When appeared onscreen in the new season of revealing himself as one of this year’s surprise guest stars, fans experienced it as a delightful and seemingly random casting. But, like everything in the world of , it was actually a highly strategic decision several years in the making. Hartnett first met series creator Chris Storer years ago — like most of Storer’s friends and collaborators, he no longer remembers how exactly they first crossed paths but says they had friends in common in the New York and Los Angeles food scenes — and the two were in talks about a potential role in Storer’s first film.
“I remember him mentioning that he was trying to make this other film about chefs, because his sister [ producer Courtney Storer] was a chef, and then years went by and I started hearing all this hype about ,” Hartnett explains from his UK home. “It sounded really familiar, so I checked it out and saw Chris’ name and was amazed. I called him immediately to say congratulations and tell him the show was incredible.
” Now, two years later, Hartnett is Frank — affable, considerate fiancé to Tiffany and, depending on who you ask, Richie’s worst nightmare. Here, the actors spills on what it was like to see behind the curtain of the beloved series and the Easter eggs he worked into the episode. It was organic, but not that organic.
(Laughs) He was like, thanks man, we have to work together at some point, let’s make this happen. And then maybe a year goes by and.