Domhnall Gleeson (standing) as Ned, the new editor in chief on “The Paper.” Credit: Aaron Epstein/Peacock via TNS
“Funny, heartfelt, chaotic and funny again” are the adjectives Irish actor Domhnall Gleeson offers to describe his new show, “The Paper,” premiering Thursday on the streaming service Peacock.
A spin-off of the critically-acclaimed series, “The Office,” “The Paper” follows the same mockumentary style of the original series but focuses on a struggling newspaper rather than a paper company.
Known for his roles in the “Harry Potter” series, “Ex Machina” and “About Time,” Gleeson will star as Ned Sampson, the new editor-in-chief at sinking Ohio newspaper, the Toledo Truth-Teller.
Gleeson said when the creators of “The Paper” – Greg Daniels, known for creating the U.S. version of “The Office” and Michael Koman – sent him the script, taking on the role was a no-brainer.
“Greg Daniels has done an incredible amount of insanely brilliant work making funny American things, and Michael Koman has also done some incredible stuff like ‘Nathan for You,’” Gleeson said. “So yeah, they sent me the script and asked to have a chat. I thought the script was really funny. I really enjoyed talking to them. I talked to some people who had worked with them before and all those people said, ‘They’re amazing. You have to work with them if you can,’ and that was it.”
In preparation for the role, Gleeson traveled to the Midwest to speak to local journalists as part of his training. Specifically, Gleeson visited Ohio State and spoke with Spencer Hunt, director of student media at The Lantern, and Nicole Kraft, professor of journalism practice and director of the Sports and Society Initiative.
“I’d never spent much time in the Midwest, so I just went to Ohio, went to a few cities and talked to a few reporters,” Gleeson said. “The idea is that my character hasn’t been an editor since he was in college — he hasn’t been involved in papers since he was at a school paper. So I talked to a few people at OSU as sort of an example of the kind of place he might have gone to college, and they were very helpful. I got to walk around The Lantern and stuff like that.”
Gleeson said to play an American as someone from Ireland, it was important to find commonalities between him and his character on his own, but also create commonalities by exploring where his character is from.
Domhnall Gleeson, left, as Ned and Sabrina Impacciatore as Esmeralda in “The Paper.” Credit: Troy Harvey/Peacock via TNS
“Oftentimes with the character, you’re looking for the things you have in common, but you also want to have some sort of, almost made up memories,” Gleeson said. “You want to join your history with the character’s history, in some ways. So just traveling around, seeing the size of the different cities, like the size of Cincinnati versus Toledo, for example, all that sort of stuff helps you mix your history with the character’s in some way.”
Focusing on commonalities between Gleeson and Ned Sampson, Gleeson said Ned is more optimistic than he is, but they still share similar traits.
“I think what [Ned] and most people have in common is that he wants the world to be a better place,” Gleeson said. “He wants to rally the troops. He wants everyone to work together really well. He wants a happy work environment. And [he is] even romantic. I do think I have aspects of being overly romantic at times in my real life, not necessarily always in my actions, but in my outlook.”
Gleeson said that portraying a journalist gave him a greater appreciation for journalism and also made him more optimistic for the future of the profession.
“I guess I knew that journalism was in a tough spot, like all over the world and America, but I just hadn’t put a lot of thought into how difficult it is to be a journalist,” Gleeson said. “And what I found really cool is the fact that young people are still getting into it, despite the many harsh realities of the business at the moment. I just found that really inspiring. I think I took that for Ned – that was the big thing I found out – was that people are still doing it and people still really care about it. I thought that was super cool and super hopeful, despite a lot of the outlook being pessimistic.”
“The Paper” takes place in the same fictional universe as the U.S. version of “The Office,” with the idea being that the same documentary crew that filmed Dunder Mifflin Paper Company came across the Toledo Truth-Teller and decided to document the happenings there.
To any skeptics that feel “The Paper” is unnecessary, Gleeson said he is not here to change anyone’s mind.
“Anybody who has that feeling – that’s absolutely fine,” Gleeson said. “I think that when we worked on the show, we worked really hard to make it its own thing and to make it have similar qualities in some ways, in terms of the feel of the show, but the tone is a little different … If people want more of ‘The Office,’ there are so many episodes of ‘The Office.’ We’re not deleting those off the internet, those are all still there. I’m hopeful that people can focus on our own strengths and weaknesses, but I’m not going to try to convince anybody.”
It was announced Wednesday that “The Paper” was renewed for a second season by Peacock a day before its release to the public. Daniels already has ideas for season two, according to an article released by Variety Wednesday.
Gleeson said he’s excited and also relieved for the show to be released so audiences can interpret “The Paper” for themselves.
“I’m just excited for it to be out in the world, and that we can stop sort of explaining what we think it’s about and let people find out for themselves,” Gleeson said. “That’s always a nice thing – sort of letting go of it. We’ve seen it, and in like three days, anybody who wants to see it can see it, and that sort of lifts the pressure in a certain way, because it’s not up to us to explain it anymore. I’m looking forward to that.”
