VPB held its annual fall speaker event on Nov. 13 in Langford Auditorium with special guest Max Greenfield. Greenfield is best known for his portrayal of Schmidt in “New Girl” but currently acts in “The Neighborhood” on CBS and has a side hobby of writing children’s books. Moderated by human and organizational development professor Heather Lefkowitz, Greenfield answered, and asked, questions about “New Girl,” the SAG-AFTRA strike, “The Neighborhood,” “Promising Young Woman,” life advice and Taylor Swift.
Greenfield, who expressed gratitude for being back in front of an audience after the strike, opened by sneaking on stage during his introduction and causing an uproar from the audience. He then asked for an honorary diploma and traded Taylor Swift-themed friendship bracelets with Lefkowitz. He shared that he had “almost completely forgotten” that Swift had been on “New Girl” and did not “do the math” of the crossover between Swift fans and “New Girl” fans before attending The Eras Tour with his daughter.
“When [Swift] was on the show, I asked her one question. I said, ‘Would you rather play for a small audience or big audience?’ because at that point I really didn’t know,” Greenfield said. “She looked at me, without blinking an eye, and said, ‘If you could fill the ocean with people, I’d want to play for that.’”
Greenfield then shared how he had mentally quit acting just before his “New Girl” audition. With a one-year-old daughter and no acting prospects, he said he felt pursuing acting was selfish to his family. Had one final audition that he really believed would be the one, and when that did not work out, he “let go of it all.” A friend of his was casting for “New Girl,” and they asked to see him audition for Nick or Schmidt. Greenfield said he did not feel like he belonged at the audition with names like Zooey Deschanel and said the pressure was off, so he felt effortless and clear.
“[I] got the reaction that I wanted in the other audition for this audition and couldn’t believe it. From what I’ve been told from those people that were in the [audition] room that day, it was my job the second half of that audition was over,” Greenfield said. “So much of anything is just timing and luck and being open to just put yourself into something and luckily in that moment I let go of all that nonsense and was allowed to sort of just, sadly, be me.”
Greenfield said that working on the set of “New Girl” was unlike anything else. He had to juggle what was written, what he and the other cast members were improvising and what his vibe was on that day all at once.
“As chaotic as New Girl was, I loved every minute of it. There’s not a day of this that felt like a job,” Greenfield said. “I so pray that all of you guys find the same thing in your life.”
Many “New Girl” fans were in the audience, as tickets were free for students and $10 for the general public. The event was sold out and there was a standby line for those unable to get tickets in time. First-year Eloise Beckwith and her friends wore shirts with Greenfield on them to show their support. Beckwith shared that, upon finding out that Greenfield would be on campus, she cried and called everyone she knew. She was noticed by Greenfield during the event for her group’s attire.
“I have a video. I am never going to recover from that. I sent [the video] to everybody I know already,” Beckwith said.
Catherine Dang, a junior, said she thoroughly enjoyed the event. She is now interested in watching more of Greenfield’s projects and would like similar speaker events at Vanderbilt going forward.
“I was expecting good things, but [Greenfield] was funnier than I thought he would be,” Dang said. “It was really cute when that girl was introducing him, and he just came up and put his arm around her. I was lowkey jealous.”
Junior Karolina Gal said she enjoyed the event even though she is not a big “New Girl” fan. She suggested increasing the role of the audience in future events.
“It was really great, but maybe some questions from the audience members themselves would have been fun, rather than just the one on one discussion,” Gal said. “It was really well planned, I think it was a great event. After seeing [Greenfield] here today, I want to get into ‘The Neighborhood’ now.”
