Joel David Moore – Forever

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

A) We have mostly been working on “Forever.” This has been the last five months in New York shooting. It will go until December, at least. We have thirteen episodes picked up now and pretty soon we’ll hear about our back nine episodes. If you add all of that up, it’s a full season of television and that’s what we are hoping for. I have a couple movies and the one that just came out called The Guest. It’s Adam Wingard’s film and it’s fantastic. It was at Sundance and I think people really enjoy it and will really enjoy it if they haven’t seen it already. It’s in theaters and I believe it is coming out online and on everything soon. Then, I have a really fun film that I executive produced and starred in with Madeline Zima and that is Stuart Acher’s film #Stuck. That is coming out October 10th and I’ll be doing a large amount of press for that. This was a passion project and it is about a one-night stand that goes a rye. I wake up after a one-night stand and have to take the girl home. Along the way of taking her back to her car at the bar where we left it, we get stuck in Carmageddon type traffic and can’t move. So, we’re forced to get to know each other and it flashes back in time from our one-night stand to when we first met each other. You learn some very interesting things along the way. Madeline Zima is such a good actress. We had such a blast doing this. We shot the entire thing in thirteen days and it was an adventure, to say the least. Stuart is a great director and he had a great vision for it. I think people are going to enjoy it. It’s a bit of a rom-com.

Q) With your show “Forever,” how was Lucas originally described to you?

A) Matt Miller called me and he and I knew each other from another project. I had done an episode of “Chuck” and one of my best friends is Zachary Levi. Matt was one of the executive producers on that and just gave me the pitch to this pilot. I loved the pitch! I was looking at a couple of other things, but this one was the one that stuck out. It was a good choice because that was the one that got picked up and the others didn’t. Lucas was a good pitch because he is the levity of the show with Judd Hirsch. I think because we are separate storylines we cannot dominate the procedural side of the show so it becomes too much. Shows like this really need some comedy and some lighter moments and that’s what we’re bringing to the show. Matt and I were very in tune and he really wanted me to bring myself to it and my comedy to it. That’s what I did. We get to play around a lot and that is something that he has done really well as far as the cast goes because we’re able to just create a lot of chemistry. When you are able to rehearse and play, it’s the right way to make television and I hope people keep watching because have such great chemistry as a cast and we also are excited to be working together every day. You don’t always get that in television.

Q) A lot of fans have noted a similarity between Lucas and the character you played on “Bones.” Did you have any trepidation taking on a role that was close to one you’d already played?

A) Well, I actually liked the fact that I could bring a lot of “Bones” fans over the show. That was something that I thought would work really well and it has worked. We had heard a lot about the people who watch “Bones” coming over to “Forever.” And that’s important because you want people to notice the show. That’s the hardest part of a new show coming out. Whenever that is happening, all those little pieces (like Alana’s [De La Garza] fanbase from other procedurals she has done and Ioan [Gruffudd] has a large fanbase from a lot of the work he’s done like the Fantastic Four movies) are bringing people in from a logical side and a procedural side. Then, you bring amazing people in like Judd Hirsch and Lorraine Toussaint and you have newcomers like Donnie [Keshawarz] who has just been the light of the sight. He is just the nicest guy! We’ve been really lucky as a cast to have a lot of history and then with newcomers like Donnie we just have a really good mix of people. I think we’re all very happy with the way that the casting turned out. Barbara Fiorentino cast it and she is a good friend of mine. We have had a decade long relationship and she cast the last film I directed Killing Winston Jones. She cast Richard Dreyfuss, Danny Glover and Danny Masterson in that. She put a great cast together for that and then when this came around she called me and then had Matt call me. It’s a small town when you look at it. A lot of people end up working together know each other from other things on to future projects. That’s why it is nice to have a kind reputation in this town, as far as work atmosphere goes. I’ve worked really hard at that to make sure I’m bringing that from set to set, that people want to work with me again.

Q) Was there anything that you added to your role of Lucas that wans’t originally scripted for you?

A) Yes, a lot of what ends up on the TV screen for Lucas is us playing, improvising and having fun with the scenes. I think that is important to creator Matt Miller and the writers. Obviously, they are writing amazing dialogue for my character and that’s important. Then, just the fine tuning and the added extras that I can give along the way I think tightens the show and it creates some good chemistry and some fun levity along the way for people to follow. And the storylines are really fun! Lucas has a lot of really fun storylines. I can’t believe I’ve kept my job after three episodes, but that is part of the fun of Lucas. He’s a really smart guy and brings a lot to the table. At the end of the day, Henry being 200 years old and being the smartest guy Lucas is ever going to meet – he needs someone who is not only educated and smart, but he needs someone who is going to value his job and give 100% effort all the time. Throughout all the follies, that’s what Henry sees in Lucas and I like that. And my “Bones” character was very different. And for my “Bones” character, as much as I am spending time with dead bodies, on “Bones” I was a bummer and sorrowful and always down. He was always going to therapy and talking about the bad parts of life and the worst parts of reality. With this, I am happy and light. I’m still quick and witty, but I’m trying to get the girl and bumbling around girls. I’m trying to keep my job and all of these things. I think the character is very different even though the situation is similar.

Q) You have great comedic timing. Is it something that you have always had as a natural ability or have you had to hone it?

A) I was the tall, lanky, goofy kid all my life. That was never going to change. So, it’s pretty easy to bring that to characters. At first, when I was younger I wanted to be a clown. So, I thought that maybe going to clown school and being a professional clown would be the way to go. I soon realized that it is not really a life for anyone. So, I tired my hand at acting and that was back in Portland, Oregon where I was born and raised. I ended up going to college at Southern Oregon University and did two summer seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which was a really important part of my training. Classical training is just the best. It’s the way that I really learned how to act. I think a lot of people who come to Los Angeles really skipped some steps. Acting is a very big and important part of being an actor. I wanted to take the time to educate myself on all levels before I came to Los Angeles and that’s what I did. Then, when I came to LA I did a lot of commercial work because I thought, “Hey, I’m a tall goofy guy, let’s see what commercials have for me.” I had some success in that and transitioned over pretty much fairly smoothly to film and television. For a while, I couldn’t get arrested in Hollywood as far as getting on film or TV. I couldn’t get auditions or anything. So, commercials was a really great way for me to kind of break through and at least get my face out there for people to see me on television. That transitioned over into the acting that I knew that I wanted to do.

Q) What have been some of your most memorable moments from filming the show?

A) Really it is just the moments off-screen that are the most memorable. You show up and do your job and everybody has a great time. Sometimes you don’t have a great time shooting things and you just have to get through it. We’ve been fortunate to have built a family even over the eight episodes that we have shot together. This is early in “Forever’s” history if we continue to film the show. We’ve already developed a family atmosphere and we are there for each other and have each other’s backs. That shows on screen and it shows in the chemistry on screen. I think that my favorite moments are the times when I am really helping figuring out what a crime was, not necessarily going through the bodies, but really being there for Henry’s character and having these fun moments of figuring out who he is and what he is about and him trying to help me at my job. Like this last episode, the fact that I took a donut from somebody and that ended up leading to these missing cadavers, which is inevitably my fault as the Assistant M.E. That Henry saw through that and knowing that I am doing my job to the best of my ability and seeing that there was a criminal was actually coming in and out of our building…That’s what he can see well through me freaking out and thinking I’m going to lose my job. It’s moments like that and we have some really fun things coming up. Some of the episodes that are coming up show the mystery of Henry is revealed and who this character Adam is. We find out who he is talking to on the phone and that there is somebody out there who is like him. A lot of that is revealed and while they do enjoy the procedural (what we would call the “who done it’s”) from episode to episode, I think they are going to start enjoying the character and the chemistry that we are having. The fact that I am going to be getting more information on what makes Henry who he is and getting more information on how the two of them work together and will he and Jo fall for each other. Can there be an M.E. and detective relationship in the future? That’s what people really enjoy about it.

Q) You are a part of social media. Have you been enjoying the instant fan feedback when episodes of “Forever” air?

A) Yeah! I love it! People are really loving the show and they are loving my character. We need people watching this show! We are excited about it and we want to make sure this show stays on the map! The more that people can tweet about the show and can connect with me on Twitter or Instagram, the better for the show. That’s really important for us, getting the message out there. You can’t control how much a network is going to put ads for your show out there, but what you can control is the effort and the energy you put into the fans and it really comes down to the fans. The people who are talking to me on social media are the ones who are watching the show and paying our bills because those are the ones who the advertisers are talking to throughout the episodes and that leads to them being happy. If the ratings are high then that means they are going to take more ad space and we’ll get more ad revenue. That’s what’s paying our bills!

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your work?

A) Come talk to me on Twitter and on Instagram, both are @joeldavidmoore. Let me know what you think. Let me know what you think of the show. Let me know what you think of The Guest that just came out. let me know if you are excited about seeing #Stuck. I think it’s important to connect with fans. I can’t do what I’m doing without them out there watching whatever silliness that I am creating. That’s important to me and the fans are important to me. So come find me, chat with me and I’ll hit you back!