James Marsden is best known for playing Cyclops in the X-Men movies. He was in other hit films like Hop, Superman Returns, Hairspray, Enchanted, The Box, and 27 Dresses.
He got a significant role in the Amazon Freevee series Jury Duty, where he plays none other than himself, James Marsden.
Yes right, in the Amazon Freevee series (which received an unexpected best-comedy-series nomination), Marsden portrays a character named James Marsden, a celebrity who is also a juror.
The new show Jury Duty is inspired by the classic TV show Candid Camera. This features unexpected situations for unsuspecting participants, with hidden cameras recording their genuine reactions.
In the show, the actor plays an exaggerated version of himself due to the show’s premise — that all participants in a mock trial are actors, except for the supposed “star” Ronald Gladden.
During an episode of the show, Marsden had an outburst that almost disrupted the production. His actions would have definitely caused problems for the plot. And that would cost a substantial financial loss for the production company.
James Marsden’s On-Set Laughter Nearly Revealed Amazon’s Hoax Trial, Risking $16M
James Marsden’s performance has earned him his first Emmy nomination for supporting actor in a comedy series. The actor had to maintain his character throughout the show’s filming — even when he was off-camera and around his co-star Ronald Gladden.
The show uses only a small part of what was filmed during a three-week period, and the actor was concerned that he might accidentally give something away.
He told Variety about one of his challenges when the defense lawyer showed a video featuring terrible animation. “I lost it that day. That is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen,” Marsden recalled. “But it was OK because we would have laughed at that in court, anyway.”
That day, his momentary loss of control over his laugh during this episode could have caused significant financial issues for Amazon. That’s not the only instance. Throughout the show, there are moments where Marsden always stays in character.
James Marsden’s Consistent In-Character Performance in the Show
There was an incident at a party where Marsden got carried away and destroyed a birthday cake in anger. Whereas, originally he was supposed to continue the tantrum. As he told Variety:
“But as soon as I flipped the cake, I saw out of the corner of my eye Ronald kind of hang his head. And I was like, I can’t do this to this guy. No TV and no laughs are worth messing with somebody’s human experience like this. It’s just not worth it.”
Eventually, Marsden left the scene but returned with a replacement cake — finding a way to add even more humor to the situation. He claimed that the only cake available was one with “It’s a girl” written on it. This created an unexpectedly funny moment in the process.
