Raphael Bob-Waksberg opens up to ET about the Netflix series' ability to get A-list guest stars to lampoon themselves.
BoJack Horseman,
Netflix’s animated tragicomedy about the titular washed-up ‘90s sitcom star
voiced by Will Arnett, is back with a brand-new season.
Debuting on Friday, July 22, season three sees BoJack
navigating awards season as he promotes his role in the biopic Secretariat. The only problem is
that during season two, he flaked out on the set of the film and the director
replaced him with a CGI version. As it would turn out, the CGI version of
BoJack is a really good actor.
Joining this season is Angela Bassett, who voices "Oscar Whisperer" publicist Ana Spanikopita. She’s among the many A-list and funny
guest stars -- Daniel Radcliffe, Paul McCartney, Keegan-Michael Key and Lisa
Kudrow, among others -- that have become a secret ingredient of the show’s
success, as BoJack Horseman lampoons
Hollywood with meta glee.
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Constance Zimmer, Jeffrey Wright, Candice Bergen and
Diedrich Bader are among this season’s guests and cameos, joining the superb
cast featuring Arnett, Aaron Paul (Todd Chavez), Alison Brie (Diane Nguyen),
Paul F. Tompkins (Mr. Peanutbutter) and Amy Sedaris (Princess Carolyn).
Ahead of the return of BoJack
Horseman, ET jumped on the phone with creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg to
discuss the show’s amazing voice talent and how the team decide whether to get
a celebrity to play their animated namesake or a new character on the series.
ET: One thing I love
about this show is all the amazing voice talent and guest stars. How have you
guys managed to do that?
Raphael Bob-Waksberg:
I think it's because we have a great show and people want to be on it. We
have an amazing casting director, Linda Lamontagne, who always knows who to ask
and how to ask them. In the first season, we got pretty lucky that we got some
pretty great people [including Crazy
Ex-Girlfriend’s Rachel Bloom, Kristin Chenoweth, Patton Oswalt and Stephen
Colbert] who were into the idea. Then, as we get more and more people, it
becomes like a cool club to be in. I'm hoping we have a bit of a reputation for
being a fun, easy show, especially for actors who are not necessarily used to
voice acting, who do a lot of live action, who are thrilled to discover on this
show that they don't have to sit in hair and makeup. They don't have to
memorize any lines. They don't have to wait to get their lighting just right.
They can come in their pajamas and they can hang out and goof around for a
half hour. That's it!
Given the meta aspect
of the show, how do you decide when you’re going to have guest stars play
themselves or have them voice a new character?
The script is written first and then we try to find someone
to play that character. Sometimes we'll write real people into the script and
then we'll ask. “Hey, do you want to be in the show? We wrote a character for
you.” Like, Margo Martindale was working on The
Millers with Will Arnett and he went to her and said, “Hey, do you want to
be on my cartoon?” She was like, "No. I don't want to be on a cartoon show.”
Then Will said, “Well, you have to because the character is Character Actress Margo
Martindale.” She said, “Alright.” I think she had a great time on the show. So you
know, we'll always ask the person who we're making fun of. If they say yes, then great.
Right. And if they say no?
If they say no, either we'll rewrite the part to be another celebrity who does want to do it or we'll just cast somebody else, usually Kevin Bigley, to do an impression. Paul F. Tompkins was Andrew Garfield in the first season. I will say that when somebody doesn't do our show and we end
up getting someone else to do the voice, it always ends up being a little
meaner than if they just said yes. Like, the Andrew Garfield characterization
is much sillier and then he ends up falling into a pit at the end of the
season. If Andrew Garfield would have just said yes, it might not have been so
cruel.
So is that a warning
out there to other celebrities?
Yes. But then again, Naomi Watts said yes and we made her
have sex with a horse. There's not really a rhyme or a reason. Then we had
somebody in season three who we cast and she came to us after the table read
and said, “You know” -- we almost never get notes from the actors -- “I want you
to go meaner with this. I feel you can make more fun of me then you are.” We
were like, “Alright.” I don't know if you ever want to tell a room full of
comedy writers to “go meaner.” So, we're like, “Let's find that limit,” and we
kept throwing jokes at her. She was game for almost all of them.
Given the show’s parallels
with John Stamos' career and all the jokes about him, have you ever asked him to be
part of the show?
No. I haven't. I saw him at a Netflix party once from a
distance. I almost introduced myself, but then I didn't. I chickened out. I
don't know if he's seen the show or what he would think about the show. I'd
imagine he has a sense of humor about himself. There was one time where I
was accidentally on an email thread with John Stamos, because of a thing we were
both tangentially working on. It felt very eerie, and I was wondering, “Does he
know who I am? Does he know I am in this room? This is spooky.” But you know, I
have no ill will toward him and I'm sure he'd be very funny to have on the
show.