JAy Baruchel never thought of becoming a comedian. But there was a brief moment in the mid-2000s when she made the decision she now describes as “stupid” to try to become a movie star.
In this episode of The Last Laugh podcast, the Canadian actor talks about taking on his most dramatic role yet in the new movie. Blackberry, about the rise and fall of Canada’s iPhone predecessor. Baruchel also retraces the story of how Judd Apatow turned her from obscurity to star in the short-lived Fox sitcom. undeclaredreveals a number of roles in comedy hits such as pregnant, tropical hurricane, And this is the lastHe’s convinced that a movie he’s convinced would be a total disaster—not just because of his real beef with co-star Jonah Hill—and wildly exceeded his expectations.
Stepping out of his comfort zone to play Mike Lazaridis, who invented the BlackBerry, Baruchel says his performance in the new movie is “in the uncomfortable gray space between screenplay and documentary, comedy and drama.”
Writer-director Matt Johnson, who also plays Lazaridis’ best friend and co-founder Doug Fregin in the film, recently told The Daily Beast, “I think that’s what people get wrong about drama, and that’s one of the reasons I do it. I am so allergic to most movies, especially melodramas, that everybody forgets that everybody is funny. I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t funny.
Baruchel agrees, explaining that the film’s main narrative about a “group of geeks” who are “changing the world” is not only “challenging, stressful, and sort of inspiring” but also completely “mind-blowing”.
“Life is inherently a ridiculous proposition, and people who care deeply about something and work hard are inherently funny,” he adds.
Blackberry It gives Baruchel more room to flex his dramatic acting muscles than most anything he’s been given the opportunity to do in the past. But he actually pushes back the idea that he’s doing something new in the movie, and says the same can be said for his best-known co-star Glenn Howerton. Philadelphia is always sunny but also a Juilliard graduate.
“It’s different from what people are used to seeing us for, not so different from what we’re used to,” says Baruchel. “And by the way, it’s all the same shit. It’s all presence, focus, responsibility and truth, and being the surrogate of the script and the narrative that the movie needs you to be, whenever you need it. It’s the same, whether it’s comedy or drama.”
Baruchel may have stepped into comedy by starring in Apatow projects. undeclared And pregnantHe immediately states that he has been doing drama since the beginning. “I kicked my ass pretty brutally Million Dollar Baby”he says then his first job undeclared completed what was only one season.
“I don’t want to say it was an accident,” she says of her comedy-focused personality. “Because I really don’t regret it. I wish I hadn’t done the ‘ejaculation in my pants’ scene. This Girl Is Over Mebut mostly i don’t regret it.
Below is an edited excerpt from our conversation. You can listen to the whole thing here Subscribe to The Last Laugh Open Apple Podcasts, spotify, Google, sewing machine, Amazon Musicor wherever you get your podcasts and be the first to hear about new episodes as they air every Tuesday.
You said it was at that time. pregnant And tropical hurricane “trying to be a movie star”. Is this true? What did this look like for you?
Yes, it was stupid. There was this year immediately following that, and I took out five things in one year. Closed tropical hurricaneit was a DreamWorks thing, i got it This Girl Is Over Me While I’m still shooting in Hawaii. And also, I auditioned How to Train Your Dragon from there, that was another DreamWorks thing. I was also the most drunk at 26, and so I remember telling my manager, “I’ll just read what all the big guys are getting and put myself on tape and mop the floor with them.” ! At least let me through the door. And if I lose it, let me lose it because I’m not good enough. But I want a chance and I think I really want to do it. I want to go to the ring you told me to go to.
And I was told, “Some of the guys you’re talking about” – I won’t mention it here – are “playing games, they’re all at the right parties, they live here and you refuse to live.” In California.” Once everything started to unfold and started This Girl Is Over MeI remember the vivid feeling of being on a roller coaster, getting ready for the press tour and unable to get off the slope; It was too late as he had already left the station. And it was my fault. Nobody said you had to do this. Nobody told you you had to be a movie star. Seeing men on trailers and billboards and asking, “Who is this?” And then I realized quite early in that cycle that it wasn’t for me and I wanted to get rid of it very quickly.
What made you realize this?
All. Having to have a stylist, having to shoot movies in so many different cities, having to have my picture taken, having to be in front of a group of people, having to speak to the Hollywood Foreign Press. All these weird things that were really hard for me, all I wanted to do was fuck off a bit. And I know that most of the time this may sound ungrateful. I love work and I love movies. I guess I hated all the fancy shit. I’m not very good in crowds. I’m not very good with a group of people staring at me. I was raised to be ashamed of arrogance and spend my life defending against it. This forced me to think within parameters that I thought were disgusting. And in a lot of different ways it was really uncomfortable for me and I wanted to get rid of that damn thing. And my mom reminded me, “Before you went to America, you said you always wanted to be an actor, not a movie star, if you had the choice.”
Now, there are many good things that come with being in a lot of big movies. You have a lot of good shit and money is good too, and I hope this is a tool for working with people you respect and love your job. But still, I felt like I had to meet them halfway. I thought I wanted to be Jake Gyllenhaal, but I really don’t. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to do anything, but I definitely don’t want to do that. I am not comfortable doing this. And so, to the extent that anyone cares about me or my career, there’s always something recurring like “I’m back”.
You always make a comeback.
Yes! And it’s like I never stopped. I didn’t put myself in front and center of a lot of big shit because it was killing me. This is as famous as I am comfortable being.
“I was convinced it would be terrible. And I had to eat a lot of crows about it, which is good, because I’d rather be in a good movie than in a bad movie.”
— Jay Baruchel on “This End”
I wonder if it’s about being compared to some of these guys, Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill, who have become bigger movie stars this way.
I think it’s because a lot of people assume that if we don’t intervene, things will get bigger, that no one will choose to be less famous, less rich. Who would do that, right? I used to do it! I have a great life in Canada and I can take care of my family and make things right if I want or at least try. But I didn’t want to be a goddamn movie star. Whatever I am now, I want to be.
Oddly enough, it seems that some of these things this is the last, playing this exaggerated version of yourself in this great movie and putting yourself out there in a big way. Were there any hesitations in doing this?
Yes, a lot! I was convinced it would be terrible. Because it’s basically based on a short film that Seth and I made a long time ago. Jay and Seth Against Apocalypse. And so we’ve been trying to keep it as a movie for years. And then he had the idea to fill it with that. Shotgun Run, thugs’ gallery of fucking famous people. And I said, “Well, who wants to see this?” It’ll be like an MTV Movie Awards skit for two hours.
Yes, which could be.
Very easily! And I was actually convinced on set that it would be terrible. And I had to eat a lot of crows about it, which is good, because I’d rather be in a good movie than in a bad movie. I don’t want to be in a shitty movie just to be right, that would be awful. But yeah, I thought the world didn’t like rich people and really didn’t like celebrities, so talking about being a bunch of rich and famous would probably make a lot of people hate us.
Even though we’ve seen all of you punished, there’s a catharsis there too.
There is definitely. I was also really grumpy throughout the entire movie. And again, not telling stories outside of school, I don’t think so, Jonah [Hill] and I don’t get along very well, or at least I didn’t get along at the time.
It appears on the screen.
Yep, no shit! Also, it was kind of weird to investigate personal shit. But not for catharsis, just for comedy. And we’re going to dig real personal shit in the most commodified, capitalist way, but nobody’s going to go home feeling better about it. We’re gonna turn it into a goddamn product.
What about your relationship with Seth? Were there any parts of the film that were helpful to work on?
No, because we never talked about real shit. That never happened because we’re both 1982 kids, which means we grew up in a misogynistic, non-shit-talking tradition. We will voice our grievances, we can get angry with each other and say so, but being vulnerable is very rare. So yeah, that was weird. This was a very strange thing.
It won’t be solved with the Backstreet Boys dance party.
Definitely not. But then I saw the first rough cut and was like, “Wow, this is so funny. And Jonah is very good at it.” That’s when I knew it was a good movie, and once on set I was laughing at Jonah’s bullshit, which I didn’t find funny. And then I found myself actually laughing in the movie.
That scene where he showers you with extra compliments and tells you how much he likes you? Didn’t you find it funny at the time?
Not bad at all. It was very tiring. Yes, it sucked. And so to watch it and give it love from the bottom of my heart and then to anyone who asks, that’s how convinced I am that this is a good movie. I had full faith that it was just a bunch of dumb baseball crap and it wasn’t working. But Seth and Evan [Goldberg] he made a special movie that was really funny and all the performances were singing. And I’ve been proven wrong. My experience was not necessarily wrong. I’m not saying I’m not right to be angry sometimes. But all my assumptions about it were wrong.
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