Dan Bucatinsky – The Baker and the Beauty

By: Jamie Steinberg

Q) What are the recent projects that you have been busy working on?

A) Well, we just finished in February. We were shooting in Puerto Rico from October through February. Sadly, pretty soon after that we were all sheltered in. I continue to produce “Who Do You Think You Are?” – our Emmy winning documentary series with Lisa Kudrow. We’re very excited because this year we are returning to NBC, which is where the series got its start. So, we’ve been busy working on the episodes for “Who Do You Think You Are?” And I’ve been writing. So, I’m always juggling a little bit and in a way it’s good because in a time like this, while “The Baker and the Beauty” is getting ready to make its premiere and they are finishing the last touches of post, I have been able to sort of juggle a few of my other projects even from home.

Q) How does it feeling knowing that your series “Who Do You Think You Are?” has sparked a such intrigue into genealogy?

A) It just feels like the right time. Technology allows us access to records that before were much more difficult. There is a very, very rabid interest in this country and all around the world for people to connect with their roots. And I think it puts history into context. One of the things I love about our show is it really does personalize history in a way that I think we all should. Records will be so different a hundred years from now. Now, we go to census records and we go to birth records and marriage records and we look through newspaper articles to try to find clues to who people were. Imagine a hundred years from now people having to sift through our tweets and our Instagram posts to try to get a better sense of who we are. We are documenting our history every day of our lives now because of social media. But back in the day it wasn’t as easy. It’s such an interesting process and we have such an amazing team on our show that uncovers a narrative about people that lived hundreds of years before us. And we’ve always said from the beginning, we may have celebrities on our show, but the stars of our shows are really the people who lived a hundred of years before them.

Q) Please tell us the premise for the series “The Baker and the Beauty.”

A) “The Baker and the Beauty” is based on an Israeli format called “The Beauty and the Baker.” And it’s very loosely inspired by stories like Notting Hill – the notion of an everyday guy who works in his own family bakery. He’s the eldest son of a Cuban-American family in Miami. And this is exactly what the Israeli version was about, except it was an Israeli family. On the day he breaks up with his longtime girlfriend and he comes face-to-face with one of the biggest mega stars that exists today. You could just imagine someone of the caliber of J. Lo or Gwyneth Paltrow maybe even a Paris Hilton – someone who has their own brand. And the beginning of a romance between an every-man, relatable guy we could and someone who we could only imagine in a fairytale would be our girlfriend. It ultimately is a show about two families because it’s about this woman who doesn’t really have a connection to her own mother and father. She only has me, her manage, who has known her since birth and is sort of a father figure in her life. In contrast to that, here is this guy who still lives at home with his brother and sister and works in the family bakery. He has all the makings of what it means to have a close-knit warm immigrant family. The blending of those two worlds is what this entire series is based on. It’s a romance surrounded by family and music and cooking and baking and eating and how two very unlikely worlds collide.

Q) How does your character Lewis fit into the story?

A) Lewis is Noa’s (Nathalie Kelley) manager, but also was the manager of her mother who had been a model years and years ago. Lewis watched Bella Hamilton grow up. Where he may have been somewhat of an uncle to that baby when she was born as time went on and as she became more distant from her mother (for reasons that are explained in the show) and her dad (with whom she doesn’t have a relationship). Louis becomes the only sort of father figure in her life. So, while Lewis is sort of the barracuda – I call him a “momager” because he is sort of her mom, but he’s also her manager. He’s a barracuda in business because he’s unedited, ruthless, ambitious and wants the world for her professionally. But he’s also incredibly protective of her personally. He’s the closest thing she has to family.

Q) Was there something you found particularly challenging about portraying him?

A) It was fun for me to play somebody with such a connection to…Well, who was dealing with a celebrity of that stature. Access. Somebody who is not used to hearing the words “no.” I did this movie with Jennifer Lopez last year called Second Act and it was so exciting to watch. Jennifer is a very grounded mom and she is really all about her kids and her family. But she’s also an unbelievable business woman. To watch her work was so fascinating and I got a lot of inspiration watching someone juggle both of those things. In the case of Lewis, he’s trying to juggle the intimate care of a daughter figure in his life while also trying to conquer the world in terms of the Noa brand and her career. I was able to draw from my own life because I wear a lot of different hats in my own career. I’ve certainly had access to a lot of people of power. I’ve been able to watch how they work, but Lewis is a very unedited character and I care way more about what people think than Lewis does. In a way, it was kind of fun to play someone who doesn’t care who he hurts (in terms of feelings). When it comes to business, you get the job done and you don’t worry about feelings. I don’t necessarily live my life that way, so it’s kind of fun to play someone who at times I guess can be seen as a villain, but in his mind, it is all justified. While there are a lot of similarities to Lewis and myself in many, many ways where he is kind of ruthlessly unedited and ambitious it was fun to stretch in that direction.

Q) What are some of your favorite scenes or episodes of “The Baker and the Beauty” to look out for?

A) Here’s the thing about the Louis arc of the show, at the beginning of the series every one in the show is pretty much in the service of the story that is the most immediate, which is this budding relationship that Noa has with this baker (Victor Rasuk) that my character calls “Baker Boy.” It’s funny because there is a similarity because there are members of the Garcia family that don’t necessarily agree with his choice. He seems like he has his head in the clouds and he doesn’t have his eye on what is really important. And you’ve got Louis who agrees that this is a woman who doesn’t need to distract herself with some schmo from a bakery in Miami. If she is going to date someone, it should be a career move like a race car driver or a movie star. So, in the beginning you think Louis is just after one thing, which is getting these guys to stop dating. But slowly but surely as the episodes progress (right around episode four to the end of the season), the layers of the character of Louis and his vulnerability, where he came from, why is he a gay man in his late 40’s who has no family or partner or kids…It’s really an interesting layering, an un-peeling of an onion, which by the end of the first season has got so much to it. I would say that if anything, by the fourth week of the show you really start to learn that there is much more to Louis than meets the eye.

Q) What do you think it is about this new series that will make it such a fast fan favorite show?

A) Not just because of the times we are living in, but in particular now because of the times we are living in. I think people are looking for an escape and looking for modern day grounded but believable fairytales. This certainly is that. It feels like a real family. It feels like a real group of people, but even fairytales can happen within the world of a real family and a grounded group of people. I feel we need that escape right now. There is great music on the show. We all speak Spanish and we all dance in real life and we all love food in real life. I think it really is something visceral and it comes off the screen. There is a warmth and a humor and the show is really a comedy at the end of the day. So, the combination of romance, family and warmth is all comfort food and I think that’s what we need right now.

Q) You have been a part of a number of incredible projects over the years. What are some things you have been a part of that hold a special place in your heart?

A) Well, each project has had its own…Each of them has been a highlight in my life for various reasons. “Scandal” is the most obvious because it was the biggest game changer for me. I got to play a character and act scenes with a cast that in a million years I couldn’t have dreamt of being allowed to work with. The show made me a better actor. Obviously, it made me more well known. But I loved being on that show and being a part of that family. I loved creating “Web Therapy” with Lisa Kudrow and my husband Don Roos. We grew that from the ground up and it was really like rolling up our sleeves and making a show from scratch. We really enjoyed making that with so much great talent and being able to improvise. We were in the studio so we had no notes and we got to play with all of these amazing stars like Meg Ryan and Steve Carrell and Conan O’Brien and Meryl Streep. We made forty-five episodes for Showtime and also tons of webisodes. It really was satisfying to grow that idea from the beginning and be the bosses of that artistically. I loved then doing “24: Legacy.” I was always a fan of the “24” franchise and I felt very lucky to be able to be on a show that had that kind of history. So, each o the projects I’ve been involved in for different reasons has stretched me in different ways. I loved being on “Marry Me” because David Caspe is such a comedic giant and Casey Wilson. We had so much fun on that show! Obviously, there are certain points in my life that were big sort of milestones like making my movie All Over the Guy and years later writing my book Does This Baby Make Me Look Straight? That was a real game changer for me and then “Scandal” changed everything! Now, I hope “The Baker and the Beauty” is the beginning of something that can last a really long time because it’s such a fun, lovely way to do an hour. It’s very genre-bending to do a show like this that is an hour long that’s funny, warm and about something – it’s about family and characters and love.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who are fans and supporters of you and the work you do?

A) Well, I certainly want to thank everybody. I’ve taken a lot of different twists and turns over the course of my career. I wear a lot of different hats and I know that isn’t always easy to follow. I certainly want to thank everybody who watches…I also produce this game show “25 Words or Less” that is on five days a week on FOX. As I have different interests and different passions, I’m always so grateful when the fans follow and watch those different projects. I would, for the most part, tell my fans to watch “Baker and the Beauty.” There is a lot of me in the character I play in this show. Not to mention I get to wear fabulous clothes! But it’s a really fun show that is about family and love and it’s about fantasies coming true. I think this is the perfect time for people to get lost ins something like that.