Ethan Embry on Grace and Frankie and Starring in the Movies We Grew Up With
If you came of age in the 90s, you probably grew up loving Ethan Embry. The star of Empire Records, That Thing You Do! and Can’t Hardly Wait went on to forge a busy career as an adult. Among his many projects, he starred in the Showtime hit Brotherhood and had a pivotal, recurring role on ABC’s Once Upon a Time.
Now Embry stars as Coyote, the just-out-of-rehab son of Sol (Sam Waterson) and Frankie (Lily Tomlin) in the Netflix comedy Grace and Frankie. In the series, long time business partners Robert (Martin Sheen) and Sol confess to their wives, Grace (Jane Fonda) and Frankie, that they’ve been having an affair for the last 20 years.
Paste caught up with Embry to talk Grace and Frankie, his long career and his upcoming movie Echoes of War.
Paste Magazine: So, how did you get cast in Grace and Frankie?
Ethan Embry: I got attached in a pretty typical way with this. They sent out a wide casting net and I had the opportunity to go in there and meet Marta [Kaufmann] and Howard [J. Morris], the showrunners, and do an audition for them. At that point it was Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda and Martin Sheen who were attached, and when you see those names it’s kind of a no brainer.
I went in and did the audition and I got lucky enough to be invited to come play with them. It still is the same sort of “pinch myself” feeling that I get when I think about working with those people.
Paste: Grace and Frankie is brimming with Oscar and Emmy winners. How familiar were you with their work?
Embry: The one thing that I hang onto with Lily is when I was younger Flirting with Disaster was one of my favorite comedies. That’s still one of my favorite romantic comedies. And then of course growing up watching Martin Sheen stuff—you can start at Apocalypse Now. And Sam Waterson in The Killing Fields, that was one of the most disturbing films I’ve ever seen.
Funny enough Jane Fonda was the one I wasn’t completely familiar with. Of course I know her history, but as far as her work goes that’s the one I was probably the least familiar with. When they invited me to come join them I sat down with my fiancée and my son and watched Nine to Five. It’s so great and actually it’s very relevant to things that are happening right now.
Paste: What did you learn from working with them?
Embry: What’s really respectable about those four is not only what they do as actors but the stances that they take on political and social issues. You might not completely agree with everything they stand behind, but you have to respect the fact that when they back something they stand really firmly. That’s something that I’m trying to figure out myself. They’re really great role models. I have a lot of things I’m aware of in our society today [and] I’m always questioning whether or not my voice should be heard. And looking at what they did in their past and still do to this day, it’s kind of inspiring. Hopefully I’ll not only learn the perfect comedic and dramatic blend from the four of them, but maybe I’ll learn something about that too.
Paste: Obviously the primary purpose of Grace and Frankie is to entertain, but given the fact that it’s about two men who are in love and planning to get married, do you think it might educate viewers too?
Embry: I think the great thing about marriage equality is, just in the past couple years, it’s becoming more and more acceptable in the American public across all demographics. I think it will [raise awareness] in a large part of the audience that’s going to be attracted to this show—that this is normal, there’s nothing strange and off about it.
But it doesn’t beat [the message] over the head either. It just is, which I think is important for people to know. There’s nothing different about two men loving each other. But there was also a lie for 20 years and the show doesn’t gloss over that.
Paste: How would you describe Coyote?
Embry: He wants to do better. He keeps on stepping on his own toes. He’s a recovering addict. He’s kind of the black sheep in the family. Everyone else in the family is financially successful and has the appearance of a together life.