Faxon has a great expanse of forehead,authentic teeth and frisky eyebrows:some of his early gigs were little more than a bewildered reaction shot,but he nailed them.
Maya Rudolph and Nat Faxon in Loot.Apple TV+
Faxon doesn’t look like he was assembled on a Los Angeles production line to plug into the next available show,and increasingly his performances have also stood out. In 2022,for example,he played super-personable pirate The Swede in the period comedy and a venal White House head-kicker in the Watergate thriller.
But as part of the ensemble cast assembled for the Apple TV+ comedyLoot,Faxon may have found his ultimate role. As Arthur,the level-headed accountant at a charitable foundation founded and quickly forgotten by one of the wealthiest women in America,Molly Wells (Maya Rudolph),Faxon plays a character who is defined by his decency. Arthur isn’t a raging geek or a passive-aggressive cubicle clone,he’s just a genuinely nice guy.
The character is an absolute treat.
“His decency is one of his most admirable qualities and he’s also a good listener,which is rare to find even in real life given the society we live in,” Faxon says. “I love when characters meet each other at specific points in their lives – that feels more like real life. Arthur is a good listener for Molly and other characters. They need that in their lives and he can offer that.”
Just returned for a second season,Loot is a workplace comedy about the bizarro impact of extreme wealth and American inequality. When Molly actually comes to the foundation’s office after her divorce from tech titan John Novak (Adam Scott),she just wants to take a break from partying and try to do something positive with a fortune of $120 billion.
For Molly and her queer personal assistant and cultural barometer,Nicholas (Joel Kim Booster),staff members such as Arthur,the foundation’s obsessive head Sofia (Michaela Jae Rodriguez),and Molly’s cousin Howard (Ron Funches) are an unexpected source of everyday gravity. There hasn’t been a nine-to-five scenario this amusing and warm sinceParks and Recreation,and the new episodes profit even more from the character’s shared dynamics. Faxon gives all praise to the show’s creators,Alan Yang and Matt Hubbard.
“They incorporate our personality traits into the character and that’s certainly not always the case. Sometimes you’re just embodying what the writer has imagined in their head,” Faxon says. “This is a collaborative environment – they might have a preconceived rhythm to how a character will talk,but they take our personalities and write to our strengths and infuse the characters with something specific to us. When you have five characters who are unique then the pairings become richer because you know how these people would react to something.”
One of the surprises of the first season was that Arthur emerged as a genuine love interest for Molly. The pair had a genuine connection,even if Arthur was hesitant to act on his feelings because Molly was his boss and palled around the billionaire charity circuit. The first season ended with a setback for the number cruncher,and the new instalment takes its time restoring his confidence.
Some of Faxon’s early gigs were little more than a bewildered reaction shot,but he nailed them.Apple TV+
“We had conversations about the character and where he would go before the first season,and we did the same before the second season where Alan and Matt brought me in and we sat down with all the writers,” Faxon says. “It was a discussion about playing into his growth as a character and he was certainly left vulnerable at the end of season one because he’d finally got the courage to tell Molly how he felt and that didn’t work out for him.”
The will they/won’t they tension between television characters is one of the medium’s enduring mainstays. When I mention Pam and Jim onThe Office,Faxon adds Sam and Diane fromCheers. It’s a finite plot point that can only build to a finale once before the ground rules change. The looming romance between two key characters has to be genuine,witty and a just a little tense.
“If it doesn’t feel relatable an audience will revolt against you,” Faxon says. “It’s a tribute to Matt and Allan and the writing staff that they’ve been able to ride that line. You want to create some drama and some excitement for the audience,you want to give them enough to keep watching but not too much so that the case is solved in the first three episodes. It takes a deft hand to calibrate that.”
The twist in this collaboration between Faxon as an actor and the show’s creators,is that he’s the one with an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. In 2011 Faxon and his long-time writing partner,Jim Rash (akaCommunity’s madcap Dean Pelton),took home an Oscar alongside director Alexander Payne forThe Descendants,the bittersweet Honolulu comedy where George Clooney played a husband thrown into bewildering circumstances.
Faxon and Rash went on to co-write and co-direct a pair of Hollywood feature films in 2013’sThe Way Way Back and 2020’sForce Majeure remakeDownhill. Their ongoing collaboration stretches back to the Los Angeles improvisational comedy troupe The Groundlings,where Faxon not only worked with Rash,but also hisLoot co-star Rudolph. Turns out the chemistry between Arthur and Molly was forged by live sketch comedy routines that lived – and sometimes died – before a rowdy audience.
“It really adds to our relationship on screen. Having known Maya as long as I have,it only benefits us when we’re sharing scenes together on camera,” Faxon says. “There’s familiarity,there’s comfort,there’s trust,there’s joy in being able to say this is an old friend of mine that I can act with and whatever I do I’ll feel safe.”
Loot (season 2) streams now on Apple TV+.
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