Ron Livingston is on three shows this fall. His Audience series Loudermilk is entering its second season. He’s part of the massive ensemble of Matthew Weiner’s The Romanoffs, and he’s the central character of ABC’s A Million Little Pieces. It was the ABC show that brought Livingston to TCA, albeit briefly before he had to catch a flight.
A Million Little Things begins with the suicide of Jonathan Dixon (Livingston). All of Jonathan’s friends try to figure out what made him end it all because he’d never let on that he had any problems. Jonathan still appears in flashbacks and home movies of the characters.
A Million Little Things premieres Wednesday, September 26, 2018 at 10pm ET/PT on ABC.
How are you doing this, Loudermilk and The Romanoffs?
Ron Livingston: “We shoot very fast, I guess. Well, I finished Loudermilk at the end of August. The Romanoffs I’m done shooting it. A lot of it is the shows are all coming out at the same time. They weren’t all done at the same time. There’s some overlap right now, I’m working on both this one and Loudermilk. Fortunately, they’re both in Vancouver so that’s working out.”
Who do you play in Romanoffs?
Ron Livingston: “I don’t know what I’m allowed to divulge in that, so I think I’m going to decline that. I have a feeling that might be embargoed. I at least have to check with him.”
Will you disappear at some point from A Million Little Things?
Ron Livingston: “I think the goal is that even when and if the actor does disappear, the character’s going to be a very large part of it that’s kept alive by everybody else. Then, occasionally, I can come back.”
If he’s around all the time, would it be hard to feel the loss?
Ron Livingston: “Again, I haven’t seen beyond the first three scripts so far, but my feeling is it’s going to be front-loaded. As people move on and the guy kind of fades into a memory, the vivid flashback stuff is going to be gone. Some of the video stuff will probably still happen.”
What is his glue that keeps them all together?
Ron Livingston: “There’s a bit of a showman to him. We’re saying that his job is that he’s a real estate developer and there’s a bit of showmanship I think that goes with that of creating events. I think it’s one of the real mysteries about the guy. He just seemed so in control of everything and surprising people with, ‘We’re going to this today. I’ve got the plane chartered. Everybody grab your bags.’ When that guy shows that there’s some stuff he must not’ve had a handle on but we didn’t see any of it, why did this guy who seemed to be trying to draw so much out of us, how come we didn’t know all this stuff about him? That’s going to be part of the mystery that we get to develop over the course of the show.”
Are you that glue for your friends?
Ron Livingston: “No. I’m not. I’m the wallflower who generally has to be dragged into social engagements. I’m happy to sit at home in my corner and be antisocial.”
Why do you think guys don’t talk about that sort of stuff?
Ron Livingston: “I don’t know. I think it’s a language you learn a little bit. I’m sure some of it’s cultural from the days when men weren’t supposed to talk about things like this. Nowadays, they are but that doesn’t mean the language has evolved or changed yet.”
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