[IMG:L]It’s been more than 20 years, but Jon Cryer still can’t shake the Duckie character he played in the 1986 hit Pretty in Pink. “I was at a Dodger game and everybody was screaming “Duckie” at me. I’m on the highest-rated sitcom on television right now and they’re not calling me Alan right now they are calling me Duckie.”
Good thing it doesn’t bother the star, who notes “actors don’t get into this business to do roles that people forget.” With his hit CBS comedy Two and a Half Men now in its fifth season, the teen idol-turned-TV star was ready to talk shop when Hollywood.com stopped by the set for a visit.
Hollywood.com: People say this show is all about sex. How do you respond to that?
Jon Cryer: It is! [laughs] They are not wrong. It is about sex a lot, but it is also pretty funny. There are not too many people complaining about the overabundance of sex. We do have very naughty humor–we just do. We are a show for grown ups.
HW: What is the secret of the show’s success?
JC: I don’t know what draws people to the show. I have been flabbergasted at the uniformly high quality of the shows thrown against us. We’ve been up against Heroes, 24, Dancing with the Stars, The Closer, Hell’s Kitchen–all these big shows that we are up against is a bit like, “Geez, what else can you throw at us?” And yet there seems to be a core group of people who always seem to want to tune in for the show, so I am grateful.
HW: What is the recipe for success?
JC: If I knew that, the four shows I did before also would have been hits because I would have said, “There is some stuff that you can use. It is mostly flour with a little bit of cumin.”
HW: This show is just now getting the sort of critical acclaim it probably should have had in its first years. Why is that?
JC: It is all speculation on my part. Early on, we were not a show that was considered cool to like so I think that stopped people for awhile. But sooner or later, people just blundered into watching the show–and liked it. Awards are weird. I love the TV Academy and I often go to events there–and it is great because I just love seeing all the people I grew up with as actors who obviously I didn’t know, but who I grew up on as an audience member. Just to feel like I am a part of that group is great.
[IMG:R]HW: Does it bother you that critics have traditionally been biased toward single-camera comedies?
JC: Actually, there have been plenty of critics who were actually very complimentary to the show. It’s funny. For actors and for writers, you invest so much of your personality and you think that whenever somebody finds it lacking for whatever reason, you tend to go “Oh” in a way that even when they say “You’re the greatest thing ever,” it just bounces off your forehead. I have been really happy with the way the show is received in every respect. I don’t read too much into what people’s perception of the reaction is.
HW: Hitting the 100 episode milestone is so important to determine syndication opportunities. How soon into the show did you feel like you might get there?
JC: We’re not there yet! I remember as I was cutting the cake I said, “I hope the same people are here 10 years from now.” And so I’m much more optimistic that it will come to pass now.
HW: Do you have any kids and do they watch the show?
JC: I do, he’s 7. I’ve actually tried to get him to watch the show and he has no interest. Ying Yang Yo is on so there is no reason for him to watch my show. He loves Angus [T. Jones], llikes watching Angus and when he comes to the show it is not to watch daddy work and daddy make people laugh, it is because he wants to see Angus and play with Angus.
HW: As Angus T. Jones’ character Jake gets older, do you see him being influenced more by Alan or Charlie?
JC: I have a feeling he’s probably going to be influenced mostly by [producer] Lee Aronsohn’s son [laughs]. Actually, I imagine that is really going to be where everything for Jake comes from. I don’t know, as a father–because my son is so much younger than Angus’ character–I think, “Oh I will avoid those same pitfalls,” but you can’t and they sneak up and bite you, no matter what. My son just gave me my first … I was telling him “You can’t play the video games, you can’t have the ice cream until you do the chores” and he said, “Whatever.” I went “Oh my God!” that was my first “whatever” at 7. I felt like I should have written it down like on the [growth] chart–my first friggin whatever of a long list of whatevers.
[IMG:L]HW: Does your son like Pretty in Pink?
JC: He hasn’t seen it. He’s 7, he hasn’t seen most of my work. I did a voiceover for a villain on Danny Phantom and within five minutes he said, “No, I don’t want to watch this.” He did not want to hear me do the villain. I started to do the voice just to have some fun and he said he wanted nothing to do with it. It just freaked him out.
HW: Why do you think people still love Duckie?
JC: I have no idea other than people tend to take teenage archetypes to their heart in a way they wouldn’t as grown ups. When you are grown up, you are a little more cynical … I don’t know, because what he was–which was great and very similar to Anthony Michael Hall’s character in 16 Candles–was a geek who was unapologetic. I think on some level there is a certain amount of wish fulfillment for people who were geeks but always felt they had to apologize. He didn’t, and I think some people enjoy that aspect.
HW: No matter how many characters you play, your tombstone may still read “Here Lies Duckie”!
JC: Sure, that is never going to go away. It is like Ronald Reagan was always known as the “The Gipper” until he passed.
Two and a Half Men airs Monday nights on CBS
