When someone who is known as a comedic actor goes to drama, it often doesn’t work out, because they really just chose wrong, I think – or maybe they’re just not good actors, I don’t know.
I couldn’t imagine someone playing me or writing a book about who I am. Although I let people write articles and try and express who I am, and it blows up wildly in my face.
When I look at interviews from when I was that age, I come off different than how I am because I’ve matured – and I’ve matured, become a man in front of the public eye.
It’s not unexpected for me to be in a comedy film anymore; I’m no longer the underdog in that world.
You have more of a responsibility to make the audience laugh. In comedy, we do have to say, “All right, it’s been two minutes in the film. We need another laugh here.” With drama, there’s no pressure in that regard. It’s a different kind of pressure, but it’s not like we need to make someone laugh.
People are so funny. There’s no winning with commenters or anonymous people. They’d be rude that I was overweight, and now they’re rude that I’m healthy.
When you do your comedy and your drama, your acting style doesn’t change. If it’s a comedy, the situations and the characters might be a little funnier, but you’re just trying to be honest.
I don’t like to compare things to other things. It always sounds arrogant in print.
I have other tastes besides comedy. I love comedy. I adore it, but I love dramatic movies just as much.
I’ve never been into just really silly stuff.
Besides the fact that I make movies, there’s nothing interesting about my life at all, unfortunately.
I started writing and acting in these little plays and then I was discovered by Dustin Hoffman. He got me my first audition for a film he was in, called ‘I Heart Huckabees.’
I was thin in high school and then I gained weight. I went to a nutritionist. I learned for the first time about what things are healthy to eat, basically.
The comedy really comes from how badly you want these characters to succeed and with a comedy that’s often hard.
I always say I want to eventually shift my career to directing and writing.
When I was growing up, my parents asked me what I wanted to do, and I said that I wanted to live in Springfield. They were like, “Well, that’s not how it works. There is an actor who play Homer, and someone who writes what Homer says.” So, I was like, “Well, I want to write what Homer says.”
Albert Brooks is definitely one of my biggest influences, for sure.
There are a lot of things going into making a movie. So many things can go wrong. So many people that need to show up and bring their “A” game. If one thing is out of place, the whole movie can fall apart.
When you create something you’re free to explore it however you want to do it.
I learn a lot from every director that I work with. I sit on set and watch them, every one.