Nick Offerman as Forest in “Devs.”
Bruce Miller
LOS ANGELES – Nick Offerman may play a high-tech genius in the new FX series “Devs” but he admits to being low-tech in everyday life.
“I’m a passionate Luddite as much as possible,” the “Parks and Recreation” star says. “I feel like technology in life is generally an imposition. I resent the amount the business requires me to pay attention to my technology when I’d rather be reading a book or working in my wood shop.”
Still, he couldn’t resist the role Alex Garland offered him. Boasting long hair and a beard, Offerman plays Forest, the CEO of a technology company named Amaya. A software engineer digs into its mysterious operation when she suspects it was responsible for her boyfriend’s murder.
“The deeper we got into the production the more we would say, ‘This is so clearly written by a brilliant novelist’ because of his ability to weave these threads together,” Offerman says. “I’m used to working on shows with great writers. But they have to pump out 24 episodes a year and they constantly have to fix narrative on the set.”
“Devs,” conversely, was written before it was filmed. “When I heard he wanted to meet with me for this, I felt like Kubrick wanted to sit down and have coffee,” Offerman says. “I’m still giggling.”
Growing up, Offerman cut his teeth on the “Lord of the Rings” and the “Chronicles of Narnia” books. He segued into Neil Gaiman’s work and read all of the “Game of Thrones” books without watching one minute of the HBO series. The reason: “I feel like my reading of the books will ruin my viewing the show, so I’m waiting to let the books fade.
