11 Quick Questions for David Arquette

Koury Angelo/Contour RA by Getty Images Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

Actor David Arquette, 51, known for his role as Dewey Riley in the Scream slasher films, plays a flamboyant magician in the quirky new Peacock show Mrs. Davis, about a nun fighting to stop

artificial intelligence. He talks about his attempts to learn magic, dreams of working with his sisters, quest to bring back Bozo the Clown and the life changes he's making in his 50s.

Your new show, Mrs. Davis, is a head spinner. Break it down for us.

It's a real epic adventure, chock-full of pop-culture references and strange scientific knowledge. But it ultimately centers around the character Simone — who's played by Betty Gilpin — who

goes on this quest to defeat Mrs. Davis, the most powerful AI on the planet [and] who has eliminated all the other search engines and social media and has achieved a sort of omni-powerful

presence in the world. So it's this incredible adventure [Simone] goes on. It's comedic, but it's also very emotional. I play [Simone's] father. I'm a magician named Monty. I, along with my

wife — Simone's mother's in the show, Celeste [played by Elizabeth Marvel] — we've traumatized her. And you learn about the bad parents we were.

I'm a horrible magician, but I've tried it. I studied with two magicians — Frankie Foti and Brent Geris — for this role, but I'm pretty useless when it comes to magic. I learned how to cut a

deck with one hand, some shuffling, some sleight of hand, some card tricks. I've never been very good at it [but] … I love magic. I love the costume.

always had a unique fashion style. Has this changed in your 50s?

Oh, for sure. A lot of the stuff I wore way in the past, the real flashy stuff, was sort of a defense mechanism to be able to enter a room. … My style now is more appropriate to my age. … I

like to dress to express myself or find joy.

I've found a lot more calm in my life. I find it easier to really enjoy the wind or a nice walk and — the subtler — being able to sit. I've always been kind of ADD [attention deficit

disorder]. So, being able to be calm and sort of understand a lot more about myself, that's nice. That is good.