Chris Sullivan and Justin Hartley Discuss ‘This Is Us’ at Heroes and Villains Fan Fest: San Jose

Chris Sullivan and Justin Hartley teamed up for a panel at Heroes and Villains Fan Fest in San Jose to discuss the hit drama, This Is Us.

Luckily, it wasn’t all ugly crying as the castmates chatted and fielded questions from fans, but there were tissues on hand just in case.

1. Emotional Warfare

Chris Sullivan wondered how anyone can binge-watch the show, calling it “emotional warfare.” He described his experience of watching This is Us Season 2 Episode 8 and This is Us Season 2 Episode 9 back to back:

I watched 2×08 and 2×09 alone, by myself, in Dan Fogelman’s office before they aired. I was laying on the couch going, ‘I don’t know what to do. Where do I– who– what do I do now?’ I called [Justin]. ‘Justin, I’m in the office, and I just finished watching your episode. I’m a mess, and you were wonderful. You were wonderful!’

He explained that the exhaustion occurs when viewing the show rather than acting on it. Justin Hartley added that it is not so much exhausting reading the scripts as it is overwhelming, knowing the talent behind the words as well as the talent that will bring them to life.

Hartley also had a little tip: “It’s not the best show to tune into before you’re going out, like, on date night, maybe, because you’re going to look like hell.”

2. Actor Playing Actor

A fan asked Hartley what it was like to portray an actor, being an actor.

“There’s as much of me in any role that I’ve ever played that I can do. A lot of times you can’t do much. Some of the characters you play are more like you personally than other characters that you play. A lot of things that Kevin goes through, especially in Season 1 with the auditioning process before he started working with the likes of Howard [and] Stallone, he was struggling, and he was trying to find his place, and he was trying to take it seriously. He was trying to get people to see him in a way, sort of how he saw himself,” Hartley expounded.

“I think he got clued in late as to how other people perceive him,” he continued.

“I’ve gone through some of that. Some of the stuff is painful, and some of the stuff is not, you know, fun to think about, but if you can pull from personal experiences, it’s been my experience that that’s sort of the best way to go about things. I think if you’re actually doing what you say you’re doing when you’re acting it’s hard for people to say, ‘You know, I don’t believe that.'”

3. “This is us.”

Hartley revealed that Sullivan has a personal goal to fit in the line, “This is us,” into every episode. Hartley gave an example of Kevin and Toby in a cab going to see Sophie. “As I get out of the car, this one here goes, “Yup, this is us,'” laughed Hartley.

“Did it make it into the show?” he asked Sullivan.

“It will never make it into the show,” he replied. “That was my best shot at getting it in there.”

4. Father Figure

Hartley was also asked what he thought about Kevin seeking out Randall. “He’s a desperate guy who doesn’t have his dad, and I think the one man in his life that he knows is as close to his dad as there is, is Randall. They’re building this new sort of relationship that is being based on being there for one another, and trust, and respect, and understanding, and patience, and kindness—all the things that you would want in a relationship with your brother or any family member, for that matter,” he responded. 

“As close as he is to Kate, I think Kevin is smart enough to realize that Kate will probably make excuses for Kevin. And I think Randall won’t, but he will help him, he will be there for him, he will support him; he’s not going to be an enabler,” Hartley considered, adding, “It was a tough call not to tell his sister, but I just feel like Randall would be a better go-to in that situation.”

5. Child Actors

An audience member asked what the process was with the child actors on the show. Sullivan joked, “That’s all CGI. They don’t exist.”

Hartley commented on how their scenes flesh out the backstory for him. “A lot of what you do as an actor is figuring out the backstory […] and a lot of that backstory for our characters, for the big three anyway, it’s in the script, so it’s really great. In essence, a little bit of the work was done for you.”

He praised the young actors as well. “They do an amazing job. I don’t know how they do it. I think they’re just gifted, talented actors, to be honest with you.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t get to work with them that often because that wouldn’t really make a lot of sense,” he mused. “The character of Kevin does not exist without all three of us, so it’s a group effort, for sure.”

—

Find out more about Heroes and Villains fans fest here, and be sure to check out all of our coverage of HVFF.

This Is Us Season 2 returns Tuesday, January 2nd to NBC.

Follow us on Twitter @telltaleTV_

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!