How’d you get to flex those producing muscles?
What did that entail for you?
STERLING K. BROWN:Dan and I are in communication a lot about the casting process.
Andrew Bastow.
I go into the writers' room …
So I’m always fascinated by that process.
Julianne being available and excited, wanting to come and play in the sandbox; James, similarly.
Sterling K. Brown on ‘Paradise’.Disney/Brian Roedel
So that’s a lot of fun.
I just really value people showing up to work, wanting to be there.
Disney/Brian Roedel
Speaking of being number one on the call sheet, is this the first time for you?
Sterling K. Brown and James Marsden on ‘Paradise’.Disney/Ser Baffo
It’s weird, right?
Let me explain it.
And I was number six or five on the call sheet, something like that.
Julianne Nicholson on ‘Paradise’.Brian Roedel/disney
And I was like, “Okay, we’ve had success on five or six.”
On [The People vs. O.J.
He’s like, “Are you sure?”
James Marsden and Sterling K. Brown on ‘Paradise’.Brian Roedel/Disney
I’m number one on the call sheet."
There’s no way I could justify not being number one.
So I was like, all right, let me just embrace it and see how it goes.
Sterling K. Brown and Ron Cephas Jones on ‘This Is Us’.Ron Batzdorff/NBC
Did you feel anything different?
And I still feel as if we do do it together.
Disney/Ser Baffo
Let’s get into this Xavier Collins.
He values his occupation, and being good at what he does is important to him.
That is something that we have in common.
As a single dad, wanting to have a certain appearance of strength for his daughter and his son.
Doesn’t allow himself to feel things as readily.
But things unravel a little bit.
He allows himself the potential of romance, which I think was pretty
Did that surprise you?
There’s a survivor’s remorse that’s there.
So is he entitled to happiness at all?
We’ve been practicing not doing it for so long.
Adam Scott and Britt Lower in the ‘Severance’ season 2 finale.apple tv+
I thought that’s what we do now."
And Xavier knows immediately s— is about to hit the fan.
There’s no way around it.
Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder in the ‘Hacks’ season 4 premiere.Courtesy of Max
You cannot control what people do with the information once they have it.
Some people will be cool, some people will not.
And then the possibility of his wife being alive in the future …
It’s like, “I got to go do that.”
So I don’t know.
Brian Roedel/disney
You mentioned episode 7 … holy cow.
Is there a lot of extra mental prep for a scene like that?
I’ve already sparked off the sky.
I f—ed with the system.
So there was a lot.
Even at the beginning of the day, well, Julianne is the most lovely person.
I think this is important for the record.
Peter Falk at the 1990 Emmys.Craig Sjodin /American Broadcasting Companies via Getty
It’s okay to love Julianne and hate Sinatra.
How dare you attempt to hurt Presley!"
She’s like, “Yup, I know.”
She’s coming from a perspective of like, “This is my world.
You don’t get to f— with my world.”
It’s such a strange profession, Gerrad.
You could have done something."
We also have to talk about your relationship with James Marsden.
In that episode in particular, he has quite a moment.
First of all, man, he kills this …
He kills Cal Bradford.
I knew he was good I’ve been watching James my whole life.
I was just delighted being in any and every scene with him.
He’s a good dude.
I consider us to be very kindred.
He’s very open, very honest.
You ask him a question, he gives you an answer.
So he was easy to know as a person.
And I think that translates on screen when people share themselves so readily.
There’s a camaraderie that just happened.
And then he leans in and he starts to harmonize.
It was like I felt like I met a brother.
It was like hanging out with Justin Hartley.
And so it just translated really easily and naturally to a wonderful relationship on screen.
you’re free to’t be blaming him.
He told you, ‘Don’t let her go.'"
Brian Roedel/Disney
But how could Xavier know what he meant?
Yeah, you couldn’t know.
And I think once you see 7, everything happened way faster than the president anticipated.
I thought we were going to have days.
Now it’s all of a sudden it’s here.
He has such a real and human moment when he speaks to the country.
I can’t imagine where one goes with a thought like that.
It’s exactly how you describe it.
So I have the wonderful life experience of sharing my life with someone whom I adore for 19 years.
And I have the facility of imagination to wonder what life would be like without her.
And that’s the job, right?
And that’s what makes them professionals.
That one hits hard right, in the feels.
Which has a whole different meaning now in L.A., especially what Mandy and Milo personally experienced.
it’s really insane, right?
But that one has a deep level of resonance.
But what I find is that a lot of them have deep levels of resonance.
Different episodes hit different people in different ways.
And it’s the most lovely thing.
You’re talking about the posterior chain?
[Laughs] I give mad credit to Peloton.
Gravity, it fights against gravity.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
That alone is reason to nominate him for an Emmy.
18-27 Final Emmy votingSEPT.
6, 7 Creative Arts EmmysSEPT.
