Q&A with the cast!
Everyone has a family. And every family has a story. “This Is Us” chronicles the Pearson family across the decades: from Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) as young parents in the 1980s to their kids (the big three), Kevin (Justin Hartley), Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Randall (Sterling K. Brown) searching for love and fulfillment in the present day along with Toby (Chris Sullivan) and Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson). This grounded, life-affirming dramedy reveals how the tiniest events in our lives impact who we become, and how the connections we share with each other can transcend time, distance and even death.
Dan Fogelman, Isaac Aptaker, Elizabeth Berger, John Requa, Glenn Ficarra, Ken Olin, Charlie Gogolak, Jess Rosenthal and Steve Beers executive producer. “This Is Us” is produced by 20th Television.
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“Like, it’s such a gift to be a part of this show. It’s such a gift to go to work every day and tell these stories and get to recite these words..”
-Mandy Moore
DAN FOGELMAN
Q. It appears this is the end, but will we revisit everyone in a movie a few years down the road?
A. I say no to nothing.
Q. Did you feel it was time to end it now because you’re running out of road with Jack and Rebecca, or was there another reason?
A. So, the first part, it’s hard ending something you love, so I don’t know that everybody feels right now it’s the right place to end it, because I think if we could all snap our fingers and just magically have more of this, we probably would. But this has very much been the plan. We had two 3‑season pickups intentionally. I think from day one, Sterling used to come into my office and be like, “It’s six seasons, right? Is that really what you’re thinking or is that” ‑‑ and I was like, “No. We’re doing six seasons. That’s the road map.”
Q. I want to ask the cast specifically if there is a storyline or a scene that has personally moved you, whether that’s your storyline or a performance that you watch from one of your castmates?
A. It’s like it’s so hard to distill down six seasons of, like, just incredible moments in each and every episode. Like, you and Sterling, your relationship is just like, I feel like, such a glue to this whole show.
Milo, like this season watching you break in your mom’s funeral episode is ‑‑ I think because Jack is so stoic and is able to kind of be there for his family, be there for his wife, his kids in every capacity and knowing how ‑‑ just what a strong man you are, Milo. Like, watching you just completely lose it and break is like (sighing). My heart was just in my throat during that particular scene. So, I think you’ve had one other time on the show where Jack has been, like, somewhat emotional, and that was just a real ‑‑ that was a moment that I really, really, really treasure.
A. I’m still, six years in, a little sad that Jack’s dead and I can’t share a real scene with Susan or Sully or anybody else without being on drugs or in the hospital or on alcohol.
A. The scene that we were just talking about this year, as a matter of fact ‑‑ and Justin and Jon can attest to this. We were all sitting around the table, watching Mandy do her thing, and my first reaction was to just applaud. I, like, clapped in my seat. Like, not super loud. Not trying to distract my actor. And then I got up and walked around the corner, because we were in the cabin. And I walked into the kitchen and I did what Mandy would do in Season 1. She’d do this thing when she’d get ready and she’d throw her arms down and be like (demonstrating). But I was doing it just out of the joy, just like, “This chick is fucking killing it, son.” So that’s a scene that really, I was, like, Mandy Moore ‑‑ and I just want to wax poetically about it for a second. She’s played herself from about 16 to, you know, 80‑something and without batting an eyelash, being the youngest member of our cast, but seamlessly going through time over the past six years. She’s a killer, man, and that scene really, really touched me.
A. Yeah. And I could go on for hours probably about this entire cast and every ‑‑ every ‑‑ it’s like every scene that they do ‑‑
And, interesting thing, I know, Mandy, you’re probably turning red right now because we keep talking about you. But one of the things that happens on this show, that happened with me for that scene when I read it, is you know the cast and you know the caliber of actor that you’re going to be dealing with, whether it’s Sterling or Milo or Mandy or Jon or Chrissy or Chris or whoever it might be; and when you read something like that, you look forward to ‑‑ guys, am I right? You look forward to. You read it and go ‑‑ I cannot wait to see what he does with this. There is no ‑‑ you’re not going to be like, oh, that’s a big task. I’ll see a monologue that Sterling will have or a monologue that Chris will have or that Milo will have. Milo’s had a few this year. And you look at those and you read them and you go, I cannot wait to see what this actor does with this. And you’re impressed every single time, but you’re not surprised. It’s just, it’s impressive. And it’s five or it’s six years now of just pedal to the metal, 100 percent every single time. I don’t think there’s been one moment where anyone’s ever filmed it ‑‑ at least not that I’ve seen. So it’s just an honor and privilege to watch what these people do with their work and how seriously they take it.
