James Marsden is reflecting on the challenges of filming Jury Duty.

During a recent episode of Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Marsden, 51, opened up about his experience filming the mockumentary and how it differed from his past projects. Explaining that he was tempted at times to blow his cover to the unassuming Ronald Gladden, Marsden said he was warned about the difficulty of the fake reality show.

“I remember having this conversation with one of the producers who had also worked on Borat, all of Sacha [Baron Cohen]’s stuff,” the actor explained. “And he was like, ‘If you’re a really good guy, this might not be for you.’ And he didn’t say that directly at me, but it was kinda like, this is f—ing hard, how you navigate getting the comedy people actually wanna see. Yes, it’s at the expense of somebody. The nature of the show is that.”

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“Paradise” centers its murder mystery around Sterling K. Brown’s Agent Xavier Collins and James Marsden’s President Cal Bradford — a complex relationship Marsden describes as reminiscent of “The Odd Couple.”

“I love the fact that they are so different — it’s an odd couple relationship,” Marsden told TheWrap. “[Xavier] is very stoic, very rigid, very by the book. [He’s] a man of of a code [with a] very strong moral compass, and Cal has a lot of those things as well. He is a good human being who tries to do the right thing, but he’s much more loose.”

From the first time Xavier meets Cal, the president immediately disarms Xavier with his brazen disrespect for how the White House should operate, with Marsden explaining Cal “does not subscribe to the idea that just because you are President of the United States, that you can’t drink in the Oval Office, that you can’t have a good time.”

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One week after the 2025 inauguration, America welcomed another new president to the Oval Office: James Marsden.

While the 51-year-old actor isn’t leading the nation off-screen in Washington, D.C., you can catch him calling the country’s shots as President Cal Bradford in Paradise, Hulu‘s new political thriller from This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman.

The idea for the murder mystery series with a major twist predates Fogelman’s popular NBC family drama, but it also stars This Is Us alum Sterling K. Brown as Xavier Collins, a secret service agent to Marsden’s character, and the main suspect in his assassination. Set in a community populated by the world’s most prominent people (including characters played by Julianne Nicholson, Sarah Shahi, Nicole Brydon Bloom, Jon Beavers, and Krys Marshall) Paradise required a specific set of skills to nail its unconventional portrait of a Commander-in-Chief navigating unique circumstances. Right away, Fogelman knew that Marsden was the perfect man for the job.

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Can “This Is Us” collaborators Dan Fogelman and Sterling K. Brown reunite without making viewers cry?

It’s possible in the new TV world of Fogelman’s creation, Hulu’s “Paradise,” which stars Brown as CIA agent Xavier Collins, who is suspected of killing the president, Cal Bradford, played by James Marsden.

But did he? Or is someone else responsible? And is that the only question we should be focused on?

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Over his 30-year career so far, Emmy-nominated actor James Marsden has consistently grabbed our full attention with his many memorable on-screen performances. From playing Cyclops in the X-Men films and “the other man” Lon Hammond in The Notebook to Corny Collins in Hairspray, Prince Edward in the Enchanted films and Teddy Flood on the Westworld series, Marsden, 51, has built quite the impressive career for himself, with plenty of longevity, something many working actors could only dream of happening.

Fresh off of his third box office hit Sonic the Hedgehog film, Marsden can now be seen in the new Hulu series, Paradise, where he plays the President of the United States. Created by This Is Us mastermind Dan Fogelman and co-starring Sterling K. Brown and Julianne Nicholson, Paradise is a wildly gripping political thriller, with several twists and turns, that will keep you guessing until the very end.

Knowing that Marsden is no stranger to playing a President, as he previously played John F. Kennedy in Lee Daniels’ 2013 film The Butler, I wondered what it was about his Paradise character, President Cal Bradford, that intrigued him in making this his next role to take on.

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ComingSoon Senior Editor Brandon Schreur spoke to Sterling K. Brown and James Marsden about the new Hulu series Paradise. Brown and Marsden discussed working with This Is Us’ Dan Fogelman on the project, collaborating together on set, and more.

“Paradise is set in an upscale community inhabited by some of the world’s most prominent individuals,” the synopsis for the show reads. “But this tranquility explodes when a shocking murder occurs and a high-stakes investigation unfolds.”

The first three episodes of Paradise will premiere on Hulu on January 28, 2025.

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Start spreading the news…James Marsden wants to step into Frank Sinatra’s shoes. The Jury Duty star, who has showcased his vocal talents in movies like Hairspray and Disenchanted, has long hoped to portray Ol’Blue Eyes in a biopic.

Speaking exclusively to Parade in a new interview, Marsden shared, “I’ve always wanted to play Sinatra… I grew up listening to his music. My mom used to play it all the time, and I sort of started emulating him, and it’s how I learned how to sing.”

Marsden pointed out that there are “several stories to tell about” the crooner, noting that “a lot of them [are] really sad ones,” but doing a Sinatra biopic “would be very cool.”

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