Fresh off his first ever Emmy nod, New Girl’s Max Greenfield called up to tell us about his day thus far: He did some work on the David Wain movie They Came Together, he did some early Emmy outfit planning with Zooey Deschanel (also a nominee), and now he’s got a bunch of e-mails to answer. While we had him on the phone, we took the opportunity to ask for some True American rules. We also cracked the case of the missing Schmidt video.
And how are you feeling right now?
We did it.
I think the spinning video pushed it over the edge.
I want you to take part ownership of this. I really do.
I’m cracking open a bottle of Champagne right now. At noon. I hope you are, too.
No, I just got off work. What a drag. Movies. Boo.
How are you going to celebrate later?
I don’t know. This is so overwhelming. I’m probably going to hide. Honestly, I’m going to return e-mails for the next two days. I have so many e-mails in my in-box right now. It’s incredible, and I feel terrible because I’ve been working all day. “I can’t respond to you!”
Who among your co-stars was the most excited for you? Who wins that competition?
Zooey I think e-mailed me minutes after it happened, and we immediately started to coordinate what we’re going to wear.
Wait a minute. Lena Dunham just told us she was also e-mailing with Zooey this morning about what they were going to wear to the Emmys. Zooey needs a say in everyone’s fashion choices for the night?
And here’s what I think: She wants to — and I don’t blame her — put her feelers out there. By the way, as am I. I already e-mailed Damian Lewis and Michael C. Hall. I want to make sure that I don’t show up in the same outfit. How embarrassing. I don’t want to wear the same color, you know what I mean? I want to make sure that it’s a memorable moment on the red carpet for me.
There had better be colors involved. No black.
I think everyone will be wearing black. And let me tell you something: what a mistake.
What about Schmidt do you think Emmy loved best? It’s tough to break in on a new show when it comes to the Emmys.
Here’s what I’ll say, and this is why I say “we did it.” I don’t want to discredit anything I’ve done on the show, we have a great group, it was a real team effort. But for it to really break out and for it to become a thing, as it kind of has, it has a lot to do with you guys. I single you guys out specifically because Vulture is such a cool site. You guys have given me so much time, and made other people say, “Well, if Vulture says he’s cool, he must be cool.” I’m being totally serious.
Okay, I’m gonna leave that in even though it looks totally craven, because we’re all winners today. Moving on, do you think maybe you can get Liz Meriwether to come up with some rules for True American?
I can see what I can do. That would be good. Yes.
Do you know anything about season two yet?
Not even a little bit. I know nothing.
What’s on your Schmidt wish list?
Every time I put something out there, the writers send me the actual scripts, and they’re nothing like it and they’re so much better than anything I ever think of. However, I would like to see him find an outside passion, maybe like rock climbing. Because the shorts are good.
It could be the sequel to the tiny kimono.
Yeah, and it could be indoor rock climbing. That would be a good way for him to pick up the ladies. “Oh, look at that guy, that guy is 40 feet up in the air! He looks sexy up there! Look at that.” And then he’d come down from 40 feet, like dangling down, and then he hits the ground and goes, “What was my time?” And he says it loud enough for people to hear how fast he’s climbing up the indoor mountain. And then everyone’s psyched to see a real mountain climber.
That sounds about right.
I just thought of it. [Laughs.] I’m actually now kind of into it.
Last month, you told us we’d be getting a new Schmidt video around Father’s Day to follow up Spinning With Schmidt. Because we loved the online dating profile, and because we participated in the spinning class, we need to know: What happened?
It 100 percent exists, but it was like, right around the time where there was a lot of pre-Emmy press. I had just done Craig Ferguson — there was a lot of me out there. I didn’t feel like people needed to see more! It exists, and at some point it will be released. It’s very, very silly.