Paul Rudd
Since his charming performance in Clueless 11 years ago, Paul Rudd has built a career that defies the usual categories. On the screen, he brings an easygoing irony and believability to crowd-pleasing comedies like The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Anchorman and the forthcoming I Could Never Be Your Woman. But nothing in his film work or his role as Lisa Kudrow's fiancé in the final seasons of Friends indicates that Rudd feels equally comfortable tackling Shakespeare's Orsino in Twelfth Night at Lincoln Center, O'Neill's Jamie in Long Day's Journey Into Night in London and the dark, contemporary plays of Neil LaBute (bash, The Shape of Things). Now—as everyone with even a passing interest in Broadway knows—Rudd is starring opposite Julia Roberts and Bradley Cooper in Richard Greenberg's Three Days of Rain at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. In a demanding two-part performance, he plays the damaged, talkative son of a famous architect in Act One and that character's father, an emotionally distant stutterer, in Act Two. Critical reaction to Joe Mantello's production has been mixed, but the play's limited run is almost completely sold out and crowds gather nightly on West 45th Street after the show. An upbeat Rudd chatted with Broadway.com about his moment in the media spotlight.
So, Paul, you're starring in the biggest, most high-profile Broadway show in years…
It's surreal, isn't it? I think we all kind of underestimated, naively, just how surreal it would be.
Are you enjoying yourself?
Absolutely. The play is such a masterpiece, so it's thrilling in that regard, and it's a privilege to play two characters that are so complex and fascinating and moving. But it's also demanding. I don't know if I'd say it's fun.
Obviously selling tickets is not a concern, but have you felt extra pressure because of all the media attention?
Well, probably not as much as her [Julia Roberts]! [Laughs] But she is so amazing, you would never know. She handles everything with such grace, it's mind-blowing to me. She's so secure. I'm so impressed with her, as is everyone who works at our theater. This experience doesn't feel like it might with somebody else in that position.
People assume that movie stars like Julia Roberts have to put up an invisible wall around themselves in order to get even a little privacy.
It's the opposite with her—there isn't any wall. Some other [famous] people I've worked with let you in only so much, but she is so normal it's surprising. She's a quality person. I really like her. And Bradley, too; I've known him for a while. It's pretty great in a cast of three to like the two other people.
You can't really do that with this one. [Laughs] I don't read them, but I know what they say. It's impossible to avoid. Normally you could say, "I'm just not going to read the papers," but if you go online, we're the number-one story. We've talked about it [backstage], sure, but ultimately you just go back to the fact that we're doing a play we love, and we're still trying to figure it out. After a performance or two, we weren't really thinking about the reviews.
Let me ask you this bluntly—do you think Julia is good?
I do. I really do! In the first act, the character of Nan is tightly coiled and reserved in a way that Julia Roberts is not expected to be. That might throw some people. It's like, "Wait a minute, where's the Pretty Woman?" You know, there's so much attention when somebody this high-profile does a play. A lot of the reviews didn't even talk about the play. It was kind of about her.
The critics definitely set the bar extra high for movie actors who decide to try the stage. Jessica Lange, who did Long Day's Journey Into Night with you in London, is a good example of that.
She actually got raves in London, but that's true-the critics do set the bar pretty high. And frankly, I think too many times actors blame the critics and say, "They just don't get it." But sometimes they do! [Laughs] Maybe they're actually right. You know, we did get some good reviews, too.
Have audiences been prepared to experience the complexities of this play? Or do you get the feeling that a lot of people just bought a ticket thinking, "I want to see Julia Roberts and the guys from Wedding Crashers and The 40-Year-Old Virgin"?
They come for all kinds of reasons. Obviously a lot of people have come to see Julia…
You and Bradley, too.
There's one chair reserved for that. [Laughs]
You're too modest. But do you find that even star-gazers are drawn into the play?
Oh yes. After a while, the whole "there she is" factor goes away and they are watching the play. The audiences have been fantastic. They really seem to like the show and be moved by it. It's a tricky play, especially the first act. There's not a whole bunch in the way of plot; it's kind of elusive. The second act answers many questions, and that brings its own level of fulfillment.
Did you see the original production, with Patricia Clarkson, John Slattery, and Bradley Whitford?
No, I was doing another play [The Last Night of Ballyhoo on Broadway] at the time.
Your scenes with Julia have so much intimacy, both when you are playing brother and sister in Act One and then when you are falling in love with her in Act Two. Did that chemistry come naturally?
We hit it off right way. First of all, she's a joker. She loves to laugh and goof around, and I'll choose that over rehearsing any day of the week because I think it informs the work. Many people have said, "You guys really do seem like brother and sister." That dynamic established itself early on.
So is it strange to have to turn around and be besotted with her in Act Two?
It's not too hard to be besotted with her! [Laughs] But it really was like rehearsing two different plays and two different characters. When I'm doing the first act, I'm not even thinking about the second act, and when I do the second act, I don't think about the first act.
Oh, I'm thrilled. When I read the play, I thought these parts were incredible. And it wasn't really even an audition. Julia was deciding whether or not to do the play, so there was a reading with Joe [Mantello] and Richard [Greenberg], Marc Platt, the producer, and a couple of other nameless, faceless, intimidating people. I had been invited to do the reading, and the e-mail had said to look at Pip and Theo. Right before we started, I said, "This little song I'm supposed to sing at the beginning of Act Two…" and Joe said, "You're reading Walker and Ned." They all looked at each other with concern, and I said, "It's okay, I know the play." It was a little nerve-wracking to do a cold read of Walker, who is hyper-verbal, and then Ned, who is a stutterer [Laughs]. I just threw myself into it and I guess it worked out all right. With Richard's stuff, you have to throw yourself into it; otherwise, you can't fill it.
Do you prefer one character over the other? Does one feel more right to you when you're doing it?
I love Walker. I love everything that's written for him. During rehearsals, I didn't feel that I was on terra firma in Act Two as much as I had been with Walker, and then it totally switched. Once I felt comfortable with Ned's stutter and I could focus on the relationship between Ned and Lina, I started feeling more relaxed.
Did you and Julia bond over the fact that you are parents of toddlers? [Rudd and his wife, Julie, have an 18-month-old son, Jack; Roberts and husband Danny Moder have 17-month-old twins, Hazel and Phinnaeus.] How are you juggling everything?
Well, my wife is really the savior here. She's with him all the time. Whenever Julia is not at the theater, she's with her kids, and on matinees days she goes back and forth. And she has two of them!
After your success in movies and on Friends, no one would have been surprised if you'd given up theater, and yet you continue to do low-profile readings in addition to full productions. Why?
I love it! Theater is the most enriching and thrilling thing to do as an actor. It trumps movies and all that other stuff. People say, "You must love the instant feedback," and we're all attention whores for sure—that's why we choose this profession. But it goes beyond that: There's something magical about a shared experience in a theater, with actors and an audience. I don't know if the audience members realize just how huge a part they play in a production. How they are determines how we are, and when it all works, it's magical. I still remember plays I saw 15 years ago; it's resonant in a way that films can't be, even though I love movies. It's right there, and when it's over, it's over. There's something so cool about that. And there are so many great plays to do! Last but not least, it is the one way to improve as an actor. When you have to do the same thing every day and try to make it work every day, you get better. You understand subtext and character dynamics more. I read scripts differently because of the plays I've done.
Do you think Julia and Bradley understood what eight shows a week are really like?
I think certain things are surprising to them—just how much work it is, especially this play. Eight shows a week in this play is different from eight shows a week of something else, just because of the mental anguish and everything else that's going on. I can remember doing Long Day's Journey Into Night and early on thinking, "Jesus Christ, this play was never intended to be done this many times a week." [Laughs] How do people survive it? There are certain plays you can't relax in. So were they prepared for that? I don't know.
Of all the actors who combine theater and film, you have the biggest contrast in the kinds of parts you do: Long Day's Journey… Anchorman… Twelfth Night…The 40-Year Old Virgin. Is it some kind of weird fluke that you can work in so many different styles?
No, but I love it that you would think so [Laughs]. It's no accident; it's exciting that I've been able to do both things. I love them equally. My taste isn't in one type of project, and that's ultimately the goal, isn't it—to be able to do different types of roles in different types of projects? I'm a comedy fanatic, and it's crazy to be in these really successful, specific comedies. Something like Anchorman is abstract and broad and extreme, but even in something that ludicrous, you have to play the reality of the situation. Otherwise, it's not funny. The 40-Year-Old Virgin is more reality-based even though it has broad moments. But you know, in life, the way I've dealt with any kind of pain or trauma is through humor. Using humor in a dramatic situation is what gives it weight and can make it really moving. And the same is true with a comedy. I don't really differentiate things that much.
[Laughs] I don't know.
I read that you did it as a student with Ben Kingsley.
I did a Jacobean drama program in England and I did a scene from it that he directed. I've never been in a full production of Hamlet. In all honesty, I respond more to Cyrano de Bergerac. Hamlet is unbelievable, of course, but Cyrano is a role that has everything, in a play that has everything. Not now, but someday I'd like to think about that. I don't have that feeling of "I have to do" a certain role.
But you're in the position now where you could choose a role in the theater, given the success of the movies you've done.
Everything does sort of boil down to your recognition factor, because the business is so money based. It certainly helps, but I don't think I'm in a position to pick and choose. One thing's for sure, I hadn't done a play in a few years, and now I'm asking myself why I've been away so long. I just love doing it so much!
It's nice to hear you sounding so cheerful; given your preference for leading a low-key life in New York, I wondered if you were feeling overwhelmed at finding yourself in the middle of a media circus.
Well, it's not really geared toward me! [Laughs] I can slip out the side door.
Don't the autograph seekers want to meet you and Bradley too?
They do in the same way that somebody waiting outside Yankee Stadium would try to get [second baseman] Robinson Cano while they're waiting for Derek Jeter.
No, no, you are Hideki Matsui.
He's my favorite Yankee. So… okay! Thanks!
