I was waiting with half a dozen
other journalists for Zach
Galifianakis to arrive at the roundtable interview promoting the Toronto Film
Festival premiere of his new movie "It's Kind of a Funny Story, and we were all
feeling a little uneasy. What if he was like all those other comics who shut
off all affect once they're off duty? What if he was a sarcastic jerk like his
persona on the hilarious "Between Two Ferns" videos? But then he showed up, cherubic, bearded, and, ironically enough given
the title of his biggest hit movie, hungover, and all fear vanished. He was a
nice guy and wanted to share his thoughts and make us laugh.
A bit different from some of the roles he's
played, like the sadistic faux mesmerist IRS accountant in "Dinner for
Schmucks,"in which he steals every scene he's in. Or the suicidal mental patient in his
new movie. And a lot less threatening than the crazy guy in "The Hangover" who
is having sex with a geriatric hooker in an elevator in the photo montage at
the end of the movie.
Zach Galifianakis [offering everyone muffins and Danish
pastries and muttering]: ... the last thing I want to do is talk about stuff
that I've been promoting all day and then you feel like you're promoting it
again.
Q: Have you gone out much of the festival?
ZG: I haven't seen one movie, but I've been out for dinners
and drinks for the last three nights, and I probably will tonight.
Q: This role was a relatively serious one for you. Is that
what appealed to you about Bobby?
ZG: Yes. I had been in a movie called "The Hangover," which
is kind of known, and I wanted to make sure that the next thing I did wasn't
exactly in the same heartbeat as that. So it was a conscious thing, plus those
directors are great directors [Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck] and I'd seen their
movies and I was very flattered that they would ask someone like me who's
probably known for more outlandish stuff to be in the movie. Really to me, as
far as trying to do a movie, it's all about the director, or in this case
directors. And if you feel confident with them, and they let you do your thing,
I'm all for it. Even if it was a porno.
Q: Actually your character in "The Hangover" could end up in
the same situation as your character here.
ZG: Maybe so. I'm playing these parts of nutjobs. But in this
one I was trying to make him a bit more of a thoughtful nutjob.
Q: Did the directors give you pretty free reign as far as
improvisation?
ZG: It's tough to remember. One scene that was pretty
heavily improvised more than the others was the basketball scene, where I'm
kind of role playing. We knew that we wanted to do a role playing thing, but it
came out on the day. But the other stuff was pretty scripted. But you add your
little here and there, your little decoration of things around the lines.
Coming from a standup or comedy background that's the thing that's most
important to me. I'll ask a director, "Hey, can I make stuff up here and
there?" And if they say yes...I had a director this summer who said no, and I
said hmm, okay, I can't do it. And I'm so glad I didn't do it.
Q: Why would they choose you in that case, when that's one
of your talents?
ZG: Well I think that's the point. A lot of people don't
realize that when you have a comic who has years and years of doing that stuff,
that's why you employ them. Because they can help you.
Q: Is there a conflict between your sensibilities as a comic
and as a movie actor?
ZG: It's not really a conflict. I was a standup comic, and I
was doing my own thing, and people weren't asking me to be in anything. And
then people were asking me to be in stuff, and I really didn't think about it.
I've had people tell me I'm a sellout because I came from such an underground
comedy scene for years, where you did kind of rebel against the system. I never
did that but the comics around me did, but they're all getting tons of Hollywood work too; it's funny how that worked out.
Q: You had a really easy rapport with the teens in the movie. Did you enjoy
working with young kids?
ZG: These are mature young kids. Emma comes from a Hollywood family. Keir's [Gilchrist] super mature. Zoe [Kravitz]
is mature. They were the mature ones and I wasn't when we weren't filming. I
was laughing a lot and they weren't.
I'm 40. I don't really hang out with teenagers that age. I
haven't in so long. I don't like teenagers. I see them on the subway, I'll go
on the next car. But they were very professional, more serious than some of the
adults on the movie set, which was interesting to see.
Q: As you get more film work will make time for standup? Do
you miss it?
ZG: I do miss it. When I'm in a city, two nights ago I was
looking for a club to perform in Toronto,
if I'm in a city I'll get up and do it. But as far as touring, I don't know if
I'll do that for a while. I like the acting thing. It's fun and new to me.
Standup - when you're on the road it's very lonely, and it can be very, well
it's lonely. And you can get sick of it, and I did, and I was getting burned
out. And I got lucky because Todd Philips [director of "The Hangover"] called
me in.
Q: What makes you decide on a certain day that today's the
day you'd like to go out? Do you need an outlet?
ZG: I write things down on a napkin, and stick it in my
pocket. Put it in my computer, and once I have enough new stuff...the scene where
I came from, the audience doesn't want to hear stuff they've heard before. So
it challenges you. A lot of the themes of the standup shows I go to are, we
know you're doing new stuff, we'll be forgiving of it. We don't want to hear
stuff you've done before. So once I've build up that stuff I'll go and perform
it. It comes in spurts. Sometimes I can't write anything, and I don't sit down
consciously and write. It pops into my head, and I'll write it down. I'll go
perform it, it bombs, I get sad. And the cycle starts again.
Q: They say that comedy is kind of a way of counteracting
mental pain or sadness or anger. Do you think that's true?
ZG: I think that's a stereotype of comics in general, and
there's a reason there's a stereotype. Certainly a lot of comics come from bad
upbringings and sad situations. I know a lot of comics that are medicated, a
lot. A couple of my good friends are overly medicated. Some people, some people
are born with a mathematical mind, I think some people are born with a comedic
mind. And sometimes it's a combination of both.
Q: When did you first discover that you had a comedic mind?
ZG: Well, I had a comedic environment. I'm the unfunny one
in my family. That's the way we communicate, through humor. When we bring
someone in, when they see us communicating, it's a lot of insults. A lot of
heated political discussions that turn into humor. It's just the way I was
raised. I don't know if it's a Greek thing. But also coupled with an extreme
amount of love in my family. My friends in high school would always complain
about their parents getting divorced. I would say, "You got it lucky man.
You're parents are getting divorced. My parents love me too much. My dad's
kissing me when he drops me off at high school."
Q: Since "The Hangover"'s come out what's the #1 thing that
people shout to you from the street?
ZG: "Hey, aren't you the fat guy from ‘The Hangover?'"
Q: The photo montage at the end of "The Hangover," there's some really weird
stuff going on. Is that all faked?
ZG: The elevator thing was not real. I had a talk with the
elderly lady and I was like, "Ma'am I'm so sorry we have to do this." She was
like an old porno lady. She could care less, she's done much, much worse. You
can see it on the internet.
Q: So that wasn't your idea?
ZG: No. I actually offered Todd Phillip's assistant $1000 to
somehow talk Todd out of having that in there.
NEXT: From a hamburger joint in Times Square to Cirque du Soleil.
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