James Marsden (‘Jury Duty’) could be Emmy bound for playing an exaggerated version of himself

Nick Bisa
·3 min read
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Viral comedy sensation “Jury Duty,” is an Amazon Freevee original comedy series that follows 29-year-old man Ronald Gladden as he is appointed juror in a civil trial alongside 15 others. What he doesn’t know, however, is that the trial is fake, and that his fellow jurors, the judge, even the security guards… they’re are all actors.

One of Ronald’s fellow fake jurors is James Marsden, who plays a satirical version of himself in the show. Some may believe being yourself to be an easy task, but what Marsden pulls off in “Jury Duty” eclipses the entire field this year in terms of difficulty. And it’s for this reason he could land an Emmy nomination this year in Comedy Supporting Actor.

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The fabricated realism of “Jury Duty” meant that while everything was actually a satirical TV show, Marsden and the other actors had to make it seem to Ronald that this sequestered civil jury trial was real. This forced Marsden to stay in character for 10+ hours a day for three weeks straight. There was no “cut”. No “second take please”. And due to his frequent interactions with non-actor Ronald, almost all of Marsden’s dialogue had to be improvised on the fly. Because of this unpredictability, Marsden and his fellow actors all had earpieces in, and would be fed direction by director Jake Szimansky in real time.

This high wire act Marsden was tasked with, on top of having to play this over-the-top, self-indulgent character version of himself; it seems miraculous that he was able to pull it off. Mainly because, and this must be emphasised, if he made one slip-up… if he broke character, slightly overacted, did something unrealistic, anything that made Ronald believe the trial was fake… there wouldn’t be a show on Freevee to watch called “Jury Duty”. The entire show would have been ruined by just one error from Marsden and co.

Marsden deserves to be in the Emmy spotlight for a couple reasons. Firstly, he has the flashiest role on “Jury Duty.” His character is narcissistic and constantly tries to steal the spotlight, often successfully, to comedic effect. From spending multiple days pretending to be a character from his upcoming fake audition, to having a raging tirade in which he flips a birthday cake, to throwing a security guard’s phone in the trash screaming about Chris Pine; Marsden’s performance is a walking highlight reel.

He’s also an A-list actor who has appeared in Emmy favourites “Westworld”, “Dead to Me”, “Mrs. America”, “30 Rock”, “Ally McBeal” and “Modern Family”. He’s a familiar face to the television academy. Yet, despite previously garnering nominations from Emmy precursors such as Critics’ Choice and the Screen Actors’ Guild, somehow he’s still yet to receive a nomination.

The Emmys have never been shy about nominating actors playing themselves in shows, from Louis CK (“Louie”), to Larry David (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”), to Jerry Seinfeld (“Seinfeld”). So, with the buzz generated from “Jury Duty,” Marsden is now poised to join this illustrious list.

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