Chris O’Dowd.Photo: Corey Nickols/Getty
As Officer Rhodes in the 2011 hitBridesmaids,Chris O’DowdplayedKristen Wiig’s love interest and became one-half of a celebrated movie couple.
The Irish actor, 43, knows he’s beloved for that film, and understands why.
“It’s such a great film, I still feel so lucky to be a small part of it,” he tells PEOPLE, noting that he sees Wiig, 49, quite a bit. “When it’sMaya [Rudolph]and Kristen just talking in the cafe, you just know instantly that you’re going to like the film because they’re just talking normal people, but really, really funny friends. There’s a lot of that [type of dialogue] now, but it was unusual at the time.”
Today, O’Dowd is part of a new, somewhat unusual project.The Big Door Prizeis a new series which starts when a mysterious machine appears in a small town and promises to reveal everyone’s true potential — and perhaps change their destiny.
“It completely upends everybody in a way that you wouldn’t anticipate,” says O’Dowd, who plays Dusty in the series. “But explores the idea of positive affirmation as being something that can very easily lead people to do anything. This machine really offers a way out from what the life you have. And that seems to be on the menu for a lot of people.”
Below, O’Dowd tells PEOPLE Big Door Prize, what he’s binge-watching on television these days, why he can’t get enough ofSelling Sunsetand where he thinks hisBridesmaidscharacter ultimately ended up.
PEOPLE: People are allowed to literally press the reset button. When have you pressed a reset of your own?
CO: Well, I’ve immigrated twice. That’s always a huge kind of a change. At 20, I moved to London and at 30, I moved to America. And those were big kind of refits in terms of your original culture versus your new culture is. And trying to fit in as an immigrant.
In the show, people suddenly believe they can take a different path. Any unmet dreams of your own?
I would like to be a Gaelic football coach and being outdoors a bit. I’m not sure I’m suited studio life.
What’s Gaelic football?
Chris O’Dowd.Michael Loccisano/Getty
The Big Door Prizeis a feel-good show. What’s your go-to comfort viewing?
My comfort watching is that it’s a lot ofThe Office, the American version ofThe Officeis almost, it’s like a Pavlovian thing when I turn it on. And my guilty pleasure:Selling Sunset.It’s something that takes me entirely out of any real world issues and into a sphere of being somehow wealthy.
Okay, so who’s your favorite onSelling Sunset?
Kristen Wiig and Chris O’Dowd in Bridesmaids.Suzanne Hanover/Universal Pictures/Everett
InBridesmaids, your character falls for Kristen, who plays a pastry chef. She’s been clear there’s no sequel. Butifthere were to be, what do you think they’d be doing now?
It probably involves beer. F—ing. Maybe they stopped for food. [Laughs] I often wonder what they’re doing. I’d like to think that they’re still together and that they’re raising their kids to be traffic cops and bakers.
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source: people.com
