Variety’s Co-Editor-In-Chief just pulled back the curtain on how the Actors on Actors pairings are actually decided — and it sounds more complicated than you may have thought.
As I’m sure you know, Variety has a long-running video series called Actors on Actors. In each episode, two performers come together for an extended conversation about their latest projects ahead of the TV and film award seasons.
However, there have also been a few pairings over the years that have left viewers scratching their heads for the wrong reasons. The latest instance was Chloë Sevigny and Kim Kardashian, who teamed up for an episode in the 20th season earlier this month.
After the episode dropped on June 5, the YouTube comments section was quickly flooded with people slamming the “dreadful” pairing. “Whoever paired these two together deserves therapy,” one user wrote, amassing over 2,600 likes.
And now, Ramin Setoodeh, Variety’s Co-Editor-In-Chief, has revealed that the pairing-up of Chloë and Kim was a totally last-minute decision.
Appearing on the June 14 episode of Citizen McCain with Meghan McCain, the Variety boss was asked if he was “surprised” by the “robust response” to Kim and Chloë’s episode. In response, he fully explained how the pairings come to be — revealing it isn’t always so simple to get the duos you want.
Talking specifically about Chloë and Kim, Ramin said they weren’t initially “supposed to pair.”
Notably, Ramin directly refuted speculation that Chloë was in any way offended by the pairing, revealing instead that she was actually “really excited” to chat with Kim.