From the Golden Globes press room, Jeremy Allen White talks about his best actor win, his new infatuation with food, what to expect in Season 2 of The Bear, and his upcoming movie, Iron Claw.
Jeremy Allen White was thrilled and “incredibly grateful” to win the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Musical or Comedy for his critically acclaimed role in The Bear, at the 2023 Golden Globes last night.
White’s unforgettable portrayal of Chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, a young culinary genius who leaves the world of fine dining to return home to Chicago, to run his deceased brother’s Italian sandwich shop, was immensely appealing. It’s no wonder he won the prestigious accolade over Donald Glover (Atlanta), Bill Hader (Barry), Steve Martin (Only Murders in the Building), and Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building).
“I am in awe of you. You’re all legends, it’s an honor just to have my name near yours,” White acknowledged onstage.
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Back in the pressroom, White talked about how his relationship to restaurants and the food being served had changed.
“I pay more attention. We have this really wonderful chef, Matty Matheson, who helps us with the show, and another wonderful chef, Courtney Storer, who is (creator) Chris Storer’s sister…I go out to eat with them and I just try to watch their relationship to the food.”
White continued: “I think what I’ve learned, after working on the show and visiting and working in all these restaurants, is that while food is obviously incredibly important, and is such a big communicator from the cooks and the chef to the customers, but also the environment of a restaurant was something I had never really thought about – is this some place you want to stay, some place you want to be, how is the service, all these things, I started looking at it in a bigger way. And I had these wonderful chefs, Coco and Matty, to help guide me through that.”
Also, he was asked what it was like to balance the funny and darker moments in the series.
“When I got together with Chris, we didn’t really discuss comedy or drama all that much. It’s like life — there are moments that are funny, moments that are sad, moments that are frustrating. I think when we got together and started talking about the show, I just wanted to do Carmy justice. I think we wanted to do the kitchen industry and service industry justice, and make something that was honest and true to those folks.”
The Bear has dealt with some very challenging episodes, covering topics like suicide. White mentioned that in the weeks before they went into production, a friend of his had committed suicide. Since the breakout series came out, “people had reached out … saying that it had resonated with them.”
While he was asked about Season 2, White could only offer fans a few bread crumbs, saying he didn’t know much!
“Really and truly, I haven’t read anything yet! But I have been bothering Chris out there all night to give me some scripts!” he quipped. “He says January 15th.”
White added: “But I think we’ll open the Bear. I think we’ll see the process of building a kitchen from the ground up” in the second season.
2023 is shaping up to be a great year for White, who is excited about his upcoming wrestling movie, Iron Claw coming out.
“I think it’s going to be great! It’s amazing, Sean Durkin directed it, he wrote it. He’s an amazing director, I’ve known him since I was like 16. I felt really lucky to do it with him. Zac (Efron) is incredible. Lily James is amazing. Harris Dickinson. It’s a great group, we got lucky, we were all there at the same time. I hope when it comes out people like it.
Season 2 of The Bear will begin filming in Chicago on February 21, 2023.
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