Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
ON SET WITH...
Ashton Kutcher
Ashton, 38, has appeared in Hollywood films including Just Married and Dude, Where’s My Car? as well as TV shows such as Two And A Half Men. He stars in and co-produces new Netflix comedy The Ranch, and here he talks us through a week on the California set.
14 MONDAY
Although The Ranch is set very firmly in a small town in Middle America, people all over the world will be able to relate to the family dynamic in the show. I play Colt Bennett who left home to become a football star but never quite made it. He returns home for a try-out with the local team and ends up staying when he learns his father is in financial trouble. But he has a love-hate relationship with his big brother Rooster, played by my co-producer Danny Masterson.
15 TUESDAY
Colt’s story isn’t autobiographical but I did grow up in a town like this; there were about 100 people. I understand what this life is. I understand the feeling of wanting to get out of a small town and I know the feeling of having to go home and say I didn’t make it. The thing I like best about this show is its exploration into this life. Just because you’re from a small town that doesn’t mean you’re not intelligent, it doesn’t mean you’re not informed, that you don’t have opinions.
16 WEDNESDAY
It’s great having Oscar-winner Debra Winger play my mother Maggie, and today we’re filming together [right]. After making hit movies like An Officer And A Gentleman she’s been off raising her kids, but she wanted to get back to work and her agent called us to say, ‘Debra’s interested in your show.’
17 THURSDAY
Today we’re rehearsing and filming a few segments ahead of tomorrow’s live performance in front of a studio audience. Watching TV can be an isolated experience and we wanted this to be special and different. That’s why you can hear the way the audience reacts. I love the experience of people watching you perform and getting the feedback immediately – whether the jokes are working or not. At first it felt a bit strange but now I love it. If it’s a good joke we instantly get good feedback, if it doesn’t work the writers try something else.
18 FRIDAY
Live performance day! We have one more rehearsal before we do the show tonight. We’re doing 20 of these shows for Netflix, split into two series of ten. Working for an outlet like Netflix means we can be more daring. We always wanted the dialogue to reflect the way people actually speak to each other. Before we started we worked out what we could get away with in a world that’s become increasingly PC. These characters hardly ever get it right, but that’s good. Sometimes, as a viewer, you just want to feel somebody else’s pain as opposed to your own.