Dan and the cast of Miracle Workers appeared at the Variety Streaming Room via at home to discuss Season 2 and how they navigated keeping the spirit of the show within a new setting.

June 8, 2020

I realize that certain press outlets will probably want to paint this as in-fighting between J.K. Rowling and myself, but that is really not what this is about, nor is it what’s important right now. While Jo is unquestionably responsible for the course my life has taken, as someone who has been honored to work with and continues to contribute to The Trevor Project for the last decade, and just as a human being, I feel compelled to say something at this moment.

Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I. According to The Trevor Project, 78% of transgender and nonbinary youth reported being the subject of discrimination due to their gender identity. It’s clear that we need to do more to support transgender and nonbinary people, not invalidate their identities, and not cause further harm.

I am still learning how to be a better ally, so if you want to join me in learning more about transgender and nonbinary identities check out The Trevor Project’s Guide to Being an Ally to Transgender and Nonbinary Youth. It’s an introductory educational resource that covers a wide range of topics, including the differences between sex and gender, and shares best practices on how to support transgender and nonbinary people.

To all the people who now feel that their experience of the books has been tarnished or diminished, I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you. I really hope that you don’t entirely lose what was valuable in these stories to you. If these books taught you that love is the strongest force in the universe, capable of overcoming anything; if they taught you that strength is found in diversity, and that dogmatic ideas of pureness lead to the oppression of vulnerable groups; if you believe that a particular character is trans, nonbinary, or gender fluid, or that they are gay or bisexual; if you found anything in these stories that resonated with you and helped you at any time in your life — then that is between you and the book that you read, and it is sacred. And in my opinion nobody can touch that. It means to you what it means to you and I hope that these comments will not taint that too much.

Love always,
Dan

Source: Trevor Project

Watch the process of how the Interactive special came to be.

Where are you isolating these days and how are you dealing with what’s going on in the world?

I am in New York right now. I’m in an incredibly fortunate position like I’ve got a lot of friends who are either isolating or quarantining alone right now [because] I’m with my girlfriend which is lovely, you know. I’m very, very grateful for that. 

Also, we are not having to try to home-school children or entertain children 24 hours a day, which seems it would be very, very challenging. So yeah, we’re in, you know, everyone is safe and healthy and staying indoors so, yeah, we’re okay. Thanks for asking. I hope you’re well too.

Are you finding yourself doing different things? How do you keep busy?

Well, I’ve done a lot of Lego. It’s very good, passes a lot of time and is sort of meditative. You get to make a cool thing at the end. I recently built a “Jurassic Park” and a “Stranger Things” set with Lego.

I’ve been doing like a lot of reading, and yesterday I finally did some writing. I have been trying every day. It has been a thing of getting up and thinking that today is the day, do something productive and I haven’t really for the previous however long it’s been 6 weeks or whatever. So finally, I felt a little bit productive yesterday so hopefully more of that to come. 

Talk about your relationship with Kimmy Schmidt and being part of this unique interactive episode?

The filming of it was tricky for lots of people, namely the director and the script supervisor and, costume and make-up having to remember where everything was at every moment but for the actors, all we had to do was learn all the various versions of the scenes. 

Beyond that, it wasn’t really – the burden of responsibility of making sure that we were in the right timeline every time was not on us so much but I loved it. I hadn’t seen anything like that before.

I was a huge fan of “30 Rock” and Tina Fey. It’s this style of comedy that I love and it’s all these tightly wound, very like thoroughly plotted out things but there’s also a joke every 10 seconds and it’s the kind of writing that I could never do myself. So I’m in awe of it and I love watching and getting to be a part of it. It was so incredible.

What are you discovering about yourself during this lockdown? Are you learning how to cook, paint?

I definitely am not one of the people who have learned any new skills in quarantine yet. I have a lot of respect for anyone who’s like learning to sew or bake or any of that stuff, that’s very impressive. I have not done any of that. 

I think I’m finding out about myself that for about 23 hours of the day, I’m pretty okay staying inside. At first it felt slowly inhibiting, but now I’ve settled into a rhythm and also we’re incredibly lucky that we’re here together.

We have got very little responsibilities during this time so all we have to do is stay inside and keep ourselves entertained so that’s good.

How do you find time for yourself since you are isolating with your girlfriend right now? Do you go to another room?

I don’t feel the need for it that much. We both like to read a lot so when you’re reading and you’ve got your head in a book that’s quite like “me time.”

You mentioned you are doing a bit of writing. What type of writing are you doing?

Attempting to write scripts. I know every actor is also writing scripts on the side now so it’s something that we all seem to be wanting to do but I would love to be able to write and direct a film. They are in the realms of slightly dark comedies and so hopefully one day, I’ll get to make one.

Two new podcasts from David Holmes who played the stunt double for Dan during the Potter films that resulted in his injury. Dan sat in on some of the interview. Many thanks to Ripple Productions for the screenshots provided on facebook.

Cunning Stunts, A Podcast Series
Episode 2 – Tina Maskell and David Forman

Tina and Dave are a married couple of Stunt Coordinators. Tina’s credits include: Willow, The Da Vinci Code, Mr Bean and Harry Potter. David’s credits include: The Golden Compass, Bond, Johnny English and Batman. In their podcast they talk about their careers, the stunts that made them question their sanity and what it’s like to set your spouse on fire. We hope you enjoy.

Episode 1 – Derek Lea

Derek Lea has been performing and coordinating stunts for around 30 years, his credits include: Titanic, Saving Private Ryan, Bond, Harry Potter and Fifth Gear. During his career he has dealt with many injuries and in this Podcast he recalls how he survived a life threatening injury and describes the surreal way he saw the world for two weeks as he was fighting for his life. We hope you enjoy.