Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn
Appearances
Fresh Air
For Sebastian Stan, 'The Apprentice' Playing In Theaters Was The Win
Trump Tower. Trump Tower. Oh, that's interesting.
Fresh Air
For Sebastian Stan, 'The Apprentice' Playing In Theaters Was The Win
Well, as I frequently say about his buildings, the merits are fine. The thing is, we're just not going to give you the tax breaks. Why would we? I mean, I can't let you get rich on the backs of the people of New York and their treasury. Well, Mr. Mayor, I mean, first of all... Look, Mr. Mayor, my client is... Well, you're not.
Fresh Air
For Sebastian Stan, 'The Apprentice' Playing In Theaters Was The Win
And we have heard stories about the construction workers working on your projects. They don't get paid. They have liens against you, Donald. I'm trying to employ people in New York and turn us back around towards the future.
Fresh Air
For Sebastian Stan, 'The Apprentice' Playing In Theaters Was The Win
Where's my dad? Dad died, Justin.
Fresh Air
For Sebastian Stan, 'The Apprentice' Playing In Theaters Was The Win
I don't know these people.
Fresh Air
Jeremy Strong Sees Acting As An Escape From Self
What is your business, Donald? Real estate. I'm vice president of a Trump organization. Oh, you're Fred Trump's kid? That's right. He's Fred Trump's kid. It sounds like your father's a little tangled up. It looks like he could use a good motor.
Fresh Air
Jeremy Strong Sees Acting As An Escape From Self
You tell the feds to f*** themselves. File a lawsuit. Always file a lawsuit. Fight them in court. Make them prove you're discriminating. Wow.
Fresh Air
Jeremy Strong Sees Acting As An Escape From Self
Of course, it helps if Nixon and the attorney general are your pals.
Fresh Air
Jeremy Strong / Sebastian Stan / Adrien Brody
What is your business, Donald? Real estate. I'm vice president of a Trump organization. Oh, you're Fred Trump's kid? That's right. He's Fred Trump's kid. It sounds like your father is a little tangled up. It looks like he could use a good motor.
Fresh Air
Jeremy Strong / Sebastian Stan / Adrien Brody
File a lawsuit. Always file a lawsuit. Fight them in court. Make them prove you're discriminating.
Fresh Air
Jeremy Strong / Sebastian Stan / Adrien Brody
Of course, it helps if Nixon and the attorney general are your pals.
Fresh Air
Jeremy Strong / Sebastian Stan / Adrien Brody
Look, he has a great track record. So we think this is a very reasonable ask.
Fresh Air
50 Years Of 'Rocky Horror'
How'd you do, I'm? See you've met, my'n. Faithful Candyman He's just a little brought down Because when you knocked He thought you were the Candyman Don't get strung up
Fresh Air
50 Years Of 'Rocky Horror'
By the way I look, don't judge a book by its cover. I'm not much of a man by the light of day, but by night I'm one hell of a lover. I'm just a sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania.
Fresh Air
50 Years Of 'Rocky Horror'
Come up to the lab and see what's on the slab. I see you shiver with anticipation.
Fresh Air
50 Years Of 'Rocky Horror'
You're going down a very dangerous road. You know that. And we ain't been down dangerous roads before. All of a sudden, we can't go down dangerous roads. This is a road that I'm not going down because you're going to take us all down. This is not the way. You know, it's just a matter of time you're going to get pinched. But don't forget, you're a racketeer. You're a gangster. Come on.
Fresh Air
50 Years Of 'Rocky Horror'
All of a sudden, you want to be half in, half out, half a racketeer? You can't have it both ways. You're either in or you're out. And whether you're half in or half out, that don't mean you ain't going to get caught the same way I could get caught or I could go down. It's the same thing. Come on, don't be naive. We don't control this, somebody else does it. This is a death sentence.
Fresh Air
50 Years Of 'Rocky Horror'
It's a big, big mistake. Look, you do what you want. You want to be a diplomat, that's your business. Me? I'm a gangster. I'm a racketeer. That's it. That's it. That's the life.
Fresh Air
50 Years Of 'Rocky Horror'
Enchanté. Well, nice. And what charming underclothes you both have. But here, put these on. They'll make you feel less, um, vulnerable. It's not often we receive visitors here. Let alone offer them hospitality.
Fresh Air
50 Years Of 'Rocky Horror'
Hospitality? All we wanted to do was to use your telephone, damn it, a reasonable request, which you've chosen to ignore. Dad, don't be ungrateful. Ungrateful?
Fresh Air
50 Years Of 'Rocky Horror'
How forceful you are, Brad. Such a perfect specimen of manhood. So...
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
I say there should be more violins on television and less game shows.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
Oh, well, that's different. Yes. Never mind.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
So what does she do? She opens her perfect little purse and takes out her perfect little Kleenex and draws her perfect little face and then throws the perfect little Kleenex into a perfect little Tiffany trash can. But what this cutie didn't know was when she wiped off her nose, she didn't push back in this one little perfect little nose hair.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
It just stuck out there and it was long and it was black and it was perfect and I thought I was gonna die. Just between you and me, Roseanne, Roseanne, and Dana, I felt like yanking down two more hairs, braiding them, and putting a bead at the end. Then, her nose would have looked like her head, but I yelled, hey, bull, shove that hair back up your nose. What are you trying to do, make me sick?
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
Tonight's commentary is very important because I hear that President Ford wants to make Puerto Rico a steak. Now, why does he have to make the mistake? I didn't think those people even liked meat. What's all this fuss I keep hearing about violins on television? Now, why don't parents want their children to see violins on television?
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
My very first audition for The Office, I had to sit in a chair, and the producer interviewed me in character. There was no script. He just said, we want you to act like Pam or your idea of Pam, and we're going to interview you like a documentary film crew might. And they asked me a lot of questions about, did I like working at a paper company? How long had I lived in Scranton?
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
How did I feel about being filmed by a documentary crew? And my take on the character of Pam was that she didn't have any media training. So she didn't know how to be a good interview. And also, she didn't care about this interview. And so I gave very short one-word answers.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
And I tried very hard not to be funny or clever because I thought that the comedy would come out of just, you know, the real human reactions to the situation. And it was great. It was great. We clicked quickly. And they liked that take on it.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
Well, it's funny. The casting director, before I went in, I had known her for a few years, and she had called me in for other jobs. And she gave me some coaching on the phone. What she said was, don't come in looking pretty. Which, you know, a lot of times when you go in on an audition, they want you to look inappropriately sexy or hot for the role.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
And I used to get called in to play things like, oh, like a third grade school teacher, but look really hot. Yeah. And and so in this instance, the when I went in for the office, the casting director said to me, she said, please look normal. Don't make yourself all pretty and dare to bore me with your audition. Those were her words. Dare to bore me.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
She said, please do not come in and do a bunch of stick and try to be funny and clever because it's not that kind of show. So when I went into the audition, the first question that they asked me in the character of Pam, they said, do you like working as a receptionist? And I said, no. And that was it. I didn't speak any more than that. And...
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
And they started laughing and then they asked me a few more questions. My answers were really nothing. They were just yes and no answers. And I felt like the comedy would come in watching me think about what I wasn't going to say instead of what I said. Right.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
Well, there's two different scenarios. When we're just shooting the show and it's a scene, the camera operator is this man named Randall Einhorn. And he's our director of photography. And we will look at him. We'll give him the look or we'll look into the camera at him. And he's become another character or another actor on the show. To us. So we do actually act with him. And it's really cute.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
Whenever Pam smiles at the camera, Randall can't help but smile back. The man, Randall, smiles at you while he's holding the camera. And there are scenes that we've done that have been really touching. And you'll look at Randall and he'll be sort of teared up. And when we shoot our talking heads, our interview segments, the director of the episode serves as our documentarian for that week.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
some of the directors, we have them back again and again and again. And one director we're particularly attached to is Ken Kwapis. He directed our very first episode and he comes back every year and directs a couple of episodes. And last year he directed the finale. And he's always taken a particular interest in Pam and her journey. So I feel very close to him. And
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
In that moment when Jim burst into the conference room while Pam's giving an interview and he finally asks her out on a date. I turned to the camera, and in the moment that they used, I'm sort of tearing up. And the reason that I teared up was because when I looked back at the camera, I saw Ken Kwapis, and his eyes were full of tears.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
And he smiled at me and gave me a little wink, like, that's right, you finally got what you wanted, sweetie. And it just, oh, it was a really powerful moment between me and the director.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
Yes. When it came down to the end of the audition process, they took four Pams and four Jims and four Dwights and four Michaels, and they brought us into a real office, and they filmed us with a camera for two days, mixing and matching us. And over the course of that two days, I was mixed and matched with John several times.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
And after the second day, we were walking out of a scene and he turned to me and he said, you're my favorite, Pam. I hope you get this job. And I smiled really big and I said, I'm so glad you said that because you're my favorite, Jim. And I don't think anyone could do it except for you. And when they called and told me that I got the job, I said, please tell me that John Krasinski is playing Jim.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
Here's what we're going to do. Why don't we go around and everybody, everybody say a race that you are attracted to sexually. I will go last.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
And they said, he is. And we're so glad to hear you say that because we thought you two had amazing chemistry. And we're glad you think so, too.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
Oh, gosh. Well, my favorite Pam-Michael moment from the entire series happens in season one, actually. He comes up to my desk, and he wads up a piece of paper, and he goes to throw it into the trash can behind me, but instead it hits me in the head. And Pam looks at Michael, and she says... please don't throw garbage at me.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
And I loved that moment because I thought, here's a girl who actually has to say to her boss, please don't throw garbage at me. It's like such a known thing, you know? It's just like such a thing that any normal person would know not to do. But I felt like that summed up their entire relationship, that Pam is constantly having to educate Michael on simple human interactions.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
How come Chris Rock can do a routine and everybody finds it hilarious and groundbreaking, and then I go and do the exact same routine, same comedic timing, and people file a complaint to corporate? Is it because I'm white and Chris is black?
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
So, I'm happy to be here. It's very nice to see all of you.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
You're all looking well. Today's a women in the workplace thing. Jan's coming in from corporate to talk to all the women about, I don't really know what, but Michael's not allowed in. She said that about five times.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
Women today, though we have the same options as men, we often face a very different set of obstacles in getting there. Hey, what's going on? Michael, I thought we agreed that you wouldn't be here.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
I thought about it. I just have a few things I want to say.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
Just hear me out. What is more important than quality? Equality. Now, studies show that today's woman, the Ally McBeal woman, as I call her, is at a crossroads.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
And just... You have come a long way, baby, but I just want to keep it within reason. They did this up in Albany. You are not allowed in this session. And they ended up turning the break room into a lactation room, which is disgusting.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
Well, I'm their boss, so I feel like... Anybody want any coffee or anything?
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
We're fine, Michael. We just need you to leave, please.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
Michael Scott is someone with an enormous emotional blind spot. He is someone who truly does not understand how others perceive him. And if he did gain any knowledge, his head would explode. He would not be able to... He wouldn't be able to take in all of that information because it's just – certain people exist on a different level.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
And they are only able to exist because they're in a sense of denial about who they are or how other people view them. And I think that's who he is. But he's not a bad guy. I think he's – He's a caring person. He wants what's best, but he doesn't always do the best things in order to achieve what he hopes to achieve.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
I think for me it stemmed mostly from various teachers that I had growing up because many teachers that I've had, especially fifth, sixth, seventh grade, would be people who were trying to be as cool as the students or wanted the students to think that they were cool. But – Indeed, they were not. And the harder they tried, the less cool they would appear to be.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
And that's basically what Michael is up against. He thinks people think he's cool. He thinks people like him and think he's funny and charming. But he's really none of those things.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
And incidentally, when you say everyone knows a Michael Scott, I guess the rule of thumb, Ricky Gervais told me this in regards to the character that he played, David Brent, in the BBC version of The Office, is that if you don't know a Michael Scott, then you are Michael Scott.
Fresh Air
Celebrating 20 Years Of 'The Office'
So better that you actually have a frame of reference for a Michael Scott.