Anyway, it was at that club where I first met Danny Masterson. He was one of the promoters and since I went all the time, we sort of got to know each other. So it was very interesting to sit down with him and talk about his role in âYes Manâ. It was the first time weâd seen each other in awhile, and it was the first time weâd spoken as journalist and interviewee. But having that little bit of familiarity always helps an interview, and I think youâll see that as you read it.
Anyway, the reason for this long winded intro isâ¦.as you read the interview or listen by clicking here, youâll see we talk about the
And for the few that donât know who Danny Masterson isâ¦while heâs been working in the industry for a very long time, most of you will know him from âThat 70âs Showâ where he played Hyde.
Finally, in âYes Manâ Danny plays one of Jim Careyâs best friends, and if youâd like to see some movie clips just
Danny: Howâve you been?
Collider: Iâm doing excellent. Yeah, so basically even though we have limited time, so this is what I do for my day job.
Danny: All right.
Weâve just actually never met on that sort of path. Itâs always been at night. Anywayâ¦
Danny: We both like the nightlife.
You know, for me, not as much as I used to.
Danny: Yeah? Why what happened?
I found that the harder I work, the moreâ¦
Danny: Daytime wise?
Yeah, the harder I work on the web site equals the more success the site has.
Danny: That makes sense.
And so when Iâve been partying too muchâand you see what Iâm sayingâbut enough about me. Soâ¦
Danny: No, letâs talk for 15 minutes all about you!
No, no, no, no thank you. Okay, so letâs talk about theâ¦letâs get the generic question out of the way of, you know, how did you get involved with the project and I just realized maybe I want to shut off that radio.(there was a radio playing in the background)
Danny: You donât like Jonesy's jukebox anymore?
No, no itâs not a question of that. Iâm a big fan of the station and I believe youâre involved with the station as well.
Danny: I was until I quit.
Yeah, and there we go. So starting with the generic question real fast, so howâd you get involved with the project and was Jim Carrey involved when you said yeah?
Danny: I got involved very simply just by havingâ¦they asked to have me come in and read for the role. So I went and met Peyton Reed, whoâs the director. And I sort of had a scene that was like a sort of a one page monologue. Sort of a generic scene, I donât think was ever supposed to be in the movie. I just came in and sort of did it. He ended up laughing. Andy and Jarrad were the writers and said nice to meet you guys. And I left and I got a call 2 months later saying âhey you booked âYes Manâ and I was likeâ¦itâs funny because my mom called and sheâs like, âwhat are you doing?â and I was like âoh Iâm driving back from San Franciscoâ or something. She said I have great news. And I said, âoh what is it?â She said you booked âYes Manâ. I was like what was that. She said âthe Jim Carrey movieâ. I was like what Jim Carrey movie? The one remember you went and read? Oh from months and months ago? Like oh yeah. Oh, really? I was surprised and shocked just because it had been so long and it was such a fast meet. I was literally in and out in 3 minutes and Peyton said that right when I did it he loved it and they were just sort of re-writing the script and figuring out what to do and so when they said you booked it, you just sort of say okay cool. Iâll be in it. Thank you for having me.
Obviously you were on a very successful TV show and that probably plays into with any director that you work with now you have a huge resume where theyâve seen you a lot.
Danny: Yeah. Yeah. I mean I started working in â82, you know what I mean? And Iâve done 5 or 6âIâve done 5 series as a regular besides 4 other ones besides â70âs Showâ. Iâve done 20-something movies, but when it comes to working with icons you just sort of feel lucky to be able to work with them and so like my sort of notoriety is its own totally separate from working on a Jim Carrey film where Iâm literally there just to make him look as good as possible and try to be as real as possible. But thatâs what youâre there to do is just to sort ofâ¦you know?
I completely get it. Is for you with your career and with how many films youâve been in and TV and everything, is going in and reading for a partâ¦
Danny: Awful.
I was going to say, Iâm likeâ¦
Danny: Fucking awful. Thereâs nothing worse than auditioning. Itâs the worst. Itâs awful. Itâs literally awful.
So nothingâs changed from the beginning of the career to now? Itâs stillâ¦
Danny: Yeah, I getâ¦most of the independent films are offered to me. Most not all. And then sometimes small roles in studio films I get offered. I get offered TV shows and series. But then thereâs ones I want to be in that I have to go and audition and you know, 17 auditions to get to the top as they say. Yeah, but the auditioning process is fucking terrible. Itâs beyond nerve-wracking, anxiety ridden. Youâre sweating. Trying to remember your lines. You rehearse it and you do one thing wrong and youâre so fucking pissed when you leave. Itâs awful. Itâs literally terrible.
See, what I would imagine is Iâm sure for other actors who are going to be reading this interview, Iâm sure theyâre going to take some sort of heart in the fact that you have, in fact, made it in a lot of different things and you still deal with that anxiety and still that nerve-wracking, you know.
Danny: Yeah, no I do. I mean, thereâs often times where thereâs movies that are really good that just the audition is too hard. You know like one of those auditions where itâs just come meet the cast director. You have a crying scene and then a scene where youâre falling in love with a girl and then youâre having an argument with a waiter. And youâre like I donât want to put in theâ¦.when I go to shoot that scene; those 3 different scenes will take a lot of work for me. I will work my ass off to have every moment prepared so theyâre all very, very real. But for an audition when itâs like me out of a couple hundred guys who are all good actors and all work a lot you just sort of donât feelâ¦I mean I get lazy with that sometimes. I canât even be bothered to, you know, Iâll put myself on tape or if itâs a great director and a great project obviously you put the work in, but thereâs so many things that just never come out and they just want you to give this Oscar worthy performance for this Indy thatâs never going to see the light of day for an audition. And thatâsâ¦Iâve gotten too lazy in my 28 years of having a SAG card where now Iâm just like fuck it.
Iâm going to ask a Jim Carrey questionâ¦did you have any preconceived notion of what heâd be like to work on-set and what it ended up turning out to be?
Danny: I had heard that he was just a totally normal guy. Super cool, a lot of fun, a lot of energy. He is all of those things. I was shocked at how hard he works. We would do 60 takes on any given line because he wants to try little different nuances on every take and little different things until he gets it exactly how he wants it. You just go over and over and over and it takes a lot of dedication because he couldâ¦heâs so naturally funny he could just literally just do 2 takes and move on. But he wants the director to have 8,000 options to find the exact best moment and I was shocked. Iâd never seen a starâa film starâdemand so many takesâ¦not demand in a bad way, in a great way. Itâs like letâs keep going and then when it was my turn to do my coverage, you know heâs sitting there doing all my scenes with me. You know, Iâm good after 5 or 6. Iâm like yeah, Iâm fine. Iâm sure youâve got something in there. But he would have been there if I wanted to do 50.
Right.
Danny: And that was surprising.
Obviously you learn on every project you work on you always learn something new about yourself or you know as an actorâ¦
Danny: I learn that I donât enjoy morning shoots.
And there we go.
Danny: Thatâs what I learned on this film. Very, very early call times. Jimâs a morning guy and Iâm a nighttime guy.
I was going to say I heard rumors of you having a nightlife orâ¦
Danny: I just enjoy going to see bands and I enjoy DJ-ing. I enjoy great music, so my schedule for the last 15 years has been sort of go to bed at 4 or 5 in the morning. Even if Iâm just sitting home watching
Itâs hard to make that adjustment.
Danny: Yeah.
Now, Iâll go to the question of the always accurate IMDB. You are either in or attached to like a whole bunch of projects.
Danny: Yeah.
Besides âYes Manâ. A few of them are
Danny: Yeah. I feel like Iâm forgetting one but I know thereâs 3
Are you in that project?
Danny: Yeah, Iâm in that. I play one of my brotherâs best friends. I play Morris the Executioner whoâs a divorce lawyer. So I have flip up glasses and I have like the flavor saver and itâs pretty awesome.
Okay.
Danny: You can actually check out morrisexecutioner.com and you can see my infomercial for my divorce. Then a film that Blair Underwood directed with Ving Rhames called âBridge to Nowhereâ. So thatâs drama. Just shot in
Youâve had films that have played at Sundance before.
Danny: Yeah.
Whatâs your opinion on the festival? Do you still enjoy going?
Danny: I love the festival. I love the festival. I have a house in
But donât you think having the big star vehicles in Sundance films or big premiers like that, elevate some of the smaller films that might notâ¦
Danny: No.
You donât think it helps at all.
Danny: No, I think that they get overlooked. I think that if you had 40 films all that cost under a million bucks and you know you could have stars in the film as long as theyâre doing it for nothing, but these hugeâ¦you know itâs an independent film financed for $30 million starring a huge star, I donât really see how thatâs likeâ¦
Well, I do agree with you that I think that with Sundance movies that if itâs playing the festival it should have a budget, like a limit.
Danny: Yeah. Which would be really cool so everybodyâs on the same playing field.
Itâs like trying to elevate like a salary cap for the festival.
Danny: Yeah, exactly.
Since I have to wrap up, so what do you have coming up in the next little bit of your life that youâre looking forward to?
Danny: Those three films hopefully getting distribution and coming out to see people to enjoy them because theyâre all really, really good. And then Iâm going to star in Jake Hoffmanâs directorial debut called âIrregular Heroâ. So heâs made a couple shorts. Went to film school and heâs a great actor.
I know you also DJ and you a lot of other stuff.
Danny: Yeah, Iâll be DJ-ing a lot and played Lollapalooza this year and that was really fun and did a bunch of shows at South By and just did a bunch of sort of like a little mini tour all around the
Cool, Iâve got to wrap so on that noteâ¦
Danny: Awesome to see you.
Nice to see you.