Colman Domingo is waiting to exhale. Working primarily in the drama sphere, he’s snagged an Emmy for his role as a drug recovery counselor in Euphoria and Oscar nominations for Sing Sing and Rustin, where he played men oppressed by systemic inequalities. Unsurprisingly, he was more than happy to give himself “the gift of a comedy” with Netflix’s latest dramedy, The Four Seasons. In this reimagining of Alan Alda’s 1981 film, Domingo and Marco Calvani are paired as husbands, who, alongside their coupled longtime friends, go on multiple seasonal vacations while weathering the many highs and lows of marriage.
DEADLINE: Co-creator Tina Fey initially reached out to you about starring in this project. Why did you decide to take up the offer?
COLMAN DOMINGO: Right. She asked if I would be interested in this, and I was. I already knew the source material because I watched it; she also had watched it when we were both young. So, we met and talked about it, and I thought, ‘Oh, this is fascinating. I love what you’re going to do with it, especially reimagining this couple [that I’m a part of].’ Then she said she wanted to put together a group of people to tell a very sweet, simple story, have fun and go to Upstate New York. Also, just have some lovely dinners, work with some good people and create something that’s just about folks in their 50s trying to make some breakthroughs in their lives.
And the idea of doing more of a lighthearted comedy felt good too, especially after the run that I’ve been on with drama or historical pieces. I just thought it was time to do something like that because I felt my bandwidth had been stretched from carrying the weight of these series and dramas. So, I thought it was time to give myself the gift of a comedy.
Tina Fey and Colman Domingo in Netflix’s ‘The Four Seasons’
Netflix
DEADLINE: You have a knack for never really doing the same role twice. What’s your barometer for picking a good piece?
DOMINGO: My secret sauce is doing things that feel like a bit of a challenge or something I’m curious about. I’ll lean in toward that. It harkens back to my theater days, where I was always in plays, playing five different characters with five different motivations and intentions. I’m varied in my experiences, and I want to show, tell and be in my body. I ask myself, “How does that fit in my body? How does it feel to play a villain, hero or nuanced couple this way?” It’s always about questions that I have about the character.
DEADLINE: In The Four Seasons, your character’s husband is played by Marco Calvani. Is it true that your husband Raúl chose him for you? What did he see in Marco?
DOMINGO: We had dinner at Marco’s house with his husband on a double date. We had been friends for about a year before the show happened. And at this time, we were looking for the guy who would play my onscreen husband. And my husband literally leaned over to me in the car as we were driving home, and was like, “What about Marco Calvani?” And I said, “Really?” Because we didn’t know if he still acted. He acted years ago, but I knew him more as a writer-director. My husband said, “There’s something about Marco that I feel makes a lot of sense for you.” I think he saw the way Marco cares for people in his home. He was making a big Italian meal for us and fussing over us, making sure we were well-fed. He really is just a lot of joy, fun and very sweet. So, Raúl said, “Why don’t you see if that makes sense?”
I reached out to Tina and asked if she would like to see a tape from him, but then I also told him to make the tape, but didn’t tell him what it was for. He responded by saying, “I haven’t acted in years, but why not?” So, he put himself on tape and Tina saw it. She saw hundreds of people. When I met with her in New York City, she sat there with me, opened her laptop and told me it was down to two candidates. She said, one was this wonderful gentleman who people know from comedy in a great way, and the other was my friend Marco. And I was like, “Get out of here.” So, then she showed me his tape and we both knew he was perfect.
“I feel like I’m around a lot of diverse people in terms of age and gender, but we don’t usually see those stories. You usually just see a group of gay men hanging with another group of gay men.”
Colman Domingo
DEADLINE: The dynamic is so rich. Danny loves how Claude is so doting but he also feels suffocated sometimes. But he knows that Claude is ultimately right about their communication issues.
DOMINGO: It’s a dynamic that has worked very well for them, especially in the beginning of their relationship. But now they’re at a bit of a crossroads when we find them, and it becomes a little suffocating instead. All that doting becomes suffocating because Danny needs more space. That’s what I love about the show. When their relationship works, it’s fabulous. Like when Danny has a health problem, Claude is doting, but this causes Danny to need more space to try and work things out. This show examines people who are having things happen to them when they’re in their 50s. And they’re still trying to grapple and hold onto some of their youth.
DEADLINE: There wasn’t a gay couple in the original. Was there any pressure for both of you with this new addition to the story?
DOMINGO: What was part of my initial conversations with Tina was that there are many tropes that folks could lean into when it comes to having a gay couple. I wanted to go against those tropes in many ways — the template of people that I know who are in same-sex relationships all do different things. For example, me and my husband don’t go to gay clubs and things like that. I’m not necessarily ‘in the culture’ that way. I feel like I’m around a lot of diverse people in terms of age and gender, but we don’t usually see those stories. You usually just see a group of gay men hanging with another group of gay men. I love in the show, Danny and Claude make a reference that as a couple, they have other gay friends outside of this core friend group.
It was important to me that they were part of this chosen family, and that they’re not doing anything because they’re gay. They’re just gay people who are navigating life like everyone else. And that’s why they’re folding into this long-lasting friendship group.
Colman Domingo and Marco Calvani in Netflix’s ‘The Four Seasons’
Netflix
DEADLINE: There’s a great balance between humor and drama in the series. How did you and Marco work together to get through these tender moments?
DOMINGO: You know what’s brilliant? This is the true work of Tina Fey, Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield. That’s the showrunners’ sense of humor, and they have an incredible writers’ room. So, we just had to play those notes. Marco and I would talk about our parts here and there about how we play off each other. I think that at the end of the day, we knew that there was a baseline of deep love and deep frustration, and that they were not understanding each other in these moments. So that creates pain, and it becomes a more complicated situation. Therefore, the comedy can live, but it’s also living with the drama at the same time, and sometimes in the same scene and the same breath. I think that’s the reality of most relationships, so we both leaned into that. We leaned into their love and their complicated nature of not finding each other at this moment.
Marco and I were very comfortable with each other because we’re friends, and it was just really nice to play off of him. It’s funny because I know there were times when he would pitch something higher with his energy, and he would notice that I would be a bit more still. Sometimes he would ask me, “Are you OK? Is everything OK?” I said, “I’m literally fine, I’m just reacting as Danny.” I think he wanted my enthusiasm in certain moments, but I felt like comedy works off of the obstacle of the other. One has to be the straight man when one is the fool. So, while I knew that he was leaning into the fool, I stood a bit more still, silent and measured.
DEADLINE: You also directed the episode “Ultimate Frisbee”. What was that experience like, and what did you try to make sure came through thematically?
DOMINGO: This was my first time directing myself at the same time. Prior to this, I was always directing episodes of shows that I wasn’t in. I had a great time doing it. I didn’t have time to get nervous or question it. We built a great schedule for me to be able to switch hats very quickly so I could direct while I’m in the scene. I would have a monitor and would look at the playback. I’m very collaborative that way. I would also ask my showrunners about their feelings to guide my acting. But there’s something that sparked. I love directing half-hour comedy, who knew? Especially directing a bunch of comedians. I knew that as a baseline, it would at least be funny. I know what I bring as an actor and director is that I have to find the emotional truth and throughline. And if I could have that balance, we’d make an incredible episode. And it’s a really beautiful, heartfelt episode.
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DEADLINE: Considering how viral your interview with Graham Norton went — where you shared the serendipitous story of meeting your husband through an ad in Craigslist’s Missed Connections — what are your thoughts on finding a soulmate?
DOMINGO: I believe there are soulmates [plural] with an ‘s’. I believe that we have many soulmates. I think it’s not just romantic, it’s also platonic. I do believe that we’ve been here on this Earth before or in this plane before, and the people that you meet, you’ve probably met before in another life. I think we’re all energy and we’re all passing through. And as we are, we’re meeting people, and we are remembering things from the past. And I think that’s connected from your soul. So, I don’t believe there’s one soulmate, I think that there are many, and in many forms.
[This interview has been edited for length and clarity.]
