On May 31, AMC will premiere David Schwimmer's latest show, "Feed The Beast," which features him as a wino widower who tries to open a restaurant in the Bronx with his best friend, played by Jim Sturgess. In the very first episode, a mobster, deemed "The Tooth Fairy" because he uses pliers to remove the teeth of people who cross him, threatens to kill Schwimmer's character along with his young son.
If you're into watching Schwimmer get in a fight, drink bottles of wine, break down in tears and eat multiple beautifully cooked meals all in the course of 40ish minutes, the premiere is certainly for you.
The Huffington Post spoke with Schwimmer about this new role to go along with the debut of exclusive new footage from the show, seen below.
"Feed the Beast" is based on a character-driven Danish series, "Bankerot," which translates to Bankrupt.
"It was this dark farce," said Schwimmer of the original series, with a laugh. At first, he was worried that adapting the Danish series from 30-minutes to hour-long episodes wouldn't translate, but cited the character-driven nature of the adaptation as what convinced him to join. "He's a widower, an alcoholic sommelier. I've never played any of those things," Schwimmer said of his character, Tommy Moran, on the phone.
The relationship between fathers and sons on the show particularly interested Schwimmer. His son in "Feed the Beast" refuses to speak ever since he witnessed his mother die in a car crash. Schwimmer's father is a "racist bastard" on the show whom his character has to beg for investment money to fuel the restaurant. "[Tommy] married a black woman, his son is mixed obviously," said Schwimmer of the relationship. "To go to his father to even reconnect is so beneath him but he has to do it, hoping to give his son a stable environment and get his own life back in order."
Schwimmer's character serves as a moral compass on the show, much like his recent take on Robert Kardashian in "American Crime Story."
Both Tommy Moran and Robert Kardashian function as their respective show's "moral compass," in Schwimmer's words.
"I think Tommy in 'Feed the Beast' is also trying to toe the line," said Schwimmer. "He's trying to keep everything on balance, in terms of what the right thing is to do."
Relating it back to "American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson," Schwimmer mentioned the similarity between the roles, since Tommy's story also takes place "when all this insanity is happening around him."
Schwimmer's role is basically the Don Draper heir apparent.
"Feed the Beast" airs on AMC, features a starring role by Michael Gladis of "Mad Men," and has a hard-drinker in Tommy, so, in a way, it feels like Don Draper is back.
"Oh, I didn't even think about that," Schwimmer said before laughing about the potential connection. "Maybe I unintentionally disconnected from that."
Schwimmer only had praise for Gladis' interpretation of "The Tooth Fairy" mobster. "It is terrifying and so complex," said Schwimmer. "I'm not going to give it away, but there's so much going on internally for him and we do find out, he's a man in love. That's partly motivating some of the terror that he's raining down."
The show is attempting to appeal to food and wine lovers.
"Our feeling is when [food is] on camera, it should be like you would want to climb into the television and grab a fork. Or grab that glass of wine," said Schwimmer of the series' copious shots of delicious-looking food being prepared, with wine being enjoyed alongside the dishes.
According to the actor, the show is trying to take the food and wine aspects of the show very seriously to appeal to "wine and foodie geeks."
"I'm really lucky that I've got a good friend in New York that happens to be one of the top sommeliers in the city," Schwimmer said of Josh Nadel, who was interviewed just last year by The New Yorker for a story on master wine professionals. "We really wanted the show, as much as we could, to appeal to those inside wine and foodie geeks that will really know the difference or the pairing that I'm describing," said Schwimmer.
"I'm hoping that those food and wine nuts appreciate the show just for that," concluded Schwimmer. "As well as get into the great character-driven drama."
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