The Interview

Written by Charlie Kaufman, this contemporary comedy-drama duologue is drawn from the BAFTA-winner film Being John Malkovich. Craig Schwartz, a struggling puppeteer seeking stability, interviews for a standard filing position at the profoundly eccentric company LesterCorp. The conversation highlights the surreal, existential atmosphere of the workplace, setting a deadpan and absurd tone as an unconventional applicant meets an equally bizarre employer.

Craig is an earnest, neurotic outsider attempting to market his niche creative discipline as legitimate corporate competence. He carries an underlying desperation to find security, masked beneath careful politeness and a willingness to embrace the absurd. Lester embodies a deeply eccentric corporate figurehead who tests job seekers with calm, strange inquiries, evaluating whether a candidate can adapt to a truly singular work setting.

Running approximately two minutes, this scene offers actors an exceptional framework for demonstrating deadpan comedic timing and strong listening skills. The humor works precisely because both characters treat surreal, existential topics with utmost seriousness. It showcases a performer's capacity for understated nuance, subtextual tension, and grounded realism, proving that you can navigate high-concept writing without overselling the joke.

This two-person scene is ideal for male performers playing in the 25-35 age range, especially those aligning with casting types such as character actor, everyman, nerd, outsider, or quirky talent. It functions effectively as a sharp selection for an agent-showcase, an attention-grabbing self-tape, or focused general-practice study. Performers who excel at dry humor and offbeat, intellectual comedy will feel right at home here.

Play the stakes completely straight and avoid signaling to the audience that the situation is strange or funny. If you are playing Craig, let your physical tension and intense focus drive your attempts to normalize your unique background, showing genuine stakes in wanting this employment. If playing Lester, cultivate an unhurried, idiosyncratic rhythm, observing your scene partner with quiet authority and unpredictable timing.