By Fred Topel | Image property of Warner Bros Pictures.
Did you know Sean Hayes was in The Bucket List? The marketing is kind of dominated by Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Hayes actually plays a major role, that of Nicholson's assistant. Whenever the heroes get a crazy idea to fulfill their last year of life, Hayes is there to throw it back at them.
Sean Hayes in The Bucket List
"At the beginning, you’re a little leery about acting with icons, as anyone would, but he was very open to suggestions, and so it became very easy," said Hayes. "It became kind of an unspoken thing. I’d kind of toss out an idea and he would back. And it worked very nicely. Some of it, he rewrote some lines. I wrote some lines."
Hayes has done episodic guest spots and theater since Will and Grace ended, but The Bucket List may be many fans' first sighting of him since the sitcom. "I’ve done several things here and there. Of this kind of high profile, probably not. This is probably the biggest since then."
While he is not specifically trying to get away from Jack, The Bucket List may be the beginning of the new Sean Hayes. "I don’t know that I would define as that but like any actor, you try to make intelligent choices that will both challenge you and propel you forward as opposed to staying kind of stagnate and choosing the easy road and doing things you’re comfortable with. It’s always important to get outside of your comfort zone and do things that challenge you."
The Bucket List
Of course, Will and Grace syndication and DVD residuals do pay the bills, so Hayes doesn't have to work anymore. "It does afford you the luxury of waiting for only good things to come. I read just like everybody, thousands of scripts a year looking for a great one. And you can, you don’t have to jump. You don’t need the paycheck, so you’re fortunate enough. Actually, even when I was living in an apartment, I didn’t need the paycheck. You do it because you love to do it. You don’t do it for the dollars. So it’s nice to still feel passionate about wanting to wait for the right thing."
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