As part of our twice-weekly series, VF.com interviews the actors and directors behind 2012 awards season’s juggernaut films. In today’s conversation, actor Jason Segel—writer ofThe Muppets, which earned an Oscar nomination for best original song—talks to Krista Smith about sequel rumors, his love life, and how theFreaks & Geeks gang still keeps in touch. Highlights from their chat:
Krista Smith: So after seeing the movie with them eight times, I got my sons The Muppets TV show.
Jason Segel: Oh, cool!
__The best quote, basically, of 2012 for me is: “Mommy, who’s Connie Stevens?”__Oh my God.
__Jason, I leave it to you. How do you explain to a four-year-old and a five-and-a-half-year-old who Connie Stevens is?That is so funny. I’ll tell you the answer. You say, “It doesn’t matter anymore.” Did you get to the Peter Sellers episode yet?
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__Yes! We went through all.__The Peter Sellers one kills me, because he has an existential crisis at the beginning—I don’t know who Peter Sellers is anymore. For five minutes, it’s not a kid’s monologue at all.
And it was primetime. __This wasn’t like Nickelodeon. This was on at night.__It was Saturday Night Live. It was like Saturday Night Live for families—it was really crazy.
Speaking of S.N.L., how much fun did you have hosting the show?
It was the best week of my life.
__I imagine it would be, right?__It is without a doubt—especially as a comedian—it’s a marker. You dream of doing S.N.L. some day. It was not lost on me for a minute. When I walked out that door at the beginning, I was like, Oh, you did it, kid.
*__And I am so thrilled “Man or Muppet” got nominated for best original song.__I am, obviously, thrilled. I knew it as soon as I heard that song. I mean, Bret McKenzie nailed it. It was kind of a package deal—he came along with [Muppets director James] Bobin, who directed Flight of the Conchords. I’ve written the music for a couple of the movies I did, but the songs I write for Russell are allowed to be intentionally bad, you know what I mean? They’re allowed to be joke-y. The Muppets songs—I didn’t want to do The Muppets songs with any sense of irony whatsoever. The songs had to be actually good. And Bret McKenzie just came in and slaughtered it.
__The Muppets would ever come back as a primetime show?
__I don’t know what the plans are, in terms of a show. I have a very strong hunch that they’ll probably do a sequel. My goal was literally just to restore The Muppets to the late 70s, early 80s *Muppets . . .*and I think we’ve done it with this movie, and it did really well.
__Would you have a hand in a sequel if one were to be made?__My goal was to bring the Muppets back and to set it up so they can do whatever they want—they can now take the torch and run with it. I think that’s kinda how I feel. My goal was not to become the new head of the Muppets; it was just to give them an opportunity to be as awesome as they are. I don’t like to do stuff where I feel super-comfortable and then it’s easy—after Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I could have started churning out R-rated comedies.
But you didn’t—you went G-rated.
I like to do stuff that makes me a little scared. The Muppets made me a little scared—it is a giant legacy that I wanted to do justice to, that it brings out the best in you. It’s like when you’re a high-school athlete, and you’re playing the best team in the city—you bring your A game. So that’s what interests me. Now, the idea of theMuppets sequel—I know it’s gonna be awesome, but it doesn’t scare me anymore.
So what’s scaring you?
Well, I haven’t found it yet, but I really want to play a villain.
__Oooh, that’s fun.__I feel like, my whole career, I’m constantly walking the line between creepy and charming, and I always err on the side of charming. I’d like to do one where I err on the side of creepy. I look at what Christopher Nolan did with villains, and they’re complicated—they’re not just evil. They’re like really fully built characters—sort of what Gary Oldman does in every movie.
Let’s talk about something else that’s interesting to me: Jay and Mark DuPlass, who wrote and directed your new movie, Jeff Who Lives at Home.
They’re the best! And their whole thing—it’s actually very similar to the Judd philosophy and my philosophy—[is that] they set you up to be your best. Like they don’t try to make you do something different than what you’re good at. They set a platform for you to nail it.
That’s so interesting.
So I can imagine when I’m writing what Paul Rudd will do best. And I can imagine what Jonah will do best. But no one knows it better than Paul and Jonah, what they’re good at, you know? And so I guess the idea is creating a blueprint, but then having the humility to say, Come in and throw it all away if you feel like you can do better. Just go in and nail it, dudes. And that’s what Mark and Jay do: they give you a blueprint, and then they’re like, All right, show ’em your stuff, kiddo.
Tell me more about the movie.
It’s a brother comedy drama—I don’t know quite how you describe the genre. The tone is a little like Lars and the Real Girl. It’s a little bit everything. But it’s about the one brother, my character, who’s a bit of a space cadet, smokes too much pot, and is obsessed with the idea that there’s meaning to everything—that there is an order. But a lot of it is, when you talk to a pothead, how they’re obsessed with the idea that stuff means something that it doesn’t.
Very true.
And then, the very rational brother, Ed Helms’s character. And it’s really about them coming to terms with each other. It’s about two very, very different brothers coming to terms with each other.
And then, you also have The Five-Year Engagement—I’ve heard really good things about it.
Yeah. Oh Krista, it’s so good.
__It’s you and Emily Blunt, right? Isn’t this the second time around for you guys?__It’s third time around. We did Gulliver’s, Muppets, and then this. I have a very strong opinion about why romantic comedies go wrong. And it’s because they try to just hook up two viable Hollywood stars to make money on a movie. And you’re watching the thing, and you’re like, I can tell when you talk, you don’t even know each other.
Right.
Emily and I are actual friends. And I’m really good friends with [her husband] John [Krasinski], as well. And so it almost means more in the mundane scenes where we’re just talking. You can tell that we’re friends. And so it feels different than two randomers matched up.
__Now what made you want to write this?__The theme of the movie is about how fluid relationships are. That over the course of something like five years, how our dynamic shifts, you meet new people—and it’s not just so you meet someone and you love them and then it’s over. Life is complicated. And there’re still other attractive people in the world. And you still fight. And you still deal with “Should we even be together?” It’s not like it just ends because you meet “the one.” The one—the one is a myth.
Well, we know that. But we’re over Sarah Marshall, aren’t we?
I’m still single, Krista.
Come on!
I’m definitely over—of course I’m over Sarah Marshall.
You know what? I like knowing you’re out there in the world and single. It’s nice to have some heartbreakers out there.
With the exception that he’s way better looking and way more talented than me, I’m the new Clooney.
__You arethe new Clooney.__With the exception that he’s way better looking and way more talented.
__Are you even 30 yet?__I’m 32. Just turned.
__And no one’s stuck around for even six months?__You know, I don’t want to have a girlfriend for the sake of having a girlfriend. If it’s gonna happen, which I assume it will at some point, it’s gonna be ’cause we’re like awesome together. There’s no reason to rush into something like that and feel dumb about it. If it’s gonna happen, it’s gonna be ’cause she’s awesome.
__So you guys gonna have a huge party for Jonah, now that he got a best-supporting-actor Oscar nomination for Moneyball? A dramatic part! Opposite Brad Pitt!__I know. How crazy is that?
Oh, I’m so proud of Jonah. I knew him *when.*I’ve gotta call five people to get through to him now. I love it.[Laughs.] I know, I know! What’s really cool, and it really is true—it’s not lip service—is that our little group has really managed to stay together. So yeah, everyone’s super-proud of everyone. We’re all doing so well, you know?
__That relationship in Hollywood, it’s like dog years. I mean, you guys might as well be 80, you’ve been friends so long at this point.__You know, as you get older, you drift apart and all that stuff. But every time one of us does something, there’s a text from everyone else in the group, like, Hey, congratulations! And as silly as it sounds, it means a lot.
__What else is going on?
*__I got the Harvard Hasty Pudding award [earlier this month].
__That is so cool! Did you love the Harvard mystique?__It’s funny you ask that. The award was oddly sentimental. Very nice. But you know, I’m Boston. I’m born and raised in L.A., but my whole family is Boston. So 30 Segels came to this thing, and I have a lot of Southie Boston friends. Bartenders and like regular dudes.
