He’s Mr. Maisel — and so much more
Michael Zegen on movies, being likable, and growing up in Ridgewood
Michael Zegen tempted fate when he ignored W.C. Fields’ clear warning: “Never work with animals or children.”
But it’s a gamble that paid off. Mr. Zegen, who grew up in Ridgewood, stars in “Notice to Quit” and spends most of his time sharing the screen with Kasey Bella Suarez.
“If you are going to act with children, I highly recommend acting with Kasey Bella Suarez, because she is fantastic,” he told me a Zoom interview. “She’s also not a stage kid with stage parents — she was absolutely wonderful to work with. Just a normal, normal kid.”
They played exceptionally well together, and the success of the film rests entirely on the on-screen chemistry the two shared.
Mr. Zegen plays Andy Singer, a sleazebag and loser. He’s a wannabe actor — his claim to fame was a long-ago toothpaste commercial — who now works very unsuccessfully as a New York City apartment rental agent. He’s being evicted from his own apartment and rakes in what little cash he earns by helping thieves steal appliances from empty ones.
He’s pretty much ignored his wife, Liz (Isabel Arrazia), who now has a new man in her life and is moving to be with him. She and their 10-year-old daughter, Anna, are going to start a new life with him in Florida. On the day before they’re set to depart, Anna runs away to find her father and spend the day with him — although he makes it clear that he’s not interested.
Anna is smart, and it is only her unrelenting devotion to him that suggests he has any redeeming value. And it is the dichotomy — between the screwup we see and the dad Anna envisions — that makes the film work so well.
Mr. Zegen is probably best known as Mrs. Maisel’s cheating husband, Joel. But he’s also had extended roles in “Boardwalk Empire” and is now featured in HBO’s “The Penguin.”
I asked what made him sign on to “Notice to Quit.”
“I loved the script,” he told me. “I thought it was really fun. You’re always taking a chance with a first-time filmmaker,” writer/director Simon Hacker. “My agent told me he worked for the Safdie brothers. He was their assistant — but what does that mean? Sometimes it means they get you coffee.
“The hope is that some of their genius rubbed off on him. And, you know, when I Zoomed with him initially, he was just so passionate about the project. And he knows so much about filmmaking and movies. Also, he was so open to collaboration. And the part was the lead. I wanted to prove to myself I could carry a film.”
Andy is a complicated character, and I wondered if Mr. Zegen had created a backstory for him. “No, I’m a lazy actor,” he answered. “Besides, it was all there on the page. It was clear to me.
“Well, it wasn’t very clear to me. But, as you know, when you are doing a movie or TV show, the more you work on it, you kind of just embody that character.”
Did he agree that Andy was a lowlife? Michael said that he thought so at first, but that changed as he got deeper into the character. “I actually think he has a good heart and he’s just been dealt a bad hand,” he said. “He’s in kind of a dead-end job. And, unfortunately, it’s too late, but he tries to be a good dad.”
Andy Singer is not the first “negative” character Mr. Zegen has played. There was Bugsy Siegel in “Boardwalk Empire,” gangster Alberto Falcone in “The Penguin,” and, of course, the cheating Maisel. I wonder if playing bad boys is a conscious choice or just a coincidence.
“I don’t see any of these people as negative,” he said. “Yes, on the page they’re sort of villains. But I try to find the humanity in them, make them real, so people can sort of identify with them.”
Having said that, he admitted, “I want to play someone who, from the beginning, everybody is on board with. So, if anybody is listening, send me your script.”
Hopefully that will be an easier shoot than this one was. It takes place over what is supposed to be 24 hours on the hottest day in New York. So that meant the crew could shoot only on sunny days.
The production action was limited as well because Casey had limited hours and had to spend parts of each day in class.
“We shot on the subway and we shot on the streets of New York,” Mr. Zegen said. “Sometimes we had permits. Sometimes we didn’t. When you’re shooting on the subway and you’re stealing shots, asking people to move is not always easy. There were confrontations, but nothing that serious.”
Fortunately, Mr. Zegen was prepared for the rigors of filming at what he calls “the great theater program at Ridgewood High School called New Players. When I tell people about it, they can’t believe what we did: six plays a year — a musical, one Shakespeare, and a straight play. And there was a summer New Players where we would do three plays.
“We were like a real company of actors. We just lived for theater.”
I’d spoken to Mr. Zegen seven years ago, around the time “Mrs. Maisel” broke big. We discussed how his parents, Rachelle and Jeff, were Jewish Standard subscribers and would scrounge extra copies when he was mentioned there. We talked about his going to Hebrew school at the Glen Rock Jewish Center. And he mentioned, also, how much he enjoyed his anonymity despite his success. “I like to use the subway,” he said at the time.
I asked if he felt the same way today. Apparently not so much. “I’m not Brad Pitt or anything, but I do get stopped, and people talk to me. It’s great, because they love the projects I’ve been part of.
“Like the other night. I was walking down the street, this girl just passed me, and her face lit up. She smiled this huge grin, and she goes ‘Joel’.
“It’s a good feeling. It’s a great feeling. I don’t have a problem with people telling me they enjoy my work.”
“Notice to Quit” is in theaters now.
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