Laura Dern Calls “Is This Thing On? ”Costar Will Arnett 'the Smartest Person I've Ever Met in My Entire Life' (Exclusive)
- - Laura Dern Calls “Is This Thing On? ”Costar Will Arnett 'the Smartest Person I've Ever Met in My Entire Life' (Exclusive)
Toria SheffieldJanuary 12, 2026 at 4:30 AM
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Steve Jennings/Getty
Laura Dern and Will Arnett a screening of 'Is This Thing On?' in San Francisco on Dec. 17, 2025 -
Laura Dern called her Is This Thing On? costar Will Arnett the “smartest person” she’s ever met
The actress, 58, made the comment during a recent PEOPLE 10 for 10 interview
Arnett, 55, returned the praise, admitting he was initially “intimidated” by Dern while working on the project
Laura Dern is singing the praises of her Is This Thing On? costar Will Arnett.
Dern, 58, and Arnett, 55, who star in the Bradley Cooper-directed dramedy as a couple in the midst of a divorce, recently sat down together for PEOPLE’s 10 in 10 to discuss their experience making the movie.
At one point in the interview, Dern was asked what she and Cooper “bonded” over on set, to which Arnett quipped, “How dumb I am?” — which evoked a laugh from Dern.
“That is the only dumb thing I’ve ever heard you say, ‘cause you’re the smartest person I’ve ever met in my entire life,” Dern responded.
Searchlight Pictures/Jason McDonald
Will Arnett and Laura Dern in 'Is This Thing On?'
Arnett returned the praises, sharing that he was initially "intimidated" when he first met Dern at another point in the interview.
“I was nervous,” he recalled of their first day of shooting. “If the scale is one to 10, I was probably a million.”
“And … I kind of had this moment early on where I admitted to Laura — I so admire her work over all the years, everything she’s done. I look up to her. She’s such a beautiful artist and performer and all of these things. And I said, ‘I’m gonna be honest with you. I’m intimidated by it, and I’m going into deeper water than I’ve ever been before,’ “ he said.
“And she was so gracious and gentle and a really tremendous partner throughout this whole process. I admire her even more now,” he recalled.
The pair also spoke about their dynamic with Cooper, who in addition to directing the film, co-wrote it alongside Arnett and Mark Chappell.
“He was embedded with us in these performances — in the discovery in real time during takes,” Dern said of Cooper, 51.
Jeff Spicer/Getty
Bradley Cooper, Laura Dern and Will Arnett at the London Film Festival on Oct. 14. 2025
“There’s no gap,” Arnett added. “He’s not calling in direction from 50 feet away. He’s in the scene talking to us while we’re in the scene. And walking through [it]. And the camera is there — it’s not observing. It’s part of the action.”
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Dern also noted that the project felt especially personal to all three of them, especially because they have all experienced the dissolution of marriages in their own lives.
“I think we … all bonded over a longing to talk about how you talk about this thing,” she said, in reference to divorce.
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She added, “I think we all bonded through our own experiences of longing in our wanting to figure that out. To try to explore it in this movie — which was deeply personal, I think, to all of us. And that was such a gift.”
Is This Thing On? is in theaters now.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
