“The cherry on top of my career”: The one movie Jack Black would love to star in
Every actor has those dream roles that somehow got away from them. As much as someone might be known for being a comedic performer, it’s normally the dramatic roles that are calling their name to prove to everyone they are more than a simple bit actor, and even the dramatic actors have been chasing roles that are slightly more serious than normal. If you look at what Jack Black has done throughout his career, it’s easy to know what you’re going to get from the minute he comes onscreen.
But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, either. Admittedly, movies like The Holiday have given people a chance to see the great range he has as an actor, but when looking at the biggest roles of his lifetime, he’s built up a legacy of being that kind of lovable goofball who can find the bright side in nearly any situation. Even if the script he’s working with is transparently flimsy, it’s easy to see him do his thing in the same way that Chris Farley would come alive whenever he was onscreen.
It’s one thing to know what to expect when Black takes on a role, but perhaps the strangest detour of his career was when people realised that the character in School of Rock wasn’t a joke. Black lives and breathes all things rock and roll whenever he’s out of the spotlight, and even when finding time away from the camera, Tenacious D is far better than it has any right to be for a comedy band.
And that’s because Black always delivers every time he gets in front of a microphone as well. Whereas most rock vocalists would be too afraid to reach into the stratosphere like he does, his voice is unironically one of the best tools in his arsenal, whether that’s doing his best impression of Robert Plant when covering ‘Immigrant Song’ or turning Britney Spears’s ‘Baby One More Time’ into a fairly great piece of dorky goodness when he plays it.
But since Tenacious D will forever be trapped in the world of comedy, Black has had those few moments where he would much rather be able to show off his musical chops in other ways. He has been able to share the stage with rock gods like Dave Grohl and James Hetfield now and again, but he knew that a voice like his could work perfectly well going into the world of musicals.
“I would love to be [in it]. Maybe that is on my bucket list. Maybe that’s what I need for the cherry on top of my career is a proper musical.”
Jack Black
It would be easy to see him in a comedic take on Jesus Christ Superstar or Tommy, but Black always had his eye on movies like Mamma Mia, saying, “I would love to be [in it]. Maybe that is on my bucket list. Maybe that’s what I need for the cherry on top of my career is a proper musical. Should I go ABBA? Would people pay tickets to see that, though?” To answer Black’s question, that would be a resounding YES.
While Black’s vulgar humour in Tenacious D probably wouldn’t fly when going through tunes like ‘Take A Chance on Me’, the energy that ABBA’s songs have is strangely similar to the way that Black sings. He might have to tone things down a little bit so as not to ham it up, but there’s nothing saying that he couldn’t do justice to some of their classic hits if the time called for it.
After all, no one expected his version of Britney Spears to go over as well as it did, so if he had the opportunity to get a musical on his hands, it wouldn’t take him long to find his footing. Will it be replacing Wicked or any of the classic Disney musicals? Probably not, but Black does have that sense of charisma that all great stage performers are built with.
