Stephen Frears on how Jack Black went from “hopeless” to “absolutely brilliant”
A man of many talents, Jack Black has enjoyed an impressive career in both the music and film industries over the years, becoming a beloved household name. The actor started out in the early 1990s with Tim Robbins, who happened to be one of his friends, casting him in several movies.
Between performing as the lead singer of Tenacious D, his comedic ‘mock rock’ outfit, and starring in films such as Dead Man Walking and Mars Attack!, Black steadily rose to prominence. It was High Fidelity, however, that saw him break through into Hollywood. He landed the role of Barry, an elitist record store worker who would’ve definitely thrived (and engaged in heated debates) on niche Reddit forums if they’d existed back then. The role earned him significant recognition as a comedic star, with his character delivering many memorable lines throughout the film, such as “That is perverse, don’t tell anyone you don’t own fucking Blonde on Blonde.”
Black was nominated for several awards for his performance, highlighting his potential. It wouldn’t be long before he further proved himself to have the comedic chops to dominate Hollywood, bagging the lead role in Richard Linklater’s cult comedy classic School of Rock a few years later. He has since starred in everything from animated children’s movies like Ice Age and Kung Fu Panda to franchises like the newest Jumanji instalments and Goosebumps.
However, he might not have had such a successful career if not for his role in High Fidelity, which helped Black to prove just how talented he really is. The film’s director, Stephen Frears, watched Black completely transform, initially calling the actor “hopeless”. Talking to Consequence, Frears explained, “I remember the first shot Jack did. Then I tried to move in for a close-up and I realised he was hopeless. He could only be himself.”
Frears, who rose to prominence after directing My Beautiful Laundrette in 1985, persevered with Black, and soon he realised he had struck gold. “So then I thought, Well, I’ll put two cameras on him. He’s absolutely brilliant. And he’d shoot the text, and then he’d improvise, but he was always better when he was doing the text.”
The director had decided to cast Black after he was encouraged by the screenwriters, but he actually knew very little about the actor. “He came to see me and I said, ‘Well, you’ll be fine.’ But I didn’t really know a great deal about Jack. And then, of course, he was absolutely brilliant. Brilliant. But I didn’t quite know what to expect.” It seems as though Frears’ direction helped Black to hone his skills, and as a result, he went on to prosper in many other comedic and serious roles.
Black added: “Frears was the best, man. He really put me at ease. Although I always felt like, ‘I don’t know if he likes me. He’s never saying anything nice to me.’ But later he told me he loved me and he loved what I was doing. And he’s like, ‘If I don’t say anything negative, that means that I love it.’”
High Fidelity was a huge success, and it was even remade in 2020 as a modernised television series with Zoë Kravitz playing John Cusack’s main character, Rob, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph playing Barry’s equivalent, Cherise.
