Steve Carell and Phil Dunster Really Broke a Bed Filming Rooster’s Fight Scene

HBO’s Rooster, starring Steve Carell, Danielle Deadwyler, John C. McGinely, and more, features a cornucopia of comedy: biting sarcasm, affectional awkwardness, meet-cutes, and… bed-breaking farce?

The drama series, which airs play connected Sunday nights, features Carell arsenic Greg Russo, a celebrated writer who is suckered into teaching astatine a quiescent assemblage to assistance get his daughter, Katie (Charly Clive), retired of blistery water. Key to the show’s wit is country aft country of laugh-out-loud slapstick comedy.

Last night’s occurrence culminated successful Katie accidentally letting gaffe to her begetter that her estranged husband/ Russian studies prof Archie (Dunster) got his mistress, grad pupil Sunny (Lauren Tsai), pregnant. Cue Greg scampering crossed field and accosting Archie with a ladle portion helium is giving an interrogation to the BBC from a edifice room. The 2 prosecute successful a hilarious knock-down, drag-out combat each portion unrecorded connected the air. Archie adjacent neglected to enactment connected pants (some COVID habits dice hard).

Before the camera cuts, Greg throws Archie onto a bed, which promptly collapses. It seems that small flourish wasn’t by design.

“They broke the furniture by accident,” Rooster co-creator Bill Lawrence (Ted Lasso, Shrinking) says. “We could amusement hours of that if we wanted to due to the fact that they kept doing it and it was arsenic arsenic disturbing each time. [It was] insane.”

Phil Dunster successful Rooster. Courtesy Katrina Marcinowski / HBO

“They truly broke that bed,” Matt Tarses, Lawrence’s producing partner, adds. “It was crazy.”

Carell says his on-camera combat with Dunster was 1 of his favourite moments of the show.

“Wrestling with Phil, that was a hard 1 to get done due to the fact that arsenic we were doing it, it was truthful comic to maine what was happening,” Carell says. “I was trying precise hard not to suffer it. You don’t privation to interruption due to the fact that you’ll ruin it.

“We don't ticker playback connected the amusement astatine all. We really watched that. We watched it 3 times aft we changeable it due to the fact that it was truthful funny. We wanted to spot what it looked like. Because you didn't know. The camera falls down and we didn't truly cognize what it looked like. And we're like, ‘We've got to. We person to see. Was that arsenic comic arsenic possibly we deliberation it was?’"

“I truly bash emotion being an idiot,” Dunster jokes. “The combat is very, precise fun, and Greg comes successful and has a small tête-à-tête, a small spot of grappling with Archie.That was rather a fever imagination moment.”

Episodes 1 and 2 of Rooster are present streaming connected HBO Max. Read wherefore we gave the Episodes 1-6 a 10/10.

Michael Peyton is the Senior Editorial Director of Events & Entertainment astatine IGN, starring amusement contented and sum of tentpole events including IGN Live, San Diego Comic Con, gamescom, and IGN Fan Fest. He's spent 20 years moving successful the games and amusement industry, and his adventures person taken him everyplace from the Oscars to Japan to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Follow him connected Bluesky @MichaelPeyton