The Bear's Molly Gordon: 'I Just Want To Match The Level of Acting On The Show' (2024)

One of the most excruciating scenes on television last year came in the final episode of The Bear’s second season.

In case you missed it, head chef Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) locks himself inside an industrial fridge on the opening night of his new restaurant. A claustrophobic meltdown ensues, in which he yells about his relationship regret with his childhood sweetheart Claire (Molly Gordon), who hears everything from the other side of the fridge door. Gordon masters the execution of earth- shattering heartbreak. ‘On that show, I just want to match the level of acting that is happening. Jeremy sets such a high bar. I have to make sure the moment lands in the most honest way it can,’ Gordon says.

Today, Gordon is positively more upbeat. She’s speaking, via Zoom, from an indoor trampoline centre in New York where she’s just finished an exercise class. She’s preparing herself for the much- hyped third season of The Bear, which will return to our screens this summer.

‘I was so nervous last season not to f*ck it up. Now, at least I am a little less nervous about that,’ she says of working on the new series. ‘There is something about this set, it has infectious joy – everyone is so hardworking and happy.’

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Filming for series three came on the heels of a successful awards season that saw White, Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Richie) and Ayo Edebiri (Sydney) all scoop up Emmys, Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild awards for their performances, including an Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Comedy SAG for them all, which led to a night of ‘tequila and good vibes’. Gordon adds; ‘This show doesn’t have an asshole on it, and that’s really nice. I was so excited that everyone was recognised.’ It’s clear it has created a kinship between the cast, who hang out together as much as they can. The weekend before Gordon and I speak, they were spotted at a Chicago Cubs game together.

She says Edebiri, a long-time close friend, helped her settle into the cast. ‘Ayo has taken me to some great restaurants... she’s the coolest person in Chicago and I get to walk in with her.’ The friends met in 2019 while Gordon (who had already broken out with a role in Booksmart), was filming the indie hit Shiva Baby. The film’s lead Rachel Sennott introduced her to Edibiri, confident the pair would get on, and the rest is history. ‘That summer changed my life because it showed me this group of women creating and doing it for themselves. This business can be isolating, so having other people show me how to handle it has been so helpful,’ says Gordon.

Working alongside Sennott and Shiva Baby’s writer-director Emma Seligman inspired Gordon to start her own project, Theater Camp, a mockumentary set in a kids’ acting camp that she co-wrote and directed with her friends Ben Platt, Noah Galvin and Nick Lieberman. Premiering at Sundance Film Festival in 2023 to a standing ovation, it was last summer’s indie critics’ favourite. ‘Getting it made was so hard. It fell apart 17,000 times. We edited it in a closet in Brooklyn. I was weeping at Sundance because I couldn’t believe that it was actually a film.’

Gordon, who grew up in Venice, Los Angeles, credits her writer-director parents Bryan Gordon and Jessie Nelson with showing her a realistic view of the industry from early on. She says her parents experienced ‘major success and [also] many years of not getting anything off the ground.’ They also introduced her to comedy classics. Gordon vividly recalls her parents taking her to watch Anchorman at the age of 11, something she acknowledges they likely regretted due to her constant giggling at the explicit jokes. In what would be a full-circle moment for Gordon, the film’s star Will Ferrell later served as a producer on Theater Camp.

‘The thing I learnt the most from [my parents] was never to give up, but also you really have to want to do this job, because it’s not consistent,’ she continues. And Gordon really does want to do this job, with the hope to pivot between acting and directing throughout her career. Her next project is already in the works, directing Small Parts. It’s a film she has co-written, described as a new take on the 1987 comedy Outrageous Fortune, which starred Bette Midler. As for the acting side, she says: ‘For me, it’s not about the size of the role. It’s about the film-maker, script and character... I would literally have played a rag on The Bear. I just wanted to be around that set. I think that mentality has brought me here.’

‘The Bear’ series three airs is streaming on Disney+ from June 27.

This article was originally published in the July/August 2024 issue of ELLE UK.

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