Brett Goldstein's Dad Had the Best Reaction to Learning Harrison Ford's “Shrinking” Character Was Inspired By Him
"My dad said, ‘Are you telling everyone that I'm Harrison Ford?’ And I said, ‘Yeah,’ and he went, ‘F—ing cool,'" Goldstein recalled
Brett Goldstein is revealing how his dad felt about having a Shrinking character based on his life.
During an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, the Ted Lasso actor, 44, opened up about working with Harrison Ford on the Apple TV+ drama. He explained that it was initially not known that his dad inspired Ford’s character, but when it was revealed, he had a hilarious reaction.
“So my dad has Parkinson's, and it wasn't something we weren’t going to talk about publicly when we were talking about the show,” Goldstein shared. “And then [writer] Bill Lawrence let it slip by accident, and I called my dad, and I was like, ‘Listen, Dad, Bill said about you having Parkinson's. I hope that's not a problem.’ And my dad said, ‘Are you telling everyone that I'm Harrison Ford?’ And I said, ‘Yeah,’ and he went, ‘F---ing cool. Go for it. Please, go for it.’”
Ford recently opened up to Vanity Fair in October to talk about his work in the hit comedy series, revealing what exactly keeps him acting at 82 years old.
"Oh man, I get out of it essential human contact," the Star Wars alum said when asked what he continues to get out of acting. "I get to imagine with people that have great skill and experience…. It’s fun to work with these people."
"I always enjoyed humor. I loved jokes. I loved the construction of jokes," Ford continued. "My father was a joke teller. The wordsmithing and the ideas that lay behind a joke have always interested me. When I was thinking about becoming an actor, I was ambitious for both kinds of work — serious drama and comedy. I found myself doing both and not really distinguishing much between them."
"I think I think with the same actor's head about a joke as I do about a serious or emotional scene," he concluded.
Goldstein joined Ford on screen in season 2 of Shrinking after staying behind the scenes as a co-creator and writer during season 1. In October, fellow co-creator Jason Segel told PEOPLE that he wanted Goldstein to take on a darker role that differed from his character on Ted Lasso.
"Brett's capable of doing anything," Segel said, noting how Goldstein's been closely tied to the project from the beginning. "And I knew secretly that he wanted to play that part and I knew he would kill it."
Michael Urie shared a similar sentiment in November, telling PEOPLE that he was impressed with Goldstein’s ability to play “a completely different guy” from what he had been doing.
"It's marketing genius because people know he's on it but don't tell them what it is that they play. But anybody who watches the show, I love telling people, 'Yeah, he's on it, but you won't believe who he plays,'" he said, noting that Goldstein's character is related to "an old story that you do already know and you're not even thinking of it."
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New episodes of Shrinking arrive Wednesdays on Apple TV+.