‘Jury Duty’: Ronald Gladden on His Castmates’ Acting Skills and a Favorite Moment That Didn’t Make the Cut [Exclusive]
Ronald Gladden didn’t know he was the star of Amazon Freevee’s Jury Duty until the final day of filming. Over the course of three weeks, he created relationships with members of what he thought was a real jury. In reality, they were actors. People like Mekki Leeper of Sex Lives of College Girls, David Brown of I Used to Go Here, and Edy Modica of The Special Without Brett Davis made up the jury Gladden led. And they all did an impressively convincing job! We chatted with Gladden about his time filming, including what he thought of his co-stars’ acting chops.
The actors Ronald thought were the most convincing in their roles
When asked who was the most convincing in character, Gladden gave a three-way tie between Ron Song (who played Ken), Leeper (who played Noah), and Brown (who played Todd).
“Those three were just so immersed in their characters and they sold it so well,” he told Showbiz Cheat Sheet. “And I’m actually bummed out that Ken—a lot of his scenes got cut, because he had some super funny lines. There was at one point where he put his debt in terms of like gumball machines. It was so funny. But those three lived in their characters.”
Who was most and least like their character, according to Ronald
Out of all the jurors, Gladded says Modica is most like the character she portrayed.
“I loved Edy from day one and I knew it, I could just tell,” he said. “I can’t wait to see her again. But she was the most like her character and I absolutely love that. On the day of the reveal, she made sure to let me know, she was like, ‘Just so you know, I was acting, but 90% of what I told you was absolutely true. All those stories I told you about myself, they were all true.’”
As for who is the least like their character in real life, Gladden says Leeper.
“This is a man I thought I saw lose his virginity, I thought I saw him get drunk for the first time ever,” he said, laughing. “And then realizing that that’s not at all who he was, just a total 180.”
A favorite moment that didn’t make the cut
The Jury Duty film crew got three week’s worth of footage. So there was plenty of gold that didn’t make it into the show. Gladden shared a favorite moment of his that occurred on the first day of filming.
“I’m so mad that they didn’t include this,” he said, smiling. “When we were out at the food truck, James [Marsden] offers to buy everybody lunch to get the judge’s attention. The judge walks by, obviously doesn’t work. So they turn to James and they’re like, ‘Hey, we need a credit card from you.’ Before he hands them his credit card, he turns and looks at me and he’s like, ‘Hey man, would you like to split this with me?’ And I’m like, ‘No, I would not like to do that at all. Like, why are you even asking me?’”
Ronald and the ‘Jury Duty’ cast and crew are still friends today
Though the project filmed back in 2021, Gladden says he still keeps in touch with “absolutely everyone.”
“Everyone there was so kind-hearted,” he said. “They couldn’t have gotten a better group of people to do a feel-good comedy show. Everyone was just wonderful human beings. So I stay in contact with literally everyone.”
