Close-Up: Bill Hader
Posted by Rob Ortenzi on 11-Oct-07 @ 02:15 PM
CLASS ACTAlthough he's best known for his spot-on impressions on Saturday Night Live, 29-year-old BILL HADER is quickly developing an impressive identity of his own. In addition to his weekly gig on SNL, you can catch him as a supporting actor in what will undoubtedly be the unholy trinity of this year's funniest movies: Superbad, Hot Rod and The Brothers Solomon. While Hader is a terminally nice guy, we do have one word of advice: If you run into him on the street, don't ask him to do his Al Pacino impression or he may open up a giant bottle of Haderade on you. INTERVIEW: Jonah Bayer PHOTO: Jayme Thornton • jaymethornton.com First off, is it really true you did a tour of South Central L.A. with Seth Rogen to get into character for in Superbad? Yeah, we had to go on a drive along with a cop through South Central because Seth and I both play cops in the film-and at the time I had extensions in my hair because I was still shooting Hot Rod, so I looked like Michael J. Fox in The Hard Way. This cop who we were with was busting people in South Central, and me and Seth were in the backseat scared out of our minds. To add insult to injury, I had a ponytail and this army jacket on, and I looked like the biggest narc ever. Wait, how long did you have to keep the extensions in? I had to leave them in all summer because it was easier, cheaper and it looked better than having a wig on every day. Did your new coif change the way you were treated? Well, we were shooting in Vancouver, so I just got offered pot every day. [Laughs.] I was also a groomsman in my friend Brian's wedding, and that was really funny. We looked at his wedding picture and it looked like he was married in like 1987 or something. It's totally like a trashy looking mullet, but I didn't mind walking around like that and my wife didn't care, either. She thought it was funny. Do you get recognized a lot walking around New York City? I did more [on SNL] this season than last season. Recently, this guy got mad at me because we did this digital short [which was this spoof on] The O.C. where Andy [Samberg] and Shia Labeouf and I all keep shooting each other. It aired on the Saturday before the Virginia Tech thing, and a guy came up to me on the subway later that week and was like, "Man, I think you and your show are really fucking irresponsible." Then we had to wait for two more stops basically standing next to each other in silence. You have so many movies in the works right now. It is hard to balance that with SNL? Yeah, it is. I'm doing this movie called Forgetting Sarah Marshall which is another movie Judd [Apatow] is producing, and then I'm doing this movie called Tropic Thunder that Ben Stiller is directing that shoots in Hawaii. I just have supporting roles in both of those movies, but while I'm doing those I'm also going off and doing publicity for Superbad and Hot Rod, so it's busy. Do you think the show has had resurgence with younger audiences lately? Yeah, I think it has. A lot of that has to do with all new cast members and it's a smaller cast, so there's more of a voice-and of course the digital shorts have done so well. Those guys are really smart because they try to mix it up and leave their door open to everyone on the cast to contribute. In fact, I wrote one with Fred [Armisen] called "The Tangent" that aired during the Steve Martin episode. Are you trying to shift your focus away from impressions on the show? Well, on this season, I wanted to do more character stuff instead of being known as the impression guy. I enjoy doing the impressions; it just gets frustrating when people want me to do Al Pacino everywhere I go. When I went in for my audition, I was never like, "I'm going to be the impressions guy," but you have to do three of them. I always would just mimic teachers and stuff like that, but I'd never done celebrities, so I watched Al Pacino do an Emmy acceptance speech for Angels In America and that's where that impression came from. What do you think is the biggest lesson you've learned from working with so many comedy legends? That no matter who you are, there's always more to learn. When Steve Martin hosts the show, he's asking the same questions I am about why certain things are funny or if the sketch is going on for to long, stuff like that. I don't think I could ever-with a straight face-say I know what I'm doing here. ALT CHEAT SHEET After starting out as production assistant in Los Angeles, Bill Hader landed the gig of the lifetime when he joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 2005. Although he's best known for his hilarious impressions, Hader's cameos in You, Me And Dupree, Knocked Up, Superbad and Hot Rod are quickly establishing him as the funniest supporting actor in Hollywood. ALT THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE Since Hader hails from Tulsa, Oklahoma, he'll always have a soft spot in his heart for the Flaming Lips. "The Soft Bulletin is my favorite album of all time," he explains, adding that the first time he met Wayne Coyne he was so nervous, he couldn't talk to him. (Coyne eventually convinced Hader and his wife to dance onstage in costume.) However, when it comes to more modern stuff, Hader is obsessed with Beirut, the Thermals, Wolf Parade, Voxtrot and, above all, the latest from the Arcade Fire. "I know it's not the most original answer, but if I had to pick one album I've been listening to non-stop recently, it'd be Neon Bible," he gushes. "I saw them open with 'No Cars Go' at Spaceland in Los Angeles before the album came out, and that was amazing," he continues, "but to hear it on the album with orchestration, it's so good it gives me chills." |
