Ron Funches Talks Jason Sudeikis Taking on James Stewart's Role for 'It's a Wonderful Life' Event
Earlier this month, Jason Sudeikis was cast as George Bailey for the live table reading of the Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life, benefitting The Ed Asner Family Center (TEDFC) on Dec. 5. With Sudeikis stepping into the shoes of a role famously portrayed by James Stewart and steering the ship alongside an all-star cast including Kathy Bates, Rosario Dawson, Mark Hamill, Martin Sheen and Mandy Patinkin, actor and comedian Ron Funches is joining in on the festive fun, telling PopCulture.com host Tania Hussain just why the Ted Lasso star makes the perfect George Bailey for the virtual event.
"He's an everyman. He's beautiful," Funches told PopCulture. "He's one of the just best everyman actors. You see yourself in him, no matter who you are. He took his sweetness and his vulnerability and his heart showed through and then that is something that allows you to be a character that can take on those types of things, to have these different faults and different traits that people just relate to. I mean, Jason's just amazing. It's not hard for me to see. Of course, you look at him, you go, 'I love that guy. I want to hang out with that guy.'"
Funches, who has only met Dawson "once or twice," says meeting the cast will be a "new" experience for him. "I just feel, in some ways, I'm just like, 'Do I even belong in this big group of wonderful people?' But as my therapist would say, 'I do belong or I wouldn't be there,'" he smiled. "So I'm excited to be a part of it. It's something you can't take away from me. It's going to be a big memory for me for the rest of my life."
