Lovable Paul Rudd, every man’s dude
PAUL Rudd recalls that he watched his son more than the movie during a screening in Disneyland. RUBEN V. NEPALES
LOS ANGELES—This is our ode to Paul Rudd, every man’s screen bro. Dudes everywhere will high five each other to know this—offscreen, Paul is easy, cool, prone to break into a sincere grin. He seems the guy who indeed has the potential to be your bud. He’s good-looking but not in an impossibly handsome Brad Pitt way.
And in person, Paul is just as crazy-funny. He’s not the I-am-actually-serious-and-morose-in-real-life-comedian variety. No, sir. The humorous streak that animates his characters over the years—from the surfing instructor in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” the flummoxed dad and husband in “This Is 40,” the macho newscaster with the mustache and sideburns who has names for his private parts in “Anchorman,” the supportive coworker trying to help his pal (Steve Carell) lose his virginity in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” to the husband of Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) in “Friends”—has also livened up our interviews over the years.
In this most recent encounter, at the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California, we asked Paul if he always had this likability, which makes guys have a man-crush on him or think a bromance with him would be cool.
“Thank you for saying that,” said Paul, dapper in a slim fit blue suit with a black shirt. “I grew up in the Midwest, where people seem to be friendly and nice to one another. There is less stress than in some of the other cities.
“My parents raised me to treat people the way you would want to be treated and to be polite. Sometimes, when I get nervous or insecure, I might overcompensate and might not be totally true to what I am feeling inside. But I get nervous and maybe too smiley and polite.”
He added with an ironic grin, “I don’t think I am a dark person by nature. I try and live that way. I have dark moods like anybody else.”
Then suddenly, in a mock-threatening tone, his green eyes flashing with dark threat, and his finger pointing at me, “So watch yourself!” Then he laughed. This is the same guy who noticed he could make farting sounds by twisting his chair during an interview with Clevver Movies’ Erin Robinson. He “farted” his way through the funny two-minute interview. We’re still laughing as we write this.
NEW MARVEL superhero says of his costume, “It was a lot of leather. It was not difficult to move around in it.”
Getting naked
We next asked Paul to comment on his quotes from a Playboy magazine interview (yes, we do read them only for the articles): “I’ve been naked in a lot of my movies. There’s something inherently funny about the naked male body, particularly mine. Ryan Reynolds, sure, it makes sense why he’d strip down. But not me. I shouldn’t be allowed to.”
“The things you are not supposed to say in the right moment can be pretty funny,” Paul answered. “And maybe there is just something inherently funny about a butt.”
He stood up, bent over and pointed at his behind. “When I think about ‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin’ and pulling my pants down, with a camera positioned so it (his backside) was all over the screen, it seemed silly-looking.”
But these days, this dude’s bod doesn’t look silly at all. He’s been in the best shape of his life for his role as “Ant-Man.” In Marvel’s latest offering, Paul plays Scott Lang, who gains a super-suit that allows him to shrink in size but at the same time, it increases his strength. Becoming the incredible shrinking hero, Scott jumps into action to help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, played by Michael Douglas, save the world.
Paul said that he started getting fit for the role when he was 44—he’s now 46. He vows to stay in shape. “What I was doing for about a year and a half was probably impossible to sustain for life. But I have tried to stick with it as much as possible. I still train and work with a trainer. I still try and eat well. Occasionally, I will still have a single malt scotch and I will have a carb but never too far from my diet in case Marvel calls and says, ‘We need you for ‘Captain America 3.’ I have to snap back into it.”
The quick-witted actor was stumped for a moment when asked what he would like to shrink if he had the power do so. After a pause, he answered, “You would think that I would have a ready answer to that.”
But he quickly recovered, breaking into a naughty grin, “I have to think of what you would like to make bigger. I think of my apartment in New York as well as some other things that I probably can’t answer.”
Then he said, “But what would I like to shrink? My stress levels.”
“I DON’T think I’m a dark person by nature,” says the likable and witty actor. RUBEN V. NEPALES
On the red and silver Ant-Man suit, Paul said, “It was a lot of leather. It moved around a lot. It was supposed to be a vintage suit because it was created in the 1960s. One of the coolest things was that there were scuff marks on the helmet and the suit looked like it had seen some action. It was not difficult to move around in it.
“It’s easy to feel heroic walking around in that thing. I felt the part a bit more.
“It was hot and we were shooting in Atlanta. But it was never as bad as I thought it was going to be. It wasn’t so hot that it was miserable to have that suit on. But whenever I took it off at the end of the day, there was always just a real relief.”
Paul’s bro quotient went up even higher when the actor talked excitedly about his kids with wife Julie, Jack and Darby. The three accompanied Paul when he was recently honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
“They’re the best thing of my life,” began the dad who is noted for his raunchy comedies with Judd Apatow. “I am so close to them. My daughter is 5 and my son is 10. They have never seen anything (movies) I’ve done. My daughter is a little too young, but my son will see this movie (‘Ant-Man’).
“Jack is viewing this differently than anything else I have ever done. He is excited to see it. He has never asked, ‘Can I come to the premiere and can I see the movie?’ But he asked if he could come to the premiere of this movie.
Sneak peek
“We were at Disneyland a couple of days ago. They had this sneak preview. We went to watch it. I was watching him even more than this preview. It was amazing to see the preview in 3-D but I kept looking at him. As soon as it ended, he took his glasses off and went, ‘That’s awesome!’”
The expression on Paul’s face was priceless as he pointed out, “In that moment, as a dad, to see that kind of enthusiasm from my son… I told Jack, ‘We are going to the premiere. It’s going to be you and me. It’s crazy; there’s going to be a lot of cameras. But none of it is important. You and me sitting in that theater, watching the movie, having fun and getting to talk about it later —that’s the greatest thing.’”
“Ant-Man” may be about a tiny hero but its production history had giant setbacks, including directorial shakeups (Edgar Wright left and Peyton Reed took over) and rewrites. We asked Paul if he got frustrated with the setbacks and considered dropping out.
RUDD (center), with “Ant-Man” costars Evangeline Lilly and Michael Douglas
“It was certainly a major speed bump early on,” he admitted. “I felt that Edgar (Wright) is my friend. I am here because of him. I came out here while all of it was going on. I met with Kevin (Feige, producer) and Marvel. I heard what they had to say about it. There was never any time to dwell on things because we knew we were going to shoot at a certain time.
“Instead, we focused on what needs to be done, what is it that we want to accomplish and that’s how the whole writing thing came about. The ship, regardless of whatever was being reported, righted itself very quickly.
“Thank God Peyton Reed stepped into the picture because he is a guy who is so magnanimous, even-keeled and collaborative. He has a very specific point of view and knew that world. He’s a comic book fan and knew the character. He immediately gave all of us, not just me, some confidence. That existed from the first day of shooting until the last day of post (production). I thought, thank God Peyton was there to grab the reins.”
Paul will become an even bigger star with the release of “Ant-Man.” He has all these other projects that will further boost his popularity: “The Little Prince” (voice of Mr. Prince), “Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp” (TV series), “The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving” (a drama with Selena Gomez), “Captain America: Civil War” (he’s back as Ant-Man/Scott Lang) and “Sausage Party” (voice for this R-rated animated film).
Paul said that amid this busy schedule, this is what he loves to do when he comes home. “Last night, I got home from the junket. My son and I went outside and kicked a soccer ball for a while. With my daughter, I would sit with her on the floor and play a card game called Rat-a-Tat Cat where she brings out princesses and a doll house. We do that kind of stuff.”
This man is the real deal. To paraphrase one of the titles of Paul’s movies, “We love you, man.”
(E-mail the columnist at [email protected]. Follow him at https://twitter.com/nepalesruben.)
