Interview: Tony Hale on Hosting The Dating Game in Woman of the Hour

ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke to Woman of the Hour star Tony Hale about playing The Dating Game host in Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut. Hale discussed his role, the incredible set, and his admiration for Kendrick. Based on an incredible true story, it debuts on Netflix on October 18.

“The stranger-than-fiction story of an aspiring actress in 1970s Los Angeles and a serial killer in the midst of a yearslong murder spree, whose lives intersect when they’re cast on an episode of The Dating Game,” says the synopsis.

Tyler Treese: Your character, you’re the host of The Dating Game. You’ve got an awesome hairpiece. You’ve got long sideburns. The look was just excellent. Did that help you get into character, or what did you like about that?

Tony Hale: Oh, yeah. I mean the little helmet wig and some tight plaid pants. Little mutton chops. I mean, you can’t help but be like, “Yeah, I get an idea of this guy. I get an idea that he’s given a thumbs up to this look that says a lot about somebody.”

There’s all these small things you’re doing, and some of it comes from the script where there’s just like very slight sexism. Where you’re just throwing in enough lines and bad vibes where, even though you’re like a charming game show host, the audience is gonna be like, “This guy’s a creep.” How is it finding that balance there?

Obviously, the script kind of gave you a lot of information, but just how he was off stage, you kind of saw, to your point of how he was incredibly dehumanizing and just how he treated women, and then that you couldn’t help but that bleed over into when he was on stage. To your point of like the little remarks he made, it was just very much who he was. But then it also came from a place where you’re like, “God, what is he like at home?” It kind of made me a little sad for him, just that he was maybe that worse at home. I don’t know.

They did a phenomenal job with the set.

Oh, isn’t it great?

It’s like they transported the actual set. How was it just working within that? Because that had to be a trip.

Yeah, I’m a kid of the seventies, so I remember this show. I don’t remember seeing it much, but I remember it, and it was very surreal walking on that set and being like, “They really matched it.” The kind of muted color palette of it all with the seventies, the oranges, and the pinks, and it was just like wild. It’s wild. It’s also such an honor as an actor. You’re like, “I get to play in this playground? How fun is this?”

I was watching some videos of the old game show, and it is shocking how well they redid it here.

They really did.

Did you look up any real-life game show hosts for inspiration or was it all just based off the script for the character?

I definitely went on YouTube University where I kind of dove into The Dating Game episodes and listened to him. He kind of had a rhythm to his speech that I honed in on. It was very like, “Ah, welcome to The Dating Game.” It was just kind of this almost character that he put on. That was fun to kind of focus on and then wondering, “Oh, I wonder what he’s like off-set.” That’s where the script came in to kind of see how that played.

Anna Kendrick, what a great debut from her as a director and your, she’s also a scene partner for you, how was it just watching her, you know, keep the production running while she’s also like one of the main characters?

Yeah, I mean, it really is a balancing act, and she is so gifted at it because every actor wants to know that the director is captaining the ship, that they know what they want, and they’re communicating what they want. I have such admiration for her because she always did that very clearly without arrogance, without entitlement, which can kind of suck the energy out of a space. So it was just a real team effort, which for this delicate kind of a story needed that kind of safety. I have real admiration for her.

Would you be interested in hosting an actual game show?

You never know. Hopefully, I won’t come off as detached as I did in this movie if I ever did. Hopefully, I’ll bring some humanity to it, but you never know. Never know.

Thanks to Tony Hale for taking the time to speak about Woman of the Hour.