Seth Green

How To Succeed in Business by Really Trying

Seth Green Shows Us How

Stepping into Seth Green’s offices for his Cartoon Network show Robot Chicken brings to mind the proverbial kid in the toy store. The vast Hollywood studio is covered with set pieces, random props, and every kind of doll or toy imaginable. One can’t accuse Green—who co-created, produces, directs, and lends his vocal talents to the satiric stop-motion comedy that parodies pop culture in short sketches—of being anything but a hands-on producer. Dozens of employees constantly approach him with a variety of questions: Does this doll look enough like Britney Spears? How dark should the lighting on the Death Star be? Do people still remember the video game Dragon’s Lair? Green, clad in a jacket and tie and looking every bit the entrepreneur despite his perpetually youthful face, knows everything that is happening in his workshop. He locates a doll designed to look like Wentworth Miller from Prison Break, but instead of the prison’s blueprints tattooed on the doll’s chest, it’s a map to the stars’ homes that will help the doll find John Larroquette’s residence. Why Larroquette? Green replies simply in his signature monotone, "Because everybody loves John Larroquette."

At age 32, Green has already spent more than 20 years in the entertainment business and become something of a media mogul. In addition to Robot Chicken, which launched its second season April 2, Green is heard every week as the voice of dopey son Chris Griffin on Fox’s animated hit Family Guy and also makes up one-quarter of the title role in the NBC comedy Four Kings, currently on hiatus. He is also the co-creator (with Hugh Sterbakov) of the graphic novel Freshmen, a limited six-issue series that promptly sold out after its 2005 debut. And of course there are the beloved characters Green created in so many films and television series: Oz, the sweetly stoic teenage werewolf in Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Dr. Evil’s rebellious son, Scott, in the Austin Powers films; and wannabe Kenny Fisher in Can’t Hardly Wait, among many others. Whatever the part, Green always comes armed with an inherent likeability and killer comedic timing, standing out even when sharing the screen with Julia Roberts or Michael Caine.

Green began his career at age 7, taking the train from his hometown in Philadelphia into New York City almost every day. After making his film debut in The Hotel New Hampshire opposite Jodie Foster and Rob Lowe, Green found himself starring in Woody Allen’s Radio Days at age 12. The actor moved to Los Angeles when he was 16 and has worked nonstop ever since. Even at a time when he has three television shows on the air and could perhaps afford to rest on his laurels, Green is always planning ahead. In his words: "I hustle like there’s nothing around the corner."

Back Stage: Your work at Robot Chicken seems to take a lot of time. Have you had to turn down other projects to be committed to it?

Seth Green: It’s a brutal, brutal commitment. Our run was about 36 weeks last year, and this season is 46 weeks. I’m responsible for quite a bit over that time, but I also try to be practical. Because this is our second run, I’ve done a lot of training and orientation with everybody, so we have our writers taking more creative responsibility, directing shots and stuff, so I don’t have to be here every day. When I was doing Four Kings, it was really tricky because I would have my mornings at Four Kings from about 8 a.m. to 2:30 and then I would be here from about 2:30 until 6. It’s a lot of work. We wrapped Four Kings in December, so it’s nice because the show’s on the air and I really don’t have to think about it.

Back Stage: How did the role in Four Kings come about? Were you looking to do a series at this time?

Green: It just sort of happened, it really did. I was just not reading any scripts that I liked, and I was about to start the second season of Robot Chicken; it was going to be a big, time-intensive responsibility, and I was trying to find something that made sense for me to maintain a steady income, to keep me relevant in the marketplace and yet not occupy 100% of my time. This literally fell in my lap, and I had not at all been looking for television—it’s not my preference. But I found a show that made a lot of sense that was the best-case scenario. It’s got pedigreed creator-writers, it’s a network that has a history of success with this type of program, they were putting us in a time block they were literally creating for us and the other comedies around us, and it was a good, smart, funny show.

Back Stage: Were you drawn to the fact that it was an ensemble show?

Green: Oh, yeah, I’m always more interested in ensembles. I’m a team player. I have no problem standing out, and I don’t mean that in an arrogant way; it’s just that I’m not afraid or insecure about being noticed. And I find the smartest thing any actor can do is surround themselves with superior talent. It’s the way that you continue to grow as an artist.

Back Stage: Have you been approached to headline a series?

Green: Yeah. But timing is everything with me, it really is. The last show I did, I did Greg the Bunny and it was the right time, right place. It was a show I felt I really wanted to be a part of. For me, it’s never medium-specific, it’s project-specific. So if there’s a project that just calls to me in one way or another, I’m going to try my best to do it.

Back Stage: Would you ever consider being the main lead in a series or a film?

Green: I don’t know. In a film, maybe. I guess Party Monster is the closest I ever did to that; it was just me and Macaulay [Culkin]. I’m not shy or afraid; there’s no fear or hesitation in doing something. It’s just about the project. Any of the projects I’ve been offered to headline are not projects I want to do. It’s always some lowbrow, high-concept comedy. It’s got to read well, and it’s got to be something I’d want to see.

Back Stage: What about creating a project for yourself to star in?

Green: I’ve thought about it. My friend Hugh and I had a project at Disney that I was going to headline, but it kind of fell apart and missed its opportunity. When you have a project in development at a studio, they usually buy it because the timing’s right for something that they see on their slate, and if you miss that window of opportunity to produce it, it will sit there with them trying to make it into everything else that’s been successful. We had a dark relationship comedy, sort of a War of the Roses. And over the course of us being in development there, Bubble Boy was in development, Deuce Bigalow was coming out, Road Trip and American Pie were coming out. And all of a sudden, any movie that came out that had any kind of success, that’s what the studio told us our movie should be more like. And so it just became a mess, and we were there for two years spinning our wheels, and it was a hateful, horrible experience that really turned me off to developing movies at a studio.

Back Stage: At what point did you really take control of your career and become so involved behind the scenes as well?

Green: Probably from when I was 15 on. At different points in my career I’ve had to take the reins. You just have to know that people’s fascination with you will only get you so far because it only lasts so long. So it’s really important for you to decide what you want to do. For me, I want to be in this business for the rest of my life, and it’s taking whatever measures need to be taken to get to that place.

Back Stage: You started so young. How did you avoid the pitfalls so many child actors fall into?

Green: Grace of God, probably. I was lucky enough to never become singularly famous at a young age. So I never had to stop working hard. And anytime there was any fuss or sensation around me, it only lasted for so long. And I had plenty of close friends and humbling experiences to bring me back down to earth. Fortunately for me, all of my mistakes have been relatively private. You see a lot of kids and they have no way to avoid making their mistakes in public. You’ve got somebody like Lindsay Lohan, who is making mistakes left and right; she’s got nobody telling her no, and she’s constantly under the watchful eye of the paparazzi. So you don’t have a lot of opportunity to learn from your mistakes, because you’re too on guard all the time and you’re still trying to figure out what went wrong by the time you realize something did. It’s too late to really get it together. And if you don’t have people helping you out, you flip out. Dave Chappelle was smart enough to flip out in private and leave everybody wondering what the hell went on. Now he’s back and he’s a mystery—but he’s a healthy mystery.

Back Stage: Your first feature film was The Hotel New Hampshire, opposite Jodie Foster. Was that an intimidating experience?

Green: I was too young to know it was intimidating. You just don’t think that way when you’re a kid. Your principle concerns are school and toys and food. I hadn’t developed enough of an insecurity to be afraid of other people’s stature. The problem is, other people around you will reassure you that you should be afraid. By the time I was 13 I was intimidated. I went on [The Tonight Show With] Johnny Carson...and I had so many people tell me what a big deal it was that I got freaked out. When I did the Woody Allen movie [Radio Days] when I was 12, I had enough people around me telling me how important it was that it made me nervous. And then I acted weird around him, and he had to kind of break down that impression so that we could work together.

Back Stage: Austin Powers started off as a small film that grew into a huge franchise. Did you have any idea it would become such a phenomenon?

Green: I had no idea. It was an independent movie. It’s funny: I got offered Austin Powers and Carrot Top’s Chairman of the Board on the same day. And at the time, Mike Myers and Carrot Top were neck and neck—no joke. Even though Wayne’s World was a hit, [Myers] was unproven as a lead, and this kind of high-concept comedy could go either way. The script read funny, but not done right, it could have gone either way. I’ll tell you something else: Chairman of the Board read funny, too.

Back Stage: How did you get into voiceover? Did you have to audition for your most famous vocal role, as the son on Family Guy?

Green: I’ve been doing voiceover since I was a little kid. By the time I was 10 years old, I’d done several commercials. It was because I could read. When you’re a young kid, being able to read and be articulate and able to not sound like a robot really helps you out with commercials. So I did a ton of voiceover, a ton of pitchman stuff.

I actually did audition for Family Guy. It’s easier to get voiceover work now of course. But people don’t really have that great a memory; they only remember the thing you did last. Actors have that problem all the time: If you’re a dramatic actor...no one believes you can do comedy, or vice versa. You have to constantly reassure people that you’re capable. And it’s frustrating. As more and more actors move to Los Angeles and there’s less and less parts, I’m glad I’m somewhat established. But that almost works against me, too, because people have some sort of preconceived notion about me, whether or not it’s accurate.

Back Stage: Have there been situations where that has hurt you?

Green: I’ve had two situations in the last year with directors who refused to see me for roles that I thought I was perfect for. And I was so confused because offers were made to people I felt were in a similar category to me. It’s just one of those things that makes you realize you have different obstacles at different points in your career. Like I said, it’s up to you to take the reins into your hands and make your own destiny.

It was very frustrating, but I also understand that, as a director, if you have a very specific vision of something, whether or not someone is capable of playing the role has nothing to do with your opinion of whether or not they’re right for the role. I’m capable of playing all sorts of things. Whether or not I’m right in a director’s mind is up to that director. So I don’t argue about it. But it is frustrating to know that someone has such a preconceived notion of me that they are unwilling to give me the opportunity to change their mind. But at the same time, I’m at a higher level than most actors who are just trying to get the audition with the casting director. So if it’s any type of reassurance, even Tom Cruise has trouble convincing people that he’s right for a certain role. You never get to a point where there isn’t somebody better suited than you in somebody else’s mind.

Back Stage: Do you mind auditioning?

Green: I’ll read if somebody needs me to prove it. I’m not so egomaniacal that I’m not willing to hustle. I wear nice clothes and I’ve made it, to a degree, but I’m still working and I’m still wanting of challenges and valuable material. And sometimes you have to prove it.

I actually prefer to audition, only because if there’s a specific role I can prepare for, I will audition in that vein. If someone wants to sit down and have a meeting with me over a lunch or something, that’s almost sabotage, because I’m an intellectual with a background in filmmaking, so I will sit and discuss everything from the [invention] of the New York subway system to the problem with today’s youth. That’s a typical lunch conversation with me, and that may not be right for the stuffy accountant who needs to learn how to love.

People, as much as they like to think of themselves as creative, have a limited imagination. They really do. When you have something in mind for a role and you need someone who is not exactly it from the second you meet them, you’ll be convinced they can’t be it. It’s frustrating.

Back Stage: Speaking of people’s preconceived ideas about others, do you ever hear from the people you parody on Robot Chicken?

Green: Actually, we bring in a lot of the people we parody. Ryan Seacrest just came in and did some stuff for us, and that’s why I love people like Ryan Seacrest. They’re successful, they take it on the chin and are not hung up on what people think about them.

Besides, our show is so silly, we don’t really make any kind of gritty commentary. We make dumb, goofy jokes. We make fun of me all the time. I’m ripe for parody. When John Travolta hosted Saturday Night Live, instead of being embarrassed about his past, he did sketches about Welcome Back, Kotter and Saturday Night Fever, and I think that warmed people up to him. It’s like when I worked with Mark Wahlberg: When we did the table read on The Italian Job, we went around introducing ourselves to the group, and Mark goes, "I’m Mark, some people may know me as Marky Mark, I’m excited about the movie." As soon as he said that, from then on in, nobody called him Marky Mark. Nobody said it behind his back. We realized he didn’t have a problem with it, so it wasn’t funny for us to say it behind his back. He was, like, "Yeah, I did that, I’m rich from it, now I’m a movie star. You going to try and bring me down?"

Back Stage: You mentioned that you have no problem making roles stand out in an ensemble. Is there a key to that?

Green: Be excellent, always. Never rest. Do your homework, learn your lines, hit your marks, and be there for your other actors. That’s how you stand out, I promise.

Back Stage: Is there a mantra or belief that has helped you in building your career?

Green: The only thing that’s gotten me through is an unwavering belief in my ability. I always know that I will do the hard work that it takes to prove that I’m supposed to be here, that nobody’s wrong for hiring me. And you can’t take it personally, because there’s going to be plenty of stuff that you want that you don’t get. There are plenty of things I haven’t gotten, plenty of people to tell me no, plenty of auditions I think I’m great in and don’t get. You know what? Move on, keep going. I have just never considered quitting an option, and I don’t sit around waiting for people to make my success; I am constantly maintaining my own success. And that is what you have to do.