Before posing for this adorably pensive portrait (not pictured: standard issue New Balances), Adam Scott, 44, had never been photographed by a woman for a major magazine. Seriously. First, as part of Glamour‘s second-annual “Powered by Women” initiative, we fixed that. And then we called up the brainy funnyman for a tour of his beautiful mind. Turns out he’s dreamier than we could have ever imagined.
GLAMOUR: Ghosted, your new buddy comedy series with Craig Robinson, loves to put you in awkward situations. Why do you think you’re so comfortable playing the punch line?
ADAM SCOTT: I guess I’ve always felt kind of weird. I went through a long and fruitful overweight-awkward stage, and I got teased. I had a taste—well, more than a taste—I was kind of living in that space for a while. That’s the kind of thing that shapes you.
GLAMOUR: You and Craig have an unbelievable physical comedy dynamic. What’s it like to be the little dude in the little dude-big dude paradigm?
AS: Craig is such a sweet guy, but when you look at Craig and me from the outside, there couldn’t be two more different-looking people. The writers have fun trying to subvert that and play with it.
GLAMOUR: So do you toss all the “buff guy gets girl” scripts out the window?
AS: Oh, I gave up on trying to get those parts 20 years ago. I auditioned for every nineties flick, but it never happened for me. I think I auditioned for all the *Screams*, actually, and didn’t get any of them. And there are a lot of those movies.
GLAMOUR: Wait, you went out for Skeet Ulrich’s role in Scream?
AS: That must have been it. That had to be it. I think it was.
GLAMOUR: As someone who was 12 when Scream came out, this is a big reveal. It doesn’t matter, though, because you went on to play Amy Poehler’s love interest on five seasons of Parks and Recreation, which led to more than one fangirl listicle. Is it cool being a hipster-nerd sex icon now?
AS: When that stuff first started happening, I was hyperaware of it. But as it continued, I grew more and more weary of it. I can only imagine if I’d had any success when I was 19 or 20. That would have surely gone to my head.
GLAMOUR: What was it about Ed, Reese Witherspoon’s hopelessly devoted husband on Big Little Lies, that
made you want to play him?
AS: He genuinely loved Madeline. And he was determined to clear the way for her. He’s there to protect her and keep her safe, which makes him feel safe. They end up finding their way on the show, which is nice. But yeah, it obviously wasn’t the healthiest relationship.
GLAMOUR: I’ve got to ask: What exactly are you doing right now? It’s awfully noisy where you are.…
AS: I’ll tell you what I’m doing! I have to get to work, and I am the last one in the house, so I have to put the dog in the kitchen. Then we have this, like, smoothie delivery service, so I’m putting a bunch of them in the freezer for my wife. I am also trying to set the alarm so I can get out of here.
GLAMOUR: I always joke that men can’t multitask, but here you are, a renaissance man.
AS: Exactly. [Laughs.] Please put that in the article.
GLAMOUR: Of course! Okay, time for a truly loaded question: “Fuck, Marry, Kill” with Madeline McKinsey, Leslie Knope, and Party Down‘s Casey Klein.
AS: Oh, boy, that’s dangerous territory. Okay, so I think any sane person would marry Leslie Knope, right?
GLAMOUR: Absolutely.
AS: I feel like Casey Klein would just be heartbreak. And we saw what kinda trouble Madeline brings. I don’t want to kill any of them, though. The other two I am just going to leave up in the air and it could be, like, interchangeable.
Ghosted premieres on Fox October 1.