Actor Wilmer Valderrama opened up about the “friendly rivalry” he had with his former co-star Ashton Kutcher while they were filming “That '70s Show.”
In his new memoir, “An American Story: Everyone's Invited,” Valderrama discussed the dynamics of the popular Fox sitcom, from auditioning to landing the role of Fez and shared his behind-the-scenes relationship with Kushner.
“Ashton was far more intelligent in real life than the character he played, and he was far more serious about acting than he appears to be,” Valderrama, 44, wrote of Kutcher, 46, who played Michael Kelso.
The “NCIS” actor compared himself to Kushner, saying his co-star “always came to set extremely prepared, just like I did.”
After some time, both young adults began to enjoy challenging each other.
“Soon a friendly rivalry developed between him and me as to who could make the audience laugh the most in the first take,” he wrote.
Valderrama was 18 and Kutcher was 19 when they both began the comedy show.
The actor said that the audience “always laughs a lot” the first time around. According to US Weekly“If you mess up on the first take and try to laugh it off on the second, the joke will never land. If you have to do a third or fourth take, it's better to forget it.”
The nickname Kushner and Valderrama gave themselves, “Two-Takers”, refers to the fact that they “always tried to do the first take perfectly, then do the second take just for fun.”
When he was sent to audition for the show, Valderrama wrote that he did not put in much effort initially.
“I vowed to give it my all, just like I do anything else,” he said. “But when you go through a few years of auditioning and don't have much success, you learn not to have any expectations.”
During the audition process, the “Handy Mandy” voice actor was up against Topher Grace, who was later cast as Eric Forman. Valderrama recalled seeing Grace for the first time, calling him “a tall, skinny kid with dark hair”.
Over time, Valderrama's respect for Garces grew and he began calling him “a wonderful actor”.
The show first aired in 1998 and ran for eight seasons, ending in 2006. The iconic cast included Laura Prepon, Danny Masterson, Debra Jo Rupp, Kurtwood Smith, and Mila Kunis, who The youngest in the cast at age 14,
Speaking about his former co-stars, Valderrama wrote that he had a “beautiful relationship” with Prepon, who became like a sister to him during filming. He described the cast as a close-knit family.
“It seemed like the closer we got in real life and interacted between shots, the funnier the show became. … We laughed. We joked. We pranked each other. … As co-stars, we became each other's No. 1 fans,” the actor shared.
When it came time to film the final episodes, the cast wasn’t ready to say goodbye to their characters and the community they had built.
“For the next 10 days we all went to lunch together,” he wrote, adding that he will forever be grateful to “That '70s Show” for launching his career.
Valderrama and most of the cast Appeared in the first season of the reboot series “That '90s Show”, which aired in January 2023. Valderrama made the decision Will not appear in Season 2.
“It's his show now, and I think it was important that we come and honor his show and enjoy the legacy of what we did,” he said. According to the people“At the same time, it was really about, you know, seeing them handle it now.”
After the show ended, Valderrama went on to appear on shows like “From Duck Till Dawn: The Series,” “Minority Report,” and most recently, “NCIS.”
Valderrama, who plays Nick Torres, spoke with the hollywood reporter and what fans can expect from the upcoming season of “NCIS.”
“We’re playing a lot with personal journeys for our characters,” the actor told the outlet. “This season will be a little more fun, definitely a lot more emotionally driven for our main characters, and maybe — just maybe — they’ll be in bigger danger.
Season 22 of the hit crime show will air October 14 on NBC.
