It was a role in the comedy “Step Brothers” that gave dramatic actor Adam Scott his big break.
“It was a fluke, honestly,” says the actor on landing his role as Will Ferrell’s conceited biological brother in the 2008 comedy. “It was so fun and exciting; no day was ever the same,” he remembers.
“That and [Starz comedy series] ‘Party Down’ took me in a new direction. I never looked back.”
Discovering his comedic acting chops was a happy accident for Scott, because once he discovered he could do comedy — and do it quite well — the chummy, creative L.A. comedy scene invited him into their fold.
“Before, I was chasing some brass ring that never really existed and trying to get guest spots and dramatic roles. It wasn’t until I found the comedy scene that I started creating my own destiny,” he says. (Scott currently stars in NBC’s hit comedy “Parks and Recreation”). “We take things from the ground up, and everyone is very inspired by each other. We like to help each other out with projects. It’s a nice way to work.”
A nice way — and also a fruitful one, as it was his friends who helped him land his first big starring film role in the new indie dramedy “Friends with Kids.”
“Jen and Jon have been friends of mine for a long time, and they asked me to do it,” says Scott (that would be the film’s writer, director and lead actress, Jennifer Westfeldt and her boyfriend, Jon Hamm, who acts in the film as well as serves as an executive producer). “I don’t know why [they asked me,] because they could have easily found someone far more famous to make the movie. But I was happy they did — it was a great part.”
In the film, Scott stars as Jason, who, along with his best friend Julie (Westfeldt), sees how children wreck their friends’ romantic relationships. They decide to have a child together while keeping their relationship platonic.
Scott is proud of his performance, which is yet another perk of making a movie with a friend who calls the shots.
“I wasn’t sure [of my performance] because we made it so quickly — it was a 25-day shoot,” he remembers. “It was all kind of a blur, so I think Jen did a great job cutting it together. There’s another version [made by] cutting the movie together with bad takes of mine, in which I’m really terrible.”
Kids of his own
For Scott, who is also a father to two young children, “Friends with Kids,” really rings true.
“The film astutely observes things about the way you feel when you have a kid that I’d never seen in a movie before. I couldn’t believe that she was able to harness [those feelings,] not having kids of her own,” he says of Westfeldt.
Follow Dorothy Robinson on Twitter @DorothyatMetro
