Homeland alum Damian Lewis earned acclaim for his work on the Showtime series, but that doesn’t mean he’s right for every role. Episodes star Matt LeBlanc knows that firsthand.
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“I remember when we were casting the role of Sean, Steve Mangan‘s part, and Damian Lewis came in,” says LeBlanc. “The part is this very quiet, timid writer, and Damian’s not like that at all. It sounded like two guys about to go out and get into a bar fight. He was like, ‘I don’t think I’m right for this.’ ”
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LeBlanc also recalls having an awkward audition of his own for the 1996 baseball comedy Ed.
“There was a monkey in it. He played third base,” says LeBlanc. “They didn’t have a monkey at the audition, so they said: ‘OK, the monkey is near death, he’s frozen, and you’re about to lose him, and you think he’s dead. This chair will be the monkey.’ I’m going, ‘I can’t believe this is what I do for a living.’ It was awful.”
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LeBlanc made his comments during The Hollywood Reporter‘s comedy actor roundtable, which also featured uncensored tales from Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s Andy Samberg, Modern Family‘s Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Shameless‘ William H. Macy, Orange Is the New Black‘s Jason Biggs and Veep‘s Tony Hale.
Watch the full conversation here, and check out THR‘s other in-depth roundtables — featuring Emmy season’s biggest names — here.
