Utkarsh Ambudkar Reveals Which Scene Got Scrapped in His “Ghosts” Directorial Debut (Exclusive)
Utkarsh Ambudkar Reveals Which Scene Got Scrapped in His “Ghosts” Directorial Debut (Exclusive)
Sabienna BowmanFri, April 10, 2026 at 7:35 PM UTC
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Utkarsh Ambudkar on Oct. 3, 2025Credit: Jesse Grant/Getty -
Utkarsh Ambudkar says his Ghosts directorial debut nearly included a wild glass-smashing stunt
The actor admits he forgot his lines on day one: “What have I done?”
Why Jay’s moonwalk scene was originally much longer — and totally over-the-top
Jay's Moonwalk scene was originally a whole lot longer.
Utkarsh Ambudkar spoke with PEOPLE ahead of his Ghosts directorial debut, "Michael Jackson Goes to HR," which aired Thursday, April 9 on CBS. The episode proved to be a big one for his character Jay, whose attempt to keep Trevor (Asher Grodman) out of trouble with HR at the finance company he works for remotely resulted in the beleaguered chef being audited by the IRS.
Ambudkar, 42, didn't get to pick the episode he directed, so discovering he was helming one that required him to be in front of the camera almost as much as he was behind it added an extra layer of difficulty. "The most challenging thing about this episode is that it's so Jay-heavy," he says. "I ended up being in about 80, 85% of what was on the page."
Utkarsh Ambudkar on 'Ghosts'Credit: Philippe Bosse/CBS
For the Free Guy actor that meant relying on his assistant director and director of photography to help him capture scenes the way he wanted.
"It just required a lot of preparation," he explains. "And being in scenes as an actor, I'm not going to lie, like the first day I forgot to memorize my lines as an actor. So I am fully in director mode, and then we get on and I say, action. And I was like, 'Wait a minute, I don't even know what I'm supposed to say. I need, oh, no, what have I done? I only prepared half of my two jobs.' So, that was a very quick wake-up call. But [after] the shame from that first mistake, I was prepared from then on."
Ambudkar shares that he got nothing but support from the cast and crew, including his on-screen wife, Rose McIver, who directed her first episode in season 4. Her one piece of advice for her TV husband?
"She gave me a great tip, which was just get treats from the crew every single day," Ambudkar says. "So, she was like, 'That entire directing check should go to donuts for the crew.' "
He adds, "I took her advice because I love treats. I love me some donuts. So that was what I did; I followed in her footsteps and every single day the crew and cast got treats. And that was just a way to say thank you for your patience and support and sort of the unconditional love that we built as a company up there in Montreal."
Rose McIver (left) and Utkarsh Ambudkar on 'Ghosts'Credit: Philippe Bosse/CBS
The episode proved to be a pivotal one for all of the characters. In addition to Jay being audited, Jay and Sam had a heart-to-heart over her fears about not feeling like her half of the business is succeeding at the same rate as her husband's. Meanwhile, Pete (Richie Moriarty) and Alberta (Danielle Pinnock) got honest about dealing with jealousy in their relationship.
In true Ghosts fashion, the dramatic moments came with plenty of comedy, including Jay attempting to distract HR by Moonwalking. Ambudkar reveals the hilarious scene was originally much longer — and even involved a stunt.
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"I mean, this is really funny, but my cut of that scene was probably four minutes longer and very Moonwalk-heavy," he laughs. "There was a moment where Jay Moonwalked through a plate of glass and we did a stunt where I fell through glass as it was breaking."
"I don't know why I got it into my head that I wanted to do this big VFX stunt, but they let me do it, God bless them," he says, adding, "It didn't make the final cut, but everybody on the crew seemed to enjoy watching me fall through glass."
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From left: Rose McIver, Asher Grodman, Román Zaragoza and Utkarsh Ambudkar on 'Ghosts'Credit: Philippe Bosse/CBS
Ambudkar also shared that he had to repress some of his Moonwalking skills to keep Jay from being too proficient. "But the Moonwalking, yeah, I mean, it's funny because I want to do it extremely well, but Jay's not me, right?" he explains. "Jay's not so good at it. So learning how to un-Moonwalk my training was pretty fun."
April is turning out to be a big month for Ambudkar. In addition to making his directing debut, he also released his animated album Spaceman: A Love Story on Friday, April 3. The dual album and musical short film explores "the themes of love, family, culture, and what it means to 'fit out' when 'fitting in' becomes self-destructive," per a release.
"During the pandemic, I completed an album and I had the thought to animate one song, which then, given the extra time that we had, turned into an entire album with Alex Salsberg, who's an amazing animator," Ambudkar says, noting that "ultimately, it is a love story between [an alien] and this earth girl and her sort of bringing him back to life, as it were, and him finding his true meaning and true purpose ... it's about community and family and story. And it's set against this album, which covers all kinds of different topics, love, addiction, the immigrant experience, overcoming adversity."
Ambudkar adds, "I'm very, very proud of it."
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New episodes of Ghosts air every Thursday at 8:30 at 9 p.m. EST on CBS and are available to stream the next day on Paramount+.
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
