New Girl Guest Star Dennis Farina Hated Max Greenfield

Prompted by Jake Johnson in a virtual New Girl reunion, Max Greenfield shares why Dennis Farina did not like him when Farina guest starred on the show. New Girl centered around the fiercely passionate yet slightly immature Jessica Day (Zooey Deschanel). In the pilot, she finds out that her boyfriend was cheating on her, leading her to move into a “sun-soaked and beige-y” apartment (as described in the Craigslist ad) with four men that she had never met. The show tracks Jess’s relationships with the guys as they all find their footing as adults.

New Girl was very successful in large part due to the casts’ endearing – and sometimes exaggerated – performances. This is especially true for Greenfield and Johnson who, respectively, played the kimono-wearing neat freak named Schmidt and the sarcastic law student turned grumpy bartender named Nick Miller. Nick and Schmidt first became friends when they roomed together in college and they continued to live with each other for over 10 years. Despite being polar opposites, the two have a dynamic friendship that largely consists of them poking fun at each other. Based on their teasing interactions with one another at the reunion, it seems that Greenfield and Johnson’s friendship works similarly.

In a virtual reunion event with Vulture, Greenfield explains through laughter why Dennis Farina hated him when he guest starred on the show as Nick Miller’s dad – and the reason was Jake Johnson. Johnson started the conversation by saying “My favorite part of Farina was how much he hated Max. He hated him in like a not funny way. In like a scary, mean, old Chicago guy way.” Greenfield then shares the incident that lead to Farina disliking him all the while Johnson, Damon Wayans Jr. (Coach), Lamorne Morris (Winston Bishop), and Elizabeth Meriwether (creator) are seen laughing profusely. You can read Greenfield’s full quote, below:

This is a humiliating story. And, y’know, it’s really Jake’s fault and I’ll tell you why. So, everything was going fine with Dennis and I, and I was such big fan from Midnight Run and all his work, and we were talking about it… Then he started talking about his police work, he was, I believe, a detective in Chicago before he had transitioned into acting. And he was talking about having to do surveillance, and Jake and I, y’know, 17 hours into a day, were going to each other, ‘I wonder if when you’re doing surveillance you just see random, like, weird sex stuff? That, like, has nothing to do with the case?’ … And so Jake goes, ‘I think I should ask him’. And I go, ‘I think that’s a really bad idea. I promise you that’s not a good thing.’ And big brother Jake was like, ‘Come on, Max, I got this, I’m gonna to go ask him.’ And I go, ‘I think it’s a really terrible idea.’

So he rounds the corner… and there’s Dennis and – at this point, again, the vibe is fine – and Jake goes, ‘Hey Dennis, uh, question, when you were doing surveillance, ever see like random people doing weird sex stuff?’ And immediately you could see how deeply offended he was by this question and how truly f–ked we were … and Jake’s instinct in that moment was to go, ‘Because Max wanted to know.’ And then to make it worse, Jake sold me out so hard, so immediately, that my reaction was to die laughing. But I was laughing at the fact that Jake had just sold me out, and I think Dennis was like, ‘These idiots and especially this moron.’ And then I was like, ‘OK, well, I hope he wasn’t, like, that offended by it.’ And then we did the scene and he comes in … he looked into my eyes in the scene with a line that was not supposed to be intense or menacing at all and delivered it directly to me, full eye contact, as if ‘I’m gonna f–king kill you’. Truly one of the scariest moments of my life.

New Girl pulled off some remarkable celebrity cameos, and it is certainly fun to wonder which guest stars did they antagonize and which did they befriend. Hopefully, not many of the interactions are as bad as the one between Greenfield and Farina. Greenfield says he doesn’t remember which line it was that Farina delivered so menacingly while looking at him. That said, there was only one episode where the two characters interacted with each other. To try and guess which scene Greenfield is talking about, rewatch New Girl season 2, episode 13, “A Father’s Love.”

Source: Vulture

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Athena Le
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Athena is a Movie and TV Writer for Screen Rant who has a particular lean towards the comedies. That said, her interest in the industry started with her obsession over Doctor Who and she still has a love for sci-fi and adventure. When she is not referencing obscure quotes from Parks And Rec or thinking up Bob’s Burgers-quality puns, she is likely experimenting with food, listening to podcasts, or exploring nature.

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