don't want to think about the nightmare.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Being trapped in your body, right, I mean, and mentally
h most in most cases. I'm not a doctor, so
I probably shouldn't make this proclamation, but I think mentally,
most people are pretty sharp and their body is just
betraying them slowly but surely. And let you know that
(38:08):
you and your mom were extremely close, and tell me
a little bit about her, because sometimes I think we
focus on the way people died instead of the way
they lived.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Thank you. That's really sweet. She was a really incredible
person and a person who kind of lived, you know,
turned it up to eleven. She was, you know, out outdoor.
(38:44):
It was always out running or walking or you know,
grew up in Santa Cruso. We had a you know,
I grew up with a little bit of a hippyish
vibe to everything. Not that she had time to be
a hippie because she had was raising three kids and
she was a public school teacher. But being kind of
outdoorsy and granola e was something I always teased her
(39:08):
about and always had fun fun with. Like we didn't
really have a TV in the house. It was that
sort of thing, and.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
She probably had what was it when we were kids.
As I said, you're probably ten or fifteen years younger
than I am, Adam, But what was the precursor to
granola was like gorp or something or.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Gorp oh As I grew up with gor I was.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
Going to say, it sounds like it sounds like a
very gorpy household.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
One hundred percent a lot of spurrollina. Yeah, you know,
Whole Foods is like I grew up going to the
Staff of Life, which was the health food store and
Zenachers and I just you know, I was making jokes
about it by the time I was like six years old.
You know, she was an incredibly unique person. I was
(39:57):
allowed to cuss as much as I wanted as long
was we were in our home, and so were my
friends when they came over. So when we were in
elementary school, they would come over and immediately walk in
the house and be like, f you Ann and she'd
be and she'd just be like, hey, f you you
little shit, and they, I mean loved it. These are
(40:19):
like twelve year old kids. They get to come over
and cuss.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
That is so funny.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Yeah, it was very And once I had kids, I
had mixed feelings about her doing this with my you
know it, you know, really put it to the test,
but it was it was great. And so she was
the ultimate cool mom from from day one. And like
I said, she was a public school the special a
(40:46):
teacher at at the high school I actually went to,
and it was just an extraordinary person and so and
we were very close and she was the first person
I shared my ambition to be a professional actor when
I was fifteen or sixteen, And her reaction is what
kind of gave me the confidence to then share it
(41:07):
with others.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
You know, was her reaction.
Speaker 2 (41:11):
It was I was watching the Academy Awards whatever the
year was when River Phoenix was nominated for Running on
Empty Do you remember that movie?
Speaker 1 (41:23):
I don't. I remember him and stand by.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
Me, Oh sure, Running on Empties a suit Sidney Lumette movie.
He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. But it was
the Oscars were on and she came into my room
and I pointed to the TV and I said, hey,
you know, I think I can do that, and I
think I can do it better than some people. And
(41:47):
she just said, yeah, I know, you can't. Now go
to bed and close the door. It was just she
didn't even think about it for a second. She just
and that was you know, there was no condescension in
her approval of my idea. It was just logical to her,
and you know, was always beyond you know, supportive to
(42:12):
the point of of, like any son with their mom
being overly supportive get annoyed by it. But just you know,
I was properly loved growing up, and that's that's really
what you can ask for with a mother. And so,
you know, it was a particularly devastating loss. I think,
(42:35):
you know, for anyone losing their their mom and stuff.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
Yeah, I agree. I think you just there's no if
if you're lucky enough to be the product of good parenting.
You know, and I realize as I get older, we
are very fortunate because so many people, for whatever reasons,
don't receive that kind of unconditional love from their parents.
(43:00):
But you know, we're so fortunate. And I in my book,
I wrote, my minister told me after my mom died,
I was just devastated. I can't remember it was after
my dad or my mom died. I was just just
I mean, I was just so lost and so so upset.
And he said, those who love deeply grieve deeply. And
(43:22):
that always made me feel It always made me turn
the loss into a gain, if that makes sense. It
always made me really appreciate my good fortune and having
really wonderful parents. And also, you know, I lost my
husband and my sister, So I've had a lost a
(43:42):
lot of loss in my life. And sure, but I
think for I think for especially for parents, you think
that really profound, deep deep loss is because I think
you feel feel even more when you have you know,
you've been the recipient of unconditional love. So, yeah, but
(44:04):
your mom was too young. Your mom was too young
for sure.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
Yeah, something I didn't anticipate, you know, because she was
sick for a while, we knew what was coming. But
then the moment it happens, there's a shift in It's
a your your world does change the moment it happens,
no matter how much you are expecting it. And what
(44:29):
I realized was, you know, with a parent, you're you
realize that you're part of what you're doing throughout your
life is for them for them to see and for
them to be able to tell them about something or
let them kind of see what you're doing out in
the world or with your family or whatever kind of everything.
(44:50):
It's sort of a this watchful eye that's suddenly gone.
That that is, you know, it's it's something that it's
more of a feeling than trying to intellectualize it. Like
that is tough. It's tough to put put into words,
but it's an emotional thing that it's almost hard to
(45:11):
explain unless someone has lost a parent.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
And a good parent, especially right, a good parent.
Speaker 2 (45:20):
Yeah, yes, exactly, yeah, exactly. I would imagine it's different
if it was a different situation.
Speaker 1 (45:26):
Well, I'll have to think about if I ever have grandkids,
if my my domicile will be a you know, cuss
what do you call it? A cuss zone? Like you
can say whatever you want kids, My character would totally
not approve. I have to be honest with you, Adam.
(45:48):
My dad would would would never really let me cuss
as a kid. But you know, now everybody drops the
F bomb so much. You're walking down the street and
it's just like every other word. But I sound like
a you know, a prutish one hundred year old lady.
But but no.
Speaker 2 (46:07):
I agree. It needs to be artfully done in order
for it to land properly. And by the way, if
I ever did it disrespectfully or did it with anger
or disrespect.
Speaker 1 (46:19):
Like if you told your mother to go out herself.
Speaker 2 (46:22):
Oh no, no, no, no, no, no no no, it had
to be certainly in a joking manner. Otherwise I was
in huge, deep trouble to be sure.
Speaker 1 (46:34):
Well, I'm so happy that we got a chance to talk.
Please forget my blanket.
Speaker 2 (46:41):
It's so cool. Are you kidding?
Speaker 1 (46:44):
I mean, I've never done this before and it is
kind of hilarious. So maybe we'll have to run a
clip of this podcast to show how.
Speaker 2 (46:53):
Are you going to start? I'm selling the Katie Curic
podcast hood that you wear for That's.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
A nice that's an idea. Well, thanks again. I really enjoyed.
I really enjoyed getting to know you and talking to you,
and I hope our paths cross again someday.
Speaker 2 (47:14):
Same, Thank you, Katie, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (47:18):
That was the ever charming Adam Scott. I know it's weird,
but I kind of want to be his friend. His
new show is called Severance and it's streaming now on
Apple TV. Next Question with Katie Kirk is a production
of iHeartMedia and Katie Kirk Media. The executive producers are Me,
(47:42):
Katie Kirk, and Courtney Ltz. The supervising producer is Lauren Hanson.
Associate producers Derek Clements and Adriana Fasio. The show is
edited and mixed by Derek Clements. For more information about
today's episode, or to sign up for my morning newsletter,
Wake Up Paul, go to Katie. You can also find
me at Katie Curic on Instagram and all my social
(48:04):
media channels. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hi, everyone. I'm Katie Couric and this is next question.
You know, when I was getting ready to interview the
actor Adam Scott, I wasn't sure what I was in for.
I didn't know that much about him. Of course I
recognized him from a lot of different roles, but I
really didn't know what to expect, and I have to
admit I ended up really really liking Adam Scott. Hello, Adam, Hi. Hi,
(00:27):
it's Katie. Hi. I learned a lot about him during
the course of our conversation. That I would have loved
his mom, That he lives close to the house we've
been rinding in LA for the past couple of months.
That he loves building forts. You're going to think it's
really weird, but I'm doing this under a blanket because
this room is super echoey.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
I don't mind.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Let's just pretend like we're in a fort that we
made as kids.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I love it. I love forts, and I love cozy its,
and it's cozy and fort like.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
And that nothing was going to stop him from becoming
an actor, even though he may do with bit parts
scraping a living together for fifteen years. Nevertheless, he persisted.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
You look back and you're like, oh my god, I
was nowhere.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Ironically, after wanting to break into Hollywood for so long,
the first big acting gig he got was playing a
Hollywood want to be stuck in a dead end catering
job and the now cult favorite show Party Down. Were
you were you that guy?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yes, it was you were You.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Were totally that guy. That is bananas.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I remember that. I remember you. Yeah, what are you
doing working here? Well?
Speaker 1 (01:45):
You remember me from anything else? Spoiler alert. It works
out for our dear Adam. He has starred in some
truly vengeable TV, from Parks and rec to Big Little
Eyes to now Front and Center in a new series
called Severance.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Hello, my name is Mark S and I have of
my own free accord, elected to undergo the procedure known
as Severance.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
We get into the show, Adam's scrappy beginnings, that magnificent quoth,
and much more. I hope you enjoy our chat as
much as I did. I'm excited to talk about Severance because,
oh cool. When I first saw billboards advertising your new
show on Apple TV, I thought, Wow, that is really
(02:39):
extraordinary timing. Here we are on the heels of a
pandemic that has left so many people of all ages
rethinking the workplace, rethinking, you know, what we want to
do with our lives. There's the Great Resignation, which other
people have called the Great Reset. But it seems almost
(03:00):
uncanny that this show is coming out at this moment.
Was it complete serendipity or was it did you foresee
something happening in the culture.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
It was complete serendipity. I mean the show was written
pre pandemic, and we were going to start shooting April
of twenty twenty and had to delay, you know, obviously
for seven months and started that. We started shooting the
day after the election in November twenty twenty, and so
(03:36):
we were shooting right in the heart of pre vaccine
New York pandemic. It was, as everyone knows, it was
a crazy time. And so no, I think it was
complete serendipity. But you know, Dan Ericson the creator and writer,
(03:56):
and Ben Stiller, the director and executive producer, you know,
kind of the creative forces really behind the show, you know,
as serendipitous, but I think also the the kind of
everything we're feeling right now and kind of the result
of everything that's happened the past couple of years. You know,
(04:19):
you have to think that the seeds of this have
been planted for some time. It's just we were accelerated, Yeah,
for the past couple of years.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
That's so interesting. I think you're so right. I think
millennials and now gen z people, I don't know gen
z ers. I think this sort of restlessness and this
questioning of career tracks and the idea. I remember giving
a commencement address and saying most millennials will change jobs
(04:48):
and average of fourteen times in their lifetime, you know.
And I think we've seen this slow shift from people
who work for one company their entire lives, retire with
the of old watch a lunch and a pension, and
this very different view of work and priorities. So I
(05:09):
think you're right. Everything accelerated. I think all these pre
existing trends accelerated during the pandemic. But while you were
shooting it, did you sort of feel like this feels
very of the moment. We've kind of captured lightning in
a bottle in terms of some of the themes that
this show presents.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
You know, it was tough to see the forest for
the trees while we were shooting because it was such
a gargantuan task in front of us, in front of you.
I remember Amy Poehler used to call it being at
the bottom of show mountain when you're just starting a
new show that no one knows what it is, so
(05:53):
there's no definition to it, and you're at the bottom
of the mountain when you know when you're at episode
one of hopefully as many as possible, but you have
to shoot the show, but you also have to construct
and define it, find the tone, all of those things
that make a show work. You have to sort of
(06:17):
figure it out as you're doing it, because there's no
really knowing what it's going to be, what it's going
to feel like until those cameras are rolling and you
have everyone in the room doing it, and so it
is like being at the bottom of a mountain. And
that's how it felt. And for me, never having been
(06:39):
at the center of something quite so big and challenging,
I just was, you know, day to going, trying to
just jump from one lily pad to the next, keeping
up with the work and.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Under these extraordinary circumstances in the middle of COVID, where
you guys were probably being tested on a regular basis,
and having to keep your distance and wear masks when
you're not you know, when they don't say action. I
mean that that must have been really tough.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
It was really interesting. And the isolation of it what
you just said, they you know, the moment they called cut,
putting a mask and a shield up in front of
your face. We never even saw the cruise faces for
the ten months we're working on the show. And then
also you go home, and I was away from my family.
(07:38):
I was in New York, so I live in Los Angeles,
so I was by myself in an apartment in New York.
And pre vaccine, New York was, especially in the fall
of twenty twenty, was pretty lockdown. It was pretty and
it was pretty eary.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
As somebody who lives in the city too, you know,
you would walk out on Park Avenue and in the
middle of the day and there it was empty, no cars.
I mean, honestly, it was like a movie.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
I know, it was crazy. It was like a mid
nineties like Wolfgang Peterson movie or something. So so yeah,
I would shoot the show for twelve hours or whatever,
get in a van, go back to the apartment, eat, sleep,
wake up, get in a van, go to the show,
(08:29):
and the show was this kind of stark, isolated, strange environment,
and so it was very severance, like my kind of
existence parallel to the show.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
It was.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
It was very very strange, and I was, you know,
grappling with a loss in my life and alone for
the first time in six months after this intent time
with family, you know, like we all did, we really
buckled down. I buckled down with my two kids and
(09:06):
my wife for six months and had this extraordinary time
together and then to suddenly just be boom, You're by yourself,
uh uh, in a in a in the city and working,
and you know, it was a it was like slamming
the brakes on and then getting into a car you've
(09:27):
never driven before and trying to figure it out. That's
a metaphor that I'm not going to keep following.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
I was so excited to see your your mug on
the billboard and that pretty serious head of hair of yours,
although it was kind of slicked down in the billboard.
I'm not obsessed with hair. Your hair just happens to
look lovely today, Oh, thank you very much, very fresh
and maybe just washed. But anyway, you know, tell me
(09:55):
about the plot a little bit about your character the
show and how this whole idea was turned into I
guess what I would describe as a psychological thriller of sorts.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Yeah, I think I think I think that's right. I
think it's a bunch of different things, kind of there's
a few balls that are in the air with the show,
and I think that's what really kind of got Ben
really Ben still really interested in it. It is that
(10:31):
it has this sort of this the entry into the
story sort of feels workplace, like a fun workplace comedy
in a way, like office space or the officer parks
and rec even this sort of light, fun bantery way in,
and then you sort of sense that there's something a
(10:53):
little more sinister maybe lurking underneath, and then you kind
of realize that this is this fun office vibe that
involves people who have no idea what they're doing there
or who they are. Yeah. I mean the conceit of
the show is that we live in a time where
(11:15):
there's this technology where you can get a chip inserted
into your brain that bifurcates your memories. So when you
go to work, once you cross the threshold of your workplace,
you lose all of your memory of who you are
in the outside world, and your entire life and perspective
on your life is there at work, and so that
(11:37):
is who you are. And then when you leave at
the end of the day and cross that threshold once again,
something is triggered in the chip in your brain and
you have no access to the memories of what just
happened at work, and you have no idea actually what
your job even is. You just live in the outside world.
So the idea is you can completely focus on your
(12:00):
personal life and then you can completely focus on your
job and never the twain shall meet. And so the
work life balance is finally solved. There is a complete
balance in the work life conundrum.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
So I'll never leave here.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
You'll leave it five well, actually they stagger exits, so
five point fifteen. But it won't feel like it, not
to this version of you anyway. Do you have a family,
You'll never know.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
I have no choice.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Well, every time you find yourself here, it's because you
chose to come back.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
And tell us about the character you play. By the way,
it sounds like Office Space meets Black Mirror.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Yeah, yeah, sure, yeah, I think Twilight Zone and Black
Mirror are certainly touchstones as a fan. When I first
read the scripts, that's the stuff that I love watching
and have since. Twilight Zone was a huge thing for
me as a kid, and so reading it, I you know,
(13:11):
it was something that I would want to watch as
an audience member. Yeah, my character Mark is in the
outside world. A couple of years ago he lost his
wife and you know, two and it's been two and
a half years and he is not doing well. He's
not moving on, and a couple of years ago decided
(13:36):
to get severed because he just didn't want to feel
this pain twenty four hours a day so he can
wake up in the morning, have breakfast, drive to work,
and then boom, he's leaving work and getting his car,
driving home, eating and going to sleep. That's his life.
He doesn't have to feel anything for eight to ten
(13:56):
hours a day. And I think also part of his
reasoning for this is that this grief and this pain
is in a way all he has left of his wife,
and he's that's, you know, whether consciously or not, why
(14:18):
he's grasping onto this and holding onto it, why he
doesn't want to move on, is because this is what
he has and being able to check out for most
of most of the day is a way of holding
on to it while not having to necessarily deal with
or feel it.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Interesting And do you think it's a metaphor for how
sort of unhealthily entwined our personal lives have become with
our work lives. In other words, the constant connectivity thanks
to technology has made it really difficult for us to
(14:58):
have what was for so long considered our two separate lives.
You know, even for me when I started out in
television news, I would go to work, I would come home,
and that was time with my family. Now I had
to do homework, you know, the night before, which was delivered.
It sounds so quaint in an envelope with actual you know,
(15:24):
papers and xeroxys and articles. Yeah, and Manila folders and
all that jazz. But I still felt that when I
was not physically at work, I wasn't thinking about work
twenty four to seven. And now the lines have been
so blurred. So it is sort of this part of
(15:46):
the solution for that all encompassing professional side that we
now have.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Yeah, I guess, so, I guess that's the that's the idea. Yeah,
I mean I know that it's it sounds great to
be able to sever the two things because I always
pictured that as well. I always pictured once my professional
life got anywhere and I had any traction or any stability,
(16:20):
and especially once I started we started a family that
I would work and then come home and honey, I'm
home and she has them.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Martini and your bedroom slippers.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
And exactly like mad Men or something. You know, that's
sort of what you always picture. But by the time
it happened for me, there was no you know, you
walk through the door and there's a buzzing in your
pocket and you know it's twenty four seven. There really
is no stopping. No matter what you're doing for a living,
(16:55):
you have to really draw the line for yourself and
if you want that separation, you have to put it
in a drawer. But then, you know, if you're not
reachable for two hours, uh, you know, people think there's
something going on, there's something wrong, and it's it's now
(17:17):
unusual to just be unresponsive for a certain amount of time.
It is a strange a strange, strange time. And certainly,
you know, like you were saying earlier, how it almost
feels like the pandemic or lockdown or whatever sort of
accelerated what what what was already happening with the gig
(17:39):
economy and and and and all of that. Yeah, it's
a strange I mean what you were talking about with
I would assume with the Today Show when you would
come home and get to be with your family and
then get that that big packet of homework that must
have been you know, it's it's sounds like it sounds exhausting,
(18:01):
but there is something really comforting about it now and
sort of straightforward about this is what you have to
do for tomorrow and that's what it is, and you're
not going to be bothered and this is this isn't
all going to be turned upside down and changed right
and changed, I mean, unless there's some big worries right.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Right, there's a big news story. But it's funny because
you know, I always remind myself that iPhones didn't come
out till two thousand and eight, and so all through
the nineties and the early two thousands, you know, I
could be with my kids at the park without an eruption.
I wasn't looking at my phone, you know, Flip phones
(18:42):
were just kind of coming out then, and I could
be so much more present. And I remember reading that
Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins, when they were married, had
a house rule that they wouldn't answer the phone between
five and eight, which is so funny now when you
think about it, because people don't even have landlines anymore,
(19:03):
and now we're all addicted to our phones and to
be able to be away from it for three hours
is almost a herculean feet So it's just crazy how
it's it's almost how much this new way of living
has slowly, and I would say malevolently, seeped into our
(19:25):
our very beans, you know, and I don't think for
the better. Coming up, Adam's aha moment, done du dun
dune done du duh. Oh that sounded bad. Right after this,
(19:51):
I wanted to take a moment because I know you're
from Santa Cruz, Adam, and I'm just curious. I always
love to hear people's origin stories, and I'm curious how
you got bitten by the acting bug in the first place,
and how you found yourself on this Thespian road, if
you will.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Yeah, the Thespian Avenue actor lane. Yeah, yeah, you know.
I think it was really pretty simple. And maybe shallow
but or not shallow. But I think it was pretty simple,
(20:31):
which was I was always sort of interested. But then
I saw Raiders of the Lost Art, and I think
it was right at the age because it came out
in what eighty one eighty two, and so I was
eight nine years old. I remember seeing that movie. I
(20:52):
remember getting back to my friend's house and rushing to
a phone, to a landline and calling my mom because
I had to unload all these feelings because I had
just seen something and nothing would ever be the same again.
This movie didn't stop. It was just fun all the
(21:17):
way through, and it was hilarious. And you know, you
watch that movie now and there are jokes, not just
like funny as sides, there are jokes and good ones
and and I just it just blew my mind. And
you know, you know back then, you know, I went
(21:38):
to see that movie so so many times, and I
still love it and have to watch it a couple
times a year. But I think that was the beginning
of I say simple because it was as simple as
I want to do that, that looks like, there's what
(21:59):
else would you could you possibly want to do the
other than that?
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Then the Harrison Ford.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Jesus, that looks great.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
I mean talk about getting the girls.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Yeah, getting the girls, getting to Jesus dirty. You're jumping
from one thing to the other, smarter than everyone else,
making mistakes but then making up for it. He's a
flawed guy. He also was a professor. My dad was
a professor, so there was a lot of that too.
Like I saw my dad and him. I still do
(22:32):
when I watch any Harrison Ford thing, I feel I
kind of see my dad in that. But the professor,
the college professor, which is what my dad was before
he retired. And so so it was just the perfect
recipe for me and millions of others. I mean, obviously
it was this phenomenon and then Temple of Doom. Maybe
(22:57):
I may even like that more. I just love of
that too. So that was kind of the start of it.
And it was just like the secret I harbored for
years and years that this is what I wanted to do,
but I was embarrassed by it, so I never really
told anyone that this is what I planned on doing
until years and years later. But that was the that
(23:21):
was kind of the start of it. It was Raiders.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
It's amazing isn't it how one film can be so transformative?
And yeah, which is I think the beauty of all
different kinds of art forms, whether it's a book or
a movie or a piece of art anyway. But so, yeah,
when did you start for real pursuing this career. Did
(23:47):
you do dinner theater?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Adam, No, but I've been to the dinner theater and
that's an experience actually getting like, you know, baked Alaska
while you're watching Dames at Sea? Like what else? What
else could you ask for? I I did the you know,
(24:09):
theater in high school and and all of that, and
then and then went to acting school after that. You know,
when I was like a junior in high school, I
finally kind of said I think I can do this.
And there was sort of a social stigma of being
a theater person at my high school, so I didn't
really want to commit fully, but but then did and
(24:33):
and sort of let it out there that this is
something I want to pursue. And went to acting school
after high school and in Pasadena, California is where the
acting school was, and I was in ninety one. I
came down here and went to the school for a
couple of years and then came here to Hollywood in
ninety fall of ninety three and just started, you know,
(24:56):
doing extra work and our background and scrounging around for auditions,
just doing anything I could, you know.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, well, you know, I've been in LA for a
couple of months and it's made me think of, you know,
the entertainment industry a lot, and being an actor must
prey on every insecurity you have. And it no wonder
so many of the kids who who have fame early
on in their lives are so screwed up later. I mean,
(25:27):
it is, It is really destabilizing. How do you handle
kind of the uncertainty and the really I guess capriciousness. I'm,
by the way, very impressed by my vocabulary during this
podcast me.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Too, excellent, Thank you, But I wouldn't expect anything less.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
I'm pulling out all the I'm pulling out all the
saft words today for some reason. But you know, how
do you handle the uncertainty of being an actor? And
you know, always kind of now that I've made you
probably start getting pitted out by even discussing this, but
the uncertainty of where your next role is going to
(26:05):
come from?
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Yeah, that sort of thing never goes away. I mean
I think, you know, I think back to starting out,
you know, kind of hustling for roles and stuff, trying
to piece something together and fall of ninety three, so
I was, I was, you know, I auditioned for Scream
and Scream too, and I know what you did last
(26:28):
summer and all of that. I was around for all
of that stuff and didn't get any of it. And
like I was, you know, went on thousands of auditions
and was rejected thousands of times and made my living
doing like guest spots and stuff and cobbling something together.
(26:51):
But it wasn't until fifteen years in that I even
started to get real traction. But had kind of diluted
myself and too, thinking that I was getting traction all
the way just to keep going. But then once you
actually get traction, you look back and you're like, oh
my god, I was nowhere and the people that loved
(27:14):
me were so generous by kind of being, you know,
helping keep me afloat with that delusion all along, or
you know, so anyway.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
So you just kind of delude that's how you kept going.
Because I imagine there are many of people who come to Hollywood,
you know, hoping to be discovered at the soda Fountain,
you know, or you know, just having one perceptive soul
in a casting in an audition see something in you,
or that's right, kind of give you your first big break.
(27:48):
But so many people just never get that and that's right,
you know. And so it sounds like you deluded yourself initially.
But is that? Is that how you kept going? You
kept you kept just saying, well, I'm kind of all
that right now, and I'm just going to kind of
build on this or what other things kept you from saying,
(28:08):
you know, I'm going to go to business school or
I'm going to I'm going to get in the business
side of the industry because this is for the birds.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
There was something, yeah, I mean there was something that
I always sort of felt I had that and doubted
over and over and over again and gave up on
over and over again. But something I felt like I
(28:38):
still kind of had to offer no matter what. And
I don't know how I kept believing in that because
there were so many times where any logical person would
have abandoned it. But I think there was a lack
(29:01):
of other options because I, like I said, from Raiders
of the Lost Dark, never wanted to do or even
thought about doing anything else. So I hadn't nurtured any
other real interests or skills, and.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
So if you didn't make it as an actor, you
were kind of hosed at him.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
I think, I think you're right. I think that's you're
hitting the nail on the head, which is why it's
been terrifying and still is terrifying. You know, you never know.
You know, Also, as I was, you know, going through
the nineties and stuff, and I did see a lot
of people get discovered at the Soda Fountain and get
(29:45):
this big flush of fame and attention or get that
plumb role in this or that, and then you see
them disappear. I've seen so, you know, I've been here
almost thirty years. I've seen so many people come and go.
I've seen people come and stick the landing and know
what to do with it. Like you see Matt Damon, right,
(30:06):
what would he's you know, he's someone that I used
to see on auditions and and then you see him
know exactly what to do and how to do it.
But then for every one of him, there's a hundred
others that just kind of come and go, and I'm
so glad I didn't get scream or I know what
you did last summer, because I would have sucked, or
(30:27):
I would have not been ready and not known what
to do with the opportunity and made stupid decisions. So
you know, it's it's it's kind of a puzzle.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
I wanted to ask you real quick about some of
your favorite roles because it seems that you've done, you know,
a real variety. Adam, tell me about some of the
highlights that when you look back, you're like, Wow, that
was just that was just perfect. You know.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Yeah, I've been super lucky and that I I do
have several of those. I can look back on it
with so fondly. For such a tough business, sometimes I've
landed in several spots where it's just been terrific and
(31:16):
so much fun. And I certainly attribute that to luck
more than anything, like you were saying, luck plays a
huge part, and I've certainly been lucky.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
You know.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
I think that something that really turned it around for
me just internally was Party Down, which was a show
I just did with my friends. Right. It wasn't for
career reasons. I don't think my representatives were particularly interested
(31:52):
in me doing this. It didn't seem to have any
advantages at the time, and it was simply because I
wasn't able to get anything else, and my friends were like, hey,
how about we just do this, and it seemed fun,
and so so I did it and it was fun.
(32:13):
It was the most fun, and that really makes a
difference in what you push then push out into the
world that you're all enjoying yourselves, you know, and and
sort of discovering this fun thing together, which is what
we were all doing on that show, and feeling like,
(32:35):
probably no one will ever see this, so let's just
do it for us and each other and have a blast.
And that's what we did, and then got to do
twenty of them two seasons, and then eventually years later
people did catch onto it and found this audience, and
(32:56):
so that was sort of the reason I say it
was sort of I don't know if I said it
was a game changer, but it sort of was just
internally because I felt like, oh, this can be super enjoyable,
and that makes a big difference in what I put
out there in my work. When I watched it, I
(33:18):
can tell that's better because I'm having a lot of
fun and just sort of letting myself have a lot
of fun. So that and then Parks sort of came
out of that, Parks and rec and that was another
example of this is a terrific, lovely group of people.
(33:39):
And we became fast friends. And that was five years
I was doing that, and it was, you know, driving
to work every day with your friends and doing silly
things and heart felt lovely things as well. That was
a really beautifully written show and character and everything. And
(34:00):
so I think with those experiences it kind of set
a new blueprint for me as far as what I
should do. And it was a good lesson, like do
something that is fun and that you would want to watch.
And that has never really failed me. Not that I've
(34:21):
always done that. I've certainly done things for other reasons,
but it usually works out for me when when those
are the components. See, not everybody gets along, Nathan, I mean,
can't we just be comfortable not liking each other. It
doesn't have to be a reason.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Of course. You also, I know Adam played the slightly
loserish husband of Reese Witherspoon in Big Little Lies, which
must have been an interesting experience working with all those
strong women, right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
It was incredible, And that was something I Parks and
RecA just ended and I wanted to try and do
something a little more dramatic or whatever, and and really
sought that out and and went and and auditioned a
few times. I really wanted to do that, and really
(35:18):
had wanted to do anything with Reese for years and
years and was so excited to to to land that
and get and get to do that. And it took
place in Monterey, which is right next to Santa Cruz,
and so I kind of felt a little connected to
it geographically, and uh yeah, and getting to work with
(35:40):
those incredible women was was was an experience as well.
They're also so talented and uh and smart and so
smart and cool. It was really it was really a great.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Experience speaking of strong women. When we come back, Adam
talks about his incredible mom and the weight of losing
a parent before we go, I want to want to
(36:18):
talk about your mom. First of all. I know you
lost your mom, I believe Adam in twenty was it
twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Yeah, right before. Luckily it was March fifth, so it
was right before everything sort of turned upside down.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
But that was, I know, just a devastating loss. You know,
I've done a lot some fundraising or contributed to Project
ALS because I became very friendly with Jennifer Estes, who
started Naked Angels, a theater company in New York City,
who was diagnosed with ALS when she was very young.
(36:54):
And it is such a cruel, heartbreaking disease. I mean,
you know it firsthand. And what was your mom sick
for a long time or was it relatively fast?
Speaker 2 (37:07):
It it really tore through her quickly, it was, you know,
it's a particularly cruel disease. It's it's just devastating.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
And.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
It it was just a couple of years, uh it
you know, she was in her early seventies and and yeah,
it moved quickly. I know sometimes it moves slower, but
with her, it was just a couple of years, sort
of end to end. And yeah, it was, it was.
It was devastating. It's a sort of disease where you
(37:41):
just don't want to think about the nightmare.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Being trapped in your body, right, I mean, and mentally
h most in most cases. I'm not a doctor, so
I probably shouldn't make this proclamation, but I think mentally,
most people are pretty sharp and their body is just
betraying them slowly but surely. And let you know that
(38:08):
you and your mom were extremely close, and tell me
a little bit about her, because sometimes I think we
focus on the way people died instead of the way
they lived.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Thank you. That's really sweet. She was a really incredible
person and a person who kind of lived, you know,
turned it up to eleven. She was, you know, out outdoor.
(38:44):
It was always out running or walking or you know,
grew up in Santa Cruso. We had a you know,
I grew up with a little bit of a hippyish
vibe to everything. Not that she had time to be
a hippie because she had was raising three kids and
she was a public school teacher. But being kind of
outdoorsy and granola e was something I always teased her
(39:08):
about and always had fun fun with. Like we didn't
really have a TV in the house. It was that
sort of thing, and.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
She probably had what was it when we were kids.
As I said, you're probably ten or fifteen years younger
than I am, Adam, But what was the precursor to
granola was like gorp or something or.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Gorp oh As I grew up with gor I was.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
Going to say, it sounds like it sounds like a
very gorpy household.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
One hundred percent a lot of spurrollina. Yeah, you know,
Whole Foods is like I grew up going to the
Staff of Life, which was the health food store and
Zenachers and I just you know, I was making jokes
about it by the time I was like six years old.
You know, she was an incredibly unique person. I was
(39:57):
allowed to cuss as much as I wanted as long
was we were in our home, and so were my
friends when they came over. So when we were in
elementary school, they would come over and immediately walk in
the house and be like, f you Ann and she'd
be and she'd just be like, hey, f you you
little shit, and they, I mean loved it. These are
(40:19):
like twelve year old kids. They get to come over
and cuss.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
That is so funny.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Yeah, it was very And once I had kids, I
had mixed feelings about her doing this with my you
know it, you know, really put it to the test,
but it was it was great. And so she was
the ultimate cool mom from from day one. And like
I said, she was a public school the special a
(40:46):
teacher at at the high school I actually went to,
and it was just an extraordinary person and so and
we were very close and she was the first person
I shared my ambition to be a professional actor when
I was fifteen or sixteen, And her reaction is what
kind of gave me the confidence to then share it
(41:07):
with others.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
You know, was her reaction.
Speaker 2 (41:11):
It was I was watching the Academy Awards whatever the
year was when River Phoenix was nominated for Running on
Empty Do you remember that movie?
Speaker 1 (41:23):
I don't. I remember him and stand by.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
Me, Oh sure, Running on Empties a suit Sidney Lumette movie.
He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. But it was
the Oscars were on and she came into my room
and I pointed to the TV and I said, hey,
you know, I think I can do that, and I
think I can do it better than some people. And
(41:47):
she just said, yeah, I know, you can't. Now go
to bed and close the door. It was just she
didn't even think about it for a second. She just
and that was you know, there was no condescension in
her approval of my idea. It was just logical to her,
and you know, was always beyond you know, supportive to
(42:12):
the point of of, like any son with their mom
being overly supportive get annoyed by it. But just you know,
I was properly loved growing up, and that's that's really
what you can ask for with a mother. And so,
you know, it was a particularly devastating loss. I think,
(42:35):
you know, for anyone losing their their mom and stuff.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
Yeah, I agree. I think you just there's no if
if you're lucky enough to be the product of good parenting.
You know, and I realize as I get older, we
are very fortunate because so many people, for whatever reasons,
don't receive that kind of unconditional love from their parents.
(43:00):
But you know, we're so fortunate. And I in my book,
I wrote, my minister told me after my mom died,
I was just devastated. I can't remember it was after
my dad or my mom died. I was just just
I mean, I was just so lost and so so upset.
And he said, those who love deeply grieve deeply. And
(43:22):
that always made me feel It always made me turn
the loss into a gain, if that makes sense. It
always made me really appreciate my good fortune and having
really wonderful parents. And also, you know, I lost my
husband and my sister, So I've had a lost a
(43:42):
lot of loss in my life. And sure, but I
think for I think for especially for parents, you think
that really profound, deep deep loss is because I think
you feel feel even more when you have you know,
you've been the recipient of unconditional love. So, yeah, but
(44:04):
your mom was too young. Your mom was too young
for sure.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
Yeah, something I didn't anticipate, you know, because she was
sick for a while, we knew what was coming. But
then the moment it happens, there's a shift in It's
a your your world does change the moment it happens,
no matter how much you are expecting it. And what
(44:29):
I realized was, you know, with a parent, you're you
realize that you're part of what you're doing throughout your
life is for them for them to see and for
them to be able to tell them about something or
let them kind of see what you're doing out in
the world or with your family or whatever kind of everything.
(44:50):
It's sort of a this watchful eye that's suddenly gone.
That that is, you know, it's it's something that it's
more of a feeling than trying to intellectualize it. Like
that is tough. It's tough to put put into words,
but it's an emotional thing that it's almost hard to
(45:11):
explain unless someone has lost a parent.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
And a good parent, especially right, a good parent.
Speaker 2 (45:20):
Yeah, yes, exactly, yeah, exactly. I would imagine it's different
if it was a different situation.
Speaker 1 (45:26):
Well, I'll have to think about if I ever have grandkids,
if my my domicile will be a you know, cuss
what do you call it? A cuss zone? Like you
can say whatever you want kids, My character would totally
not approve. I have to be honest with you, Adam.
(45:48):
My dad would would would never really let me cuss
as a kid. But you know, now everybody drops the
F bomb so much. You're walking down the street and
it's just like every other word. But I sound like
a you know, a prutish one hundred year old lady.
But but no.
Speaker 2 (46:07):
I agree. It needs to be artfully done in order
for it to land properly. And by the way, if
I ever did it disrespectfully or did it with anger
or disrespect.
Speaker 1 (46:19):
Like if you told your mother to go out herself.
Speaker 2 (46:22):
Oh no, no, no, no, no, no no no, it had
to be certainly in a joking manner. Otherwise I was
in huge, deep trouble to be sure.
Speaker 1 (46:34):
Well, I'm so happy that we got a chance to talk.
Please forget my blanket.
Speaker 2 (46:41):
It's so cool. Are you kidding?
Speaker 1 (46:44):
I mean, I've never done this before and it is
kind of hilarious. So maybe we'll have to run a
clip of this podcast to show how.
Speaker 2 (46:53):
Are you going to start? I'm selling the Katie Curic
podcast hood that you wear for That's.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
A nice that's an idea. Well, thanks again. I really enjoyed.
I really enjoyed getting to know you and talking to you,
and I hope our paths cross again someday.
Speaker 2 (47:14):
Same, Thank you, Katie, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (47:18):
That was the ever charming Adam Scott. I know it's weird,
but I kind of want to be his friend. His
new show is called Severance and it's streaming now on
Apple TV. Next Question with Katie Kirk is a production
of iHeartMedia and Katie Kirk Media. The executive producers are Me,
(47:42):
Katie Kirk, and Courtney Ltz. The supervising producer is Lauren Hanson.
Associate producers Derek Clements and Adriana Fasio. The show is
edited and mixed by Derek Clements. For more information about
today's episode, or to sign up for my morning newsletter,
Wake Up Paul, go to Katie. You can also find
me at Katie Curic on Instagram and all my social
(48:04):
media channels. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Host
Katie Couric
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