Stanley Tucci on His Cocktail Skills and Not Expecting to Make the Internet Thirsty (Exclusive)

In Central Park, Josh Gad’s animated musical comedy about the famed New York City landmark, the iconic Stanley Tucci voices the hilariously cantankerous hotel heiress, Bitsy Brandenham. “He's a national treasure,” Gad tells ET’s Rachel Smith about the longtime actor, who not only brings to life the villainous character but recently melted the internet when he recorded himself making a primo Negroni cocktail for his wife, Felicity Blunt.

“We put it out there and I had no idea it would have the effect it did,” Tucci says of the video, which quickly became a sensation, with headlines proclaiming that he simultaneously soothed the internet and made it thirsty. 

Since then, he’s revealed to James Corden that his seductive cocktail skills weren’t just for the internet. It’s something he does every night. And later, he appeared on his brother-in-law, John Krasinski’s, Some Good News along with Martha Stewart, Guy Fieri and David Chang for a potluck, where he showed off his bartending prowess once again by making a “Quarantini.”

While the actor has a dedicated fanbase, he admits he “certainly didn’t” expect to become a viral sensation. “But I really love it and it’s just a fun thing,” Tucci says, adding that he learned to make drinks before becoming a full-time actor. “I was a bartender many years ago, when I was young. And I suppose those skills stay with you.” 

In the weeks since, the actor says he’s been hit up by other celebrities, like Ryan Reynolds, to host a virtual happy hour. “I just ignore them,” he says of the requests, joking that Reynolds is “just the worst. Not funny.”

But they’re not the only ones clamouring for one of Tucci’s delicious-looking cocktails. His Central Park co-stars are all enamored by the actor’s skills. “I saw the video he made with the martini. He's so fabulous I can't take it,” Kathryn Hahn says, adding that she “can’t wait” to try one of his concoctions. 

“I don’t drink very much but I'll happily partake in anything that’s a little more virgin,” says Kristen Bell, who can’t help but gush about her former Burlesque co-star. “I found him to be one of the most charming individuals I have ever met. He has an exceptional sense of humor and he's just very suave. I will say that about Stanley Tucci. He's very suave. And of course, he's making fabulous cocktail recipes. That feels so right up his alley.” 

“I’m equally as obsessed,” Gad says. “I wish this cup right now were filled with one of Stanley’s drinks. Instead it’s just standard water. But there isn’t anything Stanley can’t do and make [it] look cool.” 

“He’s funny too,” adds Tituss Burgess, whose character, Cole Tillerman, finds himself in the crosshairs of Bitsy, who is determined to develop the park, on the Apple TV+ original. 

When it comes to playing the heiress, Tucci credits Gad and co-creators, Bob’s Burgers’ Loren Bouchard and Nora Smith, for writing such funny characters. “It’s all there on the page,” he says, revealing all he had to do was find the right amount of poshness to bring to Bitsy. “We found some sort of happy medium.”

Central Park is now streaming on Apple TV+.

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