FX’s. “The Bear” basically swept awards season this year, and this past weekend, they added more feathers to their caps with major wins at the SAG Awards and the PGA Awards. The show is definitely on top of TV at the moment and explains why the acclaimed show is watched and loved by people like Steven Spielberg. Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who plays Ritchie on the show and won an Emmy for his role on the series, was on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and revealed that Spielberg is a fan of the show.
However, the way he found out about it was after the fact. “My friend, who I thought was my friend, decided not to tell me that Steven Spielberg texted him to say how much he loved this TV show I’m working on.”
READ MORE: Marvel Switches 2025 Release Dates For ‘Thunderbolts’ & ‘The Fantastic Four’
Moss-Bachrach said he had to take a beat of disbelief for a day and then ask his friend, why didn’t you tell me right away? “I thought it might be better if he told you himself,” the actor explained, asking when the hell would he be in the same circles as Spielberg to hear this praise and sounding amusingly perturbed. “I don’t swim in these circles!” He exclaimed.
Season three is currently shooting now and aiming for a summer premiere. As for what to expect, “The restaurant works, and it’s peaceful,” Moss-Bachrach quipped about the always-dysfunctional show and its cast of characters.
Meanwhile, Moss-Bachrach has famously been cast as Marvel’s The Thing, aka Ben Grimm, for their upcoming “The Fantastic Four” film scheduled in 2025. And the actor couldn’t say much, but perhaps as assumed, said the role would be a motion-capture one, not like the bulky costumes of the past.
“In the past, I think they’ve done a suit. Michael Chiklis wore a suit that apparently was really uncomfortable, and it’s kind of… we’re past that, I think,” Moss-Bachrach explained about the early “Fantastic Four” films and how they’re moving past that era. “It’s a little kind of cosplay, kind of amateur that kind of stuff, now with the technology we have. I think it’s mostly performance capture.”
So that probably means the Thing won’t be unlike Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk performance, which is also mainly motion capture.
The actor revealed he’s read the script and knows what the plot is, and when asked if the movie was set in the 1960s, given the initial Valentine’s Day poster featured that aesthetic, he played a little reticent.
“Yeah, that [teaser] image does seem to be ’60s. I have read [the script].” When it comes to his co-stars, he said he hasn’t met them all, but they are on a group chat., “I have not met Vanessa [Kirby]. There is a group text. Pedro [Pascal] started [it] a couple of days ago. Everyone has said something…no one is being coy.”
Asked how long he’s known he’d play the Thing, he quipped, “All my life,” and then revealed he found out back in August of 2023, which would explain why “The Fantastic Four” casting was one of the worst-kept secrets in Hollywood for months, surprising almost no one when the cast was revealed on Valentine’s Day earlier this month.
“I got a call from my agent,” Moss-Bachrach said, telling the audience he found out the news during last year’s strikes, “and I wasn’t thinking about work at all because writers were striking and then actors were probably going to strike — and he said: ‘Yeah, they asked you to play The Thing.’” “And I remember because I was right on Fifth Avenue and 21st Street [in New York City], and I was so shocked, and I was walking, and the next thing I realized, I was right in front of Astor Wines. So I went in and bought a bunch of mezcal.”
“The Fantastic Four” stars Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn from “Stranger Things.” Currently set for a July 25, 2025, release date, rumors are swirling about casting tests for iconic characters like Galactus, Doctor Doom, and the Silver Surfer, but we’ll have to wait and see if some of that stuff pans out. Watch the entire Jimmy Kimmel appearance below.
For more, check out our interview with the actor the year “The Bear” turned into a major hit: ‘The Bear’: Ebon Moss-Bachrach On The “High-Sodium Volatility” Of FX’s Dysfunctional Family Restaurant Series [Interview]
