Alan Tudyk Says Goodbye to Resident Alien
Alan Tudyk Says Goodbye to Resident Alien
Alan Tudyk Says Goodbye to Resident Alien
We’ll let you guys duke it out.
Let’s — let’s do — let’s — we’ll figure it out.
We’ll — we got this.
Hey.
Hey.
Hey.
Hey.
Everybody’s going.
Big fan.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Now — um — stepping into the director role this year,
uh and not only directing,
but also directing multiple versions of yourself…
and also — chickens.
How was that for you?
It was difficult.
Uh, the day that I — there was a scene in the first episode
where I showed up —
where Harry Vanderspeigle shows up finally,
uh, from his jail cell.
And so I had to play two roles,
and there was a — a — a makeup reset,
of taking off a beard — or putting on a beard.
I think I was putting — I was putting on a beard.
And, uh, it was — that was just very hard.
Um, I was — I was very frazzled.
But I loved getting to direct.
I really cared about the comedy.
Like, I realized that about myself —
when it came to any scene that had comedy in it,
I had just a wellspring of ideas.
Luckily, I really leaned on my wife,
uh, Cararissa Barton, who’s directed some things in the past,
and she is a great photographer,
and knows about lenses and all of that stuff.
So when it came to stuff like —
Linda Hamilton on the beach,
and she finds this thing, you know,
Cararissa would be like,
“Okay, we got a techno crane.
We’re going to take the techno crane,
we’re going to come down,
and we’re going to follow her feet,
and then we’re going to come up and around,
and come back to the other side.
She starts digging — we see what she gets —
and then we tilt up and we see her face.”
I’m like, “Yes!”
And then, when it comes to something that’s —
uh — Joseph revealing his awful face,
and his arm that’s been ripped off by the mantid —
I have a lot of ideas
about where the camera needs to go to do that,
and how we needed to shoot that.
So the two of us were a great team.
I wanted to ask you,
because, you know, you recently just kind of —
sort of — worked with Nathan Fielder —
or not Nathan Fielder — Nathan Fillion again —
in this show.
You worked with him again.
You’re kind of building out a universe
where you’re working with your own friends, right?
Former co-stars.
Would — is that something
you would want to do in the future
with all of your Resident Alien family?
So much casting happens that way, you know?
Where they’re looking for somebody,
and you say, “Oh, you know who’s really good?
Is Enver.”
I just — I always really liked his work.
He’s very good in Dollhouse,
Joss Whedon’s show,
and I just loved his work.
He’s a good guy.
And Nathan, of course — from Firefly —
who’s such a good friend.
And he and I have done each other’s shows,
which is beyond cool to get to do.
But Edie Patterson was someone that also —
who played Heather, my girlfriend —
when they were talking about
“She’s the most beautiful alien in the universe,”
and like, they were giving out all these names.
They’re like, “What is Claudia Schiffer doing these days?”
And I said, “I kind of — I did a thing at —
uh, an improv thing —
with this actress named Edie Patterson,
and she was so funny.
I think she would kill it.”
And Chris was like,
“All right, you’re right. Go for it.”
Like, if that’s who you think it should be —
and God bless him, ’cause she’s the best.
What have you learned from her?
My what?
What have you learned from Harry?
Oh — from Harry.
Uh, I’ve learned to sort of — live out loud.
You know, he has an innocence,
and a sort of childlike quality
that has rubbed off.
It can be a little much.
It’s a little hard for people around you
when you experience the world —
oh, it’s like you’re a child.
And it’s not always appropriate.
But, um, I’ve had to —
because he could do anything —
and you could, you know, say,
“Well, he’s an alien. That would happen.”
I’ve removed a lot of the filters
that I would normally have had —
and, um, the safety measures.
So, I maybe need to put some of those
back in place.
