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On a recent afternoon at The New York Times’s studio kitchen, the actors Finn Wolfhard and Natalia Dyer, who play siblings on Netflix’s megahit horror series “Stranger Things,” surveyed a smorgasbord of unconventional pizza toppings.
“Wow, that’s a spread,” said Mr. Wolfhard, taking in the potato wedges, shrimp, Eggo waffles — a nod to the telekinetic teen Eleven’s favorite food on the show — and other “Stranger Things”-themed accouterments.
“Oh my God,” said Ms. Dyer, her eyes widening as she saw the tray of purple octopus tentacles.
They were in Midtown Manhattan to tape an episode of New York Times Cooking’s “Pizza Interview” series, a casual chat between celebrities with a twist: The guests have to make a pizza.
Since the show began in June, the producer and talent booker Victoria Chen has enlisted more than a dozen celebrities to try their hand at pizza-making, among them Ariana Grande, Chris Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen.
“They’re having fun, and they’re distracted,” Ms. Chen said. “You get to see a different side of them.”
In Mr. Wolfhard’s case, it was a look behind the scenes of his pizza topping strategy.
“There are two ways to approach this,” Mr. Wolfhard, who wore a cat sweater, said as the cameras began to roll. “By doing a monster pizza, or something I actually want to eat.”
After filming with the “Stranger Things” cast, Ms. Chen gamely agreed to make a pizza of her own while being interviewed about the Pizza Interview. (Her toppings of choice: mushrooms, corn, prosciutto, caramelized onions and pepperoni.) These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
How did you get the idea for the Pizza Interview?
VICTORIA CHEN I started in May as a talent booker for the Cooking team, and I had a bunch of people in mind I wanted to bring in. We were workshopping ideas, and Scott Loitsch, our director of video, suggested we have them make pizzas. They take seven minutes to bake, which is perfect for a video.
Did you grow up making pizza?
CHEN My parents owned a Chinese restaurant when I was younger, and after they sold it, my dad co-owned a pizza-and-hoagie shop. But it’s not what I grew up with. I made my first pizza right before we did our first shoot, because I needed to know how to do it.
Tell me about the topping bar setup.
CHEN We give guests a huge spread of just about anything you can put on a pizza. And we like to include toppings themed to whatever project they’re promoting. When Jonathan Bailey and Ariana Grande were here for “Wicked,” we had a lot of pink things as a nod to Glinda. For “Stranger Things,” we have Eggo waffles — that’s a big Season 1 thing — and octopus, a nod to the show’s slimy monsters. Young Gun Lee, our culinary producer, does all the shopping.
YOUNG GUN LEE I go to at least a dozen stores. It takes two or three days to bring it all together, and then I have one full prep day here.
What is it about making a pizza that puts people at ease?
CHEN Everyone’s having fun, and they’re not fully focused on the fact that it’s an interview. For the first one, with Chris Evans and Dakota Johnson, Chris dropped the sourdough starter. I couldn’t have scripted that. We’ve dubbed it the world’s most famous sourdough starter: Our guests get to feed the starter with water and flour, and encourage it to grow with words of affirmation, while they wait for their pizzas to bake. People are doing press all day for weeks or months, and then they come here, and they’re just having fun and opening up.
What’s the quirkiest pizza someone has made?
CHEN Enhypen, the K-pop group, went nuts. We gave them a huge Korean spread, with toppings traditional to pizzas in Korea — little sausages, corn, potato wedges, the string cheese crust. They had fun with it. I like it when they’re ready to do something crazy, which doesn’t always happen. We’ve had a couple of people be like, “OK, I just want pepperoni.”
Who would be your dream guest?
CHEN Jennifer Lawrence. She’d be so silly. And I’d want Taylor Swift, because we have the sourdough starter, and she’s very into making sourdough bread. So I’d want her to do that.
Now I’m going to borrow some of your questions. If you were a food, what would you be?
CHEN Well, I’m a Cancer. I’m a crab. I have a hard shell, but a soft inside.
What’s your favorite kind of pizza?
CHEN Sorry, I’m boring — I literally just like pepperoni.
What’s your favorite pizza place?
CHEN Impasto! The location I go to is in Clinton Hill in Brooklyn, where I used to live, but they just opened one this year in Park Slope.
Thick or thin crust?
CHEN Thin.
Pineapple on pizza, yes or no?
CHEN Yes! And I don’t know why everyone’s such a baby about it.
Sarah Bahr writes about culture and style for The Times.
The post How to Put a Celebrity at Ease? Make a Pizza. appeared first on New York Times.
