The Softer Side of Josh Charles

Logo text

Josh Charles has been a fixture in TV and film since he showed up, still in high school, in John Waters’ Hairspray. There’ve been long-running gigs like The Good Wifea string of miniseries (see David Chase’s We Own This City) and guest spots galore (The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Handmaid’s Tale, Inside Amy Schumer). But it’s been a minute since he was No. 1 on the call sheet — let alone on a series that seems designed for the long haul.

That changes with Best MedicineFox’s new dramedy inspired by the British procedural Doc Martin. Charles plays the titular physician navigating small town life. And while he is grumpy — that’s kind of his thing — the character is decidedly softer than the hard-edged roles that Charles has taken on of late. “Douchebags,” he’s quick to admit. And, as he explained during a recent appearance on The Hollywood Reporter podcast I’m Having an Episode (Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple), he’s more than ready for this change of pace.

Well… (Laughs.) I agree in that I’ve played a lot of douchebags in my career. I’ve played some nice characters, too, but I’ve definitely played the bad guy, the turncoat. I’m thinking of more of the comedies I’d done. So that’s somewhat true, yeah.

Best Medicine is a more gentle show, which is a bit of a departure from your past work. Was that part of the appeal for you?

I’ve been looking to do more comedy. I think part of the context of [smarmy]is Wet Hot American Summer and Kimmy Schmidt where I played intentionally douchey characters. And they are fun to play. I enjoy playing those. I like taking the piss out of myself. But through that, more recently, I’d been doing darker materials: the spy stuff, The Handmaid’s Tale, We Own the City. When this came along, it felt like a nice tonic — a nice climate to potentially live in for a little while.

I think of you as a New York actor. I’m assuming shooting upstate was a condition of you doing this show?

It was part of the package that he was going to shoot in New York. I couldn’t have done it if it was somewhere else. Committing to something that’s potentially long term and also having a family, those are factors into these decisions. I had familiarized myself with the original show. I met with Liz [Tuccillo] a few times, and I felt like this could be a fun place to call home for a little bit.

The original Doc Martin ran for 18 years. Is that scary?

I believe that ran for 18 years because [series lead] Martin [Clunes] told me he and his wife had a small baby at the time they did the show. So, they shot it every other year. And they only made eight episodes a season. This is potentially a different animal. If this show goes, we’d make more than the 13 episodes that we made this season, I would assume. That stuff used to freak me out more. I definitely can’t see myself doing something for 18 years, but for five or so? Sure.

You’ve described your career as having been feast or famine. When do you think that famine was the worst and how did you get out of it?

I think that’s what it feels like. There have been moments where I know people just get on rolls and they just keep going. For me, it’s like nothing and then three things at once, but you can only do one of them. It’s about finding that timing and rhythm. But I’d say the [biggest gap] for me, like with anybody else, was the pandemic coupled with the strikes. I’ve had other moments that have felt that long. Whether they were or not, I don’t know. Some of it is work I was turning down. Work that wasn’t speaking to me at that moment, or I wanted to hold out for something that would push me. Sometimes that worked out and other times, you’d wait and those things wouldn’t come. Then you sort of have to figure out a different path.

It’s partly why I love actors so much. I feel very protective of actors. It’s such a hard world to live in. To be able to have that empathy for other people and to put yourself in someone else’s situation requires a lot of sensitivity. And having sensitivity and being an actor, where you’re rejected more often than not is challenging. I’m not selling a soda can or a ketchup bottle. You’re out there selling yourself. So your instrument needs to be tuned to the sensitivity to be able to play different people and, at the same time, get trashed around a lot and thrown and kicked to the curb. That’s a challenging, lifelong lesson.

You mentioned Wet Hot and Kimmy Schmidt. I’d call that hard comedy. Best Medicine is funny, but it’s not hard comedy. Do you want more of that? You had some very memorable sketches on Inside Amy Schumer...

The older I get, that’s the kind of world I want to live in. This presented itself and this is a different type of comedy. It has dramatic and procedural elements. It has kind of everything. But for this show, the worlds that I love to play in are the comedic parts. The physical comedy and the stuff that’s silly. I like being a fool and falling down.

Are there other itches that you feel you haven’t scratched enough?

Always, but anything I would talk about would just be kind of boring. There are things I’m searching for, but I’m trying to find peace with where I’m at. I think part of getting older is embracing your moment. Having children obviously helps with that. When you were asking me about the most prolonged period being between work, it made me think of a story. Alan Arkin, who I worked with many, many years ago. I remember him commenting about when Sally Field won her Oscar. She said, “You like me, you really, really liked me.” And everyone was sort of making fun of it or whatever, I remember him really defending it and saying, “That is kind of how we all feel.” When you’re an artist, you’re putting yourself out there. It left such an impression on me. He was really adamant about that: “Everybody can say whatever they want, but every single actor feels that way.”

You mentioned your children who are still quite young. What of your work have they engaged with?

My son’s really into comedy right now. He loves Wet Hot. I turned him onto Mr. Show, Michael and Michael Have Issues. Michael Showalter is an old, dear friend of mine. My son has met him numerous times. He’s been over for Thanksgiving. Yet somehow, he never put it together. I’ve told Michael, like, “Dude, my son literally thinks you’re Tom Cruise.”

I want to talk about The Good Wife. Your departure was so unexpected, so closely guarded, that even people who didn’t watch the show were aware of it. I don’t think there’s a monoculture like that anymore. How do you look back on that experience?

I love that show. I had no idea what to expect going into that show. I was so lucky to be a part of it and work with Robert and Michelle King. We did some incredible work. In hindsight, if that show was like The Good Fight10 episodes a year, I probably would’ve done that until the wheels came off. It was the 22 of it at all that I just couldn’t. I didn’t have the stamina for that anymore — in the courtroom 22 episodes a year. It was a bit of a grind in a way that, at that time in my life, I felt like I had done it. But whatever that decision was, for me creatively, it lit a spark. I don’t know if Robert and Michelle would agree, but it did for me. Finishing the arc of that character was some of the best writing I’ve ever had for anything. I just feel so indebted to them.

Is that a job that you find people bring up with you a lot?

I have people, every day, DMing me or coming up to me. “I just saw this for the first time.” “I just rewatched this and I started sobbing again.” “It was like watching a friend die.” That’s an odd thing to experience, but I’m just really proud of it. At the end of the day, you are trying to build characters that people care about, that they connect to. And I think people did with him. I knew it would be a surprise, but the impact and response to it was one that honestly, I wasn’t fully braced for myself. You live in these bubbles and forget that, oh my God, there are a lot of people watching this who are invested in the show. You forget sometimes. And it was powerful to realize the power of that, the power of characters, of storytelling, of the investment, part of why we do that. We want to be entertained, but we also want to watch these people live and react. It’s fascinating to me.

Do you really have a Moon Man trophy for your appearance in Taylor Swift’s Fortnight video?

Yes, I do.

How does that happen?

I don’t know. I’m assuming it came from Taylor, that she just wanted to celebrate us for being a part of the video in a way that she felt helped the video and made it really special? So, she included Ethan [Hawke] and I as part of the people who received the award for [Video of the Year]. All I know is I got an email that something was coming and to give my address and to make sure it’s the right one. When I got it, I was like, “This is incredible.” She’s a class act.

***

Best Medicine airs new episodes Tuesday at 8 pm on Fox.