Will Arnett is in his leading man period. In real life, he’s just trying to

Will Arnett is in his leading man period. In real life, he’s just trying to…

Will Arnett is an Emmy-nominated actor, one-third of the hit SmartLess podcast and the voice behind more characters than most of us can identify offhand. But at the end of the day, he’s just a dad questioning the place his teenage son went in a rideshare.“That’s my baseline,” he tells Yahoo with fun. “I literally just got a notification that one of my sons took an Uber, and I’m thinking, Why did he take an Uber? I thought his brother was taking him. That’s who I am.”For somebody who’s spent the better a part of twenty years delivering some of tv’s most quotable strains (Arrested Development’s Gob Bluth, anybody?), Arnett is a dad first. It’s why his new movie, Is This Thing On?, hits so shut to dwelling. At its core, it’s a story about holding on to the people you like while figuring out who you’re when life instantly stops trying the means you anticipated.In the dramedy, directed by Bradley Cooper, Arnett performs Alex, who’s in the center of a divorce when he stumbles into New York City’s stand-up scene. What begins as a inventive experiment turns into a type of therapy: a spot to make sense of all the things he’s shedding and all the things he would possibly still have left. Inspired by the lifetime of British comic John Bishop — who found stand-up while separated from his spouse — the movie gave Arnett one in every of the most emotionally bare roles of his profession. He also cowrote the script, shaping Alex’s journey with the same mixture of humor and vulnerability he brings onscreen. (The New York Times declared his performance one in every of the yr’s best.)With director Bradley Cooper on the set of Is This Thing On? (Searchlight Pictures/Jason McDonald)“I love the idea of somebody doing something that brings them a sense of relief,” Arnett explains. “Something that helps them reconnect to who they are through something way outside their realm, that they never thought was possible.”Arnett says he didn’t go on the lookout for a project like this; it discovered him. “I met John Bishop and I was in a place in my life where I really identified with the themes he shared,” he remembers. “I really wanted Alex to be a true reflection of somebody who’s going through this kind of catharsis, if you will, and I wanted him to feel really real. I wanted people to connect on it in a real way.”Some parallels to Arnett’s life are arduous to ignore. The 55-year-old actor and ex-wife Amy Poehler separated in 2012, with their divorce finalized 4 years later. The two share sons Archie, 17, and Abel, 15. Arnett has called the entire course of “brutal.” The two are amicable, though, with Poehler even showing on her ex’s podcast in April.When I ask how fatherhood and co-parenting formed his understanding of what Alex is going by, he replies, “Yeah, I mean, we always draw on stuff, especially through art.”That consciousness inevitably discovered its means into Alex. “It’s not autobiographical, but I am made up of all my personal experiences,” he says.“The idea of bringing those experiences of my own life into this part, into this character — it’s inevitable … and certainly it’s going to color how I look at these scenes,” he continues. “I can relate to Alex, and I hope other people can too. I can bring that sort of universality of being a father in that kind of situation — hopefully bring that in an authentic way to the character of Alex, and his relationship to his kids.”Arnett was impressed by the story of British comedian John Bishop, who found comedy after separating from his spouse. (Searchlight Pictures/Jason McDonald)Of course, Is This Thing On? isn’t all existential reflection and emotional baring. Arnett has some shirtless scenes, the type that would ship many actors into two-a-day mode, however he laughs once I ask if he regrets writing them into the script.“I was at a screening in Toronto with some old friends. My one buddy goes: ‘Yeah, you looked OK,’” he remembers. “Classic Canadian.”Arnett continues, “There was no working out while we were making it. It was just — It’s going to be what it is, and that’s OK. I saw it in the script because I wrote it, so I knew it was coming.”He lets the thought cling for a second before including, “That sort of vanity — you have to drop it. People say, ‘Actors are so vain,’ and I’m like, Yeah, well, people look at you! You’d feel the same way.”Still, the vulnerability of those moments onscreen mirrors the emotional questions Arnett has been asking himself in midlife. One of the movie’s most resonant themes is the query of identification: Who am I exterior of being a associate? A mum or dad? A performer? Arnett doesn’t hesitate when requested if he’s felt that shift.“Yes — it’s a moving target,” he says. “You don’t sit down and decide who you are, but you have those moments where you ask, ‘What am I?’ And it shifts.”He’s lived lengthy sufficient to know the reply adjustments relying on the decade. “In my 30s, I was the guy who’d spent 15 years struggling as an actor, and then suddenly I had an opportunity, and I was thinking about work all the time. Then you have kids, and now you’re a parent — that’s your role.”Today, fatherhood isn’t just a part of his identification — it’s the anchor. “The greatest gift in life is being a parent to my kids,” he says. (Arnett is also father to a 5-year-old son, Denny, who he shares with ex-girlfriend Alessandra Brawn.) “That hasn’t shifted — that’s my No. 1. You’re only as happy as your least happy child. If I keep that as my constant, everything else feels less pressured.”He pauses, smiling. “I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about how I’m going to leave my mark on the world. It’s more: ‘Did my son finish his history project?’ What I realize now is that everything else is kind of gravy. If my kids are good, I’m good.”Get tickets

Stay in the loop with today’s largest tales and trending headlines! C-lebrity.com is your trusted source for the latest top tales in leisure, lifestyle, and popular culture — all thoughtfully curated to inform and inspire you.

Visit us daily for the freshest updates, breaking news, and exclusive insights that preserve you linked to what’s occurring across the world of celebrities and leisure.