‘The Bear’s’ Oliver Platt on Playing “Uncle Jimmy” and the Family we Create Beyond the One We Are Born Into

Oliver Platt has long been one of those actors who when you see them appear on screen, you think to yourself, “Well, this just got 10% better no matter what.” Platt has proven over his nearly 40-year career in film and on TV to be an actor equally adept at comedy, drama, and especially, the in-between. From Bulworth, Pieces of April, Kinsey, the woefully underseen Ice Harvest, Please Give, Frost/Nixon, The Big C, Fargo (series), and now to The Bear, Platt has given some of the sneaky best performances of his generation by being able to switch gears from scene to scene as well as within a single scene. 

As “Uncle Jimmy” (AKA Cicero) in The Bear, Platt turns a recurring character into a high point of a life on screen that already lives in the high branches. Warm one minute, defiant the next, as you will read Oliver say below, you never know what he’s going to say next. While that certainly is in part due to the superb writing of show creator Christopher Storer (along with his team of scribes), and the extraordinary cast that surrounds him, it’s also because of that Oliver Platt thing. That thing that doesn’t really have a name, but if you wanted to equate it with anything, you’d probably just call it “magic.”

In our conversation, Platt and I discuss Uncle Jimmy’s benevolent/malevolent manner as the benefactor of Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and his restaurant, the families we are born into and the ones we make, and gives us just the slightest tease of what we are in store for on June 27, when season three of The Bear drops on FX and Hulu.

Awards Daily: I am preparing you now, I’m going to make an Ice Harvest reference later on, so be ready. 

Oliver Platt: That guy is actually one of my favorite characters I’ve ever played. He was just this classic kind of American loser defined by how he felt about himself. You know what I mean? It was really fun to play a character who starts out completely hammered and then just goes from hammered to obliterated to blotto. It’s an interesting acting exercise. 

Awards Daily: The Bear is a show that, if you describe the very basics of it to someone on paper, might not sound like something all that extraordinary. But then you watch it, and then you know. 

Oliver Platt: I think a lot of people had that response. I mean, when they first sent me the scripts from season one, I was like damn, this is so good. But just because something’s good, there’s no guarantee these days. And with a little show like that—I mean at FX there’s some of the smartest programmers in the biz over there, but they had no idea what they had. Even they would tell you that. But you’re absolutely right that there is a certain alchemy there. On paper, it’s a little show about a greasy spoon. But I was so amazed by the way it was received. Okay, I wasn’t that amazed. But once I saw it, I just thought, holy crap. 

Awards Daily: One of the themes of the show for me, is that there’s the family that you’re born into, and there’s the family that you create as you go through life. And I think Uncle Jimmy and Cousin Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) exemplify that notion in particular. Does that resonate with you at all? 

Oliver Platt: Oh, are you kidding me? I think that’s one of the secrets of the show. I mean, there’s many mysterious aspects to The Bear that combine to make it this incredibly compelling thing. But I think that underneath, what the first season is is actually about the creation of a family. I think that in this day and age, what we’ve all been through collectively, it’s just no wonder that this is a sort of a balm for the soul. And yet it’s so sneaky. You’re sitting there and that’s the last thing you think is going to happen. That’s what’s so great about it. Chris (Storer) knew that if you know where you’re going to end up, start it from really far away—and that’s what he did.

Awards Daily: Your character, Uncle Jimmy, who is not an uncle by blood, has been so immersed in the family that he becomes family. Uncle Jimmy, being this add-on family member, wants to help Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), but he also wants his “fucking money.” How do you balance that for the character: this desire to help, but… kid, you better make this work?

Oliver Platt: That’s again what’s so much fun about playing the character. Even just from the first two episodes of the first season, he shows up and, in a funny way, it’s sort of like he invokes the possibility: he’s like, hey man, I just came here to say hello, see how you are, but I probably should be breaking your legs. (Laughs). He says something like that, and then you go to that fantastic episode called “Dogs” about the birthday party. He had that great scene about Carmy’s dad who took a powder a long time ago, and he says I’m not going to sell you the restaurant. Carmy goes I know you’re not. I think it becomes more and more clear that he is actually rooting for them, but he’s also a businessman. In the first episode of season two, the scene where they’re sort of pitching me–another great scene of countless great scenes in The Bear, as far as I’m concerned–he actually says, we found your 350 grand, and by the way, we want another half a million. I’m basically like are you fucking kidding me? And then he says okay, look, here’s the deal. We’re going to do this for a year and then if we fail, you (Uncle Jimmy) can have it, which of course adds up to much more than 850,000. And yet I think there is this insidious thing, it’s like I really think I want him to succeed. Also, what do I have to lose? I love exactly what you’re talking about. It’s like, which Uncle Jimmy are we talking to? You don’t choose your father figures. Uncle Jimmy is who they got, and what I love about it is that he has very different discreet attitudes towards them, like they were all his kids, but Sugar (Abby Elliott) has got him wrapped around her little finger. He’s much more demonstrative. It’s much more clear how he feels about her. Carmy is such a complicated, moody character, but he clearly loves Carmy and wants him to succeed. Richie is almost my favorite relationship. I don’t know if Cicero’s ever admitted to himself that he loves Richie, but he does. He’s definitely one of his kids, but I’m just much harder on him.

What Chris does is so brilliant with the way he uses time and flashbacks. What’s so remarkable about that amazing Christmas episode is that it takes place four years before. It’s so tragic, we know where Richie’s relationship with Tiffany is going. We know where his relationship with Uncle Jimmy is going. Because we see, in the birthday party episode, all they do is scream at each other, until they don’t. I love all those relationships, but especially in season two, the arc of the Richie stuff is just amazing. He asked me for a job, and I torture him. I let him ask me and I know it’s hard for him. At the end of that long thing, I basically say “let me think about it,” not “I can find you something,” you know what I mean? So then when we get to dinner, it’s clear that he shot his mouth off to Tiff, and Tiffany thanks me for giving him a job. I could totally have taken him out. I could flame him. I tortured him there too, but at the end of the day, I took care of him. I didn’t want to do that to him. And I love Tiffany (Gillian Jacobs) too. It’s so much fun to play that stuff. It’s not necessarily like the danger of watching Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront wondering what he’s going to say next. But you don’t know. What is he going to say next? What is he going to do?

Awards Daily: Speaking of Richie’s arc, if you were going to say this was somebody’s season, it might be Richie’s, because you go from “Fishes” to “Forks,” “Fishes” reminds you that whatever this job opportunity was with Uncle Jimmy, Richie fucked it up royally. 

Oliver Platt: He did. That’s what we see in “Dogs.” And yet, it took me a while to figure this out. I’m yelling at him for not picking up the phone, and I actually had the wrong number. Do I ever admit that? No, but it was actually Mikey’s cell that I was calling. I think what I was trying to say before, it’s like when he mentions the chocolate. I tossed off that little thing about a chocolate banana four years before the restaurant opens, but he remembers it. “Forks” is one of the greatest episodes of television I’ve ever seen, which is saying something coming after “Fishes.” And Ebon’s work is so astonishing, but how often do you see an episode of television where you actually see somebody actually change in 40 minutes in a way that you believe? It’s like you see redemption for this dude who finally figures out that redemption has to do with service and acts of kindness and putting the focus on other people. If you end up at Z, we definitely started at A with Richie.

Awards Daily: Those two episodes back to back, “Fishes” and “Forks,” couldn’t be more different in terms of editing style and shooting. It’s almost like you couldn’t possibly imagine these two episodes in the same series. I also think it’s very funny that Jon Bernthal throws forks at Bob Odenkirk, and the next episode is called “Forks.” 

Oliver Platt: It’s so confusing, right? It could be like “Forks 1” and “Forks 2.” (Laughs). “Fishes” is actually about forks really, you know? 

Awards Daily: This is where I’m going to mention The Ice Harvest, because there’s a holiday dinner scene in Ice Harvest that just slays me, where your character ruins the holiday. Then I saw “Fishes” and I thought Oliver got to be a part of a crazy holiday dinner twice.

Oliver Platt: I never made that connection. That’s right. He barges in on a Thanksgiving dinner (in the Ice Harvest) at his ex wife’s. I guess I was sort of a combination of Mikey (Jon Bernthal) and Uncle Lee (Bob Odenkirk) in The Ice Harvest, at that dinner anyway. As actors, all we’re looking for is obstacles and narrative tension and disasters. That’s why I completely understand all the people thinking, The Bear, “wait, it’s a comedy?” I think it’s called a comedy because it started as a half hour, but as I like to say: I don’t know a great comedy that’s not shot through misery, anxiety, and fear. And I also don’t know a great drama that doesn’t have a really good sense of irony. I think that’s one of the great things about the streaming era. Genre-wise, writers of Chris’s generation get wonderfully confused and don’t give a shit about it. They just write. There’s been a lot of amazing half hours, but I don’t know if there’s ever been a half hour that will take you to such extraordinary places like The Bear does. The first season, I only read the first four episodes because I just needed to know what had happened up until then. I didn’t read the last four. When I saw them, I was like holy crap. I just had no idea where the show was going. There were hints, but I had no idea. 

Awards Daily: I love what you said about dramas that are very funny. Like David Simon’s The Wire is at times incredibly funny, but you wouldn’t call it a comedy.

Oliver Platt: Oh God, no, God, no. 

Awards Daily: I don’t think of The Bear as a comedy either, because there’s no punchline effort. There’s not jokes, so to speak, other than the ones that occur naturally in life. I think you’re right. I think that the duration of most of the episodes is what makes you think that. 

Oliver Platt: I think you’re right. It’s just sort of lifelike. I mean, was the last hour of my life a comedy or a drama? I don’t know. Kind of both. I just love the fact that stuff is getting more and more conflated, if you will. And if you’re really skilled at creating narrative tension, like obviously both Chris and David Simon are, well then you need a break every now and then. That’s how people tend to deal with tension. When things get really tense, humor is a great tool, no matter what your perspective is. Whether you’re trying to be a peacemaker or you just freaking can’t stand attention, it’s a very human instinct. For me anyway, when things get too heavy, it’s like let’s lighten up here, let’s get some perspective on what’s actually going on. 

Awards Daily: The moment where I completely fell in love with The Bear… I’m sure you have had this experience where you’re watching either a movie or a series and it’s going along and it’s brilliant, and you’re like oh, my God, this is so great, and you start to get this little tension like please don’t fuck up the ending, because everything has so been so wonderful… the last few seconds of the first season of The Bear with the Radiohead song playing and Mikey looking over his shoulder. I think I melted in my seat. There’s a beauty to the way this show uses music, uses character, and reflects. To that point, in most of the episodes before “Fishes,” your character is always referring to Mikey in the past tense. During “Fishes,” when you’re there with Jon, to have been talking about him in the past tense and then to be acting with him in the scene, what did that feel like for you?

Oliver Platt: The stuff that we had was really all around the table, right? Some of that stuff is sort of improvised in terms of reacting to what’s going on, but let me tell you something. Bob and Jon, Mikey and Uncle Lee, made it very easy to react. Some of my stuff in there wasn’t scripted, but as the person who is the closest thing to a patriarch, and also somebody who just deeply cares about Mikey, I was so pissed. Even though Mikey was so clearly the aggressor, I was pissed at Lee. But anyway, to answer your question, what was it like? It was thrilling. It’s so much fun to work with a great writer who is also open and encourages you. Chris will suggest I say this or that before a take–he’ll run a little something by me. It made me uncomfortable as the patriarch. I felt like I had to try and get the meal back on track. I mean, look at what it was costing Sugar. Look at what it was costing everybody around the table. And then we had Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis) to worry about. So it was like, please, can we just get through this? And then, what about John Mulaney? First of all, Chris just has a couple other remarkable talents. One is for casting. I’m sorry to say that I hadn’t heard of a lot of those people working in the kitchen. I don’t think any of us knew them. My daughter knew Ayo because she’s groovy, but I’m not groovy. So I’d never heard of Ayo. I never worked with any of those guys in the first season, I was so excited to go back because I got to meet them. But Chris Storer is actually also the music supervisor, along with Josh Senior, for The Bear. He has a lot to do with it. He has an extraordinary instinct. We’re living in an area where it’s so easy to get cliche with needle drops and he just doesn’t do that. He has the most astonishing instinct for a music cue and he’s also the master of the moody closing montage. 

Awards Daily: I know what you mean. I talked to Molly Gordon a few weeks ago, and we talked about how Christopher Storer saved “Strange Currencies” from an R.E.M. album that is not considered among their best. I think Monster‘s a fine album, but it’s like he plucked this pearl out and said, there’s this too, this really is a great song. It’s like it revived not only the song itself, but I think the band too to a degree.

Oliver Platt: One of my favorite needle drops is a song that was a big hit that I liked at the time. It was at the end of “Dogs” and they’re in the car and poor Pete drank some of that Kool Aid, the Xanax Kool Aid. And so he’s crashed out. They’re taking him home and he’s just sort of mumbling and they’re being very nice to him. And then all of a sudden they did that John Mellencamp song, “Check It Out.” It’s got this amazing intro. That’s an example of using a song we’ve all heard and hearing it again in a new way. It was perfect. If I were ever direct, which I don’t have a conscious desire to do, it would only be so that I could cut music to picture. I would just want to make endless montages. But in those montages there’s got to be something that you’re sort of ruminating, looking back on. He’s really good at that.

Awards Daily: You and Jeremy, there’s this push-pull relationship that you referred to earlier. I’ve spoken to Molly about Jeremy. I’ve spoken to Holt McCallany, from The Iron Claw, about Jeremy. He reminds me of a young Sean Penn where there’s this toughness, but vulnerability, that mixes together when he’s in front of you.

Oliver Platt: What’s so remarkable about Jeremy as a relatively young actor is his restraint. It’s astounding. If you look at Jeremy in “Fishes,” here he is surrounded by all of this insanity, and he could have been so much more reactive. But you’re absolutely right, there is this presence that’s astonishing. And he’s somebody who actually understands what he has. He just understands the camera. He’s playing Carmy the way it’s written. He clearly has access to the inner life of this character. The other day, for some reason I saw a clip of him and Richie screaming at each other through the freezer. I’d forgotten how absolutely freaking brutal it is. But that’s what happens when he lets it go, all that anxiety, all that loss, all that regret that the character’s sitting on. But to answer your question, I think he’s amazing and he’s so much fun to work with because it’s like you’re just getting so much stuff and he doesn’t say a lot. In the Uncle Jimmy scenes, Uncle Jimmy’s talking at him or telling him some endless fucking shaggy dog story, but he’s an amazing listener. I love him. He’s a lovely guy too.

Awards Daily: That’s what I was thinking too. He’s a great listener as an actor. You can see him actively listening.

Oliver Platt: Incredible. You can see him answer your question without even saying anything. The camera is an incredibly sensitive instrument. The truth is, if the story supports it, all you need to do is think something. If you’re talking about emotion, we actors have all been in a situation where an element of a script—whether it’s movie or television—is sometimes overwritten. Maybe it’s overwritten to make it clear to the people who are paying for it what’s actually happening. And you say can we try that I just do this with a look? Or, do I actually need to say that? Chris understands that from the get go, and Jeremy does too. 

Awards Daily: You’ve spent a lot of time recently on Chicago-based shows between Chicago Med and The Bear. What has that done for you in terms of your relationship to the city?

Oliver Platt: First of all, I’m lucky as hell. With Chicago Med, where it is located, had a lot to do with checking the job out. I think of it as the great American city. New York is a great city. It’s much more international, and you can say the same about LA. But Chicago to me, just in terms of a working peoples’ sense, is the hard working, unpretentious nature of those that live there. If you could make generalizations about populations, Midwesterners are some of my favorite people in the world because they’re so kind, they’re so open. The thing that I love about Chicago is that Chicago is one of the most creative cities in the world. The public art in Chicago is astonishing, but there’s just such a wonderful lack of pretension about the way they go about their lives. I’ve thought about this and, like I said, I think about it as the great American city, and I love working there. Working there for eight years–a lot of the members of our crew are local. They help me very much, especially with our drivers that drive back and forth to work every day. They become your really good friends. But these guys are actually from those neighborhoods that Cicero is from. I think without even knowing it, I was absorbing the people of the city so that when this role came along, it just was sort of there and in really subtle ways, from the accent to the outlook and the general disposition.

Awards Daily: Season 3 airs on June 27. Is there anything you can share about this upcoming season that won’t get you in trouble? 

Oliver Platt: It’s so much fun to be involved in a narrative where people are that curious. I’d love to share more, but all I can tell you is that we continue in the vein of what made season two so astonishing in terms of how different it was. This stuff is very personal to Chris. You wouldn’t blame somebody who had the kind of success that you have in the first season to go, “okay, I’m just going to try and do that again.” But it never even occurred to him. Given that season two is completely different from season one—season three is the same way. It continues this overall narrative, sort of like book three, or chapter three, of Carmy and Syd (Ayo Edebiri) and Richie’s journey with this restaurant, and the evolution of this weird family that we’re taking this ride with. The only thing I can tell you with some confidence is that I think you’re going to enjoy it. I’m pretty confident saying that.