A friendly warning: If you have plans with Colman Domingo, make sure you are on time.
“I think even some of my friends don’t understand that if I’m scheduling coffee, it has to be exact,” he tells me on today’s special bonus Saturday edition of the Prestige Junkie podcast. “I don’t really have a lot of room. If you’re 15 minutes late, we’ve only got 45 minutes left.”
Our conversation — which started on time, for what it’s worth — took place while Domingo is busier than ever. The Los Angeles-based star has got Disclosure Day, the Steven Spielberg alien thriller, opening next week. On the series finale of HBO’s Euphoria, Domingo’s gentle father figure, Ali (a role for which the actor won an Emmy for guest acting), took center stage and helped the show go out in a blaze of glory. And then there’s The Four Seasons, the Netflix comedy in which Domingo stars opposite series co-creator Tina Fey and a cast of other comedy legends.
Did I mention that Domingo, 56, is also in Michael, the second-highest grossing film of the year? Domingo swears he didn’t intend for all of this to be happening at once. After decades of plugging away in theater and as a character actor, it’s simply a work ethic that comes naturally to him.
“I’ve always kept my head down and did my work, and now that my work is amplified everywhere, I’m just hopeful that there’s not burnout,” he says, explaining that he hopes to have a quieter summer after this packed spring. “I want people to miss me a little bit.”
Don’t worry, we’re not likely to miss him for long. In a wide-ranging conversation that includes extensive discussion of his work directing the first episode of The Four Seasons, Domingo says he’s still got many other projects in development as a producer, director and star — including the Nat King Cole biopic Unforgettable.
“I always tell people, I think I’m a good actor, and I have skills that can take me into different lanes as an actor and produce things that I care about,” he says. “But I think I’m an even better director; I love to galvanize teams, lead teams and problem solve. There’s no way for me to just stay in my own lane as an actor because I’m always thinking about how we’re making the whole thing.”
On The Four Seasons, Domingo plays Danny, a character he considers closer to his real persona than any of his other roles. Maybe that’s what freed him up to handle directing duties on the show: After stepping behind the camera for the sixth episode in season one, Domingo was there from the start of season two, directing the premiere. (Fey directed the second episode, her directorial debut.) Focused on a group of close friends — including Will Forte, Kerri Kenney-Silver and Marco Calvani, who round out the cast — The Four Seasons picks up as they attempt to spread the ashes of their pal, Nick (Steve Carell), who died last season. If it seems ridiculously hard to direct yourself while also keeping up with a cast of comedy legends, well, Domingo says that’s kind of the point.
“Tina Fey did my Enneagram, and we found out that Amy Poehler and I have the same one, which is Type 8 — the challenger,” Domingo says. (Poehler seems to be on a mission to determine the Enneagram type of every famous person, and we salute her!) Domingo continues, “You set us up with a challenge, and we run to it. And it is a complete challenge to direct an episode of a show that you’re also in at the same time and manage that.”
Hear much more about how Domingo did manage it — plus how he returned to Euphoria and what he learned about directing from watching Spielberg — on today’s special episode. And keep an eye out, since we’ll have another bonus episode coming this Monday, along with a newsletter about what happened last night when four YouTube stars joined me on stage in front of a room full of Emmy voters. I’m not quite as busy as Colman Domingo, but then again, I’m an Enneagram Type 7 (wing 6, if you must know).
