Jay Baruchel. Joel C. Ryan/Invision/AP Jay Baruchel talked to Insider about playing BlackBerry founder Mike Lazaridis in a new movie.
We chatted about his hatred for the iPhone, his equal hatred for the wig he wears in the movie, and more. “BlackBerry” opens in theaters on Friday. Jay Baruchel’s anxiety-filled comedic talents made him one of the stars of Judd Apatow projects like “Undeclared” and “Knocked Up” in the early 2000s, and later the voice of Hiccup in the hit animated franchise “How to Train Your Dragon.
“And that’s what makes his performance so good in “BlackBerry. “As one of the nerdy Canadian founders of the smartphone, he commands the screen without leaning into the things that have made him famous. Directed by Matt Johnson, “BlackBerry” chronicles the rise and dramatic fall (thanks iPhone) of the first-ever device that allowed you to make calls and send emails at the same time.
A mix between “The Social Network” and an episode of “Silicon Valley,” this comedy is fueled by its two main characters — co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, played by Baruchel and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” star Glenn Howerton. As Howerton’s Balsillie is a powder keg of rage, Baruchel’s Lazaridis goes from nebbish innovator to a corporate shark, complete with slicked-back white hair, tailored suits, and a befuddlement over why anyone would want a phone that’s just all screen and doesn’t have keys to type. For Baruchel, 41, it’s a performance that shows his growth as an actor.
Even though it meant having to do it with an extremely uncomfortable wig on all the time. “I would have to take three showers to get all the glue out,” the actor told Insider. Here, Baruchel chatted with us about his hatred for the iPhone, Arnold Schwarzenegger picking a booger off his face while they were shooting the upcoming Netflix show “FUBAR,” and why we shouldn’t get our hopes up about him teaming with Seth Rogen and the other Apatow ensemble anytime soon.
(L-R) Jay Baruchel and Glenn Howerton in “BlackBerry. “IFC FilmsIt sounds like, just within the last few years, you stopped using a BlackBerry. Yes, 100%, and I still miss it.
I hate the iPhone that I’m talking on right now — and not just the one in my hand, I hate them all! And basically, you were guilted into changing to an iPhone. Correct. That’s exactly right.
Everybody moved on. When my mother was telling me that I had to get with the times, I realized it was time. And I don’t need half the crap that’s on this thing.
Being from Canada, a big reason you were drawn to “Blackberry” was to be able to highlight an innovation created by Canadians, right?And one that I actually liked. And it’s not like this is a commercial for it. I have no interest in making any version of corporate propaganda.
I’m not even that into a love letter to a product, but what I am interested in is drawing attention to a pretty profound innovation, and an important one. If anybody is interested in how the way that we communicate and relate to one another is largely informed by smartphones then it should be interesting to see where that started. It’s all crazier when you come to learn that the innovation was made by some nerds in Waterloo in the late 1990s.
Frankly, the foundation of how we live and communicate today is this device. That’s the thing. I’m less interested in how much people liked it when it was around.
What I think is much more interesting is how fundamental it is to this world that we’re in today. Especially that BlackBerry is somewhat forgotten. The iPhone has given us all amnesia in a way.
But in terms of Canadian ingenuity, it is having a spotlight at the moment. There’s this movie, as well as the Super Bowl commercial of Dave Grohl giving love to all the things invented in Canada. Have you seen that?Oh! That’s great.
[Laughs. ]You’ve never seen it?No, I haven’t. That’s awesome.
(L-R) Jay Baruchel and Matt Johnson in “BlackBerry. “IFC FilmsNow, correct me if I’m wrong, is this the first time you’ve played a real-life person?I mean, technically, the guy I played in “Almost Famous” was a real person. Mike Lazaridis is a little more rich and famous than that guy.
[Laughs. ] You’re not wrong. Mike is a little more wealthy than anyone I’ve ever known, combined.
But I think you’re right, I never thought about it, but yes. Did you do a deep dive on Lazaridis or just have the script be your guide?The script. And actually, that was a very early question I asked of Matt: “How much of an impersonation are you interested in?” I was curious what his priorities were.
He was much more interested in me and the “good music,” let’s say, that comes out of me. He wanted to see how that would sound with the notes he’d written. So the Mike in his screenplay is not necessarily the Mike in real life.
This is not from transcripts. This is not a recreation from a documentary. This is a meditation or a poem based on a book based on true events.
So I went off the Mike on the page. And it’s clear that you are doing things in this movie that are very non-Jay Baruchel. The ticks and mannerisms that we have come to know from you are not in this performance.
Was that a challenge not to go back to the old bag of tricks?It was something that MJ and I talked about early on. Once we figured out the guy that we were going to create was going to be something that wasn’t an impersonation of Mike and also something I’d never really done before, I really tried to take away the things that would be crutches for me: moving my hands a lot when I talk, I have an awful fucking instinct to bust a joke in a scene, all of the stuff that one develops being on set every year since 1995. I tried to mitigate and play defense against that.
We felt the tension that would create would be interesting, just the effort to resist my impulses. It was challenging and fun, but every night I would go home and think I sucked. Then, when I started wearing the real serious fuck-off wig towards the end of the movie — which took two hours to put on and an hour-plus to take off — all I thought about was, “Thank fuck the wig is off.
“At the same time, I was also making this Arnold Schwarzenegger show I’m on. Jay Baruchel in “BlackBerry. “IFC Films”FUBAR” on Netflix.
So you were going back and forth shooting both at the same time?Yeah. So that’s why I couldn’t dye my hair for “BlackBerry. ” I basically had my normal head of hair because I needed it for “FUBAR” and I had to glue it all down and put a bald cap on to get the wig on.
It didn’t help that there was a serious heat wave going on at the same time we were making “BlackBerry. ” So finally when you saw footage, you realized it was all worth it. You know what, when we were shooting.
Even if I second-guessed myself I knew what was being shot was spectacular. I knew Glenn was amazing and Matt was directing the fuck out of it. I knew it was fucking good.
And to your point, I have to highlight the last shot of the movie. I won’t give it away, but only to say it’s very much an ode to “The Wolf of Wall Street” ending where DiCaprio is saying to all the people at his talk, “Sell me this pen. ” Was that a scene where you just knew you were on the right movie?Oh yes.
And to be honest, I was annoyed about something when we shot that so it elevated the performance in that scene. I forget what I was crabby about, but it worked because, in that shot, Mike is crabby. So even being annoyed I knew the work was good.
You know it’s going to be a good movie. And there’s another great scene. You and horror-movie icon Michael Ironside have a brief stare-down.
It’s so good that the score for the scene has a “Scanners” vibe to it. That I didn’t really get until I saw it in post. I didn’t have a beat on it on the day.
I really hope I brought my game for that scene. I didn’t want to make Michael Ironside look bad. But the movie fan part of me felt if we’re successful in everything before this scene then this scene is going to land like a motherfucker.
Jay Baruchel and Monica Barbaro in “FUBAR. “Christos Kalohoridis/NetflixYou mentioned “FUBAR,” what was it like working across from Schwarzenegger?Crazy. For someone born in 1982 and therefore was a teen when Schwarzenegger was at his apex, to work with basically my John Wayne was spectacular.
I play his daughter’s boyfriend on the show. He was great and he even wiped a booger off my face. It was crazy.
What?!It was a quick reset on a scene because we were running out of time and they had already clacked the slate and Arnold was like, [speaking in Schwarzenegger accent] “Wait, you have schmutz on your face,” and I was like, “What?” And he just wiped it off my face. He was like, “Oh, it’s a booger,” and he flicked it and we went forward with the scene. So Arnold Schwarzenegger wiped a booger off my face.
[Laughs. ] Sometimes this job is just fucking bananas. Do you see yourself playing Hiccup in the “How to Train Your Dragon” franchise again?If they asked me back and Dean was part of it, I would be up for it.
I think it’s already evolving into something else because they are doing a live-action one. I’m excited to see the real-life interpretation of what the kid looks like. I love Hiccup, so if Dean was there and wanted me back I’d be there in a heartbeat.
Has there been any chatter at all among you and the Judd Apatow gang — Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Jason Segel, Martin Starr — about doing something collectively again?Not really. To be honest, we’re just carrying different universes. There is love there, but the love of somebody that you chime in with four times a year.
It’s like a cousin. I live in Toronto, and I’m doing my shit. They are in L.
A. and doing their thing. I think people dig the shit we did, so I imagine if it all made sense we would all be interested.
But, no, I don’t think it’s anything any of us are itching to do. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity. Read the original article on Insider.
From: insider
URL: https://www.insider.com/jay-baruchel-blackberry-no-work-with-judd-apatow-pals-interview-2023-5
