When researching a new project, it's good to really throw yourself into it. Just ask Jason Segel. While developing his new show, Dispatches from Elsewhere, he ended up well and truly in the deep end.
Segel's upcoming drama is based on the true story of an underground network of artists operating in San Francisco, who were chronicled in the 2013 documentary The Institute — and to get things started, Segel had to reach out to the mysterious founder of the movement.
"I called this secret, Willy Wonka figure who put this whole thing on," he explains to Stephen Colbert in the clip above. "I gave him this pitch of what I wanted to do, and he said 'Not yet,' then hung up on me."
About a month later, Segel got an email with nothing in it but a location and a time — and what followed was essentially a giant treasure hunt that led him across San Francisco, following a trail of notes and clues.
"I felt like a kid again," says Segel. "I felt like I was on this crazy adventure."
If only all research could be this exciting.
Topics Stephen Colbert Celebrities
