James Marsden plays an obnoxious version of himself in “Jury Duty,” the brand new Amazon Freevee prank-comedy series that mixes “The Office” and “The Truman Show” with a splash of “The Rehearsal” thrown in for good measure.
“Jury Duty” follows a fake court case, complete with bumbling lawyers and oddball members of the jury, with one catch: only one in every of the jurors — Ronald Gladden, a solar panel contractor from San Diego — shouldn’t be in on the ruse. His fellow “jurors” include self-important actor James Marsden (as himself), who’s attempting to get the judge to acknowledge him so he might be excused from the trial; Jeannie (Edy Modica) a retail associate and self-proclaimed “anarchist”; and Todd (David Brown), so obsessive about hydrating that he straps a water bottle to his body.
“I assumed that will be lots of fun to have the flexibility to send up Hollywood [and] entitled actors,” Marsden, 49, told The Post. “It’s in the identical vein that Larry David plays Larry on ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm. It’s an exaggerated version of myself. After all [James Marsden] thinks he’s above any kind of civic duty that he has to do. He assumes that each conversation is uninteresting, unless it involves him. That’s an excellent arrange, because while you see him fail, he just sort of collapses.”
The jurors talk over with the camera, mockumentary-style, about their observations because the case progresses, while onscreen text informs viewers that each one of those persons are actors, and that the trial is a sham.
“I’m not an actor,” Gladden, 30, told The Post. “This was an ad that I got here upon on Craigslist.” Gladden said he thought the trial was being filmed for public TV to explore the inner workings of the court system.
“It was like a roller coaster. After I first met James [Marsden], I used to be doing every part I can’t to fangirl, because I’m a fan of his work,” he said. “I feel he’s hilarious. After which, I used to be like ‘Oh, this guy isn’t as cool as I assumed.’ Towards the top, once I began believing that’s who James was, it broke my heart, I used to be like ‘Never meet your heroes!’
“So, once I discovered it was all a front, it was like an enormous sigh of relief.”
Marsden (“The Notebook,” “Enchanted,” “30 Rock,” and “Westworld”) said he can be “freaking out” if he was in Gladden’s position, because “I don’t even like surprise birthday parties.”
“It was necessary to me that he knows that [our friendship] was real, because otherwise, you’ll feel duped at the price of amusing for a TV show,” he said. “And that’s not what this show was about. We’re surrounding him with this circus of weirdos, and seeing how he reacts. We wish people to laugh, but not at him– you’re laughing at that jackass James Marsden. Once we did the reveal, I used to be like ‘I can’t wait for him to find that I’m not this pr–k!’”
Marsden said that he’s had real experience doing jury duty about six or seven years ago.
“I’ve done it one time before, here in LA. It was something small, [a] civil trial. I walked in and there was a wall of celebrity headshots, in a government constructing. I assumed, ‘Well, sh-t, I’m not getting out of this, I’m going to get chosen!’ And sure enough, I used to be,” he said. “And within the in the midst of his opening argument, one in every of the lawyers turned to me within the jury and goes, ‘By the best way, I really like every part you’ve done.’ In the course of a court case!
“I turned to the judge sort of like, ‘You’re not gonna let me go?’ And he didn’t. I had to remain through the entire thing.
“It was a really Hollywood moment.”
