NOW — What was the audition process like for Rutherford Falls?
I was very nervous for the audition, because I knew that I was going directly in to audition for…first of all, the casting directors, Allison Jones and Dan Harris, are very big deals. They’re sort of the big wigs in the casting world for comedies. Also knowing that Mike Schur was going to be there, and Sierra Teller Ornelas, and Mike Falbo, there’s all these people that were there. It was a huge room! I was very nervous because, knowing what the show was about, it was like, oh, this is a big deal. It’s not something that you want to screw up, because it’s this would be something really special to be a part of.
I went in and I think one of the first things I said was acknowledging my own nervousness. I think they were like, “Do you have any questions?” And I was like, “My only question is, can you please just stop me right away if I’m completely blowing this?” They didn’t stop me right away. Afterwards, Mike Schur said, “You didn’t completely blow it.” [Laughs] I was like okay, great, that’s a good sign? I might have just blown it in a small way. It was one I was very nervous for, and I had a good feeling when leaving.
BF: It’s funny how that works. I finished my BuzzFeed interview and thought it went terribly, so sometimes it’s hard to gauge.
Dustin: One time I was doing an audition for some horror movie way back in my Vancouver days. I was like, I’m gonna not be standing on my mark the whole time — I’m gonna be crawling around. I backed up in terror at one point and elbowed a hole in the wall, a literal hole. AI knew what had happened, but the scene was only like just getting started. I just slowly leaned over to cover the hole the rest of the scene — As if everyone didn’t know exactly what it happened. I guess it’s not really relevant to what you were just saying because no, I did not book that part!
