actor, having amassed dozens of well-received roles on film, TV, and stage.
Americaand now stars in the Fox thrillerNext(debuts Tuesday, Oct. 6) as a troubled tech genius.
“I was such a fan of hers.
Walt Disney Television via Getty Images Photo Archives/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images
I’m still close friends with Dave Newsom.
It was a great cast of actors.
Harry O’Reilly and Jessica Steen and, of course, Kyle Chandler.”
Craig Blankenhorn/HBO
“It was on for a couple seasons,” he recalls.
Ratings today are so different.
It had one of those audiences that was very fervent about it.
Miramax
Im just somewhere buried in the middle."
“[Star]Sarah Jessica [Parker]was and is a friend.
The first thing I think, get the f out of here.
Zade Rosenthal/© 2015 Marvel
I’m not getting out naked and walking across the room.
And he’s laughing, but he’s like, ‘No, but that’s what it says.’
I’m like, ‘Well, I don’t care what it says.
Frank Ockenfels/AMC
I’m not doing that.
I didn’t, and he didn’t really care.”
She said, ‘Yeah, I think so.’
FOX
Her mother said, ‘No, they couldn’t be.
He would have never done that if his parents were still alive.’
That’s the variety of reactions to that thing."
Everett Collection
That was really fun to be a part of.
I took dancing lessons and I got into it.
He adds with another laugh, “Just hips is all Im talking about.
Sela Ward who is really fun.
Romola Garai was awesome.
Diego Luna of course.
Sabrina Lantos/FX
We had a really good time.
That’s a good memory.”
I mean, the Howard Stark camp and theMad Mencamp, there’s probably not a lot of crossover.
FOX
I don’t know, maybe there is.
But, he did it for the children.
Or, specifically his son.
And [director]Jon Favreaucalled and said, ‘Do you have children?’
And I said, ‘Yeah.’
I think he was like five years old or something at the time.
He said, ‘Well, you have to do this, then.
I mean, your kid’s five years old.
So I said, ‘Oh yeah, probably a good idea.'"
But overall he loved being part of the universe.
“Every time I’ve done that with those guys, it’s been exhilarating and really fun.
And satisfying, because you don’t stop until you get what you need.”
Mad Men (2007)
The part that transformed his career.
It was the best," he says with evident affection in his voice.
“Its hard to top that one as far as everything about it.
The writing, the cast.
It was the experience of a lifetime.”
And he isn’t looking to top it.
“Nothing else has to actually measure up,” he says.
I’ve heard that so many times.
I’m like, ‘No, it doesn’t have to beMad Men.’
I’m not looking to recreate that experience or moaning that anything isn’t that.
I feel lucky for having had it and I’m totally fine doing other things.
We’re all still friends.
Yeah, it was the time of my life."
[Co-creator Mike Henry] was my next-door neighbor in L.A.
I bumped into him on the street and he just said, Hey, I do this show.
You want to do it?
I was like, Sure.
And then I did a couple of them.
I never saw it.
Soon after he was cast in the role he emailed Bradlee to pick his brain.
Ben said, “What are you doing tomorrow for lunch?’
He came to the set, was in the film.
That was really helpful in building [the character].
It was so goofy and hilarious, he says of his time thespian-ing as Broadway vet Claude Dumet.
Slattery loved working with the improv-minded gang and just trying to keep up.”
Although his costar Michaela Watkins did give him pause one day.
I said, ‘That was really, really cringey.’
But in a good way, I guess?
That’s what sometimes those guys like the more awkward the better.
I go, ‘Yeah.’
And she goes, ‘Yeah, that might have been it right there.'"
[Laughs] “She so funny.”
The costume designer made these clothes with this little dumpy T-shirt with front fat and back fat.
Everything about it was so much fun.
I had some fake teeth and Cate had her fake choppers and we’d have to kiss occasionally.
So wed be laughing, bumping our grills.
It’s going to be good.
We’re going to do it.
I’m not sure Cate’s going to sign on.
I’m going to do it without her if she won’t do it."
The part is someone who is, again, an agitator.
Hes created this computer company and then figures out this AI.
Then it goes haywire.
He gets kicked out because he recognizes how dangerous its going to be.
Now it’s God knows where doing God knows what to potentially everybody on the planet.
No one knows whether to believe the guy or whether hes just a crazy ahole.
