After proving to be a winner in stand-up, Nate Bargatze hopes to win over audiences with his first movie.
Bargatze, who is one of the world’s top-selling stand-up comedians, makes his feature debut with The Breadwinner, which Sony releases in theaters Friday. Mandy Moore, Colin Jost, Zach Cherry, Martin Herlihy, Kumail Nanjiani and Will Forte also star in director Eric Appel‘s film that centers on a dad (Bargatze) taking care of his three daughters while his wife (Moore) pursues a business opportunity.
During a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Bargatze talks about having a horse on set, suggesting to theater owners that they offer discounted tickets for the film, the latest update on his planned theme park and how he feels when looking back on hosting last year’s Emmys.
Charlotte Tucker (left), Birdie Borria, Nate Bargatze and Stella Fitzgerald in The Breadwinner.
Frank Masi/Sony Pictures
When you were working on the script, did you incorporate your real-life daughter’s personality into your character’s three daughters?
All of them had a little bit of a piece of her in them. Charlotte — the youngest [in the movie] that’s very outgoing and can start dancing and was very funny — we see a lot of that in my daughter when she’s at home with us. This being my first movie, it was great because it’s not too far off from my stand-up and what you expect.
How much time did the horse spend on the set?
The horse was on set a decent amount. You would think it wouldn’t be there that many days, but it was there. I rode the horse. The horse was great. It could act better than I could. My daughter is obsessed with horses, too, so it was fun for her to come down, and she got to ride the horse. In the movie, a horse walks through the front door — the horse was in those people’s house. You’re like, “Well, they’re never going to let us take a horse in the house.” We asked them, and they’re like, “Yeah, we don’t care.” It was a real house, and that family was awesome.
The film has such a talented supporting cast. Did you know that Kumail could bounce his pecs?
I had a guess. It was very fun with Kumail because we started together in Chicago. I moved from Nashville to Chicago to start comedy, so I’ve known Kumail from the very beginning. It was a big deal to get him cast in the movie because he’s done movies, and to have a friend that I have known for 20 years and just [being] a lot of advice I could get from him. It very much felt like everybody was just rooting for each other. With the crew to the actors, it just was a very positive feeling, and it was very exciting to show up and see what we were going to get to do.
The unfit-father comedy was a staple, dating back to Three Men and a Baby being the highest-grossing movie of 1987. Were there hurdles to getting this type of comedy in theaters today?
A big leap forward was just having my career in stand-up and the amount of people that have been coming out to the shows. Obviously, when you pitch a show, that gets you a little bit further along. This is a lot of stuff that I talk about in my stand-up, and so it was something that we knew that resonates. It wasn’t just this dumb dad that doesn’t know how to do anything. It was just trying to be very relatable, and the movie was a love letter to moms and showing how much they do.
What made you suggest to theater owners that they offer discounted tickets for your film?
I want The Breadwinner to be a movie everybody can come see. Families, grandparents, kids — everybody. Growing up, when my parents would take us to the movies, I remember it feeling like something you could just go do without having to worry about it costing a fortune. So that’s where the “Nate Rate” came from. I thought, maybe we can make it a little easier for families to come out together. I suggested it, and theaters were very supportive right away. They’ve been just as excited about it as I have. I hope the “Nate Rate” will allow families and friends to come out together and watch the film in theaters.
How do you feel about your experience with hosting last year’s Emmys, and has there been any talk of you returning?
I haven’t talked to them about returning at all. But I enjoyed it. We tried something very different. I liked doing that opening sketch with George Washington. Also, with just what we did with the Boys and Girls Club, I wasn’t trying to take away from any of the actors or anything like that, but the people that watched it at home, it made it fun. Look, I was never going to let these kids not have any money, but it gamified it for the viewers at home, and they enjoyed it. I thought you would interact with more of the presenters, but you really are just working. Walton Goggins, I barely got to say hi to him. You’re like, “I would’ve liked to talk to him a little bit,” but you’re just very busy. If I did it again, I would probably just let them do whatever they want: “Y’all just do it the way you want to do it. Go over [the allotted time]!”
Are there any updates on your planned Nashville theme park, Nateland?
We’re far along. We’re narrowing down on a site, and we’ve got some land. I’m hoping we can announce a lot more stuff later in the year, but it’s very much real and happening, and everything’s moving forward with it. We’re even now creating what the park is going to be looking like and the rides and just the experience. When I get done touring, it’ll be nice to be able to sit there and just focus on a theme park.
How do you hope to continue building your voice in the film space?
I want to continue to make comedies and then see where we can go, if we can get in some action and any other genre. I want to really live in that PG, PG-13 range and just really continue to build that trust with the audience. When they come out and see Nateland attached to something, they can really know what to expect.
