Ted Lasso doesn’t fit into any one genre. The show follows its titular character, an American football coach played by Jason Sudeikis, through hope, heartbreak, and betrayal as he coaches a British soccer team. There are comedic, painful, and feel-good moments, sometimes in quick succession.
But that didn’t stop the cast from nailing the mood on day one.
“There’s not a real clear genre here for this show. And yet, whatever it is, everyone was playing it from the beginning,” said Brendan Hunt, who plays Coach Beard and is also a co-creator of the AppleTV+ series. “That was pretty amazing to have a group of people who don’t know each other — we’ve never worked with anyone in this cast before — and yet right away we were all on the same page. And that was really cool, and I think that’s been one of the things that’s helped us get this far.”
MovieMaker‘s Micah Kahn joined Ted Lasso‘s “Diamond Dogs” — that’s Nathan Shelley (Nick Mohammed), Higgins (Jeremy Swift) and Coach Beard (Hunt) — for a chat about character, genre, and uniting as a cast from the very first read-through. You can watch the full interview above.
“You can tell the cast were all good from the audition. You don’t necessarily know them personally yet, but finding out that everyone is a good hang was incredibly valuable,” Hunt adds. “There are no turkeys, as Jason [Sudeikis] likes to say. And in particular, all the cast are real thinkers. Everyone’s got real good questions when they have questions, but for the most part, it felt like everyone kind of got it right away without even — you know, there wasn’t even a conversation about it.”
Also Read: Felicity Jones Only Gets Love Letters (Cover Story)
Swift recalls feeling overwhelmed at first by how many people were at the first read-through, but then feeling that pressure melt away. The show returns later this month.
“We didn’t really even do read-throughs for Season 2, but that first, certainly that first one… there were about 25, 30 people around a big table in L.A.,” he says. “But actually, I didn’t feel pressurized, because it was also, it must have been Bill [Lawrence], the atmosphere was just so convivial and it was so fun.”
Mohammed also felt the pressure of all those eyes watching him. But he says Ted Lasso co-creator Bill Lawrence, who also created Scrubs and co-created Cougar Town and Spin City, immediately put him and the rest of the cast at ease.
“I remember going to the read-through. Read-throughs are always quite difficult, cold environments. Anyway… I knew that, like, Apple and you know Apple in America were kind of like being beamed in as well, so it’s being recorded and sort of broadcast to them, and just suddenly realizing it was quite a big deal,” Mohammed recalls. “But I remember Bill Lawrence at the start just giving this wonderful speech about how delighted that he was with the cast that they’ve got, and how no one gets fired after a read-through on his gigs.”
Watch the full interview above.
Season 1 of Ted Lasso is now streaming on AppleTV+. Season 2 premieres Friday, July 23.
Share:
