"Rewinding" Jack Black

Actor/musician Jack Black isn't exactly a "Jack" of all trades but close. He plays a mean guitar and his funny songs rock out when he's part of the musical duo (with Kyle Gass) Tenacious D. We all know he can be both hilarious (School of Rock, Nacho Libre) and serious (The Holiday, King Kong) as an actor and he admits that he's a changed man since becoming a dad.

This week you can catch Jack in the very quirky comedy Be Kind Rewind in which he co-stars with Mos Def. The two are involved with an old-timey video rental store and, when all the tapes get erased in a freak accident, the duo decides to just re-shoot all the movies... on a below-low budget and starring them and the whole neighborhood! This process is called "Swedeing" in the film. The results are hilarious.

We chatted with affable Jack recently in Beverly Hills and he cracked us up! We noted his beard and new "do"; very short hair heavily streaked with blonde. Very different.. ..just like Jack.

TeenHollywood: Okay what's with the tinting?

Jack: Yes, I've been tinted. Highlights. This was a full blonde hairdo and it's just growing out. I haven't dyed it back to the original darker brown because I'm lazy. I just don't want to use any more chemicals if I don't have to. And it looks stylish right? It looks like I went to Vidal Sassoon.

TeenHollywood: Uh... sure. Do you have any project you have to get back to normal for?

Jack: I do have a project, but I'm going to be wearing a wig. A biblical comedy. I'm not playing anyone famous from the bible. I'm just playing a guy who is wandering through.

TeenHollywood: [Is he kidding? You never really know with Jack]. I remember a few years ago you said actually playing King Kong would be the coolest role in King Kong. You get to kind of re-make it in this film. Did it live up to your expectations?

Jack: Well, y'know this was a quite shorter shoot. Thirty minutes to shoot this version of King Kong versus six months to shoot the other one. But, ah, it was fun to be the monster for a minute. Especially with the ingenious toy truck on my face.

TeenHollywood: Was that your favorite movie to 'Swede' because of your connection to it?

Jack: That one was so short. That was just part of a montage. That was kind of cool that it was a montage without any edits in it. Did you notice that? It's kind of brilliant. I don't think it's been done. A montage where you don't edit? I think my favorite was...I really liked doing Robocop because that's my cup of tea. I love Sci-Fi, action. I always wanted to be the Robocop. I wanted to do Road Warrior but [Michel the director] said 'no'.

TeenHollywood: Some people would think 'Miss Daisy' would be your favorite [we're playing with him].

Jack: Well, that was a stretch for me. (Laughs.) That was me trying to grow. No, got on the dress with the worker boots, a really good look. Disguised the voice nicely. Jessica Tandy - have not heard from the Tandy estate. No one has called to say 'thumbs up' or 'thumbs down' yet.

TeenHollywood: When you were a little kid, did you ever run around with a camera shooting your own stuff or were you not one of those?

Jack: Um, I didn't have a camera so no. But I was always pretending to be characters from television or films. Always just sort of like a kid horsing around. No one was filming. But, I had a tape recorder, yeah.

TeenHollywood: It's kind of weird that your film-loving character is the movie doesn't know the real lyrics to the Ghostbusters song. Why not?

Jack: We didn't have the rights to the song at the time that we were shooting that scene and Michel [the director] asked if I would come up with a song that sounded like it, but was not it lyrically or rhythmically so that we couldn't be sued and I was like, 'Yeah, sure.' And I just cranked it out. But then we got the rights to the song, so it was a waste of time, except that it has still made it into the movie because it's pretty funny to go from my really bad version of it to the real song.

TeenHollywood: Your version was hilarious!

Jack :[Whoops, we've encouraged him. He sings the theme as he does in the film] 'When you're walking down the street and you see a little ghost. What are you gonna do? Ghost bust ers!' See, because I know in the original it says, 'Who ya gonna call?' That's the thing, the hook. But when I said, 'Whatcha gonna do?' He [Director Michel] said [does Michel's French accent] 'Non! Too close. Same rhythm. We will get sued.' (Laughs.) So I changed it, 'What are you gonna do?' 'That's horrible. That's horrible!'

TeenHollywood: [we laugh] Getting serious, you've recently become a dad and you had been concerned about that. I'm curious how it's going?

Jack: So far, no screw-ups. So far, so good. He's super cute. He's a dance machine. He does scream if he doesn't get what he wants, though. I think that's normal, but I've learned some new techniques. Someone told me that you have to explain to them why they are not getting what they want. Even if he doesn't speak language yet, he can tell that I'm trying to communicate and he respects me. He still cries, but he cries with less urgency and less protest.

TeenHollywood: Sounds like you've got a handle on the child-rearing thing.

Jack: I don't know. This morning he was going through all those things in the drawer in the bathroom while I was getting ready brushing my teeth and he was trying to get the shaving cream, which I haven't been using obviously, and I said, 'No, no, no, close the drawer.' And he went [makes a child-like "cry" face] 'Ahhhhhhh!' And I said, 'Sammy, I know you want to get the shaving cream and you're upset because you can't because you're gonna make a mess and...' and he's going, 'Ahhhhhhhh!'

TeenHollywood: Can you talk about working with Mos Def in the film?

Jack: Mos Def is an amazing actor. He's the real deal. He's like a method actor. He lets his characters really breathe and take their time in the reality of scenes which was good for me to have that there. He was my anchor. Kept me on planet earth. He was good.

TeenHollywood: It seemed like there was a lot of ad-libbing in the film. Was there?

Jack: There was a lot of improvisation. More so than any movie I've ever done. Michel had all the beats down, but when he first pitched the movie, he was saying it was an improv movie. So, I was prepared for that. But he had a lot more written than I think he was planning on, y'know. It was just clearly written by a dude who didn't speak English. 'I think what you mean is blah, blah, blah.' So that was what the improv was more like, translation improv.

TeenHollywood: What about Michel [Gondry's] filmmaking do you like?

Jack: His inventiveness. Like the shot I was talking about earlier, where you are doing a whole montage, a passage of time within one shot, where you'd normally have 15 shots and that would take a whole week to shoot? He's doing that in one day without any edits. That's something. He's stretching the boundaries and leading the way in many ways and I think a lot of people are going to imitate him and be part of that; carving out new territory.

TeenHollywood: Which movie did you wish you could have re-done or "Sweded" that you didn't get to?

Jack: I love the old Jack Nicholson movies like The Shining. Five Easy Pieces? No. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest would have been cool.

TeenHollywood: Which one of your own films would you like to have done in this movie?

Jack: Ah, I would like to see them do, 'Nacho.' I would like to see someone else in [Spanish accent] the stretchy pants.

TeenHollywood: You are pretty active in the film. Were you injured doing stunts?

Jack: It wasn't too hard. When I was being magnetized? Yeah, I think I got a little cut on my finger actually, but no, it wasn't physically demanding too much. The harder part was doing Rush Hour 2. When I had to fall into the garbage it was a little bit of a stunt, because there was no pads underneath the garbage. I was like, 'Michel, can't we put some pads underneath that garbage that I'm about to dive into?' And he says, 'Non! You'll see them and there's no time!' And I did it and sure enough, I hurt my elbow a little bit. I got a scratch on my elbow. [Michel's French accent] 'Don't be such a babee!'

TeenHollywood: There are some hilarious props in this film. Did you just pick stuff up off the street and add it or was it all Michel?

Jack: It was all Michel's stuff. All of that, the costumes and stuff. I mean, he had help constructing, but they were all his sketches and his ideas, of course.

TeenHollywood: How do you pick a comedy script? Does it have to be funny on the page?

Jack: You can never tell unless you respond to it. And I respond to things, not just because they are funny, but because they move me in a way like this idea was interesting to me because it was saying, 'Hey! These two guys, these two friends in this kind of rundown neighborhood get creative and find a way to escape their own dull existence' and I responded to that neighborhood good vibe in an emotional way that I liked.

TeenHollywood: What's up with your music?

Jack: Ah, yeah, we're writing songs. We'll see. We need a little more time. I'm thinking it's going to be some time in the 'tens.

TeenHollywood: Let's talk other projects. How much fun did you have being a cartoon panda [Jack is the voice of Kung Fu Panda]?

Jack: Cartoon panda was fun. I mean, it's an easy gig in terms of not having to wake up at the crack. Not having to get into costumes or make up. You just go straight to the recording session at noon, have some Koo Koo Roo chicken, a few hours of vocal work and then 'see you in a month'. And I'll come back for another day. So you work like once a month for a few years.

TeenHollywood: While you were voice recording, did you act out any of the Kung Fu?

Jack: Yeah, I get really physical because they have cameras there, but they just use it as reference, not as motion capture.

TeenHollywood: So how do you think you look?

Jack: As a panda? Strong. Solid. Well built. I've seen like, I'd say 60% of it done. The animation is still being tweaked. I'm going to do a little more vocal work tomorrow actually, if you want to come down.

TeenHollywood: So, who do you play in Tropic Thunder?

Jack: We are all playing actors going out to make a war movie, but then we get into trouble when we go out to Vietnam. We accidentally stumble into a different part of Asia. We go off the map and we trespass into a drug cartel's territory and they are shooting at us for real, but we think it's part of the movie, so we just keep on acting and shooting blanks. (Laughs.) I play kind of a Chris Farley-esque comedian who is trying to go for a stretch; be real 'actiony".

TeenHollywood: Let's get warm and fuzzy again. What has surprised you the most about fatherhood?

Jack: Um, that I didn't know that I could feel that much for someone. I was surprised by my own awesome heart.

TeenHollywood: Awwww. Do you want him to follow in your footsteps?

Jack: I think he's going to be in the arts. I do hope that he's an artist of some kind. He doesn't have to be an actor. I hope he does more than just act, because that's a little easy.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.