He doesn’t always appear in romantic jukebox musicals, but when he does, “The Most Interesting Man in the World” picks the most quintessential of them all: “Mamma Mia!”
Though he’s more known for blood that smells like cologne and once fooling a psychic, Jonathan Goldsmith -- the actor famous for playing a suave beer drinker in the Dos Equis TV spots -- makes a brief cameo in “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again,” out today.
The viral TV ads may have cemented him in internet meme culture, but he wasn’t anything special to the musical’s biggest star, Cher.
Goldsmith spoke with CTVNews.ca about his time on the set with Cher, his feelings about Canada, how best to drink tequila, and how to “stay interesting.”
On ‘Mamma Mia!’
“I’ll tell you a funny story about Cher,” said Goldsmith.
“Cher was the coldest of all to me. She didn’t engage me at all,” he said, though “The Most Interesting Man in the World” doesn’t sound offended. He conceded that the singer-actress is a “big star” and he “felt a little estranged” anyway on a set that felt like a family reunion. But by the end of his short time on set, he and the pop star finally had an interaction.
“Cher had some lines to speak in Spanish. She was having a little trouble with them. So she came over to me, thinking I was Latino,” he said.
Goldsmith is not Latino. He is, in fact, of Russian-Jewish descent, but many have been fooled by his ten years sporting a distinct accent on the beer ads, a characterization he has taken with him on his new partnership with Astral Tequila.
“I know you know the language,” he recalled Cher saying to him. “Would you run this by with me?”
“Sorry, honey. I’m from the Bronx,” he said and walked away from her.
But there were no hard feelings, he said. Cher jokingly relayed the exchange to other cast and crew on set. Their brief encounter was just as brief as his time on screen in a part that he said was cut “way down.”
On Canada
The Most Interesting Man in the World is also well-travelled. He’s been to Canada before and each time has found something to admire, he said. This time, it was the clean streets of Toronto and the breakfast dim sum at the Shangri-La Hotel.
“One day I was in Vancouver marvelling about heavy traffic,” he said of another visit, wondering at the time why he didn’t hear the sounds of horns. The man he was with seemed puzzled at the question, asking why they would honk their horns at each other. “That says it all. There’s a certain civility and charm that is indigenous to Canadian people. I love the liberalism. I love the immigration policy. I love Trudeau,” he said.
He also happens to the love the Calgary Stampede, which he called a “marvelous madhouse.” He visited the festivities last week. “It’s quite an energetic celebration,” he said. Though he’s starred in films alongside John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, he wouldn’t dare get on a horse.
On Tequila
In the new ad campaign with Astral Tequila, fans may recognize a similarly debonair gentleman. Though he’s not explicitly “The Most Interesting Man in the World” in these ads, he might be confused for him. In the ads, titled “This Calls For Tequila,” he receives a best actor award for an unreleased film, a signed copy of the Bible, a text from Kim Jong Un, and word from the coast guard that his shark has returned. In another he defuses a bomb blindfolded and learns a “chief astronomer” would like to name the sun after him. Every new instance “calls for tequila.”
Some fans may pine for Goldsmith’s beer-drinking days, but the old character did say “I don’t always drink beer.” And he does indeed drink tequila. The best way to indulge, he said, is “straight on the rocks with lime.” Don’t get sugary. “Any sweet mix completely covers up the essence of the tequila.”
On ‘Staying Interesting’
Since leaving Dos Equis behind in 2016 (the company replaced him with a younger actor in a campaign that hasn’t quite taken off) the actor has continued to use the “interesting” label. He wrote a memoir called “Stay Interesting” and believes interest is required to be interesting.
“I think to stay interesting you have to be a person that is interested and curious,” he said. “Most people watch life go by like a parade. They live vicariously through other people but they don’t jump in.”
Right now he’s on a tour through North America, including 100 U.S. cities. Everywhere he goes, new buildings, new histories, new people, new drinks to keep him interested.
“There’s no end to that which titillates the mind and is precocious and stimulating,” he said. “It’s all around.”
To the stars, my friends. Literally.#ThisCallsforTequila pic.twitter.com/9DsdGDJ0xm
— Astral Tequila (@AstralTequila) January 16, 2018
— Astral Tequila (@AstralTequila) June 14, 2017