Some say the romantic comedy is dead, that its formula is tired and predictable. And actor Ryan Reynolds, now starring in Definitely, Maybe, concedes there is something to this inconvenient truth. "We knew this," he acknowledges. "That's why we had to go in a different direction and do something completely unpredictable." The strategy seems to have worked. Definitely, Maybe has done what a spate of recent romantic comedies have failed to do: garner some critical praise. In Boston, where Reynolds is set to begin work on The Proposal--you guessed it, another romantic comedy--he sat down for a chat with Propeller's Stephen Head.

Propeller: Your character, Will, works in Bill Clinton's campaign office. He's the lowest of the low, of course, answering phones and making photocopies. But was it part of the plan to release this film smack dab in the middle of the primaries, which happen to include Hillary Clinton?

Ryan Reynolds: Nice little release date, isn't it? But no, not at all. In fact, at the time when we were doing the film, we were wondering who the front runners were going to be. We had no idea, obviously. There were rumblings that Clinton might decide to run. And then, when we where shooting in Brooklyn, we had this big set that was supposedly the Bill Clinton campaign office, and people kept walking in wanting to volunteer for Hillary.

Propeller: You're in almost every scene of this movie, which can mean 16-hour days on the set. Was that a hardship for you?

Reynolds: Yes. Well, I mean, it's always difficult. But I love what I do, so I don't mind the long days.

Propeller: How long was the shoot?

Reynolds: I think it was probably about two and a half months.

Propeller: Half of which was spent turning back the clock to 1992. For example, nobody was using cell phones.

Reynolds: We were careful about the cell phone thing. But it's not a perfect science. Occasionally you'll see like a 2004 minivan cruise by--and there goes the take! It can be a problem. And I'm that jackass on set who's always saying, "Oh, we'll just paint it out in post." That costs, like, $40,000 dollars a frame. So the director would say, "No, we're going to shoot it again."

Propeller: How does one prepare for a role like this? Did study the ins and outs of working in a campaign office, or being a political junkie?

Reynolds: I've always been fairly knowledgeable about politics. But here I just did as much reading as I could on Bill Clinton, because that, I think, was really the driving force for my character. In the beginning, he's the guy who emulates this iconic presidential candidate. And of course my journey mirrors Bill Clinton's: my downfall happens around the same time as his. I'm disillusioned with him, and he's disillusioned with the world.

Propeller: So that was all?

Reynolds: I also spent time with a political analysts and a speechwriter--a guy named Frank Wilkinson, who was writing for the New York Times and the Huffington Post. I just kind of hung out with that set. Beyond that, there's not a ton of research I can do.

Propeller: Abigail Breslin plays your daughter. She's a talented little actor.

Reynolds: She's wonderful. You can't quite believe that she's in this pygmy shape--I kept wondering if she was just Judi Dench in good make-up. I loved hanging out with her. And the chemistry and dynamic that we share onscreen is exactly the same that we shared offscreen. We established that right off the bat.

Propeller: It's funny to think that a child actor would go to the director and say, "This is not working."

Reynolds: (Laughs) Actually, I wouldn't be surprised these days, you know? I mean, most child actors are on their fourth stint in rehab. They're pretty intense.

Propeller: So there wasn't any offscreen friction between you and your costars?

Reynolds: (Laughs) No. We all did the junket together in Los Angeles, and we were laughing about that, because it's really rare that you have an entire cast, especially an ensemble cast such as this, eating lunch together. And everyone's still talking to one another, which is a plus.

Propeller: In the movie, your character has the worst job in the office. He's essentially the toilet paper guy on the campaign. What was the worst job you've had in real life?

Reynolds: Oh God, I've had a few pretty bad jobs. The worst was when I worked at this restaurant in Vancouver and my bosses were all irretrievable crackheads. That was scary. They were ingesting their profits, and it was a dangerously sad thing to watch. These guys ran this restaurant, but they were like villains from Miami Vice.

Propeller: I imagine they're no longer in business.

Reynolds: I'd be surprised if they were still breathing. Who knows? But Hollywood is pure as the driven snow. I haven't experienced anything like that.

Propeller: So you made this movie with the makers of Love Actually.

Reynolds: And About A Boy and Bridget Jones...

Propeller: What would you say is their secret to doing romantic comedies?

Reynolds: My feeling is they have a real handle on irony. They're clever producers, and they have a real eye for material that's unorthodox in genres have been a little bit exhausted.

Propeller: There's a belief that romantic comedies are going through a change, that they've lost a lot of their charm. What's your opinion on that?

Reynolds: I think romantic comedies in general are still popular. But there is a formula to them, and that can be a little bit tired. That's why I think this film is different. For example, when you look at the poster for any typical romantic comedy, you think, "Okay. He ends up with her." When you look at the poster for Definitely, Maybe, you have no idea who this guy's going to end up with. You just know he's not going to end up with the daughter. (Laughs) Because that would be a little weird.

Propeller: After Blade and The Amityville Horror, did you get a lot more offers for horror and science-fiction stuff?

Reynolds: Oh yeah. But I don't think I ever did any more of those. The Nines, I guess, was kind of bizarre, but it's not really science fiction.

Propeller: If a studio offered you a Marvel superhero role, is that something you would consider?

Reynolds: Sure. There's The Flash, but that would be DC. The Flash has come up a lot--they did have a project for a while, but it hasn't gotten off the ground. I mean, it's such a complicated movie to do.

Propeller: Actors get pigeonholed very quickly.

Reynolds: It works that way in every genre. You do a big, broad comedy, then suddenly you're getting all these big, broad comedy scripts. So you really have to kind of fight for different stuff. Sometimes you have to audition, or go win somebody over. And that's part of my job. It's something I love doing, fighting for a role.

Propeller: What makes you want to fight for a role?

Reynolds: For me it's usually finding some aspect of the script that scares me a little bit. I have that little voice that says, "You can't do this." So that helps me choose something, it pushes me. Or, to be perfectly eloquent, it scares the s*** out of me. Then I'm in.

Propeller: What was that special something about Definitely, Maybe?

Reynolds: I felt it was a role that James Stewart would have done if he were alive. And that terrified me. I felt like I was suddenly stepping into shoes that were that big.

Propeller: You've mentioned that shooting movies out of sequence can be an issue, especially when actors are trying to grow into the role.

Reynolds: True. I've shot movies where we shot the last scene first, and I just remember wanting to execute the line producer.

Propeller: Do you think you've gotten to a point where you might be able to show other actors how to do a scene? Offer advice, and so forth?

Reynolds: I guess there's never really a way to show someone how to do a scene. But the other day it dawned on me that, well, I've kind of been doing this for a long time. I was shocked to think that I'm 31 years old and I've been doing this professionally since I was 13. I looked at my IMDB page and felt old for a minute. But there's always a part of me that feels like a newbie. I think that's a good feeling, too.

Propeller: But some actors are very attached to their favorite tricks.

Reynolds: Yes, but that's not acting. The best advice I've ever been given, and the best advice I could ever give anyone, is just play the scene as honestly as possible. And listen. The biggest tip in this business is just to listen.

In Michel Gondry's Be Kind Rewind, Jack Black delivers the goods as Jerry, a failing video store's most devoted customer (a.k.a. loiterer). A freak accident early in the film temporarily turns Jerry into a human magnet. And upon returning to the store, which rents only VHS cassettes, he inadvertently erases the entire catalog. It's up to Jerry and Mike--the store's manager, played by Mos Def--to refurbish the merchandise, by videotaping their own, low-tech, personalized versions of every single movie. Propeller's Steve Head recently spoke to Black about his career, his music, and his undeniably magnetic performance in Be Kind Rewind.

Propeller: Michel Gondry said something interesting about working with you: he was intent on confusing you. Did you get a sense of that when you were working with him?

Jack Black: That son of a bitch! That's what he was doing? I didn't know that until right now! Why, I oughta....

Propeller: Were you being intentionally distracted?

Black: Sometimes I didn't know what the hell he was talking about, but I thought it was just his accent. It's so thick, like pea soup--or French onion, I should say. But yeah, before one scene he told me to get up on a jungle gym. And I was like, "What are those toys down there?" And he'd say [imitating Gondry's French accent]: "Don't worry! Go on zee jungle gym and fight for your life like you are hanging from one hundred feet high." Only later, when I saw the playback of the footage, did I get what he was talking about. Michel works in mysterious ways.

Propeller: With so much ambiguity in Michel's technique, how does anything work? It seems like the film would be a total mess.

Black: Don't let his messy appearance fool you, man. He's got a really great crew helping to bring his vision to the screen. He's got it all planned out. Yeah, it's a little haphazard at times, like a child's room, the toys are strewn about. But there's a method to the madness.

Propeller: Michel is a musician, you're a musician, Mos Def is a musician. You guys have any jam sessions?

Black: No. We never broke into a jam session. We really should have. All that music, how did we not form a band? What would we have been called?

Propeller: You'd think all you guys would talk about is music.

Black: There was some talk about Fats Waller, just because that's what the movie was about. But we didn't really jam, not that I can remember. It was a long time ago--like, a year ago.

Propeller: In Be Kind Rewind you guys create your own versions of major films. If you could create a new version of a movie that you guys didn't do, which would you pick?

Black: Hmm, I'd like to go back and do the old Jack Nicholson movies. I just love One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Shining. Nicholson plays the kind of guys that aren't really working in the fabric of society--he did that the best. Those are also the characters I like to play. So those would be fun to do.

Propeller: With the character Jerry, you strike a balance between likable and occasionally dastardly. Sort of meanly nice.

Black: For me I think that's key. You don't want to be Mister Goody Two-Shoes, just so that everyone likes you, because then you get into trouble. So you want to strike a balance. You don't want to be a f***ing evil dude, but you also don't want to be squeaky clean.

Propeller: Reading this script for the first time, you might find the whole thing completely puzzling. But then you see Michel Gondry's name, and it's a whole different story.

Black: First thing I do before I read a script is I ask who's directing. Always. But with Michel--if he just had a turd on a stick and wrapped it in a sweet biscuit, I'd still do it.

Propeller: It's a different kind of script, this one.

Black: He didn't have a script when he came to me. He had a homemade comic book that he drew with crayons and a couple lines of dialogue. It was a very simple story, and it just resonated with me. I was like, "Man, I can see that! Yeah! I could see this being funny and emotional!" It was a good idea.

Propeller: Did they ever consider having the characters remake one of your own movies?

Black: No. I mean, there's King Kong, but we did the old version.

Propeller: Did you know Mos Def at all before you started working on Be Kind Rewind?

Black: I did know Mos Def, but I'd never worked with him before. We did have a shared passion for music and a shared sense of humor. We felt that same things were funny. We hit it off right away when we were rehearsing, everything seemed to fit together well.

Propeller: You two have very different styles.

Black: Complementary. Because he's very real, and his acting style is relaxed. He doesn't rush anything. Whereas my stuff tends to be a little bit more explosive and ridiculous. So together we made a good ying and yang--Laurel and Hardy, as it were.

Propeller: I see you got a military haircut for your last film.

Black: Yeah, it was for a role that I'm done with. It's kind of a military comedy called Tropic Thunder.

Propeller: What's your part?

Black: I play a Chris Farley-esque actor going who's going for a more serious role. He's been doing a lot of fart comedies and now he's going for the Oscar. And he's going out to make this movie, a Vietnam war film.

Propeller: Is that something you would like to do--make a transition from comedies to more serious drama?

Black: Me, I'm just trying to keep it going. I like making movies and I'm not really picky as to the genre. I'll make a drama if there's something interesting out there.

Propeller: You're starting yet another film, Year One, this month. What's your role there?

Black: I'm just a guy in biblical times wandering though the Old Testament stories.

Propeller: Finally, is there any news on the Tenacious D front?

Black: We've been writing. We've got a new song called "Death Star," and hopefully George Lucas will not sue us. But it's so good! Now we just need to write, like, thirteen more songs to go with "Death Star." So I'm thinking it's going to come out in the Tens: 2010 or 2011. Maybe 2019. Somewhere in the Tens, anyway.

Nearly eight years have passed since the last Simpsons CD compilation hit the stores. "It's hard to believe it's been that long," says composer Alf Clausen. "We figured the time is right for a new one. And as you might guess, we've collected of a lot of material to choose from." The Simpsons: Testify, which went on sale in late September, should satisfy even the most ardent fans. It features 41 previously unreleased tracks from the series, including four unaired bonus tracks. Yes, you can finally hear The B-52s signing "Glove Slap," Ricky Gervais singing "Lady," and Kelsey Grammer (as Sideshow Bob) singing the "Hullaba Lula" song--all in the privacy of your own home. Propeller's Stephen Head recently spoke with Clausen about the creation of Testify, what it takes to produce weekly orchestrations, and the upcoming season's most challenging musical episode.

Propeller: In putting together this new CD, what were the main things you took into consideration?

Alf Clausen: First of all, input from the fans. I like to read Internet bulletin board postings and stuff like that, to see what the fans really like and what they don't like.

Propeller: Which tracks in particular made the cut due to fan input?

Clausen: Oh, a lot of them. Everybody really loved the "My Fair Laddy" episode, a homage to My Fair Lady. They really liked "Glove Slap" with the B-52s and the "Everybody Hates Ned Flanders" medley with David Byrne. But the other fifty percent of it is that the songs have to have a certain length. There were some impressive bits that were deleted only because they were very, very short and they didn't hold up as cohesive songs.

Propeller: With these shorter pieces, did you feel that perhaps there was something extend? Or would you even consider composing a piece specifically for the CD?

Clausen: In many cases, the shorter bits included guest artists. And if we were to extend or rerecord something or do something new--well, it's difficult enough to get the artists to come in and do the recordings in the first place. It would require a lot of scheduling. But I'm happy with the choices we made for this.

Propeller: Do you have a particular favorite, something you're very excited about?

Clausen: One of my favorite pieces is "The Very Reason That I Live," where Kelsey Grammer is singing as Sideshow Bob. It's really impressive. I think he did such a perfect job capturing that "arch villain" aspect of the song. I love the sensitivity of it, and Kelsey sings it so beautifully, in a way I couldn't imagine it could be done.

Propeller: I assume you've worked with him many times in the past.

Clausen: He's been on the show for a while, but believe it or not, I've never had the chance to work directly with him. When he comes in to record his vocals, I'm busy composing the score for another episode and can't get away to the recording session. Most of the time, my music editor Chris Ledesma comes in and conducts the vocal sessions for me.

Propeller: Do you telecommute, or do you work in an office?

Clausen: I go in to record the score, but apart from that, I basically work at home. I have a detached studio at my house which I use as my office and my writing space. It's very private and quiet, and that's very helpful.

Propeller: The tracks by Ricky Gervais are fantastic. Can you discuss how they came about?

Clausen: This was one of those cases where the scriptwriters worked with Ricky and they came up with a set of lyrics. They had the framework, and then they gave Ricky carte blanche to do what he does. In the end, he came up with his own song and his own guitar playing--his own performance.

Propeller: Do you work closely with the lyricists? Are you working for them, or are they working for you?

Clausen: They lyrics are written by the scriptwriters. I know almost all of them personally, and work very closely with them. Sometimes I'll get to a point where, for example, I'll find that one phrase in stanza number one doesn't match up with the phrase in stanza number four. Or I'll call them and say, "You've got three syllables here and I need five." Then they'll do a little rewrite to match my phrasings. It's a very nice, collaborative process.


Propeller: Can you connect with them any time of day? Or do you have some non-Simpsons time set aside?

Clausen: [Laughs] Oh yes. I try to leave a little bit of time for myself, but it's very difficult. Normally when I'm composing, I start at about 9:00 in the morning and work until 10:00 at night, and I do that five days a week. On the sixth day I go to music spotting in the afternoon and record the music I've just composed in a 3-to-4-hour session, with a 35-piece orchestra. Sundays are off. Crash and burn time. And then on Mondays I start all over again.

Propeller: Do you have a regular group of musicians that you work with?

Clausen: The musicians are pretty much the same every week. And I'm so blessed to be able to work with the Los Angeles studio musicians because they're the best in the world. The depth of the talent pool is remarkable.

Propeller: What makes you happy about composing for The Simpsons?

Clausen: Well, it's a different kind of show. It's like no other, as far as I'm concerned. I'm not a household name, I'm not a household face. But there are those times when I go to the grocery store, and I hand the clerk my credit card, and he'll say very quietly, "I love the music you do on The Simpsons." Or I'll go to a pizza joint and hear the same thing. And I think, "Wow! What are the chances that this happens in life?"

Propeller: That's a nice way to connect. It might even happen if you're getting carded at a bar.

Clausen: [Laughs] Right!

Propeller: What can we look forward to musically in this coming season of The Simpsons?

Clausen: It's very hush-hush because we love the element of surprise. But I'll say there is one episode coming up where Homer injures his back. And while he's on the table at the hospital, they discover that Homer can sing opera. He becomes an opera singer. Placido Domingo is in the episode and it's pretty funny.

Propeller: You must have been excited when the writers sprang that story line on you.

Clausen: Well, opera is really not my world. I had to do some very quick research on the pieces that Homer sings, which I have to rerecord with my orchestra. So I was excited, but also a little panic-stricken.

Let's forget about sequels, if only for a weekend, and turn our attention to Ratatouille, the newest offering from the wizards at Pixar. Director Brad Bird, the man responsible for The Incredibles, has delivered once again. And the setting couldn't be further from Metroville. Welcome to Gusteau's, the most famous restaurant in Paris, where the meat-and-poultry chef, Colette (Janeane Garofalo), isn't afraid to throw a knife or two--and where the new resident, Remy the Rat (Patton Oswalt), is stirring up trouble. In Boston for some stand-up gigs, Garofalo and Oswalt spoke to Netscape's Stephen Head about their foray into the highly animated world of Ratatouille.


Netscape: Janeane, you're not immediately recognizable as Colette, which fits in with Pixar's voice-casting philosophy. I heard some audience members asking, "What part does Janeane play?"

Janeane Garofalo: Everybody has said that. I think it's a compliment.

Netscape: Maybe it's your character's French accent, which you really got down. How did you prepare for that?

Garofalo: I didn't do anything other than what Brad [Bird] told me to do. As far as the accent goes, I was very nervous. I had a CD of a French gentleman speaking English, and I would just mimic what I heard. I wanted to do the best job I could, because I don't speak French--I took Spanish in school.

Netscape: With voice-over work, there's a certain amount of room for performers to come up with their own stuff, as you often do. But Pixar was very specific about what they needed. You really had to stick with the script, right?

Garofalo: There are people animating while you're working, so it would be impolite to change dialogue. You say something new, they like it, and then someone says to the artists who've been working through the night, "Guess what? That paragraph you animated? Start from scratch! It's gone!'

It's not very often that you see the screenwriter--that notoriously low man or woman on the totem pole--on the set of a big-budget Hollywood movie. It's even less common to see the screenwriter there on a daily basis, conferring with the powers that be. The production of Iron Man, however, is different, with screenwriter Mark Fergus in constant attendance.

Just what is he doing there? Director Jon Favreau has allowed his actors--Robert Downey Jr, Terrence Howard, and Jeff Bridges--a certain improvisational freedom. But should they venture too far beyond the boundaries of their established characters and Marvel Comics lore, Fergus is there to reel them back in. And perhaps add a few new lines.

The idea, says Fergus, is to prevent "too much drift." He elaborates: "I'm not there to defend what I've written. You have to be open to creative input. That's part of being a screenwriter. Robert and Terrence will come up with things--but we want to be sure that whatever they do works for the character and the Marvel universe."

The initial process of getting Iron Man on down paper was a "fantastic collision of ideas," says Fergus, who cowrote the screenplay with Hawk Ostby. (The two also collaborated on Children of Men and the forthcoming John Carter of Mars.) "We have a process where we write all of the elements we like first," he explains. "The first and second drafts we wrote on our own. We didn't look at other's drafts. We didn't talk about it. We wanted to get everything we loved down on paper before there was a collision of ideas. Then we would meet and compare notes. Some things we'd keep, some we'd trash."

In the transition from comic-book page to big screen, says Fergus, the character of Tony Stark is relatively unchanged. And this superhero has his issues: "He's trying to come to terms with himself, personally and emotionally. It's a breakdown and rebuild. In a way, the film is about a hero who doesn't always make the right decisions."

Hot Fuzz is everything a fan of Shaun of the Dead could ask for. It's got the humor and it's got the action. Correction: it's got a lot of humor and a mother lode of action, particularly in its final forty minutes. ("Forgive us," says star and co-writer Simon Pegg. "We wanted to blow shit up.") During a recent screening of the film in Boston, Pegg, co-star Nick Frost, and writer-director Edgar Wright spoke with Netscape's Steve Head about cheap laughs, persistence, and Peter Jackson's cameo appearance as a deranged Santa.


Pegg: Mission accomplished, then. We tried to keep it crapless.

Frost: Virtually crap-free.

Netscape: After the success of Shaun of the Dead, there was some concern that you would hit a sophomore slump with Hot Fuzz. The general consensus is that you dodged the bullet. But did you feel any pressure to deliver this time around?

Pegg: I don't think we were concerned about what the critics might say.

Frost: If [Pegg and Wright] can make me laugh, then it's working. Whatever it is, it's working.

Wright: If we were simply trying to please other people, it wouldn't have worked. We'd be controlled by the perspective of others, psychologically tossed about as the wind blows. So it's important that we focus on what we know. Hot Fuzz is the movie we'd want to see. That's our barometer, essentially.