'The Good Place' Star Manny Jacinto Teases "Bittersweet" Series Finale and 'Top Gun: Maverick' | In Studio - video Dailymotion

Hollywood Journal

"When we shot it, it felt very bittersweet. It felt sad, but also happy and full," the star teased of NBC series finale.

Transcript

00:00Hi, I'm Manny Jacinto and you are in studio with The Hollywood Reporter.

00:04Manny, here we are, season four of The Good Place. Very bittersweet for a lot

00:14of fans that this is the last season, but very exciting because the

00:20pressure has been upped every season. Things get wilder, crazier, and more

00:26esoteric. For sure. We're going into weird worlds and dimensions, so I think

00:32everybody's really excited to see what is going to happen in season four. Yeah, I

00:36don't think, I mean, whatever you expect to explore in this show, it's gonna, you

00:42know, twist and turn all different ways. You can't, I've tried to make my

00:47predictions, the cast have tried to make their predictions, and all of us have

00:51failed. We don't know what's going on in the lecture brain. And you do, do you

00:54currently not know what's going on or have you completed? I mean, the first

00:59season, I mean, it got out there that we didn't really know what the season one

01:03finale was going to be like, but fortunately as the seasons progressed, Mike

01:08was more, and he does this for our benefit, so he has been able to give us a

01:16breakdown of how the season was going to go. So like when we, before we started the

01:19fourth season, he definitely sat us down and kind of told us the direction of

01:24what was going to happen. So we're at a place now where, you know, your characters

01:30are fighting for humanity, basically. You're trying to allow humanity to get

01:38back into the good place. Yeah, so I mean, we found out that the world is kind of a

01:44dump. You know, like, things aren't going well, and the judge of the whole universe

01:50wanted to erase everything and start from scratch. But Michael, Eleanor, and the

01:56gang have decided that, hey, like, no, let's stop that. Let's try and create this

02:00experiment and see if bad people can actually turn good, if we can be given

02:05second chances to prove ourselves. You know, one of the things that is kind of

02:09great about Jason. Jason is unique amongst the four, in my opinion. Yes. Because he

02:16has a world around him that you kind of want to know more about. His, like, Florida

02:22man existence before he died. It is definitely the most interesting to me. Oh,

02:27thank you. Yeah. It's, I mean, the most fun to play. Yeah. You kind of question what goes on in

02:33Florida, really. Yeah. And Jacksonville, specifically. Right. But, yeah, Jason is in

02:40his own world. Who knows? Maybe there could be a little sequel into his life or

02:44prequel into his life, Mike. But, yeah. But, I mean, we all know that Jason isn't

02:54necessarily the brightest bulb in the room, any room, really. But he has a lot of

03:00heart. And I think that's what he contributes to this so-called soul squad.

03:04How did you feel when you kind of knew that you had to embody this character

03:09who was, who's basically, you know, not very intelligent and you had to, like, kind

03:14of play that? Like, at first was it kind of a relief? Because you're like, oh, that's,

03:18that's kind of fun to be able to, like, have this, like, affectation. But then does it

03:23become more difficult as you go season to season as the character? Yeah. Totally. I mean,

03:29you can definitely fall into the trap of playing dumb. You know, I, I definitely

03:36try and do my homework and make sure that I'm not trying to be funny or trying to

03:40play the joke because that's the worst thing you can do in comedy. If you want

03:44to try and make people laugh, you usually don't get to laugh. If you want to, yeah,

03:48it's, so it's like, it's a fine line to kind of walk. And I try and make sure I do my

03:54due diligence to, to, to find the truth in all the jokes that the writers are able

03:59to create. And fortunately we have some pretty amazing writers. A relationship

04:05that everybody is excited about knowing the final conclusion of is Jason and

04:10Janet. Do you know how that's gonna work out? I do. And you can't say anything? Um, all I can

04:19say is that as Manny and as Darcy who plays Janet, we both want them to end up together.

04:28Yeah. Will they, will they not? You gotta tune in. But yeah, I mean that peculiar

04:35relationship is, is so fun. I love being able to play with Darcy and having scenes with Darcy.

04:41She's, she's the best. Um, yeah. And that particular relationship, it's, it's so special because I mean,

04:50an all knowing entity and this clueless DJ from Jacksonville, Florida ending up together.

04:59That's like, if that can happen, anything can happen.

05:03That's a lovely, it's a lovely story. It is, it is. Um, you know, your cast, you spent so much time with

05:09your cast members. Eventually, you know, you won't be working together per se. Yeah.

05:16Um, what, what will you miss the most kind of behind the scenes about working with Ted Danson and

05:23Kristen Bell and Darcy Card? I mean, I've said this numerous times and Mike sure is able to

05:28create an environment that's very family-like. Um, and that's not always the case with, you know,

05:34with a show or with a film where you can, from cast, crew, producers, PAs, like they all, um, we all get

05:42along and I think, I mean, hopefully fingers crossed I could find something like that again. Um, but it's

05:49just like going to work with a bunch of your friends and getting to play pretend, getting paid for,

05:53getting free food. Like that's the ultimate dream to be able to do that. Um, so yeah, I'm going to miss

06:00just being able to play with these guys and, and trying to make each other laugh. Yeah. And I know

06:05this is a very kind of, uh, tropey kind of question, but you know, who are you going to miss the most as

06:13far as like, uh, the cut, the cutting, the cutting up backstage, the like... Oh, I see. The jokes. The back and

06:21forth. The back and forth. I mean, we all get along. Yeah. Um, I like to, I think whenever I make a joke,

06:30I have this weird, almost dark sense of humor and the guy that I, that really gets me and, and, um,

06:38that we go back and forth a lot is Will. Um, you know, William Jackson Harper. Uh, we definitely try to

06:44crack each other up. Most of the time I just end up cracking myself up and breaking the take, um, and

06:51just wasting time. But the thing is with Will, it's like as the day gets longer and longer, the weirder

06:57and weirder he gets. Like you can, he'll start dancing, like he'll start doing these weird dance moves

07:02or like yelling out these crazy weird sounds. And it's like, oh, that's, it's Will time. Um, that's,

07:09it's about time when Will needs to either get out of here before it gets too crazy. Yeah. And then,

07:14and then when, when, uh, when he starts getting like that, Ted can't help but join in. Right.

07:20He sees that and he wants to like move just like him. Yeah. Um, it's, it's pretty fun. Yeah. We're

07:26just a bunch of goofs. Yeah. Yeah. There, there is a, you know, that fun viral video of, uh, Will teaching

07:32Ted how to floss. Yeah. Were you there for that moment? Oh yeah, we all were. Yeah. And, um,

07:38that's exactly what happens. Will gets up and he does this move and then Ted sees it. He's like the,

07:43you know, the eight year old that wants to join in. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like there's a lot of pressure

07:47for some sort of a, a statement at the end, like a, okay. Okay. Everybody who watched The Good Place,

07:53go forth because here's the new. Totally. Hopefully fingers crossed, um, with The Good Place, people will

08:01feel as if they've been given a S a very satisfying and complete ending and something that's very

08:08optimistic. I mean, with, with Mike's shows and with his work, he definitely puts out projects that are,

08:15you know, that are positive and it makes people laugh and like, it's, uh, cheery almost like, uh,

08:24it's always, whatever he puts out, it's always in a positive, um, good, for lack of a better word,

08:32good sense. And, um, I feel like having read the script, like it definitely felt complete and

08:40something that people would be like, oh man, that's, that was a, that was truly a happily ever after,

08:46I think. Um, I mean, not to spoil anything, who knows, it might be completely dark. They might just

08:51switch things up and just be like. Yeah. There could be a time knife involved. Exactly. You know,

08:56just switch everything and then we're actually in a completely different world now. But, um, yeah.

09:02But, you know, when I read it, when we all read it, um, at our final table read, when we shot it,

09:08um, it felt very bittersweet. It felt sad, but also, um, but also happy and, and like full.

09:16Uh, just one more fun question about The Good Place. Sure. Um, if Jason were to run for president

09:22in 2020, what would be his platform? Let's see, uh, Jason Mendoza's platform. He would, um, want

09:37more EDM dance parties, free pizza. He would probably get Blake Bortles to be his vice president. What else is

09:45there? It's a good ticket. It's a good ticket. Yeah. He'd probably make the Jags the honorary team of

09:50America. Um, and regardless of whoever wins the Super Bowl, the, the Jags will always just be the

09:56champions. Uh, I also wanted to say congratulations on, um, being in Top Gun Maverick. Yes, thank you.

10:03That's very exciting. We're all looking forward to seeing you. Now, I know this is a very top secret

10:08project, but what can you tell me about the experience of, uh, being in Top Gun? Um, I mean, I, you know,

10:17with that crew and production, you can't, you can never really say much. Um, but it is, I've never been

10:24a part of a project that big. It's, uh, a lot of moving parts, and it's almost intimidating to be a

10:30part of it, but also very, you become very proud to be a part of something. Like the, the first Top Gun was,

10:37the first Top Gun was such a huge wave, and it had such an influence on, on a generation that it's,

10:43you know, it inspired a lot of the, the fighter pilots and a lot of the, the, the people who are

10:48in the Navy, uh, to be where they are right now, like talking to some of them currently. Um, and to think

10:54that we might have that same influence, we might have that same impact on this next generation is,

11:00is pretty incredible to think of. It's going to be a ride. I mean, I don't know if you've seen the,

11:04the trailer or the, the sneak peek that they, that they gave out, but Tom definitely does not

11:11disappoint. Tom Cruise is the hardest working man in show business in this industry, really. I mean,

11:16to be relevant after 30 years and still continuing to, to push, um, in different aspects of, of, of

11:25movies, you know, whether it be in action or in drama. It's, I think, yeah, it's, it's something,

11:32something to inspire, aspire to. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, and, uh, how are your volleyball skills?

11:38Um, they're not bad. Yeah. They're pretty good. I'm glad you asked. Yeah. Um, definitely brushed

11:49up on it a little just in case before, you know, cause you never know. But, uh, yeah,

11:55my volleyball, volleyball skills are, have improved. Manny, thank you so much for being here.

12:00Thank you for having me.

'The Good Place' Star Manny Jacinto Teases "Bittersweet" Series Finale and 'Top Gun: Maverick' | In Studio

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