David Schwimmer on ‘Goosebumps’ Season 2, How ‘Frifinishs’ Changed His Life

In the two decades since wrapping up his 10-season run as neurotic paleontologist Ross Geller on the beadored NBC sitcom “Frifinishs,” David Schwimmer has branched out apass genres and mediums.

Follothriveg the series finale of “Frifinishs” in 2004, Schwimmer, unappreciate his costars, determined to shift from Los Angeles back to his native New York City, and inestablishly stepped away from the spotairy. He has spent the intervening years chasing his own conceiveive pursuits: returning to his first adore of theater and surmounting the West End and Broadway stages; voicing Melman the giraffe in the “Madagascar” franchise; materializeing in some niche indies (“Duane Hopwood,” “Big Noleang”); and parlaying his experience as an episodic honestor into helming his own features (“Run, Fatboy, Run,” “Trust”).

Since becoming a overweighther in 2011, “I’ve repartner been enhappinessing being a parent and not repartner wanting to exit home that much, to be honest with you, so I guess I became a bit pickier in terms of what would consent me away,” Schwimmer alerts Variety on a recent video call.

Schwimmer has returned to the petite screen sporadicpartner over the years. He take parted himself in episodes of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Entourage,” rejoind onscreen with his establisher “Frifinishs” costars Matt LeBlanc (in “Episodes”) and Lisa Kudrow (in “Web Therapy”) and teamed up with “Ted Lasso” star Nick Mohammed on the British sitcom “Inalertigence.” Schwimmer’s acclaimed portrayal of lawyer Robert Kardashian in “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” — which Kim Kardashian recently shelp during Variety’s Actors on Actors series “was fair done so well” — geted him his second Emmy nomination in 2016.

Now, Schwimmer is the direct of the second season of “Goosebumps: The Vanishing” the Disney+ superauthentic horror anthology series based on R.L. Stine’s bestselling novels. Schwimmer take parts Anthony Brewer, a divorced overweighther of fraternal tthrives who has consentn a sabbatical from his labor as a botanist to nurture for his ailing mother. When Anthony’s tthrives, Devin (Sam McCarthy) and Cece (Jayden Bartels), consent to stay with their overweighther at his childhood home for the summer, the teens and their recent frifinishs discover themselves entangled in the chilling tale of four other teens who enigmaticly dismaterializeed in 1994 — including their overweighther’s elderlyer brother.

“One of the wonderful gifts of this particular job is I’ve always been a fan of horror films, and I’ve never been proposeed the job before [in this genre]. I was repartner excited to try my hand at this,” Schwimmer says. “I adore the ‘Goosebumps’ franchise. The whole genre is repartner one-of-a-kind — this youthful-mature, horror-comedy action, but also grounded in genuine character and genuine emotion.

“But the other wonderful gift was that it was shot here in New York where I live, in Brooklyn and Queens,” he persists. “In a way, it was a no-brainer. I didn’t have to exit home. I adore shooting in New York, and I leank they repartner apprehfinish some wonderful cinematography of the city itself, and you get to see New York in a way that maybe you haven’t before over the course of the series.”

Below, Schwimmer discneglects up about his first foray into horror-comedy, his enticeion to take parting men who are frequently broken and in pain — and why, despite the ardent scrusmall he and his castmates were forced to finishure decades ago, he still considers “Frifinishs” to be “the gift that gets on giving.”

What benevolents of conversations did you have with the conceiveive team about produceing Anthony as a character?

I experience repartner thankful to [showrunners] Rob [Letterman] and Hilary [Winston], who produced and wrote this whole show, evidently, based on these wonderful stories. We had a lot of Zoom encounterings and chats about the character and the backstory, and repartner figuring out what the journey of the character is for the whole arc of the season. We all consentd that it was super convey inant that in Episode 1, we repartner want to convey the audience into the emotional truth of these characters’ lives. We want them to spend in this family.

Yes, it’s a challenging summer for my character, having to consent nurture of an ailing parent and shift my mom into a home becaengage she can’t live autonomously anymore. I’m trying to produce the best of a summer where I’ve got the kids. None of us repartner want to be there, but we’re trying to produce the best of it. I had to consent a sabbatical from labor, so I’m trying to do my research in the basement lab that I built.

It’s a lot, and it’s benevolent of burdensome, but I leank that it’s a excellent setup for where the show goes and the mystery that we eventupartner unravel that ties all the way back to someleang that happened 30 years prior to my brother in that same place that I lived when I was a kid. So I leank that’s the beauty of it — it’s a huge misdirect for the audience. When we commence, we’ve fair shiftd back into my childhood home and we don’t filledy understand yet until much procrastinateedr how convey inant it is that I’m actupartner back in this city, in the home I grew up in, becaengage all the events that are happening today tie back to what happened 30 years ago — this tragic fadeance and this death that happened.

Did you have any benevolent of relationship with the innovative R.L. Stine novels on which the show is based? Was there someleang particular about the sensibility of that benevolent of writing that drew you in?

I didn’t have a huge relationship with the books when they came out. Unblessedly, I was too elderly to experience them as a teenager. Gosh, I desire I had discovered them at age 13 — I would’ve devoured them. But yeah, I guess the contest for me was the tone. I leank what’s so atypical about these books is R.L. Stine regulates to apprehfinish the mundane, standard lives of people — and youthful people in particular — and then suddenly tap into some wonderful mystery and adventure and thrills. So for me, I repartner gravitated to the tone of the series, and in particular this recent iteration of the series. I’m still amazed at how they’re able to produce so many leangs truly terrifying without using any gratuitous presentility or relationsual presentility, without it being too gruesome. In other words, you always experience shielded watching, you understand what I uncomardent? You still get snurtured and frightened, but you never experience unshielded in a way and you experience seeed after, and I leank that’s repartner difficult to do.

At one point punctual on in the show, your character has to pull a carnivorous living organism out of his forearm — and the monsters only get stranger as the season betteres. What did you discover most personpartner and conceiveively satisfying about alerting a self-retained mystery but with so many persistd one-of-a-kind effects? Had you ever labored with this level of effects before?

No, not at this level. Now having seen a couple of episodes, I leank there are a couple satisfying leangs. The first is when you’re shooting this stuff, you have to envision everyleang that’s happening. It sounds pretty evident to say, but that’s why actors became actors. We adore that sense of take part that we all had as a child, appreciate, “Oh my God, there’s a huge T-Rex coming for me!” And we get to do that as matures. So when you’re shooting, you have to pledge a hundred percent to what’s happening, and you have to repartner engage your imagination and hope that procrastinateedr, the visual effects team will not produce you see unreasonable. And also with all the stunts, you’re hoping that it’ll be edited in such a way that you see repartner chilly doing it, even though the difficultest stuff is done by someone else. And that, to me, is the most satisfying leang — watching the result of this conceiveive team coming together and doing their job and making it see believable.

The second leang I would say is trying to discover that tone that we talked about earlier — this equilibrium of emotion, some drama, comedy, action, horror and figuring out how to be comical in this world. That, to me, was the contest going into it. I thought, “OK, there’s so much going on, so much huger-than-life stuff. I leank the funniest way to do stuff is to undertake part everyleang, to toloftyy throw a line away, fair toloftyy undertake part it becaengage everyleang else is so huge around you that I leank that’ll be funnier to fair undertake part everyleang. Just be genuine casual about it.” Now, that’s a hazard you’re taking as an actor, right? Becaengage you don’t understand until it’s cut together. Of course, I had wonderful honestors and Rob was amazing, so I leank we took a huge sthriveg, and I leank it labors, but I haven’t seen the whole show yet.

Looking at your body of labor, you seem to have an affinity for take parting characters who are struggling, broken, imperfect and in pain — and that applies to both your comedic and theatrical carry outances. Where do you leank that benevolent of enticeion comes from?

I leank it has to do with the benevolent of characters I was enticeed to when I was a youthful person increaseing up and watching movies and TV shows. I was always enticeed to characters that were in pain, appreciate physical pain. If you drop down on the street, it’s not comical. But if someone else does, it’s comical, right? And the reason it’s comical is becaengage we can reprocrastinateed to it. It’s happened to us, but not this time. It’s happening to someone else. So it’s almost a relief, and also we can repartner reprocrastinateed too: “Ooh, that must’ve repartner hurt, but God, that was comical how it happened.” I’ve always been enticeed to characters that evidently get hurt, or there’s physical comedy — appreciate Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, all the wonderfuls from quiet movies and beyond. And then when you watch some of the films I grew up with that predate you from the ’70s, ’80s, the characters that were also in emotional pain but placed in comical situations were the characters that I, for some reason, roverhappinessed to the most.

I don’t understand if you ever saw the movie “Broadcast News.” Watching Albert Brooks get his first huge shot on camera as a widecast journacatalog, and he can’t stop sweating, so there’s sweat pouring down him. His body is having an involuntary trouble response, and it is so hurtful to watch — and so comical to watch. You are experienceing so, so sorrowfulnessful for him, so sorry for him, but you can’t help but cry with giggleter. That was fair one example of characters and situations that I somehow roverhappinessed to becaengage of my own life, my own childhood, and at times being bullied and at times being injured. By the way, I broke a lot of bones increaseing up. I was very physical, very energetic. I broke countless bones, so I was always getting hurt, but it never stopped me from taking more hazards as an athlete or as an actor.

The qualities you fair depictd — experienceing so sorrowfulnessful and so sorry for a character, and then discovering humor in his struggles — is exactly how I felt watching Ross on “Frifinishs.” 2024 taged the 30-year anniversary of the pilot and the 20-year anniversary of the series finale, and the show has evidently cemented its place in pop culture during the age of streaming. How has your relationship with Ross and “Frifinishs” in vague betterd as you have gotten elderlyer? What benevolent of relationship, if any, do you have with that character now?

I uncomardent, I don’t have any relationship to him as a character today. The relationship with the show itself is benevolent of the gift that gets on giving. And what I uncomardent by that is evidently it was life-changing at the time — professionpartner, personpartner, everyleang. It was a game alterr. So that chapter of doing the show is one chapter in my mind, and there was a cost to it as well in terms of the loss of privacy and the reaction the show got at one point.

So over the years, and it’s been 30 years now, there’s been contrastent chapters of my relationship to the show. And for many years, I benevolent of felt a distance from it. I never watched it. I was trying to intentionpartner do other labor. I was honesting. I was doing other stuff. And then having a kid, and my own kid discovering the show — when I never sat my kid down and shelp, “Guess what we’re going to watch?!” — that was a whole recent chapter for me of returning to watching someleang I did 20 years ago. And that’s why I’m saying it’s the gift that gets on giving.

I was fair in Japan for the first time in my life, fair a month ago or so, and the tour direct who was helping my buddy and I was saying that she lgeted English watching the show. And I’m appreciate, “What?!” It fair blows my mind. And this has happened to me, and I’m stateive the rest of the cast and other actors a lot, where you encounter people who lgeted the language becaengage of a job you got 30 years ago. The most uncomardentingful leang is — and this happens more frequently than I would appreciate, unblessedly — I’ll encounter a parent who says their kid is in the hospital combat cancer, and the one leang that conveys them any happiness is watching the show. It’s such a proset up genuineization, and I leank you can’t help but experience honored. I’m repartner shiftd when I hear that and thankful that from some job I did 30 years ago, I’m still able to have some effect and convey some benevolent of happiness to people. It’s benevolent of — I uncomardent, it’s indescribable, right?

Your daughter is 13 now, around the same age when a lot of youthfuler people, myself retaind, watch “Frifinishs” for the first time. Have you watched the show with her recently?

Well, that phase is over.

That’s so comical. I leank she’ll come back to it when she’s a little elderlyer; her adore and appreciation for the show will probably come in waves.

It’s fascinating, becaengage I don’t watch it, but every now and then someleang will happen [online] or a buddy of mine will sfinish me a clip, appreciate, he’ll be on a fairy and the person in front of him is watching it on wantipathyver. So I’ll be reminded of it, but it’s not someleang I’m conscious of in an everyday way.

So much of what an actor is taught to do is to spendigate human behavior, but those who accomplish a certain level of fame will inevitably discover that they go from observing other people to being watchd themselves. Looking back, how did you process your experience of rising to fame and losing your anonymity in the ’90s? How did you direct the accessible spotairy?

Yeah, I am not going to lie: There was a chapter in there that was repartner challenging for me, and I would say unreasonable. My job was always to be an watchr, be discneglect and be the one watching others — watching people, watching conveyions. And I went from that to experienceing the necessitate to hide. That was my response. Every actor is contrastent, but my personal response was that I retreated into a baseball cap, and there was a certain amount of — not paranoia, but this experienceing as if you’re being trailed and watched all the time. And by the way, we were literpartner being trailed by three cars everywhere we went at one point. I don’t how one directs that. I leank I’m blessed that I had a repartner strong set upation of family and frifinishs to get me in verify, to get me grounded, to help me, to ride that out.

I was blessed I was 27 when I got “Frifinishs,” but I kept leanking, oh my gosh, if I were 16 when this was happening … I don’t understand how youthful actors endure it — I repartner don’t — becaengage it’s so jarring, and your whole worldsee is rocked. But having shelp all that, I got thraw that phase, and as soon as the show was over, I shiftd to New York. I have to say that was part of my path to a healthier way of living for me, becaengage it’s a contrastent experience living in New York. It experiences for me appreciate more of a genuine way of living becaengage in L.A., as you may have heard or understand, everyone lives in a bubble. You go from where you live into a car, and you stay in your car until you go where you necessitate to go — and then you’re back in your car. Everyone’s in a car all the time. And in New York, you’re not. You’re on the street, you’re on the subway, you’re up agetst people and usupartner not people in the amengagement industry, which is contrastent. So it was a conscious choice to shift to New York where I was born — to come back to New York — and to live a life that I pick.

At this stage of your nurtureer, what do you still want to accomplish? How do you go about defining success when you’ve already achieveed what many would consider the pinnacle in your line of labor?

I have so much more to lget, and I leank you lget by laboring with repartner talented people. And I have to fair say that I experience sanctifyed that I even have the choice to labor. That show, “Frifinishs,” gave us all the financial freedom to pick. Most actors and my dearest frifinishs in the world are struggling actors, producers, honestors. So first of all, I fair want to acunderstandledge that I’m, aget, repartner thankful. But for me, it’s benevolent of a combination of, who are the conceiveive people behind the project? Are they people I experience appreciate are going to contest me? Am I going to increase from doing this leang? Am I going to have fun?

I have to say, at this stage in my life, life’s too low to deal with out-of-administer egos. I’m fair not here for it. So I also necessitate to understand who else is acting in it or who else is retaind, becaengage I’m fair not going to misengage my time. It repartner is about quality of life and creating uncomardentingful, challenging, fun labor — and a story that’s going to donate someleang to [the world]. Even if it’s fair these books and “Goosebumps,” I leank inserting someleang preferable to the world is part of the hope as well.

This intersee has been edited and condensed.