The one movie Andy Samberg wishes he’d starred in: “I would do anything”
There are many pieces of advice that are incredibly important to take in life. Look after your teeth, buy property as early as you can, embrace uncertainty, don’t be afraid to fail—those kinds of things. But above all those, there is one piece of advice that stands alone in terms of importance. And that is, if you haven’t ever watched actor Andy Samberg’s movie Hot Rod from 2007, then you must do so as soon as humanly possible.
Despite barely anyone going to see it upon release and opening to mixed reviews from critics who we can only assume don’t understand genius and/or have never laughed before, the stuntman parodying idiocy that is Hot Rod is now quite probably funnier than it has ever been.
Executive produced by Saturday Night Live founder Lorne Michaels, the movie tells the story of Andy Samberg’s Rod Kimble, a wannabe action man who spends his days failing to do stunts, hanging out with his mates and trying to fight his ailing step dad, played by John Wick star, Ian McShane, who he hates. The film is as surreal as it is hilarious, with slapstick moments of brilliance mixed with ‘80s montages and even a martial arts move that will render someone immediately incontinent. It is absolutely insane.
Probably predictably, it didn’t make a household name of Andy Samberg, but he did manage that himself after landing the lead role on Brooklyn Nine-Nine—the cop comedy that proved as much of a hit with critics as with audiences and ran for eight seasons.
Since then, the actor has been fairly quiet, mostly providing voice-overs for animated films including the Hotel Transylvania franchise, although he did pop up during the Covid-19 crisis on the Amazon Studios time-loop comedy Palm Springs, which was very well received.
It seems one role that Samberg missed out on, much to his chagrin, was in the David Fincher-directed The Social Network from 2010. Written by the legendary scriptwriter Aaron Sorkin, the movie tracked the history of Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg, twinned by a famous soundtrack by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor.
It was universally acclaimed on release, winning multiple Oscars, Baftas and Golden Globes and topping over 70 film of the year awards. So it’s probably not surprising that Samberg remains a bit miffed to have missed out. He told Deadline, “I remember, I read the script for The Social Network, and it wasn’t like anyone ever asked if I wanted to audition or anything. I just had heard that it had been written. I was like, ‘I would do anything to be any of these parts’.”
Sadly for Samberg, it wasn’t to be, and given the acclaim that the cast received, it would appear that the filmmakers made the correct decision, with the likes of Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield getting countless ‘Best Actor’ nominations. Samberg now agrees with the choices made, stating, “They were like, ‘It’s cast. It’s Jesse [Eisenberg] and Justin [Timberlake].’ I was like, ‘Oh, yeah. That makes sense’. It always struck me from the first page that there was a different kind of writing that exists and that was the first time I was seeing it for real.”
It may have been the part Samberg always wanted, but he was circumspect enough to know when the right people were picked. That hasn’t worked against the comedian however, who has plenty of confidence in his own abilities and has worked his way up from being an NYU film student to an award-winning star of television and movies.
After all, we began this by talking about advice, and Samberg revealed some of the best words of wisdom he ever got from the late TV producer Gary Goldberg, who told him, “Always bet on yourself. If you know you’re going to do the work and you believe in what you’re doing, just get it made.” And the actor really “took that to heart”.
