Jeff Daniels Reveals How He Overcame Fear of Filming Scene with a Rattlesnake for Netflix's A Man in Full (Exclusive)

Jeff Daniels hates snakes. He hates them. But during the filming of Netflix’s new drama series Fully human, in which he plays a real estate mogul scrambling toward bankruptcy, the actor had to film a scene with a real-life rattlesnake. The slithering reptile was in a glass case, but that didn’t allay his fears.

“I can’t handle snakes,” Daniels tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “Nobody in their right mind will take a rattlesnake unless you’re a rattlesnake hunter. But we did 10 takes of me trying to tap – tink, tink, tink – on the glass, and I said to myself, ‘I’m not going to blink. I won’t move.’”

Daniels, 69, has faced his fears in the past, but they often had more to do with casting choices during his decades-long career than reptiles. There was a time when he dived into comedy acting alongside Jim Carrey Dumb and Dumber or tackled the iconic role of Atticus Finch in the Broadway production To kill a mockingbirdwhich earned him a Tony nomination.

Jeff Daniels explains why he only recently felt like he ‘made it’ as an actor: ‘I can finally relax’ (Exclusive)

Jeff Daniels and Sarah Jones in ‘A Man in Full’.

Mark Hill/Netflix

And while building a career that led to an Emmy-winning performance as a cable news anchor on HBO News, he also made moves in his personal life. In 1986, he avoided the glitz of Hollywood and the hubbub of New York to raise his three children, Ben (39), Lucas (36) and Nellie (33), who he shares with his wife Kathleen (64), in the small, quiet town of Chelsea, Michigan.

Nearly 40 years later, he has no regrets about settling in the Midwest.

“I didn’t want what happened to other people to happen to me. I didn’t want to be contaminated by stardom,” he says. “For the family, staying away from all things celebrity felt like the right decision.” While Daniels has worked continuously for years, with memorable performances in films and shows such as Something wild, the Comey Rule and Squid and whale, he put down roots in his hometown. He opened the Purple Rose, a nonprofit theater where he serves as artistic director and has written 22 plays, including a comedy that premiered this fall based on a Michigan newspaper story.

Why Jeff Daniels moved his family to Michigan 32 years ago — and never looked back

Jeff Daniels at the screening of ‘A Man in Full’ in Los Angeles, California in April 2024.

Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images for Netflix

“The title was ‘Office Christmas Party. The Grinch in a fight with Rudolph. The police were called,'” he explains. “When I saw it, I said, ‘That’s a comedy. I don’t know who these people are, I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m going to write it.’ And so I did.”

Reflecting on his approach to work in his 60s, Daniels admits he is more discerning and less hungry to prove himself as an actor.

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“I think what’s missing is the ambition,” he says. “That quest to become the biggest star in the history of stars, that’s gone.”

The turning point came when he finished his Broadway play To kill a mockingbird. “After Atticus Finch, I can’t top that experience,” he says.

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Jeff Daniels accepts the 2018 Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series for his performance in ‘Godless.’ Kevin Winter/Getty

He plays a police chief alongside Maura Tierney in the Prime Video series american rust, whose second season debuted in March, was a project he dived into after a phone call with his agent. “He says, ‘What you want do?’” Daniels recalls. “It took me 44 years to hear that.”

Now, except I came within inches of a rattlesnake Fully humanno need to risk it.

“I don’t feel like I’m risking my career now, because I have this catalog of performances behind me,” he explains. “I succeeded in that. I think, ‘Well, who wants me next?’ But if no one does, that’s fine too.”

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All six episodes Fully human are available to stream on Netflix.

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Source: HIS Education