Hi, Nick. Were you disappointed that The Founder didn’t get any Oscar nominations?
Well, I generally ignore that part of the business, because it is infuriating. It’s simply not merit-based. It’s a lot like American politics.
It’s strange, because a story of a sharky, capitalist sociopath seems quite fitting for the times.
It does. Unintentionally, too. It’s a really fascinating story, and the timing just worked out. It lined up quite neatly with the rise of another famous narcissist.
What are your feelings about McDonald’s?
I was already staunchly opposed to fast food, because I enjoy the writing of Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser (1) and considered fast food the enemy. But the movie is a fascinating American story. I think a good percentage of the audience will see this movie and feel that Ray Kroc (2) is a hero, and it’s too bad about those poor McDonald brothers, but that’s business. He’s an incredibly terrible person, but the film does a great job of maintaining his humanity.
Kroc’s worldview was: “If you want to succeed, you have to destroy your competitors.” You’re successful, so whose lives have you destroyed?
I come from small Chicago theatre companies, where you pretty much have to collaborate and maintain your humility if you want to thrive. I also grew up in a very hardworking family of salt-of-the-earth American unsung heroes. I’ve learned that I always create a club or a family around me, because I understand so well the precept that many hands make light work. So far I have not had to crush anyone beneath my jackboot.
You’re also very American. What does it mean to be American right now?
Boy, the mantle has grown much heavier in recent weeks. It’s a hard pill to swallow that part of being American means people with very disagreeable worldviews sometimes win the vote. And so, to me personally, being American means that I have to stand up and march and shake my fist and employ my invaluable powers of dissension.
You’re very politically vocal on Twitter.
I have a hard time shitting out my mediocre jokes when we have a handful of white guys in office immediately laying waste to a lot of precepts of American decency. I’m grateful to Twitter as an avenue in which I can vent my ire, because otherwise I’d be out burning down a building or something.
I was reading Gumption (3) recently. If you had to write a sequel, who would you include?
Gosh, well, I think I’d talk to more civil rights activists. Also John Cleese was going to be in the first one. I was going to make him an honorary American, and that would allow me to address issues such as this unbelievable xenophobic Muslim ban that’s going on right now.
What was the last jigsaw puzzle you completed?
It’s a little controversial, but my wife [actor Megan Mullally] curates the puzzle choices. We get the dumbest ... you wouldn’t believe the things that people make puzzles of. They’re often really touching scenes with Jesus. Recently there was one which was just an image of a wooden door, and Jesus is standing with his hands raised to knock, and the name of the puzzle was Let Him In (4). In our household, that’s a very enjoyable notion.
If you got the chance to revive your role as that crazy old racist from the second series of 24 (5), would you?
I did three episodes of that show as a young, broke actor, and it was a windfall in terms of income and medical insurance. But given my druthers (6) now, those kinds of shows aren’t my bag. I am interested in more curious and humane storytelling than is usually to be found on a television procedural.
Last question: my dad has just retired, and he has taken up minor woodworking (7). It’s his birthday soon, so what should I get him?
It all depends on what he’s making. If you know, for example, what sort of wood he likes to use, then you might cast about your area and find a local sawyer with some locally sourced hard wood. That’s always a wonderful gift. Especially in England and Scotland, there are some amazing woods. If you Google “Scottish bog oak” you’ll find some incredibly treasured elderish woods that have been preserved in bogs. You can get some really nifty stuff.
Footnotes
1) The McDonald’s-making subject of The Founder. Not a great guy, all round.
2) “ur welcome 2 come feel the weight of my feminist balls in your tiny hand”
3) Gumption: Relighting the Torch of Freedom with America’s Gutsiest Troublemakers, Offerman’s book of essays about great Americans.
4) Please click on that link. It is spectacular.
5) Sample dialogue: “Euros? Do I look European to you?”
6) From Collins: US informal, humorous, meaning choice or preference
7) Offerman runs a carpentry firm and wood shop in LA.
• The Founder is released in the UK on 17 February
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