Ken Marino is known for playing the heel— the bad arrogant detective, the hapless and misguided leader of a catering team, and the main contestant on a Bachelor-esque television show. He’s made a career of it and though you may believe that his role as Presidential Advisor Harry Hollinger in Netflix’s new mystery series The Residence is more of the same, think again. This time his character is smart.
When I pointed this out to him, he burst out laughing. “If Harry Hollinger is the smartest we are in trouble,” he noted. “Harry’s in the White House so he has some smarts. But I think his arrogance and his bravado blind his weak spots.”
What’s so wonderful about Marino is how aware he is of the parts he’s played. “Throughout my career, I have enjoyed playing jerks — it’s sort of in my wheelhouse, for better or for worse.” He finds freedom in that. “The way you are serving the story is not to make people like you but to make people dislike you or be annoyed by you. You’re the obstacle in front of the main character… The more of an obstacle you are the better.”
In The Residence, Marino is certainly an obstacle for Uzo Aduba’s Cordelia Cupp, a brilliant detective and birder sent to the White House to solve the murder of Chief Usher A.B. Wynter (Giancarlo Esposito). Working with Aduba excited him and drew him to the project. “Anytime I got to do something with Uzo… I was blown away. You could immediately tell what a powerhouse performer she was… she’s such a skilled actor that there was never a false moment from her. As a fan of hers, to sit there and have a front seat, there were times when I was like ‘Oh wait, I’m in a scene with her. I have to stop admiring her performance.'”
We also talked about the mysteries he loves, how his cult classic Wet Hot American Summer hits 25 next year and who would kill and be killed if a murder took place at Camp Firewood. Listen to my interview below.
The Residence is now playing on Netflix.
