The actor Jack Black was obsessed with: “He was clearly a master”
Nobody who carries themselves in the way that Jack Black does can ever be accused of lacking in confidence, but the actor and musician was so petrified of following in the footsteps walked by an actor he idolised that he almost missed out on a star-making role.
What makes it even stranger is that the thespian in question had absolutely nothing to do with the project he was scared of committing to. Still, the association alone was enough to instil Black with a deep-seated trepidation that could have sent his career spiralling in an entirely different direction.
Throughout the 1990s, Black had been gathering bit-parts in dramas and blockbusters that spanned everything from Tim Robbins’ satire Bob Roberts to Kevin Costner’s Waterworld by way of Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks! and Sylvester Stallone’s Demolition Man, but he wasn’t a star.
In fact, he was nowhere close to it until High Fidelity came along. At the turn of the millennium, Stephen Frears’ record store comedy worked wonders for his standing by utilising his signature brand of wild-eyed charisma and endearing sense of humour.
The downside was that he’d already turned down the part of Barry Judd, partly because he was frightened. It was a major part from a known director who had an Academy Award nomination under their belt, which was enough to dissuade Black initially.
“If I’m really being honest with myself, I was terrified of failing,” he admitted to Consequence of his reluctance to commit to High Fidelity. “I was terrified of being bad in this movie, and also terrified of working with Stephen Frears.”
So terrified, in fact, that the spectre of a film about as far away from High Fidelity in every respect loomed large at the back of his mind. “I had seen Dangerous Liaisons like 12 times, mainly because I was obsessed with John Malkovich,” he said. “I really wanted to be John Malkovich. But he was clearly a master, and I was intimidated that I wasn’t good enough as an actor to pull it off.”
Even though he didn’t even have to audition and Barry was his if he wanted it, Black was hesitant. He rejected the initial overtures and ultimately relented when Frears personally persuaded him that he was the perfect fit for the character. It was the breakthrough role he’d been searching for ever since he became an actor, and he almost missed out because of his own fears.
Instead of succumbing to his fears for Frears, Black ended up embracing them and delivered a standout turn that launched him to new heights he hasn’t come down from ever since. If he hadn’t, then at least he would have been able to blame it on Malkovich in a roundabout way.
