Everyone found their own ways to keep busy during the toughest days of COVID. Judd Apatow got together some friends and made a movie about it. The Bubble, coming to Netflix Friday, features an ensemble cast, including Karen Gillan, Fred Armisen, Maria Bakalova, David Duchovny, Keegan-Michael Key, Leslie Mann, Kate McKinnon, Pedro Pascal, Peter Serafinowicz, and Guz Khan, playing the cast and crew filming the newest installment in the Cliff Beasts action film franchise during lockdown in England.
Between the odd personalities literally trapped together in quarantine and the rigors of making a CGI-heavy action movie, the potential for comedy was enough to get folks like Armisen excited. The SNL alum and always-working comedian and musician plays Darren Eigan, the film’s relatively inexperienced director, who got the job of directing Cliff Beasts 6 after his first indie feature won at Sundance.
Consequence spoke with Armisen via Zoom two weeks ago, with him beaming in from London, where Documentary Now! Season 4 is currently in production. In this one-on-one interview, which you can watch above or read below, transcribed and edited for clarity, Armisen explains why he didn’t want to ask for the part he really wanted and what it was like tackling the most meta aspects of playing a director on a film set.
He did not say whether or not there’s any truth to the rumors that The Bubble was directly inspired by the production of Jurassic World Dominion. But as you’ll see, he has a very good reason.
To start off, how did you initially get involved with this?
Judd just asked me. I know it sounds really name-droppy just to say Judd just asked me, but he did. I see him in LA and we’re sort of in the same circles of comedians and he told me this idea, and as soon as he pitched it, even though I would do anything for him, I would be in whatever he wrote, but he pitched it and oh, I thought it was so brilliant.
So I was like, oh, that sounds great. And then he didn’t tell me what role — he’s like, I don’t know what you could be in it. Maybe you could do something fun. He went through all the roles and he said, the director, you know, like there’s a role for a director. I didn’t say anything, but in my head I was like, oh man, I hope he picks me for that.
And then he did, and then all the news just got better and better — you know, we’re shooting in England. I love England so much. Everything he said, I was like, absolutely. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
That’s wonderful. I’m glad that I’m glad that he somehow sensed your psychic energy about what role you really wanted.
I’m so glad too, because I didn’t wanna push it. Because when you push stuff, it’s kind of like, who wants that? You know, like, “Hey, let me be that guy.” I remember really holding my tongue and just being like, Hey, great, whatever works, whatever you need me for. I’ll be there.
As you mentioned, the character’s backstory does bear some resemblance to Colin Trevorrow. Were you thinking much about that as an inspiration point?
Mm, no. I tried to like keep it a little blank because then if I’m like, I don’t know if I’m being too much of like one person who really exists, then I’m kind of doing…. I don’t know. It’s almost like I start doing like an impression, and I wanted it to be a mix of different people, and then just like my version of what I think a director would be.
It’s such a fun performance for you too, just because I feel like, like most comedy fans, I’m always expecting you to show up in a role where it’s like a small, smaller goofier part. And this was much more central and you have a really clear focus. So it was really exciting to see you get to play something like that.
Well, thanks. I feel like I’m at my best when I do like little appearances, and this felt like a bunch of little appearances cause the cast is so big. So it was a good mix of central, but also it’s just little bursts of what I like to do. It’s really weird — over the years I’ve just sort of figured out that I just feel better when it’s just three scenes or something. I’m always like, “I’m good.”
What is it about that for you?
I don’t know, like some sort of chemistry or something where that’s where I’m most comfortable, and I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s like the way I talk or something. But for some reason that’s what sits. That’s what I like best.
Well, I mean, you do have a little experience with sketch — you’ve put a little time into that area. So that could just be a natural extension of that?
Definitely. Because with sketches, you know, with so many other people in the sketch — the sketch is bigger than just the performer, like it’s the premise and stuff. So some something in there. But yeah, I don’t know. That’s just how I like to do it. Sometimes will think back to people I admire, you know, I’ll think like, “Well, I like how Jane Lynch is in stuff. I like her appearance in things.” And then also like Michael Palin, I like when he appears in stuff. Somewhere in there, I feel like, is a good zone.
Talk to me about what it was like coming together for this — I guess the question is, really, how meta did this all end up feeling?
Incredibly, because this is 2021 pre-vaccinations. I think people in England were getting them, but I didn’t, I wasn’t vaccinated yet. So it was still scary. And then we had all these rules in place for this movie about having rules. Every day, everyone was masked in a very intense way. And there was a lot of protocol without the safety zone of, “Well, I’m vaxxed.” There was none of it. It was very, “I hope this works out.” So every day was exactly like the movie.
And the other thing also was it’s a comedy and it’s about these CGI dinosaurs at the same time. It had to be explained to me over and over that, okay, this is where the CGI dinosaur is coming down to eat somebody. So it’s a joke. But then on top of that, I still had to picture, you know, whatever creature was flying down or whatever. So yeah, every day was pretty meta.
All the joys of making a Jurassic Park movie without actually making a Jurassic Park movie.
Yes. It was so many different layers, you know? And then I had to remember also, it’s weird to have a director on set and then I play the director. We would laugh about it, but it was really weird to hear action, and then my scene would start with me saying action — which you’d think I’d be prepared for it. You would think that this is easy. But it actually is… I’ve heard action so much in my life that to hear it actually does put me in a different place. So to hear it, I don’t wanna be saying action, you know?
Did you find yourself like mimicking or echoing Judd at any point?
Yes. Just because. I tried to interview him, you know, and ask him real questions. I wonder if he thought I was doing a bit, but I kind of was really asking him, like, “What do you do? What do you do with actors when an actor doesn’t wanna do something? Like if an actor’s kind of like… How do you manage that?” And I don’t think he realized I was really asking him what he really does, but yeah, I did.
Except, you know, he’s really laid back. He’s very, very casual with scenes. He doesn’t think in terms of, I’m looking for this one thing and we gotta get it. There’s a lot of “Um I think we got it. That’s the, the gist of what the, this joke is. So I think we’re good.” He’s very laid back and I tried to not be as laid back.
Yeah, laid back doesn’t necessarily fit with the vibe that the character is meant to embody.
No, no. He pretends to be cool, but he is uptight.
The Bubble (Netflix)
Yeah. So the one thing that I feel like I wasn’t necessarily expecting, going into this, was how much dancing would be involved. Was that something you prepared for?
No. And we had to take dance lessons and stuff, which is really good. For a moment, I thought, “Boy, this is a lot of dance rehearsal,” but on the other hand, when you watch something, sometimes you can tell that they haven’t really rehearsed it and it takes you out a little bit. I think seeing that we looked rehearsed made it seem like we’d been in quarantine for a while. It’s a subtle thing, but it really helped.
I mean, it makes sense just in terms of reflecting, you know, how that was a thing that kept a lot of people entertained over the course of the pandemic.
Yeah. Yeah. And that’s also like, I can’t believe I’m using this expression, but it’s also reflects youth culture. It’s so much about that we had to respect how much space that takes up. We couldn’t be like, oh, whatever, it’s just some dumb dance. We had to treat it it with respect.
Was there a fair amount of improv involved in making this?
Oh yes. Yeah. It’s encouraged and not in the way of like being absurdist. It wasn’t like, “Make this into like a scene that doesn’t make any sense.” At first everyone’s kind of shy and then everyone starts kind of opening up a little bit and then you hear these little things.
Keegan plays this part of a gun-ho actor, so he’s like really into everything. And we had this scene that was like a press conference, and there’s this fake journalist asking him questions and he’s being like overly nice, you know, trying to create inside jokes and laughing way too hard. And it wasn’t in the script, but it really made me laugh because his tone was so loud. He was so loud. He was like trying to make even this press conference into like a sports event. And it was so funny.
So it’s things like that, that aren’t like “Prove that you’re funny.” It’s not that. It was more, you know, really be your character. And that’s what Keegan was doing. I mean, everyone was great — and there were also a lot of new people in my life, British comedians I’d never worked with before. That was great, when it’s a new person making up their lines and they’re really good and subtle. That was fantastic.
Yeah. I don’t want to put you on the spot and make you pick favorites, but were there cast members who you were really surprised by?
Yeah, I feel like it was like everyone was a virtuoso — everyone had something that they said that I really think made the scene, so I wish I could pick a favorite. It sounds like I’m just trying to be nice, but I’m telling you, everyone just killed it.
Of course. Have you gotten to see the completed film?
I saw a long version of it, like maybe two edits before the final of it.
Were you being asked to watch it to give notes?
Yeah, but I think it was more to feel included, you know, like Judd I think just likes a feeling of, “Let’s make something together.” So any note that I had, I was kind of just repeating anything they were saying in the room anyway, you know what I mean? Like, “This could be cut down a little,” and I’d say, “Yeah, it could be cut down a little.”
And that was my big grand note, you know, because also like, what do I know? I’ve never made a movie. So when all these professional editors and Judd is in the room, what can I really say? Like, “Oh, this is a funny scene. This is great. I’m glad you picked that.”
Yeah. I mean, I feel like with a movie like this, largely the battle is just cutting it down.
Yes. although Judd was kind of explaining to me that the idea of things being really short isn’t the same anymore, because people watch things over time, you know, they sort of pause it and they’ll watch something the rest of it later. So there’s less of a like, “Hey, this is half an hour, let’s really get to it.” This can linger a little bit, because people just kind of, from what I’m told, watch things a little differently.
