Laura Dern Says ‘There Better Be’ More Dramatic Roles for Co-Star Will Arnett After ‘Is This Thing On?’ | Video

“Is This Thing On?” is now in select theaters and, for longtime fans of Will Arnett, it might be a surprising film, given the actor’s comedy roots. This movie is a much more dramatic turn for him and, according to his co-star Laura Dern, “there better be” more ahead.

Dern and Arnett star as a couple going through divorce after realizing they simply stopped working as a romantic pair. They coparent gracefully and kindly, and don’t spew much venom toward each other at all. To work through the divorce though, Alex (Arnett) finds solace on-stage after he stumbles into a comedy open mic night.

So, yes, there are laughs to be had in the film, directed by Bradley Cooper, but on the whole, it’s a much more serious character for Arnett, and one that he expertly portrays. Does that mean there will be more serious fare in his future?

“There better be!” Dern told TheWrap when we asked Arnett directly. “I’ll be so mad at him if not!”

“I don’t know!” Arnett replied, with a laugh. “You know, it’s taken me this long to figure out, and it’s something that seems quite obvious, which is, I really loved working on something that I felt really connected to on an emotional level. Material that we created, but a story that I really felt connected to.”

“And so, moving forward, that is my not in the sense, of like, ‘Oh, I want to do something more dramatic,’ or ‘I want to show people,'” he continued. “Not that at all. Whatever the thing is — at this stage in my life, and with everything going on — anything that’s going to take time away from spending time with family, I got to feel connected to it.”

Arnett also readily admitted that his role in “Is This Thing On?” was actually quite difficult for him to pull off, simply because “it was all new” to him.

“[Comedy] has its own level of commitment. And for me, the kind of comedies that I like always require a lot of commitment,” he explained. “You never want to wing it. So a lot of the same tenants you sort of bring to this. You have to stay committed, but in a much more vulnerable way, that there’s no comedic payoff to it. It’s not building up to a joke that lets the air out of the bag. And so that was a little bit of a leaping off.”

Arnett credited Dern with helping him a lot through the shoot, and admitted further that “it was all uncomfortable” for him.

“If I’m being honest, it was all hard,” he said. “Even the smallest moments, even just the littlest things, were very hard.”

“Is This Thing On?” is now in select theaters nationwide.

The post Laura Dern Says ‘There Better Be’ More Dramatic Roles for Co-Star Will Arnett After ‘Is This Thing On?’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.