—So how did you come to be involved with Meet Bill?
"My agent and I were on a plane some time, and she laughed out loud while reading a script, and I said, ‘what?’ And she goes, ‘Oh, this script.’ And I asked, ‘Well, what is it.’ And she said, ‘Bill.’ It was called Bill then; now it’s called Meet Bill. She handed it to me, and she said, ‘You should do this.’ And I read it and laughed. They probably had someone else in mind but couldn’t get him, so I came and we met and liked each other.
"It’s really interesting how involvement comes around. I think it’s all a scheme by agents. They show some interest, and when you ask about it they nonchalantly say, ‘Oh, this? Yeah, Brad Pitt wants to do it, but he’s not going to do it.’ And you’re like, ‘Oh, he does!?’ I’m convinced that’s what happens."
—Were you told someone else was interested in the part?
"No, but there always is. Movies always go to five guys. Then when those guys can’t do it, it just filters down. They’ll always say that you were their first choice, but you know it’s not true. But five guys can’t do all the movies in the world, and sometimes you’ll find a gem — like Thank you for Smoking or something like that. And then you’re just like, ‘I don’t give a crap who’s doing this movie. I’m doing it.’ And you can’t believe that one of the other guys isn’t doing it. That’s how that movie came about, and then everybody else just kind of fell into place."
—Were you concerned at all about working for first-time directors?
"Well, it always takes a little bit of thought. In this case, Melisa [Wallack] had written it. She and Bernie [Goldmann] are from here, but they’re well ensconced in Hollywood. And Bernie is a producer. He knew what he was doing. But the main question with first-time directors is, can they tell a story? Can you tell the story you want to tell? Can we all tell the story? And can we put this together to make it what we all want it to be? And then you have to take stock. You have to ask yourself, can I do it? Can I fulfill my part? Can I play this character? Do I want to play this character? Yes. Can I fulfill my role? I hope so. I’ll try my best. Do I have a track record of doing that? I think so.
"What kind of money is involved? What kind of pressure is involved? Ok. It’s low budget. It’s very low budget. It’s independently produced. What are the producers going to help these guys get through it? What’s their track record? So I get to add all that stuff up. Right? And usually I’m doing it like this (snap) and it’s an emotional reaction: ‘I just want to do it. I don’t care.’
"It’s a crapshoot. That’s what it comes down to. It’s a crapshoot. But then again, you have to stack it against what else is around. What else have you got? You want to wait three months until the next crop of movies comes in? It’s an interesting process. Obviously, I thought this was a good idea. I wanted to play this character. I liked the people. So, you just have t
o go, ‘Look, come hell or high water, I’m going to do this.’ I worked with a lot of experienced directors who didn’t do a very good job. So, what are you going to do? These movies, too, are smaller movies. You shoot them in six or eight weeks. It doesn’t kill you. You just go have a good experience. For me, it was a jump into another genre that I hadn’t done, which was a full-out comedy, adult comedy. I do like comedy very much."
—But you’ve done comedy before. How was this different?
"This is a more physical comedy. I want to be funny in this movie — physically. I mean, it’s not an attractive role. I’m not really playing a lead man in it. There’s a lot of danger in it. You’re making fun of yourself. You’re getting in a Speedo. You’re shaving your body. You’re eating chocolate.
"Then you have to say, ‘Well, who’s going to give me a chance to play this role? Are we going to do this for 50 million dollars for awards?’ Probably not. ‘Do I want to go out and try something like that?’ Yeah.
"This happens every single week. A small bill will come out where you’ll have an actor who plays an unexpected character in a role. I think it’s great. It’s a way of refreshing ourselves. And I think that the public gains a quiet confidence in the actor. And next time he comes out in an action movie or a ‘stupid romantic comedy,’ they just get a little bit of extra credence. A lot of these movies are what made our careers, too. Sometimes we’re most remembered for those charming little movies – like Juno. Juno is still a really small movie. I had the same issues with Jason – all sorts of questions. What are you going to do? I have to play this role. It just happened with another movie. I just finished two and half months of a movie called Traveling with Jennifer Aniston. I had to play that character. There was no ifs ands or buts about it. And I was not first on that list. But we made it. We did it. Granted, it was a bigger budget. And it was with a studio."