Mark Duplass Used to Get ‘Mad’ Over John Krasinski and Zach Braff ‘Taking Up My Spots’ in Hollywood

Mark Duplass says that, back in the day, he was envious of fellow actors/writers/directors John Krasinski and Zach Braff. Duplass, who is a mega-producer in the indie world with his eponymous production company alongside brother Jay Duplass, said during NPR’s “Wild Card with Rachel Martin” that he used to get “mad” that Krasinski and Braff seemed to be filling his “spot” in the industry.

“I had a really hard time being able to enjoy John Krasinski and Zach Braff because I was like, ‘They’re taking up my spots!’ and it made me mad, you know?,” Duplass said. “This sounds maybe more reductive than it should, but the more successful I get, the less I have to face envy in my career. … It’s less about I’m feeling envious about this person because their independent film really knocked it out of the park and mine didn’t this year, and I’m feeling bad about myself. I really just have to go inward.”

He added, “And for me, there’s a couple of just really simple solutions, which is, ‘Did you get your eight hours of sleep? Did you get at least 20 to 30 minutes of rigorous exercise to get your endorphins going? Have you done your meditation? Are you eating good foods?’ And as long as I get those basic things in, I stay relatively centered.”

The “Morning Show” Emmy nominee also spoke about his creative split co-directing with brother Jay Duplass. The duo still produce together, though.

“My journey as an artist and a creative person for most of my life has been lockstep with my brother [Jay Duplass]. And what that has meant is that I have only had to learn how to do a certain amount of things well, because I had a partner who could do those other things,” Duplass said. “For instance, I still cannot open a box and put anything together — vacuum cleaner, anything — because Jay was older, smarter and he always did that for me. So I have these weird gaps because I was in such close lockstep with someone for so long. One of those things is the finishing of art. I am not good at it.”

Duplass continued, “But, you know, about five years ago, Jay really requested some creative space from being lockstep, making creativity together. So while we still produce together as a company, you know, I lost my closer and my partner. … Things end. My feeling about that is, when you have these long-term relationships like I have with my brother, my wife, my children, the ending — like all great M. Night Shyamalan movies — has something that rebirths itself, in some way. What has emerged from my brother and I ending our lockstep creative partnership has been unexpectedly quite incredible, where we’re now on the sidelines of each other’s artistic pieces, cheering each other on with zero competition, no fighting for breathing space. It’s quite beautiful, but it was very hard.”