“No one asked them to do this.”
Now, Mulaney is bringing that obsession to the screen.
One is a hard-hitting documentary about the remote people living in the fictional Russian Ular mountains.
Alexander Skarsgard in ‘Documentary Now!'.Will Robson-Scott/Broadway Video/IFC/AMC
The other, shot on the same location, is a campy 1980s sitcom calledBachelor Nanny.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did you guys get involved in this?
What was the pitch even like?
Nicholas Braun in ‘Documentary Now!'.Will Robson-Scott/Broadway Video/IFC/AMC
I was like, this is just an incredible piece of writing.
And I love s—ing on the sitcom world a little bit.
Not that they’re not good!
Alexander Skarsgard as the elder Rainer Wolz in ‘Documentary Now!'.Will Robson-Scott/Broadway Video/IFC/AMC
But they’re a nice target sometimes.
I’ve done ‘em myself.
ALEXANDER SKARSGARD:I also got an email from John Mulaney.
I had seen a bunch of the episodes from previous seasons.
I mean, we’re talking about some comedy legends there.
It was so well-written and such a crazy concept.
I love Werner Herzog, and I loveBurden of Dreams,the documentary that this is loosely based on.
He’s so intense and so eccentric.
I love the way he talks about nature and the wilderness, how brutal it is.
He says stuff like, [adopts German accent] “Birds don’t sing.
They screech in pain.”
So on the show, my character is loosely loosely based on Werner Herzog.
BRAUN:Super loosely.
Almost nothing to do with Werner.
SKARSGARD:[Laughs] Nope.
You’ve got a pretty good Werner Herzog impersonation.
How did you want to approach this parody version of him?
Then you have stuff from the ’70s or ’80s, and then the modern day where he’s old.
So it was an opportunity to age about 50 years over the span of two weeks.
I tried to capture a bit of Werner’s physicality, which was a lot of fun.
And also the intensity.
It was just chaos.
But he did it because he felt it was so important for the art to push himself.
But it’s a pool table.
Nick, you play Kevin Butterman, a former child star turned sitcom actor.
What excited you about playing in that world?
BRAUN:His name.
That was the main thing.
SKARSGARD:Also, Nick, kudos the backstory you created for Mr. Butterman.
BRAUN:Thank you.
I think he ends up in a weird place in his life.
It sounds like he’s going to porno theaters a lot and sitting there in the dark with strangers.
SKARSGARD:But it really informed your performance, Nick.
BRAUN:It did.
I was trying to bring a lot of trauma into the role and into every scene.
SKARSGARD:Watching it, you might see it in your eyes behind that beautiful smile.
There’s some sadness there.
Bachelor Nannyis such a delightfully stupid premise.
Did you have fun immersing yourselves in that goofy ’80s sitcom world?
SKARSGARD:Oh, yeah.
I mean, I grew up in the ’80s, so I grew up watchingAlfand all the other classics.
But I will say, I loved the mullet they gave me, which felt quite period.
I don’t do a lot of wigs, so I was a little hesitant.
This is a good look.
This is an important project,Bachelor Nanny,and they had a lot invested in this.
You’ve got to have a really good audience that really appreciates the timing of Butterman’s jokes.
BRAUN:And also English-speaking.
Otherwise, the jokes might not land because of the language barrier there.
SKARSGARD:Unfortunately, some of them didn’t make it.
But all in all, I would say it was worth it for the laughs we got.
SKARSGARD:A lot of them never made it back up, unfortunately.
May they rest in peace.
But still, it’s arguably the greatest test audience ever.
And I think it shows when you see the final result.Bachelor Nanny,that’s a good sitcom.
What was your most memorable day on set?
SKARSGARD:We shot in Wales in what I believe is the largest slate mine in the world.
Apparently, it’s like 90 miles of just tunnel.
That was quite an incredible experience.
Because of the acoustics of the tunnels, we’re never going to hear you scream.
Once you turn the wrong corner, it’s pitch black.
you might’t find your way out, and you will starve to death in there.
Okay, now go to set and have fun and shoot all day!"
BRAUN:Alex would go off at lunch and find tunnels.
That was tough for production because they’d have to chase him down.
They’d keep a P.A.
SKARSGARD:I was still in character.
I didn’t want to see human faces.
I needed to be alone.
You’ve worked with me a bunch of times, Nick.
You know I don’t like human faces when I work.
SKARSGARD:I got a bit overboard with Brian Cox because he made eye contact once.
I ripped into him.
But it’s my process.
BRAUN:It’s all about the character work.
It was amazing to watch what he was doing from inside the paper bag.
They realize, “Okay, he might have been slightly tricky to work with.
He got half the crew fired.
He didn’t allow anyone to make eye contact.
But my God, that’s an amazing performance.”
We’re in a slate mine.
We’re on a fake set with yurts with smoke coming out of them.
And there are literally puddles on the sitcom set.
It was pretty crazy.
They did a really good job of making it feel like a sitcom set.
Because like I said, I’ve done it.
I’m a pro.
Alex could see that, too, that I’ve got a lot of experience.
SKARSGARD:It definitely wasn’t your first rodeo.
BRAUN:Nor my second or third rodeo.
It was pretty special.
I don’t know if I’ll ever be doing that again.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Documentary Now!returns Oct. 19 on IFC and AMC+.
