Mark Duplass has really been, with his brother Jay, the king of the indie film scene for many years. Wikipedia defines him as a “filmmaker, actor, writer, musician, producer, director,” and that list probably even has more components. But he joins me on this week’s episode of my Deadline video series The Actor’s Side to talk about his performing side, specifically as Chip, the executive producer character on The Morning Show for which he has again received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
This is Duplass’ second nomination for the series, having also been in the category for the Apple TV+ show’s first season in 2020. But that ceremony was very different then as, at least for the nominees, it was all on Zoom. This year will not be like that, and Duplass is looking forward to it, though we begin our conversation with him coming clean on his actual feelings about awards in general.
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There is a lot of ground to cover here including his feeling that The Morning Show‘s Chip has sort of become the moral center of a fictional show and network as it all careens out of control. His expletive-laden tirade live on air is really his Peter Finch Network moment, and he talks about how that all came about. He also compares the lavish budget this series has compared to some of the $3 productions he has made in the indie sector. It is an impressive list across movies and TV projects that have won wide acclaim but are really seat-of-your-pants guerilla filmmaking (The Puffy Chair, Baghead, Jeff Who Lives at Home, Humpday, Togetherness, Animals, Creep, etc).
A great story he tells is when on the spur of the moment an idea comes about for Chip to throw up, but the crew says it would be impossible to prepare in the short amount of time they had. Duplass puts on his indie producer and actor hat to prove them wrong, and you’ll have to join us for this chat to find out the hilarious way he did it. There is so much, more including how relevant and eerily true this series –nominated for 16 Emmys overall including 10 for its cast — has become.
To watch our conversation and get the “actor’s side” of life from Mark Duplass, watch the video above.
Join me every week during Emmy season for another edition of The Actor’s Side.