Modern Family’s Jesse Tyler Ferguson on the Upcoming Story Line That Moved Him to Tears
Jesse Tyler Ferguson almost missed out on Modern Family, ABC’s breakout mockumentary that is already being heralded by the Hollywood Reporter as one of the best series of the decade. Recovering from his experience on the critically savaged and quickly canceled Do Not Disturb, Ferguson told his managers that he was finished with television and moved to New York last year to headline the Broadway musical based on Elf. Fortunately for Ferguson, his managers soft-sold him Modern Family, which the actor read five times over and fell in love with. Now, Ferguson can be seen on Wednesday nights as Mitchell Pritchett, the hilariously straight-laced former figure skater who has since settled down with his flamboyant partner — the hilarious Eric Stonestreet — and their adopted Vietnamese daughter.
Movieline has an interview with Jesse, and here are some of the Q&A:
I heard that you also initially auditioned for the role of Cameron. How far were you in the audition process before realizing you were a better fit for Mitchell?
It was literally the first audition, and I had been desperate to play Mitchell. I feel like I had probably played Cameron before and it didn’t seem terribly challenging for me. I just felt it was more of a challenge to find the humor in his seriousness and his uptightness. And then the first audition with Chris and Steve, they said, “Oh you’d make a great Mitchell too. Why don’t you come back in and audition for that part?” And I said, “Well that’s what I’ve been telling people for weeks and no one has been listening!”
There is a lot of tension between certain characters on the show, especially between Julie Bowen’s and Sofia Vergara’s characters, that has extended into certain press interviews with the actresses. Is that tension real, are people afraid of them on set?
It’s completely not. We all have this amazing, kind of unruly sense of humor. Sofia and Julie have this hilarious dynamic between the two of them. They go out to dinner and they are very good friends but they make fun of each other all the time. When that whole thing happened with theChelsea Lately show, it was funny, because that is just how the two would be interacting to each other’s face. But people with too much time on their hands in front of their computers suddenly created this controversy between the two of them [Ed. note: Those people are so pathetic!], but they were laughing about it together. So there’s no tension between the two of them.
Can you tell us anything about the rest of the season — any big surprises or dance numbers?
[Laughs] Yeah, we adopt another baby. Just kidding. Can you imagine? There’s this great episode that actually really hit close to the heart for me. We deal with my dad’s uncomfortability with my character’s sexuality. Ed O’Neill’s character ends up introducing Cameron to his friends as “a friend of my son, Mitchell’s.” And I get really upset about it, naturally and say, “You would never introduce Phil as a friend of Claire’s.” It kind of opens up this can of worms between him and me and how much support he really offers me. It ends up being very moving and very touching. Obviously, through the eyes of Chris Lloyd and Steve Levitan and the writer of that episode, it is handled with such care and humor. It actually made me tear up when I read it. Especially in this era of marriage equality, it gave a simple, clear voice to a father and his son. And by the end of the episode, I think it might take a step towards changing a lot of people’s minds on marriage and equality and how they view people that are different from them.
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Modern Family, Episode 10 – “Fizbo”: Cameron the clown
The 10 best lines from last night’s episode of Modern Family based on EW (in descending order):
10. “Let’s tuck our pants into our socks.”
9. “Yeah, you’re right. I don’t need it. An extension cord works pretty good.”
8. “I used to have a machete, but times have changed.”
7. “People are gonna stare. They’re not used to seeing one clown in a car.”
6. “Girlfriend’s gonna get stung!”
5. “I’ve tried everything to get her attention. Opening doors, having a milk sent over in the cafeteria. Nothing’s worked.”
4. “A gift card? Who hurt you?”
3. “She can’t go 10 minutes without her boyfriend’s tongue in her mouth. It’s like he’s feeding a baby bird.”
2. “Let me know if you get low on supplies. I’ll make a quick run back to the 1950s for you.”
1. “I am brave. Roller coasters? I love ‘em. Scary movies? I’ve seen Ghostbusters like seven times. I regularly drive through neighborhoods that have only recently been gentrified. So yeah, I’m pretty much not afraid of anything.”
And some review from Alan Sepinwall:
The highlight of “Fizbo” was, of course, Fizbo himself, and how seriously Cam/Eric Stonestreet threw himself into the part. Every time I think that the contrast of Cam’s gregarious nature and Mitchell’s more introverted, judgmental qualities is going to get old, we get a hysterical talking head like the one where Cameron outlined the four types of clowns, followed by Mitchell creating the marvelous assembly of words that is “weird gay clown uncle.”
Rico Rodriguez continues to be wonderful as Manny. The character doesn’t know how to tell the Interrupting Cow joke (or its funnier/more aggressive spin-off, Interrupting Starfish), but Rodriguez can even find a way to make Manny’s sad bouncing funny. (Gloria being ogled by the dads was more predictable, but when you put Sofia Vergara on a show with a bouncy castle, some things just have to happen the way they’re gonna, I suppose.)
We got a more sarcastic side of Phil than usual (I liked him offering to go on a supply run to the 1950s to get Claire some more crafts), which then nicely offset his pathological clown fear.
A very funny, very satisfying episode, and one that’ll hold me until the next new one in two weeks.
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Sneak Peeks – Modern Family 1.09 “Fizbo”
Here are some more sneak peeks into Modern Family Episode 9 , courtesy of TV Over Mind:
LUKE GETS THE ULTIMATE BIRTHDAY PARTY AND EVERYONE HAS A SAY EXCEPT FOR MAYBE LUKE, ON ABC’S “MODERN FAMILY”
“Fizbo” – Nothing is too big when Phil and Claire decide to throw Luke the biggest and best birthday party a boy could ever want. But when Cameron shows up as Fizbo, the Clown, it sets of a chain of events that ends with someone in the hospital, on “Modern Family,” WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25 (9:00-9:30 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network.
“Modern Family” stars Ed O’Neill as Jay Pritchett, Julie Bowen as Claire Dunphy, Ty Burrell as Phil Dunphy, Sof’a Vergara as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett, Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell Pritchett, Eric Stonestreet as Cameron, Sarah Hyland as Haley Dunphy, Nolan Gould as Luke Dunphy, Ariel Winter as Alex Dunphy and Rico Rodriguez as Manny Delgado.
Guest cast include Reid Ewing as Dylan, Margo Harshman as Tanya and Kaitlyn Dever as Bianca.
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Modern Family Episode 8 “Great Expectations”
With a history of giving bad gifts, Claire is determined to surprise Phil with an amazing anniversary present – a private performance by one of their favorite musicians, Izzy LaFontaine! However, it turns out to be a surprise in more ways than one. Meanwhile, Mitchell and Cameron call up their party-girl bestie, Sal, for a long overdue night out on the town.
Will air Nov. 11th.
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First Look: Elizabeth Banks Drops By MODERN FAMILY
We know that Elizabeth Banks is coming to Modern Family on November 18, now TVaddicts brings some pictures. In the episode “Great Expectations” she will be dropping by old-friends Mitchell and Cameron’s house to take them out for a long overdue night on the town. “We haven’t seen Sal [Banks] in a while because we’ve been so busy with the baby,” explained Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Mitchell) in a recent interview with theTVaddict.com, “We decide to go out for a night of drinking together and she just kind of crumbles into this heaping mess of drunken nausea.”
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Modern Family Episode 6 “Run for Your Wife” Pictures
Modern Family Episode 6 “Run for Your Wife” – It’s the first day back at school for the kids and, at the Dunphy house, Phil oversteps when he misreads how Claire is coping with an empty nest. Over at Jay’s, he and Gloria are in disagreement over Manny’s interesting choice of outfit for his first day of class, and Mitchell and Cameron freak out after Lily gets her first bump on the head.
[Source: Daemons TV]
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‘Modern Family’ – Cameron (Eric Stonestreet)
One of the best surprises of “Modern Family” is Eric Stonestreet (see IMDb profile), who plays Cameron. The guy is so funny…
Eric just did an interview for Variety in which he said about himself: “I always say I’m the straight version of Cameron,” Stonestreet says. “I’m a little bit flamboyant myself and have a flair for the dramatic. Who says those are bad things? I think they have their place. Cameron doesn’t let moments pass. He is a celebrator of life and people.”
KansasCity ran an article about Eric, who is from Kansas. In the interview Eric said about the audition: “It was the audition every actor wanted, and I know they saw a tremendous number of people,” – we are so glad he got the part.
Here is a clip for you:
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Going to a wedding?
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