Wilmer Valderrama is reminiscing on his That ‘70s Present days with Ashton Kutcher.
On Tuesday, Sept. 17, the NCIS actor, 44, launched his memoir, An American Story: Everyone’s Invited. Within the ebook, Valderrama, who performed Fez, opened up about auditioning for the sitcom, and what it was like working with Kutcher, 46, as soon as he landed the function, per Us Weekly.
“Ashton was much more clever in actual life than the character he performed, and he was much more critical in regards to the craft of appearing than it appeared,” Valderrama admitted of the Punk’d alum, who turned recognized to followers as Michael Kelso, the jock of the present.
In line with Valderrama, the factor he and Kutcher had in widespread was that Kutcher “all the time got here to set extraordinarily ready.”
“He and I quickly developed a pleasant rivalry to see who may get the largest laughs from the viewers on the primary take,” Valderrama wrote, including that that is when “the snicker is all the time larger.”
“Should you mess up on the primary take and take a look at for an enormous snicker on the second, the joke by no means lands as powerfully. If you should do a 3rd or fourth take, you would possibly as properly neglect it,” he stated.
The duo finally started going by the “two-takers” as a result of they’d “all the time attempt to land the primary completely, then do the second take only for enjoyable.”
Valderrama additionally confessed that he initially didn’t put a lot thought into That ‘70s Present, which was initially titled Teenage Wasteland.
“I didn’t put a lot inventory into the present at first. I vowed to present it my all, identical to the whole lot else. However after you’ve been auditioning for just a few years with out a lot success, you study to not get your hopes up,” Valderrama wrote.
Along with Valderrama and Kutcher, the collection additionally starred Topher Grace (Eric Forman), Laura Prepon (Donna Pinciotti), Mila Kunis (Jackie Burkhart), Danny Masterson (Steven Hyde), Debra Jo Rupp (Kitty Forman), Kurtwood Smith (Crimson Forman), Tanya Roberts (Midge Pinciotti), Don Stark (Bob Pinciotti), Lisa Robin Kelly (Laurie Forman) and Tommy Chong (Leo Chingkwake). That ’70s Present ran for 8 seasons from 1998 to 2006.
By no means miss a narrative — join PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to remain up-to-date on the perfect of what PEOPLE has to supply, from movie star information to forcing human curiosity tales.
In January 2023, Netflix launched the That ’70s Present spin-off, That ’90s Show.
Although among the authentic solid returned to Wisconsin, on the 2024 Monte-Carlo Television Festival in Monaco in June, Valderrama advised PEOPLE why he was not a part of the brand new collection.
“There’s no time!” he solely advised PEOPLE.
“We’re pushing 20 episodes a season [on NCIS], however on the similar time, it is the youngsters’ jobs,” he added, referring to the brand new solid members of the spin-off.
The reboot stars Callie Haverda as Leia Forman, the daughter of Eric Forman and Donna Pinciotti, in addition to Max Donovan, Ashley Aufderheide, Sam Morelos, Reyn Doi and Mace Coronel.
“That is their present now, and I believe it was vital that we got here and pay respect to their present and have enjoyable with the legacy of what we did,” Valderrama continued. “On the similar time, it was actually about, , now seeing them take it over.”
That ’70s Present is on the market to stream on Peacock.