LUCAS NEFF and GREG GARCIA Interview LUCAS NEFF “Jimmy Chance” and GREG GARCIA, Executive Producer, Writer & Creator Watch RAISING HOPE on Tuesday nights at 9 PM EST on FOX
February 8, 2011
Lena Lamoray
RAISING HOPE OFFICIAL FOX PRESS RELEASE: RAISING HOPE is a new single-camera family comedy from Emmy Award winner Greg Garcia that follows the Chance family as they find themselves adding an unexpected new member into their household. At 23 years old, JIMMY CHANCE (Lucas Neff) is going nowhere in life. He skims pools for a living, parties every night and still lives at home with his family, including his MAW MAW (Cloris Leachman); his mother, VIRGINIA (Martha Plimpton) and his father, BURT (Garret Dillahunt). Jimmy's life takes a drastic turn when a chance romantic encounter with LUCY (guest star Bijou Phillips) goes awry once he discovers she is a wanted felon. Months later, when Jimmy pays a visit to the local prison, he learns Lucy is pregnant with their baby, and after she gives birth, he is charged with raising their daughter. Back at home, Jimmy's family is less than enthusiastic about a new addition to the household. His parents, who had him when they were 15, never knew anything about raising a child and have no interest in trying again. Jimmy may be able to get some help from SABRINA (Shannon Woodward), a sardonic checkout clerk he met at the supermarket if only he can work up the nerve to ask her out. Despite it all, Jimmy is determined to take care of his baby - whom Virginia thinks they should name HOPE. With very few useful skills but their hearts in the right place, will the Chance family be successful when they step into the unpredictable and immensely challenging world of parenting? RAISING HOPE is produced by Amigos de Garcia Productions in association with 20th Century Fox Television. The pilot was written by Greg Garcia and directed by Michael Fresco. Garcia serves as executive producer on the series.
I spoke with LUCAS NEFF and GREG GARCIA about RAISING HOPE on FOX. Lucas plays Jimmy Chance and Greg is the man behind the unique premise. I have to say this was one of the most hilarious interview calls that I have ever done. Greg is a comical genius, but I don’t have to tell you that because you are all very familiar with his work. Just to name drop a few of my favorites, “My Name Is Earl”, “Yes, Dear” and “Family Matters”. Lucas is the perfect person to bring Jimmy to life because he is sweetly unassuming and has a beautiful brilliance to him that just shines through. I am a huge RAISING HOPE fan and I am looking forward to what Greg has in store for us. Watch RAISING HOPE, Tuesday nights at 9 PM EST only on FOX.
Lena Lamoray: Raising Hope is such a fantastic show. What is it like working together? Can you share some fun behind-the-scene stories with us?
Greg Garcia: Well, it’s a lot of fun working together. We do have a great time. Everybody here, the cast, the crew, the writers—it’s a big family. Everybody has a whole lot of fun. Behind the scenes, Lucas is sleeping with Cloris Leachman, but that’s—
Lucas Neff: That’s just for sleep purposes. She’s like an electric blanket. She’s very comforting and her core temperature is so high, it’s astounding.
Greg Garcia: She’s warm. She’s like sleeping with a heating pad. I don’t know. Lucas, can you give any behind-the-scenes stories?
Lucas Neff: I remember when you tested a fire extinguisher out on me. That was interesting.
Greg Garcia: That was fun. Yes, we were doing a stunt with a guy with a fire extinguisher, so I sprayed Lucas. Well, you sprayed me, I think, first and then, I sprayed you.
Lucas Neff: Yes, I sprayed you to make sure it wouldn’t kill me. There’s lots of Cloris stories.
Greg Garcia: Cloris keep things very interesting around here. She’s always licking somebody or doing something off the wall, but I can’t think of any other good behind-the-scenes stuff. We’re just a normal show of just laidback, fun people that just come to work and do a good job and then we leave. There’s no fun Charlie Sheen antics going on around here unfortunately. We need that. We need one guy who’s going to go off on a 36-hour bender and get us all a couple months off. That would be sweet. That would be nice. We could relax for a little bit and then just read about it in the paper, but unfortunately, we don’t have that now. Our only hope is that the babies slowly grow up to be nutjobs or something, maybe that because I don’t see anybody else doing it, but fingers crossed, hopefully somebody loses their mind.
Lena Lamoray: Lucas, what is it like going from a small role in The Beast to a starring role in Raising Hope? Can you talk about your experience with the legendary Patrick Swayze?
Lucas Neff: Well, I never actually got to work with him sadly. I only had my scenes with other actors, so I don’t have any stories about working with Patrick Swayze, but I had an interesting day on set for sure working on The Beast. I spent most of my time just kicking rocks in the parking lot for like eight hours, but it’s a big change. I mean, it becomes—this is a time-consuming job in ways that I never understood, having not really experienced television or film before. So, you really do start to—it becomes your life in a lot of ways. I’m sure Greg knows even more than me. I think he works longer hours than anybody else, but you become a family with the crew and with the cast. Then, at the same time, it’s very separate from the experience of the audience because, frequently, I don’t get to see the show on TV because we’re working. Then, I don’t have time to go out into the city or anything like that because we’re working and working, working, working. So, it’s like being in Narnia. You’re in this wonderful, fantasy, pretend world like 80 hours a week. Then, you go home and you just sort sleep. Then, you’re back in pretend land. It’s great. I guess I don’t know how to have an answer for you. I’m still figuring it out. I’m still figuring out what it means. It’s nice to be able to afford to go out to dinner. It’s nice to be able to buy new socks. I just like to get to work with the people I get to work with. If it wasn’t TV, if it was all just us hanging out, putting a play together, I’d still want to work with the same people and do the same thing. So, I think that’s the best part of it is I’m so lucky that I really, really enjoy what I’m actually doing.
Greg Garcia: If this turns into just a play, I’m out of here. I just want to say that.
Lucas Neff: I assume no one else would stick around. Everybody else needs to get paid way more, but I just really enjoy it. I don’t know. It hasn’t changed my life too much, other than that I am not desperately poor anymore. It remains to be seen. We have a whole other season to look forward to, so I’m excited to see what that will mean for my life as well.
More Conference Call Interview Highlights:
Q: I was just wondering, for the both of you, looking at the genesis of the comedy of this show, why do you think we find it so funny to see families that, at least economically or whatever, in terms of their circumstances, have it worse off than the rest of us? We tend to all get a laugh when we can watch something and go, “Well, my family’s screwed up, but maybe we’re not quite as screwed up as this family.” Yet, they all love each other. I understand that. Is there a voyeuristic element to this, do you think?
Greg Garcia: Yes. I think so. I mean, I think there’s a combination of hopefully we’re hitting things that are relatable to you and your family as far as the situations they’re in or perhaps the husband/wife conversations that Martha and Garret get into. But yes, I think there’s always something nice about turning on the TV and seeing people that are worse off than you. It does make you feel a little better about yourself.
Lucas Neff: I mean, I think there’s a flip side to that coin, too. I mean, there’s certainly tons of TV on the air that has people that are really well off and really affluent. A lot of those shows, some of those shows do well. Some don’t do so well. It’s the same with blue collar shows. I don’t think there’s anything inherent to them needing to be higher or lower class. I think that if the writing’s funny and the themes and the characters are relatable, people can tune in. I think there is enough people in the world that a good portion of them are going to find blue collar comedy really funny. Then, some people are going to find more affluent comedy funny. So, as long as the writing is there and as long as there’s something universally recognizable in what’s happening, I think people can tune in and enjoy it.
Q: Do you think that we laugh at the same things, though, when we’re watching an affluent family versus a blue-collar family? Are we laughing at the same stuff, do you think?
Greg Garcia: Yes, a lot of times, you’re laughing at people doing things wrong and getting into situations. I mean, you could turn on Modern Family and it’s an affluent family, I mean, certainly, as compared to our family, but you’re going to watch them screwing up and messing up things and getting out of situations that they’ve created. Our family is going to be doing the same kind of thing, just possibly with different resources at their hands, but I think ultimately, you’re still laughing at the same stuff.
Q: Greg, I know you found Lucas in a huge, casting call. What was it about him that stood out from the tons of other actors you saw?
Greg Garcia: I watched Lucas on tape. He was in Chicago, so I watched on the computer. He just felt very real to me. A lot of auditions that you watch, and people are pushing it and trying to push real hard to get the comedy and stuff. He just felt very honest and real to me. I wanted this character to be somebody that people were rooting for and kind of the eyes of the audience into this crazier world, somebody that definitely feels very overwhelmed by this new responsibility thrown in his lap. I just got that from his performance. I got that from him as a person that he was a very—it just came through in his performance that he was very honest and likable guy. Then, I met him and realized he was just a really good actor.
Q: What’s your just general advice to actors?
Lucas Neff : I think being open. Certainly, my best work on this show has always been what I’ve embraced: the other people working on it. Listening to your directors and listening to the other actors. Just being as open as possible, trying to constantly recommit yourself to the more honest choice. I know, sometimes, it’s easy to get lost, especially in a comedy, and be like, “What’s the funniest thing? What’s the funniest thing?” Greg’s great about reminding me that the funny is there. It's best just to be honest and simple. I think as actors, if you can just be honest, simple, and listen, you’re probably doing something right.
Greg Garcia: My advice to actors would be to try to get onto a hit TV show or a really big movie because that’s where most of the money is.
Q: The show has such a unique premise. Greg, what inspired you to come up with this concept?
Greg Garcia: Who knows? I just kind of wanted to do a domestic comedy. So, I just stepped back and thought, “What’s a crazy situation I can get these people into?” I kind of knew the premise I wanted was this family, trying to raise this baby on their own and not knowing what they’re doing. I didn’t want the mom to be around because my fear is that I would write the mom to be perhaps a little more knowledgeable with babies. I really wanted this guy to—the character of Jimmy to have as little help as possible. In thinking about that, I thought about the ways to not have the mom around and this is what I came up with.
Lucas Neff: You certainly came up with a good one, the best way to not have a mom around. You should execute her.
Q: Lucas, what’s the experience been like? There’s always talk about working with babies and animals. What’s it been like?
Lucas Neff: Now, this is just a ..., but ... babies like adults are—they’re very individual. So, I can’t really tell you what working with babies is like, but I can tell you what working with these babies is like. They’re great. They’re really, really personable. They’re really social. I think they’re in a really good community of people on set. Certainly, everybody in the crew and cast really adores these two little girls. We look out for them. They’re a lot of fun to work with. So, I only have good things to say.
Q: Any thoughts on what we will see with Jimmy and Sabrina? Is this relationship going to be slowly unfolding?
Lucas Neff: I don’t know. You have to ask Greg that. The writers are in charge of that. I just get the scripts.
Greg Garcia: I don’t like to think that far ahead. I like to be as surprised as the rest of you guys.
Q: Lucas, since you’ve been playing this role for a little while now, are you starting to see similarities with your own personality and with Jimmy’s?
Lucas Neff: Yes. I also think that there’s a very symbiotic thing which happens on good TV shows and with great writers, which is that they start to embrace who the actors are and try to make the roles more specific to what they bring and they can do. I know we certainly try to incorporate the abilities and talents of all the actors on the set. There’s some goofy skills that Jimmy has that are certainly only there because they’re skills that I have.
Greg Garcia: Do you do animal calls, by the way, because I just noticed that in the script?
Lucas Neff: I think I talked to Bobby about me incorporating some animal calls.
Greg Garcia: Well, they’re in there, buddy.
Lucas Neff: See? Here’s what I’m talking about. There’s goofy things like that.
Q: Greg, there’s a great moment in the first episode back with the rotary phone when Jimmy wants to leave this message. He wants to re-record. I mean, that had me literally laughing on the floor. Can you talk a little bit about it and did you draw moments from that from things that have actually happened to you?
Greg Garcia: Yes, somewhat. I mean, that house that they live in, I love it. I love being down in that set. If you ever came to my office, you’d see that my office looks very similar to that set. I actually have a room in my house that we did for the kids for a playroom for them that looks very much like that set. On the wall is an orange rotary phone in their playroom. I have been on that phone and needed to press a button and not been able to do so. So, yes, I like to surround myself with the stuff that is in the show. You never know where inspiration will strike.
Q: Well, since Jimmy hasn’t had a chance to socialize very much since Hope was born, how do you guys view the social media revolution in terms of options for single fathers?
Lucas Neff: Jimmy’s, as is the whole, Chance family, I think fairly technologically naïve. I mean, they just got the Internet at their house. I think they’re sort of fairly new to cell phones as well. Jimmy’s in the process of really discovering those options. Sabrina is a helpful catalyst in introducing him into other alternatives and more recent developments in networks for fathers. I think that’s sort of true for a lot of people in the real world. Sometimes, it’s a very traditional, interpersonal relationship like Jimmy and Sabrina have where it is just people in the local community. They can introduce you to alternative support systems and networks for people who are in similar situations. That can be through the Internet. That can also just be through meeting someone who is also a member of the community, like Justin who’s the other character in the show I guess my answer is he doesn’t know much, but he’s certainly starting to discover the usefulness of social media.
Q: Greg, what are some of the unexpected story options that you found with this story centered around a single dad? Has it been limiting or more freeing in terms of options for the writers?
Greg Garcia: We’re still finding different avenues we’re going to go down. We’re going to, even though he has this crush on Sabrina, it looks like it’s a little bit of a going to be a long haul for him. So, we actually are not going to just have him sitting around. We’re going to have him dip his toe into the dating world a little bit and see what we get out of that. Actually, for stories, it’s been fun to actually go down different avenues because we’re not necessarily just going to always do a story about raising a baby. We’re expanding their world and getting them more and more friends. We’ll do stories just about marriage with Martha and Garret. So, I think the nicest thing that we’ve found is there’s a lot of different places to go for stories. You have to remind yourself. Say he didn’t get this woman pregnant and get a baby, we still could have done this series about this family quite easily. There are some very interesting characters. They have their own struggles. They have a lot of different dynamics. So, you need to look outside of just the baby. Obviously, we’re always going to do a lot of baby stories, too, but look outside of the baby and say, “Well, what other stories could we tell about this family?” So far, there’s been a lot of good stuff we’ve found.
Q: Lucas, you have great comedic timing. Is it something that you worked at, or are you naturally a funny individual?
Lucas Neff: I think sometimes I’m funny in the ways that I’m not planning on unfortunately. Like, I think there’s some people who are certainly graced with a certain ability to be—that people are happy to laugh at you, but I think in this situation, it’s more a case of I’m surrounded by really, really, funny people almost all the time: Garret, Martha, Shannon, Cloris, Greg, the whole staff of writers. I certainly am so— I try to be a sponge. I just embrace as much as I can from all of them. So, thank you for saying that I have good timing, but I really think it’s a tribute to how great the ensemble of funny people are in the room because I certainly benefit greatly from being around all these other funny people.
Q: Why do you think the people that do tune in continue to do so?
Greg Garcia: Look, I think it’s a fun show. We’re having a lot of fun doing it. Look, the cast is amazing. We got blessed with such a great cast. The combination of that and the writers we have here—it has been a lot of fun to watch the stuff that we’re doing. I think one of the key things is the writers also don’t have to really push, push, push. You know that with this cast, they’re going to sell the small stuff and get laughs off of it. I think people are responding to the characters. I mean, that’s what’s going to keep you going from week to week and get people to keep watching this show is that this is a world that you want visit once a week. You want to see these people. So far, I think the combination of humor and heart has people watching. Hopefully, that continues to grow. I think we were starting to go on a nice little uptick before we went off for two months. Hopefully, people come back and are still interested in watching, and they keep telling their friends and more and more people keep watching because it’s always nice. The more people that watch a show, the better you feel about making it.
Q: Lucas, I’m curious, if you had to describe your character’s motivation in one word, what would it be, and why?
Lucas Neff: I don’t know if I can do it in one word. I’m going to cheat and I’m going to use a couple. He loves his daughter. I think that’s ultimately the motivation of a lot of this show is love. It expresses itself in a lot of weird, unique ways in this family, but at the end of the day, the reasons they do the things they do for each other is out of love. The reason Jimmy gets a job and wants to get all these nice things for Hope, and he fixes up the house, and he tries to get his parents to change their behavior is because he loves his daughter so much. He wants the best for her. I’ll retroactively say it’s one word and that it’s love.
Q: With so many funny people on set, how much room in writing the show is there for improv?
Lucas Neff: Not a lot. We frequently end up cutting stuff from the scripts because we just don’t have time we have such an action-packed, 22 minutes. I know there’s like little moments, little flourishes that get added in. Like I know Garret and Martha and Cloris certainly have—there are little things that sometimes can get added in that are—I don’t know if they even call it an improvisation, but they’re like tiny little ad libs that make it into the show sometimes, but the writing is strong. I don’t think it needs it.
Q: Are you planning on becoming a dad anytime soon? If you do, do you think you’ll be a way better dad than Jimmy is?
Lucas Neff: Soon enough. I’d love to have kids. I think I can wait a few more years, but yes, I hope I’m a more educated father than Jimmy is, but I would hope—I don’t know that anybody can love their kids more than he does, so I hope that I love them as much. I hope that I’m just a little bit better prepared.
Q: How are you enjoying the success of the show so far?
Lucas Neff: Oh, yes. Are you kidding me? It’s way better to be in a successful show than on a cancelled one. I love it. I hope I get to do it for a long time. The scripts are still incredibly funny, which I couldn’t imagine having to write 22 episodes and hundreds upon hundreds of pages of jokes that these guys write. It’s just a blast. I’m having a great time.
Q: Greg, how much has Lucas matured or developed as an actor since you cast him?
Greg Garcia: He seems to be going backwards. No, I don’t know. I mean, he’s a solid actor. He was a solid actor when he showed up here. He remains a solid actor. I think that as we all get more and more comfortable in the character, both in the writing and the performance of it, we’re finding different things. The character is always evolving and stuff, but perhaps Lucas could tell you how he’s perhaps changed, maybe by being around other people, just like I’ve written around different people. Then, you tend to pick up other people’s habits or learn things from different people, but from my perspective, he’s the same solid actor he was at the beginning.
Lucas Neff: Yes. I hope that’s a good thing.
Greg Garcia: Yes.
Lucas Neff: I don’t know. I mean, it’s hard to objectively quantify your own performance. It’s certainly something I would never want to do, but you certainly get more comfortable with people and with a job the longer you continue to do it. Yes, there’s a symbiotic evolution that happens. Hopefully, that is happening for me. I’d love to—I try to encourage myself that whatever job I’m doing, I’d like to be a little bit better every day that I come into the office because I don’t think there is such a thing as perfection. Wherever I am as an actor, I always think there’s room for improvement. So, I try to just come in with my head up and try to pick up as much as I can and be a little bit better every day. I’ve got a great group of people to help me towards that goal.
