SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for the season premiere of “Your Friends & Neighbors,” now streaming on Apple TV.
Just as Coop starts to glue his life back together, a new neighbor threatens to tear it back apart.
James Marsden swaggers into the Season 2 premiere of “Your Friends & Neighbors” as Owen Ashe, a cocky, charming and unfathomably rich bachelor. He swerves his blue McLaren directly into the drama of Westmont Village, throwing an ostentatious party and cozying up to the beleaguered Andrew “Coop” Cooper (Jon Hamm) and Samantha (Olivia Munn).
The premiere picks up some time after the end of Season 1, which saw Coop exonerated and reunited with his family after he was accused of murdering Sam’s husband. Sam was able to plead her case down to a few misdemeanors, but she’s still a pariah among the Westmont social circles. Hoping to get a fresh start as a realtor, she meets Ashe as the listing agent of her own home.
While Ashe is a stranger to the country club elite of this fictional New York suburb, Marsden has known his co-stars for a while. The role came to him via text messages from both Hamm and Munn.
“We grew up in Oklahoma City, and she was friends with my sister, who went to the same high school,” Marsden says of Munn. “She said, ‘We’d love to have you on Season 2. It’s a fun role. Please say yes.’”
And while Marsden and Hamm had never worked together before, they regularly face off in a fantasy football league. “I don’t think it was intentionally a Hollywood fantasy football league, but it sort of became that over time,” Marsden says. “Chris Evans asked me to join 10 or 12 years ago. It’s not very public, though. It’s like a secret league that we’re all in, but it’s pretty laid back. Not in any sort of Hollywood, entitled way. It’s just a bunch of fun guys who happen to be in Marvel movies.”
When you read the scripts for “Your Friends & Neighbors,” what were your first impressions of Owen Ashe?
It’s always easier for me to play a character the further they are from who I am. There are characteristics I share with this guy, but mostly he’s very high energy, high-net-worth, high swagger — someone who comes into town and shakes things up, disrupts everything going on in Westmont Village and catches the attention of the locals, and primarily the attention of Jon Hamm’s character. So I got excited about playing something different from what I’m used to.
I’ve met people in my life that this character reminded me of, so I tapped into that a little and drew some inspiration from those past experiences — and got to send them up in a playful way. But ultimately you just realize your duty is to service the story. He’s a nice foil to Jon Hamm’s character, and it’s fun to blur the lines of whether these two are going to end up pals or lock horns at some point in the season.
What are the subtle keys to playing a charming douchebag?
You can’t go too far into douchey territory. You’ve got to make the guy actually intelligent, actually charming. And I think unawareness is the big key — the more unaware someone is of how unsavory or self-satisfying they’re being, the funnier it is. You need to make sure it’s fun for the audience. You don’t want to put them off or make them think, I just hate this guy. They have to see his charm and have fun watching him do the dance. Unawareness is really the key thing. These people aren’t aware of how inappropriate they’re being, or how arrogant it comes off when they talk about their cars, their money, their Italian clothes. Leaning into the humor of that, playing a character that can be laughed at, is what makes it fun.
Why is he so drawn to Samantha?
He’s smart enough to recognize the, um, bullshit. (I’m looking around because my youngest son is nearby.) He’s a smart guy, and he sees right through everybody. He can see the people fawning over him because he’s wealthy, and he can pick them apart. He can see if someone is putting on a facade. So, when he sees Sam, he’s curious about why she’s been ostracized from the social cliques in Westmont Village. From the get-go, he can see she’s a straight shooter — very direct, unapologetic about her past, not trying to hide anything. She just says, “Yeah, my husband killed himself, and I was arrested.” And I think he’s fascinated by that. With Sam, he sees transparency, honesty and directness, and that’s attractive to him.
He also has this instant connection with Coop. Does Ashe know more about them and about the community he’s just joined than he’s letting on?
I don’t think he knows anything specific about Coop’s history or Olivia’s history, or any of them. He’s moved to this town to start a new life, maybe calm it down a bit with his daughter. And the biggest weapon in his arsenal is spending money and throwing big parties — that’s his way of introducing himself to the community. But he’s also probably hiding some darker details. A lot of people like to talk about themselves, but Owen is someone who likes to ask questions about other people, and maybe that’s his way of keeping the attention off of himself. What he does for a living might be legitimate, or it could be a little shady — maybe he’s got money in offshore accounts. He’s a shifty guy, so I think he’s moved to Westmont for some reason.
But I do think there’s a lot of good in him. There’s a kid in him: He’s very unfiltered and excited about what’s next. He’s enthusiastically interested in what these people’s lives are like and who they really are. He’s drawn to Coop because he’s another one who’s direct and doesn’t mince words. But Owen is good at reading people, and when he looks at Coop he sees someone who isn’t showing his hand fully — and that’s always a mark of intelligence to Owen. Like, OK, what’s this guy’s secret?
Does he see himself in Coop?
He does. He even says, “We’re two bachelors living in this town together.” He likes guys who paint outside the lines. He sees that Coop has a tendency to ride a little closer to the edge than most people do, and that’s something that resonates with him. For Owen, things have to be exciting, and if it gets dull or boring, he moves on. He sees that in Coop as well.
I imagine that party sequence was shot over several days. Is it unusual to be in that mode for so long?
It’s not as fun as it looks, I’ll say that. But it’s not a terrible time. We’re there, and it’s this beautiful estate and music is playing. You’re not drinking real champagne, and you’re in the pool for four hours, when in the show you’re in the pool for 25 seconds. That gets to be a drag. You go, This is what I do for a living. I’m in a tuxedo in this pool at 4 a.m. — because it’s a night shoot, so you’re shooting until sunrise. It’s good socially. In between takes you can hang with a bunch of people and chit chat. It does start to grind away at you as you do it for 12 hours. How many times am I going to have to dance on the dance floor? How many times am I going to have to jump into the pool with my suit on? It’s not ever as fun as it looks.
“Jury Duty” is back with “Company Retreat.” Do you have ideas for a potential third season?
There are other minds that work on that. But if it were me, I think it’d be fun to do a tech start-up. But it’s got to be a place where you can’t have your phones. Maybe a crazy Hollywood party or a weekend masquerade party where no phones are allowed.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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