Jason Mantzoukas Shares How He Persuaded 'Paper Girls' Creators To Cast Him

Jason Mantzoukas had an interesting journey to getting the role of the Grandfather in Prime Video's Paper Girls adaptation, the actor has told Newsweek.

Mantzoukas is a huge fan of Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang's original comics, so much so that he introduced co-star Ali Wong to the work years before the show was even being made.

And when the Brooklyn Nine-Nine star learned that the comic books were being adapted for the small screen and Wong had been cast as adult Erin Tieng, he just knew he had to be a part of it.

Jason Mantzoukas Shares How He Persuaded Paper Girls Creators To Cast Him

Paper Girls follows 12-year-old girls Erin Tieng (Riley Lai Nelet), Tiffany Quilkin (Camryn Jones), KJ Brandman (Fina Strazza) and Mac Coyle (Sofia Rosinsky) as they go on their paper route hours after Halloween in 1988.

The quartet are suddenly thrust into the middle of a Time War between two factions, one being the Old Watch who are determined to protect the timeline by maintaining control of time travel. This group is led by the Grandfather.

Mantzoukas tells Newsweek that the role of the Grandfather was a "dream scenario" for him, though he didn't expect to get the part when he first approached the show creators about the production.

When asked if he'd always wanted to play the character he responded: "I mean, in a dream scenario kind of way, but not in a practical kind of way.

"I gave Ali Wong the comics as just 'oh, I think you'd like these' and then that led to her being interested in doing the show.

"Once she started going through the process of getting onto the show I was like, 'Well wait a minute, like, maybe, maybe?'

"Then, in a very kind of half-hearted way I asked my agents to reach out and [...] can you ask them if they'd be at all interested in me doing that, you know? And very luckily, they were like, 'oh, yeah, we wouldn't be interested in that.'

"But I I think I was hung up for a while on Grandfather being so old and then I looked in the mirror and I had become quite old! So I just jumped straight to it, I still haven't played any fathers but I went straight to grandfather roles."

Paper Girls showrunner Christopher C. Rogers told Newsweek how delighted he was to have Mantzoukas on board the show, saying of him and the show's adult cast members: "We got very lucky, most of our adult cast are big fans of the comics.

"In fact, Jason Mantzoukas [is a] huge fan of the comic and gave a comic to Ali Wong before it wasn't even the TV show and so they shared this mutual love for it, and were kind of able to help each other into the project.

"Ali was kind of this dream version of adult Erin. We really did just, in so many ways, follow the lines of what the comic proposes and then just spend a little more time there."

Discussing the role creators Vaughan and Chiang had in casting, Rogers added: "Brian and Cliff are being a little humble about their level of input but we got to kind of stand on their shoulders for so many these decisions.

"But, yeah, Ali was fantastic, we feel very lucky to have Jason, a lot of people with comic backgrounds, because it felt important to be able to hit the lightness as well as kind of the serious moments."

Jason Mantzoukas and Adina Porter Talk Villain Roles

Mantzoukas spoke alongside Adina Porter with Newsweek. The American Horror Story star takes on the role of Prioress in the show, the Grandfather's right hand who is tasked with finding Erin, Mac, Tiffany and KJ when they accidentally time travel to 2019.

Porter said of her character: "I don't know if I see her as a villain, she just a soldier and she follows orders, and she toes the party line. And she, well, she believes in what the party has to say and [...] yes, sometimes I guess she could be a villain but it's all for the good."

Sharing what she liked best about her character, Porter added: "First of all I'm an actor, you know. [At] my audition they liked what I did, so you're here to work, we're here to work and then she's smart, Prioress is a very smart soldier and I love that.

"I mean time travel, who doesn't love that? And, yes, she's talented physically and can defend herself, but she's also a very smart soldier. And I love that she uses her wit to get what she wants."

Mantzoukas enjoyed playing a character like the Grandfather because he is not a typical villain, and is able to harness comedy even in the most terrifying of moments for the quartet.

He said: "I think that there's something fun to the kind of character because even in the comics, the Old Watch are... they're armored, they're soldiers, they're quite an imposing force the Grandfather is the head of, but he's walking around with long hair and in a Public Enemy T-shirt and shorts, you know, even in the books that's the way he looks.

"So there's a kind of irreverence and there's an element of Grandfather that is he's not gonna play, he's not the mustache-twirling villain, all dressed up armored kind of guy, he's the opposite.

"He's really shaggy and feels like he's kind of softly walking his way through this very rigid environment, and, so, I think I just hyped up a little bit of what was already there, he's been there for a very long time and so he has a very long understanding of what's going on and feels very comfortable messing around, being casual, being kind of flip and glib in situations that might otherwise seem pretty terrifying.

"Which was really fun to do and be able to do because I think, for him, there is an element of, not necessarily comedy, but there's a lightness to everything, he doesn't match the same gravity of these situations [...] he sees a much bigger game at play."

Paper Girls is available to watch in full on Prime Video now.