Winslet will, naturally, be stepping into the shoes of Vogue’s WWII correspondent, but she’ll be far from alone. Rounding out the cast is Inception‘s Marion Cotillard, Oblivion‘s Andrea Riseborough, Challengers‘ Josh O’Connor, The Northman‘s Alexander Skarsgård, Portrait of a Lady on Fire‘s Noémie Merlant, and none other than Saturday Night Live‘s Andy Samberg. Before one wonders whether Samberg will be out of his league with such thespians, it’s important to remember that, one, he’s a ridiculously talented guy, and, two, it’s not his first dramatic role, even if it’s his first straightforward drama.
Samberg also had a lead role in the comedy-drama Celeste and Jesse Forever, a supporting role in fellow genre-blender Brigsby Bear, and co-led the brilliant Palm Springs. He also branched out a bit by playing a quasi-villainous variation of himself in Jake Johnson’s fantastic directorial debut, Self Reliance, streaming exclusively on Hulu. Oh, and while working on Lee, he had one heck of a mentor in Winslet.
In Lee, Samberg stars as the title character’s colleague and lifelong friend, David Scherman. And, according to Winslet, he nails it. In her words to Total Film:
“He just got it. And he was really nervous and couldn’t get out of his head that audiences would expect him to be doing funny things all the time.
I just had to keep reminding him that doing nothing with your face sometimes is equally as impactful as raising an eyebrow
! When you’re a comedian it becomes punctuation, and so, for him, actually training his face not to do that was the hardest part.”
What’s Next for Samberg and Winslet?
Winslet is fairly fresh off Avatar: The Way of Water, which saw her reteam with her Titanic director James Cameron. And, it’s been confirmed that she’ll be back for the third installment, Avatar: Fire and Ash. She’s also fresh off The Regime, but that won’t be receiving a second season as it was always intended to be a miniseries. But she does have a movie in pre-production, another biopic called Fake!, which follows Jen McAdam, a whistleblower in the OneCoin cryptocurrency scheme.
Related
Celeste & Jesse Forever: Why Andy Samberg Should Do More Dramatic Roles
You might know Andy Samberg from Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but what happens when he takes on a more serious role?
As for Samberg, he recently had a vocal role in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and a live-action role (as himself) in Good Burger 2. What’s next? A new take on the classic ’80s dark comedy The War of the Roses, simply titled The Roses, which is set to be led by Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch.
