It’s probably fair to say that Freevee’s Jury Duty is the most bonkers project of James Marsden’s career. Throughout the staged trial, he improvised an exaggerated version of himself as an over-the-top, pretentious Hollywood actor for hours at a time. As a comedic feat and social experiment it is impressive, especially because the version of James Marsden we see in the show is quite the opposite of who he really is. That is, of course, according to Ronald Gladden, the man he was fooling.
I recently caught up with Gladden to celebrate the release of Jury Duty’s new commentary track on Freevee. Since the show wrapped, he and Marsden have gotten to know each other quite well, so when I mentioned the caricature of an actor James Marsden portrayed on screen, Gladden told me this:
I would say that it was literally a night and day difference. The Marsden that I got to know on the show and then the Marsden in real life are two completely different people. Like, I went into this thinking that James was your stereotypical - you know, I've always had kind of the stigma of people in the industry. They're conceited, they're full of themselves, their ego is huge. And so when he was playing that off, I was like, ‘Wow, this is just a stereotypical Hollywood actor, I guess.’ And then seeing that's not who he was at all, that was just such a relief for me.
Well, it’s refreshing to hear firsthand that James Marsden is a pretty good dude, as he’s been in the industry for decades. If you can believe it, it’s been 20 years since The X-Men franchise began, and he’s even rumored to return to the role of Cyclops for Deadpool 3. More recently, he’s leading the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, which is about to finish its wildly successful trilogy. He even once passed on Magic Mike, but that’s neither here nor there. The point is, even taking on something as nuts as Jury Duty is a pretty brave move for the veteran actor, and it’s a true testament to the fact that, despite the caricature of himself he’s playing, the fame has not gone to his head.
Ronald has become something of a celebrity in his own right, and even has folks thirsting over him online. He’s been rubbing elbows with the biggest stars in the world, having recently done a Mint Mobile commercial with Ryan Reynolds, a company the Deadpool actor sold for over a billion dollars back in March. You can see Ronald and Ryan in the ad below:
With all of this newfound celebrity, Ronald Gladden has been crediting James Marsden for helping him to navigate the nonsense. Speaking of whom, as 2024’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 comes closer to release, we’ll certainly keep you updated. As for Gladden, his latest creative endeavor was recording the commentary track for Jury Duty, which you can watch right now on Amazon’s Freevee! The app. is free, but if you’re a Prime member, all of their titles are already available through Amazon. If you’re not a Prime member, we have the lowdown on the prices and what’s included with a subscription.
