Awards Circuit Podcast: Also on this episode, comedian Marc Maron on his recent HBO special and how his cats are doing.
“The Paper” star Domhnall Gleeson hears a lot from journalists these days — and the frequent refrain from reporters is that they appreciate being seen as their profession struggles to maintain its foothold. “It’s been a common theme that people who have seen the show and are involved in journalism seem to like it and seem to recognize that we care about it,” Gleeson tells Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast, “and that’s been a lovely kind of aspect to the whole thing.”
But sometimes it’s also a bit melancholy. Most reporters he runs into are big fans of the Peacock series — it’s just that, well, “they’re like, it’s also a sad aspect to it. You are watching the reality of it is the buildings, the various newspapers that I visited over the doing the prep, they were all now in smaller spaces than they had been. And in our show, it’s sort of exemplified with the fact that they share half of their floor with a toilet paper company.”
Gleeson spoke with the Awards Circuit Podcast about what to expect in Season 2 of “The Paper,” which just wrapped shooting, including the relationship between his character, Ned, and Chelsea Frei’s Mare. He also talks about his first time in Variety (and his early career), and takes the 10 Questions quiz.
Also on this episode, comedian Marc Maron discusses his most recent special — HBO’s “Panicked” — and he updates us on how he’s doing post-podcast, and more importantly, how his cats are doing. Listen below!
“The Paper” recently wrapped shooting Season 2 at the actual Los Angeles Times offices in El Segundo. It was the first time Gleeson had been back at an actual paper since he did some research at a Ohio newsroom before Season 1. “It was cool because some people had seen the show, and talking to journalists since about the show has been very rewarding,” he says.
As for the relationship between “Toledo Truth Teller” editor-in-chief Ned Sampson and reporter Mare Pritti, Gleeson noted that the relationship unfolded very carefully and quietly in Season 1 — until that finale bombshell. (If you haven’t seen it, we’ll keep the spoilers to that.” “In the finale, they, I thought they gave us a really nice scene, beautiful scene in the hallway.”
The pace of Ned and Mare is very different from “The Office” couple Jim and Pam — and part of that is because “The Office” had 22 episodes a season to explore — and “The Paper” just has ten. “I thought it was not the obvious thing to have them get together early, by the end of the 10th episode, and I think it just creates problems in a really good way for the next season,” he says.
For his first time in Variety, Gleeson first appeared in a March 6, 2006 review of his play “The Lieutenant of Inishmore,” earning strong marks for his performance. That was followed by a VPage appearance on May 11, 2006, at a party for “Inishmore,” in which Gleeson is seen next to a cake celebrating the show.
Gleeson says he first performed in “Inishmore” for playwright Martin McDonagh in London during college. Later, he and a few others from the West End play did the show on Broadway. “We all got nominated for a Tony,” he notes. “I think that suit [in the photo] was from a secondhand store. Because there were these things happening that you had to go to, and the money doesn’t come in for a while. Your paycheck doesn’t arrive immediately while you’re doing it, so I had a lot of secondhand suits that kind of didn’t fit or had stains you couldn’t get rid of!”
10 QUESTIONS WITH DOMHNALL GLEESON:1. Childhood nickname: “My mom called me ‘Dodo,’ but no one else. I’ve got this strange name, spelled D-O-M-H-N-A-L-L, it’s an ‘M’ but it’s not pronounced, it’s an unusual-looking name. ‘Donal Oge’ when I was in primary school, which means ‘Young Domhnall,’ since there was an older Domhnall. There’s only a couple of people in my life who have called me ‘Dodo,’ and it’s always made me feel special.”2. Something you loved as a kid but can’t believe you were into it now: Maybe my love of Enid Blyton books. I probably loved them a bit too long.3. Go-to Karaoke or sing-in-the-shower song: “There’s a song called “Hoarseness Is the Whatness’ by Fontaines D.C. and that was my shower song for a good long while.” 4. Give me an alternate title for your show: “‘Ned Sampson Investigates.’ No, no, ‘The Paper’ is good.”5. What’s your secret talent?: “I can put my foot behind my head.”6. Favorite ice cream flavor: Really good vanilla with espresso on it — an affogato.7. The one item you couldn’t live without: “My dad gave me my grandfather’s watch on my wedding day. And I wear it, which means that there is a possibility that I will lose it at a certain point, but I would rather wear it and remember him than put it in a drawer and forget him.”8. What TV show in all of history do you wish you were a cast member of?: “’I’m Alan Partridge.’ It’s the perfect comedy.”9. Fictional character you most admire: “Weirdly, when I played a serial killer in ‘The Patient’ with Steve Carell, my wife says it’s was the most like the most happy I was in my work, and weirdly I feel like I identify with him a lot.”10. Your favorite hot take: “One is that the sport snooker should be much bigger in America than it is. And also, I think people should have a party piece. It can be a song that you know from beginning to end and can sing, or a poem. So if you’re in a group and it’s late and everybody’s having a lovely time, you can go around and people will do their party piece.”