How Jesse Plemons Came to Star in, Well, Pretty Much Everything

March 19, 2024 11:42 AM

Virtually every role draws on a self-possession you get from growing up in a place like Mart. It’s why some of our most celebrated Texas actors—Barry Corbin, Tommy Lee Jones, Matthew McConaughey, Sissy Spacek—all hail from small Texas towns. There is something innate, a soulfulness it instills that never leaves you, no matter how far away you might move, how glamorous your surroundings become. It’s inside everything Plemons does, imbuing even his tiniest on-screen role with uncommon depth. [Texas Monthly]
posted by riruro (22 comments total)

So governer Abbott isn't from a small Texas town? He definitely has no soul.
posted by nofundy at 12:04 PM on March 19

Abbott is from Wichita Falls, which has a population of 100,000 and so really doesn't qualify as "small." (It was the same size when Abbott was born, too. The population has been remarkably steady.)
posted by Just the one swan, actually at 12:45 PM on March 19

The population has been remarkably steady.

There's something really creepy about that.
posted by hippybear at 1:00 PM on March 19

He'll always be Landry in our house.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:04 PM on March 19 [11 favorites]

And he was great in Date Night.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:12 PM on March 19 [4 favorites]

Going back to Texas could help too. But of course it’s not that easy. Many of the couple’s best friends are in L.A. Dunst’s mom and brother both live up the street.

Huh, no mention of eroding women's rights in Texas or the new laws allowing the police to arrest anyone who looks like they're "illegal" immigrants. Weird.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:36 PM on March 19 [4 favorites]

The article makes no mention of Jessie Plemons being represented by an agency even though that agency likely pitched the story to Texas monthly and coordinated with them on it and is likely the largest part of why Jessie Plemons is everywhere.
posted by srboisvert at 1:53 PM on March 19 [5 favorites]

Jessie Plemons Agent
posted by hippybear at 1:57 PM on March 19

Is it not just a given that an actor would have an agent???
posted by ominous_paws at 2:12 PM on March 19 [7 favorites]

The lads over at Three Bean Salad have noticed this too.
posted by Molesome at 2:23 PM on March 19 [1 favorite]

The article makes no mention of Jessie Plemons being represented by an agency even though that agency likely pitched the story to Texas monthly and coordinated with them on it and is likely the largest part of why Jessie Plemons is everywhere.

Yeah I think this is assumed? Agents aren't in it for publishing credits.
posted by greta simone at 2:28 PM on March 19

It is a nice interview.

I will say the quoted list of Texan actors seems like an odd bunch to try to characterize as especially "soulful" . That is not a trait I would immediately associate with Tommy Lee Jones.
posted by The Manwich Horror at 2:40 PM on March 19 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure I've seen anything he was in. I only knew him as Kirsten Dunst's husband, because I was curious and looked her up recently.
posted by Glinn at 2:51 PM on March 19 [1 favorite]

Oh that's too bad. Rodeos in general are bad for animals. Goat pull, really. : /
posted by Glinn at 2:55 PM on March 19

I only knew him as Kirsten Dunst's husband, because I was curious and looked her up recently.

Jessie Plemons and Kirsten Dunst met playing a husband and wife in Season 2 of Fargo and started dating after finishing the show, then got married.

Ewan McGregor and Mary Elizabeth Winstead met playing in Season 3 of Fargo, started dating after finishing the show, then got married.

In conclusion, who expected Fargo to be so romantic?
posted by kirkaracha at 3:10 PM on March 19 [12 favorites]

I love that he met Kirsten Dunst while filming Fargo season 2 but I gotta say, given the events of that season it’s a hell of a cursed beginning for a relationship.
posted by ActionPopulated at 3:11 PM on March 19 [3 favorites]

Nowhere to go but up, baby!
posted by kirkaracha at 3:12 PM on March 19 [1 favorite]

kirkaracha, I think you mean Game Night (Date Night is a whoooole other movie). It's definitely my favorite role of his, he's so wonderfully weird and just totally leans in to it in the best way possible. I just love that movie.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 4:07 PM on March 19 [2 favorites]

I'm not sure I've seen anything he was in.

You probably thought he was Matt Damon on an off day.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 5:48 PM on March 19 [5 favorites]

He looked a LOT like Matt Damon at the 59th Emmy awards. I usually think of him as a bigger guy, and it was surprising to watch him with Elizabeth Olsen in Love & Death, and then for the promo he looked like a totally different person.
posted by 41swans at 6:37 PM on March 19

In conclusion, who expected Fargo to be so romantic?

I'm listening to an audiobook on the Watergate scandal and a surprising number of the folks involved in the legal/investigative side apparently ended up hooking up with each other. People find romance in the strangest places.
posted by AdamCSnider at 6:43 PM on March 19 [2 favorites]

I think you mean Game Night (Date Night is a whoooole other movie)

D'oh.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:22 AM on March 20