Laura Dern and Will Arnett go deep on comedy for Is This Thing On
Is This Thing On? pairs Laura Dern and Will Arnett for a look at a slightly more serious side of comedy. The Mary Sue’s Rachel Leishman got a chance to talk with them about music, what makes comedy work, and more during our exclusive interview. After she blew the actors’ minds with a question about what song they would choose to represent themselves, they dove right into the question of what makes comedy. It’s a weighty topic. But, Arnett kicked us off with some observations about comedy’s link to drama. It’s a delicate dance.
“What was the hardest part? I don’t think there was. It was all hard and it always felt very natural,” Arnett admitted. “I think that, you know, comedy and drama. It’s great that they coexist in our lives, because we all have days that start one way and go another.”
“We have tough moments, and then we have deep, laughter in those moments,” he added. “Sometimes, and I think that I always say like we, I never start out by day saying like ‘Today’s going to be a comedy day.’ So, I think that in a lot of ways it felt like a really sort of true reflection of life.”
Is This Thing On tackles comedy and drama
For Dern, the interplay of the characters on the page matters a lot. In her eyes, that kind of dance is well-suited to comedies of the past, and can do great things for the current cinema landscape. She also noted that having an element of discomfort along with comedy is essential for the art form to really have the desired effect. Emotion helps make things funny, you can’t avoid it. Check out what else she had to say in her comments down below.
“The thing I loved the most about the rhythm of the script is it reminded me of a classic screwball comedy. In the way that the tone, and the rhythm, had a musicality and a motor to it,” Dern recalled. “And so even in the depth of pain, there was a rhythm to those scenes. So we had to be in the truth of it, and it was very emotional.”
“But, it still had this like underpinning. This drive is a kind of Frank Capra comedy, which are painful movies,” she added. “And so, you know, it was a really interesting balance. I think, like never not remembering the movie as a whole. And, where we were getting to, but we had to also completely forget it, and just be in the truth of each other. So, I loved that about the script.
Is This Thing On? feasts on the interplay between the two stars. They’ve clearly thought a lot about comedy. And, these actors are hoping that you’ll do the same. The film hits theaters on December 19.
(Photo Credit: Searchlight Pictures)
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