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http://www.tropicthunder.com/ Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel) interview. Straight-man role is change of pace Jay Baruchel is 'voice of reason' in Tropic Thunder Jamie Portman Canwest News Service Thursday, August 07, 2008 BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Don't mess with a pregnant water buffalo. Montreal's Jay Baruchel learned that lesson big-time during the shooting of Tropic Thunder, the new DreamWorks spoof about a bunch of pampered actors who set out to make the biggest war movie in Hollywood's history. "The water buffalo figures prominently in the movie," explains Baruchel, who plays an earnest rookie actor named Kevin Sandusky. "She's a great animal -- Bertha, her name was. But somehow the trainers didn't know that Bertha was nine months pregnant, and she gave birth during filming . . . that would explain why she was in a bad mood." It seems that pregnant water buffalo get irritable -- especially if they have somebody like Jack Black on their back. Black plays a prima donna cokehead who has made his name in gross-out comedy and is now trying to establish himself as a serious action star capable of more than fart humour. Which is why Black is hog-tied to this water buffalo for a scene set in the Vietnam jungle, with Baruchel playing the guy leading the animal. "One of the rules was -- don't run behind her," the actor remembers. "She'll get scared and start running. I'm pulling her on the rope there, and someone ran behind her real quick. She got spooked and threw Jack off her shoulders. Jack went flying into a generator. His stunt double threw himself between Jack and the generator -- and, in the same split second, she wheels around and just head-butts me with her horns, and I end up in the bushes. Hell hath no fury like a water buffalo scorned!" The incident was anything but funny at the time, but Baruchel manages to make it funny now. He figures being funny just comes naturally. As a youngster, attending a fine arts school in Montreal, he had already developed a reputation for being the resident clown. But Tropic Thunder offered a new kind of acting challenge, because his role as a wet-behind-the-ears rookie getting his first big Hollywood break requires him to function as straight man to the likes of Black, Robert Downey Jr. and Ben Stiller, who also wrote and directed the film opening Aug. 13. "It's so strange," comments Baruchel, who came to the project after demonstrating his comic chops as star of the cult television series, Undeclared, and in an unforgettable cameo as an obsessed Led Zeppelin fan in Almost Famous. Playing straight guy to a bunch of crazy colleagues was more demanding than he expected. He confesses to "ruining hours of usable film because I was laughing at what they were saying. "I basically had to be . . . the voice of reason. I just tried my best to not step on them and maybe, if there was a moment, to try to be a bit funny myself." The actor has shown up today sporting a red "Canada" baseball cap and a black T-shirt inscribed with the words "Love Will Tear Us Apart" in honour of his favourite English rock band Joy Division. He also likes New Order, My Bloody Valentine and France's M83. "It depends on what mood I'm in or how p---ed off I am." But he stresses that his "favourite band of all time is a band from Montreal called Godspeed You! Black Emperor." Baruchel, 26, is an unabashed Montreal booster -- after all, he continues to live there. It's a point of pride that he's managed to pursue a successful acting career while remaining in the city of his childhood. "I have been stubborn about it and it's worked out and it's been real nice." In fact, he saw it as a big bonus to have his next movie, She's Out of My League, shooting in Pittsburgh only an hour away. The film is his first big starring role -- a comedy romance in which he portrays an airport security guy who falls for a sexy English actress. "I work at the X-ray machine in the airport at Pittsburgh and through happenstance, she leaves her iPhone by accident and I come to bring it to her and the romantic comedy develops. I think it's going to be a really funny movie, [but] she's infinitely better looking and attractive than I am." Ever conscious that he's still under 30, Baruchel sees himself as a very lucky guy when he surveys the current state of his career. "It beats a poke in the face," he laughs. "Look, I've been at it since I was 12 years old -- six years in Canadian children's television which is essentially obscurity as far as America is concerned. Then, I've been acting out here since I was 18. I've ebbed and flowed and had heat and momentum and still don't actually understand what those entail -- the only thing one can try to do is try to be consistent. © The Vancouver Sun 2008 http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastlife/story.html?id=b0b77347-4c63-4f6b-8d24-c1ee475ebf1e

Category: Film
Uploaded: August 11th, 2008 @ 2:28 am
Author: WRK1970

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Tags: baruchel biography interview jay kevin sandusky thunder tropic

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