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Yes, the Science Guy.
Its unconventional casting, but it works.
Stripped of his lab coat and bow tie, Nye is a little hard to place.
We naturally had some questions about how the whole thing came out.
Luckily, Nye was happy to jump on a Zoom call and discuss the story behind his cameo.
Youre someone whos very well-versed intellectually.
I was thinking back about this.
I went to Cornell, which was a clerical error by the admissions department.
It has something called the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
I remember a lot of the guys in my freshmen hallway went there.
But not in a way that I thought about.
I didnt even think about that until long after my bit on this movie.
You understand, I went to an audition to get this part?
I was going to ask.My agent at UTA said, Do you want to do this?
I said, Heck yes.
[I had to use] my old skills.
I did local TV ads.
You gotta audition!
The [Mank] gal, the casting director, said, Wow, you learned the lines.
I did my best: Food is rotting on the ground.
Vegetables are being tossed in the ocean.
I got the part, which was just amazing to me.
Did you ever learn why they wanted you?I met with [Fincher].
We talked about the importance ofCitizen Kanein the history of cinema.
We talked about the current administration, everybodys frustration with it.
He said, We wanted you for your reputation for factual presentations, science, respecting the facts.
It was really cool.
Then we shot it on the 31st of January, right before the pandemic.
The stage direction was Monotone.
Im trying to get this crowd excited.
Its a campaign rally.
It looks like he used at least one of them.
That was very gratifying.
Did Upton Sinclair really speak in a monotone voice?I looked for samples of his voice online.
He was a regular speaker, kind of a Charlie Rose jot down of guy.
It occurred to me, should I have some sort of Boston accent?
You know,smaht, pahk.
But looking back, I think they wanted my voice to be recognizable.
I also rereadThe Jungle, and watchedCitizen Kaneagain before the night of shooting.
What did you get out of watchingKaneagain?That I wanted to be part of it, I guess.
Everybody talks aboutCitizen Kane.
The first movie ever to show the ceiling.
That kind of thing.
The other thing is the seriousness of it.
The movie was so influential, and clearly, Fincher wants this movie to be influential.
I would show up reading the ad for the stereo company with a lot less preparation.
Were having a gigantic sale Sony, Hitachi, Toshiba, all on sale.
Before this, when was the last time you had to audition for anything?A long time ago.
It was when I was in Seattle.
It mightve been Mallon Ford in Tacoma, Washington.
Or the Washington State Lottery.
But it was a job.
You started as a stand-up comedian, which then led to the persona of the Science Guy.
Id love to give you an earful about the two unions, AFTRA and SAG.
Im very happy about that.
InMank, Mankiewicz pooh-poohs the Writers Guild.
Boy, that changed.
This guy or gal is in your freaking living room, talking to you, taking up your time.
Thats not that easy, man.
When the person on camera is natural, thats when the show has a chance.
I say all the time: You dont hate anyone more than you hate somebody on television.
If that guy or gal does not appeal to you, man, youre ticked off.
You start yelling at the television.
I was the guy in the ad for the Kicker, instead of the Clapper.
Thats acting, but its on a comedy show.
I dont normally do a lot of that.
Hit me the ball, man.
Its David Fincher, for crying out loud.
He is as the kids say kind of a big deal.
I really wanted to do a good job for him.
For the last ten months, Ive been wondering if my scene got cut.
I didnt even see the whole script, they only sent me my stuff.
Scientists talk about that when they look at the dark area of the moon.
Worlds colliding for you, a little bit.Yeah!
We shot it in Pasadena, next to the City Hall.
They wet down the streets.
They had the vintage vehicles.
I felt the pressure, man.I better not blow it.
Hes famous for doing a ton of takes.
Was that your experience?He did a lot of takes, yeah.
I said, Id like to take it up a little bit.
He was great about it.
He told me to pull back on that, because it looked likeUltraman.
David Fincher just got to me, just like that, with one sentence.
What sort of other notes do you remember?There was a lot of, Face this way.
After a while, I got confident that I wasnt screwing it up.
Another thing we messed with: We tried saying Warner Brothers and the brothers Warner.
The worderrorwas used differently in the 18th century than we use it now.
Ive done some reading about the word.
Its not literally a mistake; it has agency.
You might argue,the attorney general of Texas is erroring.
Hes screwing things up on purpose.
So he had me not use that word, then use that word.
One of the background actors came up to me, What does that mean?
We spent time in the makeup trailer.
But Gary Oldman didnt get to meet me.
By the way, background actors are actors.
I describe myself all the time as part of the OCD, the On-Camera Department.
When you download a call sheet, it says camera, it says director, assistant director.
Then it says talent, but that word kind of bugs me.
On the Netflix show, I insisted: On-Camera Department.
I [have a] little thing about what I call the black-collar workers.
What I still love about the whole thing is its handmade.
David Fincher and I definitely talked about that, the handmade quality of it.
Thats a lovely note to end on.One last thing: People complain all the time about Hollywood.
Thats where it starts.
Then it goes 14 and 16 quite often.
These people work very hard, and their attention to detail is amazing.
Its not for the faint of work ethic.
Its crazy to me when conservative people attack the movie and television industry.
It may not be the best culture, but its the most influential.
Thats because of the work of Hollywood.
