BJ Novak posing for ‘Fresh Air’ host Terry Gross to play ‘Queen Bee’ Radio Mogul on his ‘Vengeance’

After completing an interview with Terry Gross for his NPR radio series Fresh air In September, BJ Novak surprised a prominent interviewer with an offer.

“I told him, ‘Hey, I have a role for you,’ and he was very confused and surprised,” says Novak. THRKim Masters in a new episode of KCRW The business.

Multihyphenate wanted Gross for his new movie, revenge which he wrote, directed and stars as a New York radio host who travels south and ends up investigating the murder of an ex-con. Issa Rae plays her character’s producer and Novak plays Gross as the “queen bee” of the radio company.

“He’s someone whose voice we only hear, and that’s really important to my character when he calls and likes what he’s working on,” he explains. Not only did Gross say yes, but she took her acting debut “very seriously,” says Novak. “For me, that’s the biggest star of the movie.”

at the time of its appearance The businessNovak also opens up to Masters about what it was like growing up with John Krasinski, as the two went to the same school before they got big at NBC. Office. He jokes that it would be a better story if they were enemies, but the reality is that they are “friends for life”.

It also keeps it real, reminding you of the good and bad of the decade spent on television. Office. “I mean, your family and your families fight, families get tired of each other, families love each other, families miss each other, families are inseparable,” Novak explains. “It would be a lie and disrespectful to say, ‘Oh, we’re all best friends, we see each other all the time.’ It’s just great memories. Basically it is, but I think it’s even better that it has texture.”

Listen to the full episode here.

A version of this story first appeared in the July 20 issue of The Hollywood Reporter. Click here to subscribe.