‘Fargo’ Actor Lamorne Morris on His Character’s Fate, Being a Bank Pitchman and That Time He Performed for Prince on ‘New Girl’ Set
Lamorne Morris’ three-year-old daughter is getting used to seeing her dad’s face all over town. Morris is the spokesperson for BMO bank, which recently arrived in Southern California with an advertising blitz — all with Morris’ face on it.
Now, the actor says she’s ready to start her creative career as well. Sort of. He tells Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast that whenever his daughter gets in trouble at school, they send her home a bit early and she gets to join her dad at work. And that’s where the fun begins.
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“She’s now quite accustomed to being on set,” Morris said. “When the AD will say quiet on set or rolling, she will start to let everyone know that it’s time to be quiet on set. So much so that she’s now the loud one. She won’t stop screaming: ‘Quiet on set!'”
The Chicago-born actor and comedian plays the North Dakota state trooper Witt Farr in the fifth season of the FX anthology series “Fargo,” and may still be best known for his role as Winston Bishop on the Fox sitcom “New Girl” from 2011 until 2018. In a recent episode of the Awards Circuit Podcast, he discusses the fate of his “Fargo” character, as well as his recent experience playing Garrett Morris (no relation) in “SNL 1975,” an upcoming film all about the origins of “Saturday Night Live.” Listen below!
Despite his daughter’s interest in the arts, Morris admits that he would love to encourage her to play hoops: “I think now’s a great time for women’s basketball. I think at some point, we’ll hopefully when she when she is of age, it’ll be the same,” he says. “And so I definitely want her to go into that. I’m obsessed with basketball. Basketball is my number one passion in life.”
Morris says he was unable to play basketball with Prince while filming alongside the music legend on “New Girl.” But he did get the chance to perform in front of him when Prince asked him to teach one of his backup dancers how to act: “He sits down on the couch, and wants me to do it 10 feet in front of him and teach her how to look surprised. And when I tell you, I’ve never been more nervous in my life. And I’ve performed with amazing actors, great directors, in front of crowds of tons of people. This was the most nerve wracking experience I’ve ever had my entire life because it’s Prince. And it’s like a one on one show for him.”
Morris explains that he initially had some issues with playing out his character’s death at the end of season 5 of “Fargo,” where he gets the boot after Jon Hamm’s Roy Tillman stabs him.
“I thought like ‘one, I’ve never died on camera. What is this process like?’ …When you watch it, you know, this makes sense. You know, this is the way it has to happen. Especially if you’re a fan of ‘Fargo,'” he says. A staple of “Fargo” is its high body count — and good characters aren’t immune. “You know it’s coming,” Morris says. “You just don’t know with who.”
In portraying Garrett Morris in the upcoming “SNL 1975” film, Morris says he felt a very strong connection to the SNL legend. He would even pretend that the comedian was his dad when he was younger — back when Garrett Morris was on the sitcom “Martin.”
“We had very similar struggles in the industry,” he says. “When I what I mean by that is fitting in having this imposter syndrome of ‘Do I belong here?’ Even though you’re finding success…Garrett had a lot of that going on and when I first got into this business, I did. It wasn’t that I was afraid to be good at what I do or great at what I do. I just was shocked that, you know, when I would go on stage people would laugh…I would hit these steps and people would go, ‘Oh, you should be doing this’ I was like ‘Really? Because this is really hard to do. And I know I’m busting my ass to do it.'”
Also on this episode, “Platonic” star Seth Rogen talks about the series (and reuniting with his “Neighbors” co-star Rose Byrne) and what to expect in Season 2. He also talks about his charitable foundation, how he’s evolved in Hollywood, and more.
Variety’s “Awards Circuit” podcast, produced by Michael Schneider, is your one-stop listen for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each week “Awards Circuit” features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives; discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines; and much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts. New episodes post weekly.
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