The 1989 movie that convinced Paul Rudd he could be a “serious” actor
Don’t let his youthful face fool you, because Paul Rudd has been around for a very long time.
His very first acting appearance was in 1991, playing a very eager gamer in an advert for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. He got his first regular TV role the following year and made his big screen debut in the classic 1995 chick flick, Clueless. His longevity and ability to reinvent himself are just some of the many reasons why nobody seems to have a bad word to say about this guy.
In the early ’90s, Rudd studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, the alma mater of legends like Kirk Douglas, Anne Hathaway, and Cecil B DeMille, and was decidedly going to be a “serious” actor.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he declared that he was inspired on this path by Daniel Day-Lewis in the 1989 film, My Left Foot, released when the future Ant-Man star was in his late teens, which told the remarkable story of artist Christy Brown, who was born with cerebral palsy in 1930s Ireland. Unable to walk, talk, or look after himself, he was only capable of controlling his left foot, which he exercised to become a celebrated painter and writer, his biography serving as the inspiration for this rousing film.
The titular role of Brown was played by one of the finest thespians to ever grace the big screen, Day-Lewis, who went to incredible lengths to get into character and was duly rewarded with his first of three ‘Best Actor’ Oscars across his career. Rudd took one look at him and decided he wanted some of that action and styled himself after him, envisioning taking on similar parts once his own Hollywood career got underway.
“I wanted to be this dangerous, brooding, incredible actor,” he explained. Alas, when he sat down with an agent on the eve of his graduation, she had other ideas.
“I have this meeting, and she says, ‘You’re going to need to cut your hair’,” Rudd continued, “She goes, ‘Well, you’re not an edgy guy, you’re more of an all-American type, and they’re going to want you clean-cut’. And I’m like, ‘Oh my God, that is not who I am. That’s the last thing I want to hear’.”
As much as it must have hurt Rudd at the time, that agent was ultimately right, for the actor wouldn’t go on to find fame and fortune as a hard-nosed thespian but rather by wielding his God-given gift for playing charming buffoons, which has made him a lot of money. It’s not like he can’t be serious, as we’ve seen in The Fundamentals of Caring and The Shrink Next Door, but everybody knows he’s at his best when he’s goofing around.
Perhaps there is an alternative universe out there where Paul Rudd has four ‘Best Actor’ Oscars and Daniel Day-Lewis played Phoebe’s boyfriend in Friends. This is not that universe, though, and I think I’m alright with that.
