New Girl type TV Show network Fox

What does a new season of New Girl bring? A new Schmidt. When the metrosensitive douche sensation who’s been sidelined sexually finally has his penis cast removed in the season 2 premiere (Fox, tonight, 8 p.m.), he rebrands himself with a bash at Nick’s bar (and has the displeasure of meeting Cece’s new boyfriend). “He’s felt he’s been held back by having this cast on his nether regions and this is his big coming out party,” says Max Greenfield, a.k.a. Schmidt. “He’s ready to take on the world again. He doesn’t feel like he’s got a crutch anymore so he feels like he needs to reintroduce his brand, and what better way to do that than to have a rebranding event?” The plan was for the episode to feature a slide show with Schmidt showing off a multitude of looks, but time constraints left that sequence on the cutting room floor. The good news is that it has found a home right here on EW.com. You can see the highlights in the following photos, complete with commentary from Greenfield. “I had so much fun,” he says of the shoot. “It was a week before we started up the show again, and it was just confirmation to me after a hiatus, ‘Oh, we’re back.’ Just when I thought it couldn’t get any weirder, I’m now dressed up in a Jewish assassin costume as well as a Magic Mike outfit. I don’t know what’s happening but I guess we’re shooting the show again.”

Image zoom Lewis Jacobs/NBC

“In the first episode, the theme of Schmidt’s party is ‘danger’, and he makes all these posters for the party. In one of them, I dress up like Willem Dafoe in Platoon — that shot of him with his arms out. They put one of those little cargo vests in wardrobe and [New Girl costumer] Megan Wiser was so smart — she saw it and realized that it was identical to the Magic Mike look, and put an entirely separate Magic Mike outfit in the wardrobe trailer. And I was like, ‘Please god, can we do this one first because it’s the only one I want to do?’ I have this weird thing with that Magic Mike movie. I haven’t seen it, but they must have had so much fun shooting that movie, I can’t even imagine. Like, I’m kind of jealous and really wanted to be in it…. I feel like I’m so far away from Channing Tatum and I don’t know him as a person, he’s an extremely good-looking, in-really-good-shape guy, and I am not that from where I stand. So putting on that outfit and trying to fall into that character was great fun for me.”

NEXT PAGE: Hold me closer, tiny dancer.

Image zoom Lewis Jacobs/NBC

“This was kind of a tribute to older Billy Elliot. It’s like Billy Elliot grown-up freedom dancer, showing a bit more of my emotional artistic side. It’s like one of those moments where you go, ‘Man, this doesn’t look like a very dangerous costume. Until you see him leap. And then you go, ‘Oh, gosh! His talents are so beyond, I don’t know if I am emotionally ready to watch this man dance.'”

NEXT PAGE: The Jewish-assassin

Image zoom Lewis Jacobs/NBC

“I either have my machete or my silencer pistol hidden in my Torah case or underneath my tallis. Listen, man, you don’t want to mess with Jewish Assassin. Can you imagine The Professional with him instead of Jean Reno? I can. And that’s a movie that I want to see.”

NEXT PAGE: An Outsider

Image zoom Lewis Jacobs/NBC

“Ponyboy. That’s just a presentation of a good old-fashioned greaser. I will tell you that I don’t actually have cigarettes in there. I think it was playing cards or something.”

NEXT PAGE: And you will know my name is Samuel L. Jackson.

Image zoom Lewis Jacobs/NBC

“I’m ready to host the ESPYs. Whereas I put on the Magic Mike costume and I didn’t feel like Channing Tatum, this was quite the opposite where I put on the Samuel L. Jackson [outfit] and felt exactly like Samuel L. Jackson. I don’t know how Samuel L. Jackson feels but I can imagine that how I felt in that moment when I put the costume on must be how he feels on a daily basis.”

NEXT PAGE: A Social Networker

Image zoom Lewis Jacobs/NBC

“Just me, my hoodie, my money, in sandals, up in Silicon Valley. On the social media site that I invented. I’m holding up that money and it seems [like], ‘Look at me and all that money!’ but what you don’t see in that photo is that I was on my way to go drop that money off to a big charity…. Schmidt’s obsessed with Mark Zuckerberg. He watches The Social Network over and over again trying to find some sort of clue or inspiration to ignite the next chapter of his life.”

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