Justin Bartha best known for the successful and hilarious ‘Hangover’ movies stars in NBC’s highly touted show ‘The New Normal’ as one half of a gay couple which premiered last night.
Aside from his comic appeal, the 34 year old did Broadway last year and has had memorable roles in films like ‘National Treasure’, ‘Failure to Launch’ and the only memorable part in ‘Gigli‘ playing a mentally challenged character opposite then couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez.
He also had a highly publicized two-year romance with Ashley Olsen.
This is a part of the media phone interview with Justin that went like this..
The most challenging part of playing a gay couple?
“It’s been surprising. The first time I looked into Andrew’s eyes with my eyes, this is a man I could fall in love with.
But you know, I just you know, I can’t speak for Andrew and hopefully he wont speak about this either because I know he feels differently, but i just have such respect for him as an actor and as a person and I think that, you know, that was for me immediately apparent when we first met.
And I just thought he was funny and I think he’s good looking, talented guy and he’s easy to be around. So you know, that was the basis of it, then you just make sure that all of these creators are on the same page and that was something that I really wanted to know before I signed up to do it. Are we going to make this a real couple? Like I was interested in really defining who these people were, who they were as a couple not as a gay couple. What was the relationship like and not play the gay as you will. Just play them as two people that love each other and are going through struggles just like everyone else in the world.
So, that’s the biggest challenge for me is to really, obviously want to make people laugh but we also really want people to fall in love with these guys and I think we all have the same tastes in what that entails.”
Why TV now?
“It’s not about the medium, its about what the best project is and this is something from the second I read it I hadn’t read anything so beautiful and funny in many years.”
‘The New Normal’ airs Tuesday’s at 9:30p
Pictured: Bartha with co-star Andrew Rannells.