Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet play Mitchell and Cameron on Modern Family. Ron Tom/ABC hide caption
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Ron Tom/ABC
During the Television Critics Association press tour, we paid a visit to the set of ABC's Modern Family, which recently got an early renewal for a second season (along with its comedy-block-mates The Middle and Cougar Town) (R.I.P., Hank). Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet, who play new parents Mitchell and Cameron, sat down to talk about their roles, the show, and how they do or don't live up to people's expectations. Stonestreet said at one point that kids just love Cameron and Mitchell, because they're "a modern-day Bert and Ernie," but they had a lot more to say about how they create chemistry and what it's like to work on a sudden hit. Here are some excerpts.
On creating chemistry as a couple
Stonestreet: I just think chemistry comes from an openness of a performer, and Jesse is an actor that's willing to put himself out there, and I consider myself sort of the same way, and I really feel that's where chemistry comes from, is a sense of vulnerability for each other. It works for our relationship on the show, but it works for us as actors.
On giving Cameron a higher voice than he has naturally
Stonestreet: I feel like Cameron -- and I don't like it when actors talk about stuff like this, but -- I feel like Cameron is a comfortable, comforting, nurturing sort of person that just ... his idea and his intention is to soothe. And Cameron's voice comes from that quality that I want him to have. ... And it comes from my mom. I've said in lots of interviews that my mom gestures a lot, and the whole thing started with just watching her and observing and mimicking her and how she reacts in situations.
On feeling comfortable on set
Stonestreet: The great thing about this business is I don't have to worry about these [stage] lights, because I know somebody's going to take care of that. But on this specific crew and cast together -- again, going back to my improv training, it's like, "Fall, and a net will catch you" is the whole idea of improv. Your fellow player will support you if you fail. And here, we really, truly have a great opportunity to risk failure. And risking failure is where I believe gold is. ...We know we have a director that is at the top of their field. And we know we have a slew of writers that are at the top of their field. So it really does give us a sense of going out there and doing what we do. And even between Jesse and I, I just don't ever worry about how great Jesse is.
Ferguson: [deadpan] I sometimes worry. There are times when Eric, he doesn't know his lines.
On the possibility that the characters will become too "big"
Ferguson: I just don't think they're that big. And maybe I have to sit back and look at it objectively, but especially for me, I feel like he's so subdued at times. I met these girls at a Baja Fresh the other day, and they wanted a picture of me. And when I was talking to them, they said, "Oh, we wish you were more flamboyant!"
Stonestreet: I said, "Think about how disappointed people are when they meet me out." Like, I'm a real disappointment to people, because I'm not Cameron.
Ferguson: With a show like this, you have to have those moments of being a little large, otherwise it's just ... why tune in? And some of the situations are larger than the characters themselves. Us tackling one another ... that was a little over the top, but, I mean, probably very feasible.
Kimono fury, and "not another gay football-playing clown," after the jump.
On the puzzling nature of viewer perceptions
Stonestreet: The best example I can give about this -- and Jesse was standing right there, so he can be my witness -- a gentleman came up to me at a party, and he literally said this to me: "OH MY GAWD, YOU ARE TEEEW MUCH." And I said, "What?" And he said, "SERIOUSLY, A KIMONO? I MEAN, A KI-MO-NO? PUHHH-LEEZE. YOU ARE TEEEW MUCH. AND YOU'RE STRAAAIGHT?" And I go, "Yeah, I am." And he goes, "Oh, please you can't tell me you're not questioning soooomething, come on!" He walks away, and I'm like, "Jesse, I am so glad he delivered me the message that I am too much."
On retaining couplehood
Ferguson: I think sometimes, since we aren't a real couple in real life, as some people don't realize, we forget that there is moments of tenderness and affection, and we try and find places to fuse that as much as possible. And there's some great moments of that in the Valentine's Day episode.
On Ferguson's skating episode with co-star Julie Bowen
Ferguson: Madonna's choreographer choreographed that, of all things. We spent an afternoon on a soundstage, and then we went off to the parking lot and ran it a few times...
Stonestreet: I have to tell you, for me, for me, if somebody asked me the funniest moment these eyes have seen on Modern Family, just as an observer on the inside, the moment we walked out of that gym for the first time when we were actually rolling, we'd seen them kind of practicing it before, but we're performers, we have a different level that we bring when they say "action" for real this time. And when we walked out to see -- the first move that we see is that move of you guys going [demonstrates extended foot pose] -- that has been permanently put in my head forever ...
Ferguson: We also were mumbling under our breath the moves, because we kept forgetting ... "And turn and kick and kick and dying swan, and dying swan..."
Stonestreet: That is a real honest reaction out of all of us when you see us come out of that gymnasium and see them there. It was pure comedy genius.
On families recognizing themselves
Ferguson: So many people say, "I feel like they're writing about my family." And my dad says the same thing. My dad would make T-shirts for us as kids growing up with funny sayings on it. So when there was the episode with the ice-skating and the Manny shirts and Claire And Present Danger shirts, my dad said, "Did you tell them about the T-shirts I made for you guys?" I said, "I actually did not." [someone asks what kinds of shirts] They usually had my nickname on them. Which is "Goober." And I got one for Christmas this year.
They're always way too big, I think because he needs a large canvas. And he paints them by hand, they're not silkscreened. They're painted with paint, so you can't wash them, because then they just bubble and crack. So I don't know what to do with this T-shirt, so I brought it in to the studio and I had the whole cast put it on [to take pictures].
Stonestreet: The comments we get the most as a whole in the cast is, "I never watch TV with my family. My husband and I never watch TV together -- we watch your show together." We, across the board, unanimously, get that the most from people. I was in New York City and this woman was in line in front of me at Starbucks, and never said a word to me, and then right before she left, she turns around and, literally teary-eyed, said, "My husband and I have had a really hard year this year, and you have literally given my husband and me something to look forward to during the week, and I just want you to pass along to your cast and crew that we love your show." And my friend who was with me said, "Yeah ... that can't ever get old." And it's so true that the people responding to the show is not just "good show." It's -- Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon said the same thing last night [at the Golden Globes]. "We watch your show as a family." How crazy is that?
On playing one of a limited number of gay couples on television
Ferguson: I just like that they're being handled as a regular couple. Gay is farther down on the list. They're fathers, they're new parents, they're partners, I think, before they're "a gay couple." And there hasn't ever been that moment where it's, "We have to remind them that they're the gay couple." I've been on the [kind of] show where they have to refer to me as the gay character five times -- just to remind people. And I'm like, "They get it. They get it." But with this, it's just Cameron and Mitchell, and that's what I really love about it. That's what I think, unfortunately, is unique.
On stereotypes
Ferguson: We're not traditional gay characters as seen on TV in recent history. We have different body types, and I think that's also, in itself, unique.
Stonestreet: I felt like that going in, as far as my physicality goes, was -- it added jokes to the character. That was sort of my pitch as far as why I should get the audition in the beginning. "Put a well-built dude in there and you're cliche and you can be stereotypical and mean. Put me there and you open a world of jokes."
More on stereotypes:
Stonestreet: There are always gonna be people who say that we're stereotypical characters. You can't meet everyone exactly where they want to be met. But I definitely felt after that episode, and knowing that Fisbo [the clown Stonestreet played in another episode] was on the way, like, "Okay, people that say Cameron and Mitchell are stereotypical: please tell me how a gay ex-football-playing clown is a stereotypical gay guy."
Ferguson: Oh, I've seen that done so many times. Not another gay football-playing clown.
