Basically any of the Andersons.
None of the Andersons calling me.
Jack Black knows a lot about rock. Just don't ask him about no Blue Cheer, broham.
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School of Rockis the best thing Richard Linklater's done sinceDazed and Confused, maybe because it has that same sort of anarchic spirit to it.
Dazed and Confused is, like, seminal, one of the great high school comedies. There's that, and there's Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and then I can't really think of anything else that's up in that category.
NotRock and Roll High School.
OK, I'm embarrassed to say I never saw Rock and Roll High School. I guess I should have seen it...
It's not very good, but it does have the Ramones.
Good, but I probably should have watched it for research purposes, you're thinking.
Why would you?
I shouldn't. Here's why I wouldn't: What if I ended up copying it?
Well, there's not a lot to copy.
It's not laziness on my part. It's not wanting to copy. [Jack Black stares at me for a minute, saying absolutely nothing.] I guess I felt like you were accusing me of something.
I'm not accusing you ofanything.
I went on the offensive; my walls came down. But when Linklater agreed to do it, we breathed a sigh of relief, because even though the script is really funny, just doing a movie with a lot of kids there's a huge danger that it's going to slide into the cheese ravine--a ravine filled with cheese and corn--and I didn't want to drown in that ravine. And we knew when he jumped on board, you know, all his films have a great amount of integrity and, like, a sort of a juicy believability. I just made that up. It didn't sound that good: a juicy believability.
Are you more Black Sabbath or Blue Cheer?
Definitely Sabbath, because I don't know who Blue Tear is. No, BlueCheer.
Blue Cheer? I know Blue Oyster Cult. Blue Cheer?Are you making these up?
No, no, no, no,no. Blue Cheer, you'd love them. They're awesome, one of the greatest metal bands of all time.
I'll scoop it up, but I'll tell you now, that's a horrible name for a heavy-metal band.
So you and Richard would have discussions about...
I knew he wasn't going to let it fall into the ravine of cheese and corn, but I was worried, because I've never seen in any of his movies any super-broad comedic performances. This is kind of his first foray into, like, what do you call it? I don't want to say commercial...
Mainstream.
Mainstream film. I mean, what's-his-name was really funny in Dazed and Confused...
Matthew McConaughey?
McConaughey. But it was kind of subtle, and I wanted to bring a ridonculousness to the role.
Well, you're bound to be the opposite of McConaughey, since he's stoned the entire time.
I'm surprised you didn't want to talk about my word--ridonculous.
Hey, I think it's an awesome word. I'd just like to let it slide, and hopefully it will catch on...
Good. Because that's the way you start new words...
You don't acknowledge it and you just...
My bad. You can edit out my overanalyzation.
Do you take criticism from directors well?
I do have a lot of rage in me, and negative criticism is the way to tap into it, which is good if, you know, I'm playing an angry character.
High Fidelitywas the first time it seemed a director let you be on screen who you appear to be off screen.
High Fidelity was the first time I was like, "OK, I'm gonna go all the effing way. Come hell or high water, I'm going to do what I think is going to be the strongest choices." And after that I had some more opportunities, but you don't get those cool projects too often. The Rolls-Royces only drive by every blue moon.
It seems to me you are nothing but natural instinct, and it strikes me that maybe it's hard for people to tap into, which maybe makes it hard for you to find things that will satisfy you.
Well, I wanted to do more things like that. That's the problem. It's so general, and the hardest thing is figuring out what you really want, because you know, generally, "Yeah, I want to do something cool like that," but you have to really home in on exactly what you want to do, and then it's not so hard to do it. But, yeah, figuring out what you really want is the first thing in the Jack Black Success Plan. The second thing is relaxing. And that's easier said than done.
