WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Mythic Quest Season 2, Episode 6, "Backstory!," streaming now on Apple TV+.
Of all the hilariously dysfunctional characters on Mythic Quest, the most enigmatically eccentric of them is the fantasy video game's head writer C.W. Longbottom, portrayed by Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham. Besides knowing that C.W. is an acclaimed science-fiction novelist turned lore-developer for the series' fictional game, his past has been kept cryptically secret. However, Season 2's latest episode reveals C.W.'s early days as an aspiring writer in Los Angeles, with a younger Carl Longbottom portrayed by Josh Brener.
In an exclusive interview with CBR, Brener expresses his appreciation for Mythic Quest's comedy and his love of the show prior to his casting, getting close to the cast and crew and how he developed his performance as the idealistic sci-fi writer C.W. Longbottom.
How did the opportunity to portray this younger iteration of C.W. come about?
Josh Brener: Like everything in this business, it was dumb luck! In the quiet of the mid-pandemic days, it just popped up and I was psyched because I'm a huge fan of the show and of Murray and everyone involved. I just dug down to try my best approximation of what a young C.W. would be.
Did you speak with Murray at all or watch Amadeus on repeat? Murray has a very unique vocal cadence on this show, so how did you prep?
Brener: With only Season 1 available and C.W. only coming in and out sporadically, I just sort of watched those short scenes with him over and over again. I didn't want to go full Amadeus because I felt like it might confuse me and suddenly I'll be talking about arias so tried to keep things pretty specific to the show. With Murray, you're obviously not going to imitate the inimitable so it was a matter of just figuring out what a version that suggests but is in no way trying to mimic because that would be impossible. [Laughs.] He's way out of my league so I was just doing my own little version.
Was there a specific line or bit of character description that helped crack your performance and inform your approach?
Brener: It was a couple of things. First and foremost, Craig Mazin -- who is a far too brilliant writer -- wrote the script and the script was very long because he fills in everything that the character is thinking. He did all the hard work for me which was a real treat. I think it was [C.W.'s] consistent correction of the pronunciation of his work was the thing where I was like this guy is super pretentious and has a very clear image of who he thinks he is, whether or not he has any justification for that self-image. That kind of insistence on his work, his image, his persona, that really solidified things.
The first thing you guys filmed together was the last scene in the episode for your characters. How was it working backward in finding your performances?
Brener: It was interesting because it was definitely a little strange to be thrown into the final emotional moment at the starting point. But in way, since we're already in a backstory, flashback situation, it's almost like as if we're heading back in time if our starting point is the present, with the present C.W. That is a closer data point than where the episode actually begins. Carl has already become C.W., fully inhabiting this pompous ass version of himself and the hopeless romantic and ambitious guy is already gone. The rest of that was stripping it all away and getting to the [origin], it was almost hopeful in a way for that to be the first day to get to the [earlier incarnation of C.W.] that we were heading for.
You've got Shelley Hennig and Michael Cassidy as scene partners for all of this. How was it playing off them? And what did you want to retain in your performance as we see C.W. evolve over the years?
Brener: That's just another dumb luck thing that I got to work with Shelley and Michael who are far too talented and lovely and genuinely fun to be around. This was the height of the pandemic so we were the only people we were seeing outside of our homes and it was just a treat that it happened to be them. None of us knew each other prior so we were getting to know each other and having those early friendship conversations as our characters so that aligned kind of nicely.
The other thing that was happenstance, since it was deep, dark COVID times, is this gig was supposed to be a ten-day guest star and it ended up being over two months. We actually got to know each other very well because we were doing all this stuff together: Zooms with health and safety, texting each other about various things that were going on, going to testing protocols together and seeing each other on the lot. We actually got to get pretty close and hang out a bunch, that was really helpful as we were building and creating these characters.
C.W. is never going to miss the opportunity to grandstand and you've got a couple of big monologues with plenty of flowery dialogue. How is it getting those pages down?
Brener: It's just fun! Because the writing is Craig's, it is perfect and delicious and complex and just fun to say. I got to say "a bolt of lightning coruscating and fractalizing into a thousand paths," you just don't get to do words like that very often! God bless my wife, she ran those scenes with me over and over again and, even she saying it over and over again, began to enjoy it because the writing is just so gosh darn good.
Series co-creator and director Rob McElhenney and the writers really allow the actor to bring a bit of themselves for their performances. What was something you were proud to bring to C.W.?
Brener: First of all, to echo everything you say, it is the kind of work environment that actors dream about. I truly did not want this job to end because it is that kind of super-creative and collaborative environment. Rob and Megan Ganz and David Hornsby are the kind of brilliantly funny, talented and great creative forces you hope for but also totally open to all of those things. One specific thing that comes to mind is I'm a Tolkien nerd so whatever that line was about Tolkien's trill rhotic was just nerd stuff that I was spouting because I'm a dork. And Rob was just like, "Yeah! More of that!" which was just fun.
With this being a period piece, how was working in this Mad Men-esque period, mustache and all?
Brener: I wish I could grow facial hair for real. That is like 90% my mustache but the rest is smoke and mirrors and, unfortunately, I don't really have the ability. But I never want to act again without facial hair because it just changes you, you feel like a different person; like the Seinfeld joke, it's like a vacation from yourself. That coupled with the clothes, the grease in the hair, and big, heavy shoes and clothes that smell like smoke even though nobody's smoked in them -- it just helps and makes things so much easier and more fun. The first time I put on that ridiculous auburn tuxedo I was just like, "Oh yeah! That just feels right!" [Laughs.]
While this was just a one-off, how is it to leave your mark on Mythic Quest and C.W.?
Brener: Just as a fan of the show, it was just so lovely to get to be on it. Sometimes that's scary because you don't know if the people you watch on TV are going to be just as wonderful as they are on TV and, in this case, they were more wonderful and that was obviously great. I just loved the character before I got to inhabit him ever so briefly. I think the thing that I will certainly take away and think about often is that F. Murray Abraham sent me an email after he saw the episode and said very kind things about it. That will keep me warm in the cold days of winter!
Mythic Quest stars Rob McElhenney, Charlotte Nicdao, David Hornsby, Danny Pudi, Ashly Burch, Imani Hakim, Jessie Ennis and F. Murray Abraham, with Naomi Ekperigin, Caitlin McGee, Humphrey Ker, Chris Naoki Lee and Jonathan Wiggs. New episodes air Fridays on Apple TV+.
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