Halfway through Numbers, I got really jaded, and I had these unrealistic expectations about what Numbers could be. I thought it should be Emmy-nominated. I was in my mid-20s, so I was kind of shortsighted and silly.
[Numbers] made me feel like a real person instead of a guy who shows up for two days on a movie, does some funny stuff, and then doesn't see anybody until the premiere.
Seth [Rogen] had written a script with this guy, Evan [Goldberg], who none of us knew, and he was prepared to move to L.A. to try to get a script made. It had no title. I actually gave them the suggestion of naming it Superbad, which they did. I just thought it was a weird, interesting name for it. Evan came to L.A. to live with Seth, to be his roommate. It was kind of like, "Who's the new guy?" Within days, we all loved Evan. Long story short, both of them were groomsmen at my wedding.
It was just like, "What am I going to do today, in L.A., as an actor? Well, I guess I could go to Seth's [Rogen] apartment and smoke weed and hang out." And that's all we'd do. We'd smoke weed, hang out, play video games, and talk.
[Amy Sedaris] is awesome to work with. She's an amazing person. She makes her own line of catnip toys, and she gave me a bunch for my cat. It meant the world to me. She also got me stuff for my daughter, but I was more enamored with what she gave me for my cat.
Amy Sedaris [in the Ghost Team] plays a Miss Cleo-esque character - Miss Cleo just died, so that's kind of timely - but she plays a Miss Cleo-esque TV psychic who's also kind of a bullshit artist. One of the most triumphant character turns in the movie is when she realizes that even though she's a bullshit artist, she does have something to offer. She helps save the day at the end of the movie.
[The Ghost Team] is basically about people who have nothing to do, and so they do something really silly and stupid. It's about the nature of nothingness, how people deal with that, and how sometimes going down a rabbit hole of your beliefs can put you in some serious trouble. It can also free up a side of you that has been repressed. At the end of the film, they're all disappointed, but they're also jazzed that they got to know each other.
[the Ghost Team] is an ensemble comedy. It's about people who are searching for meaning in their lives, and they end up doing this stupid thing after they're inspired by one another.
Anyway, we had a blast, and the movie [the Ghost Team] turned out really, really funny.
It's strange, because Long Island is still New York, but the farther you go out on Long Island, the more creepy it gets.
The freedom of knowing that you're doing something off-kilter is liberating.
I enjoyed working with everyone on the cast [of the Ghost Team]. We knew we were making a pretty weird movie.
[Amy Sedaris] probably can't sit still, that type of thing. She's a force to be reckoned with.
There's nothing I could say that would make it so anyone is disappointed when they see it. In other words, I can trumpet it all I want, but it's just that good. It's a really layered film [Sausage Party], strangely enough.
I did a pilot for Judd Apatow when I was 20 years old, so 18 years ago. The same year that he did that pilot, he made another pilot called Freaks And Geeks.Judd felt bad for me because I was living in L.A. by myself. Not only did he put me in an episode of Freaks And Geeks, but he was like, "Hey, just come hang out. I'm on set, getting to know everybody." I started hanging with everybody, and they were all either my age or a little younger. Seth and I just got along really well - Jason Segel and I, too - and before you know it, it was a really strong, solid group of friends.
I've always played Vash [in the Sausage Party]. I played him at the table read. We probably did five or six table reads over the course of the first five years of trying to get it made and finally getting it made. I saw a lot of actors come and go, but I stuck around, so I guess they were happy with what I was doing. No one could play a lavash wrap like I could.
Seth [Rogen] and Evan [Goldberg] finally convinced a company to finance the film [ Sausage Party] and Sony to distribute it.
We smoked a lot of weed together [with Seth Rogen and Jason Segel]. Lonely potheads will literally spend every day with each other until they get a girlfriend. That's essentially what happened.
It had been awhile since anyone had made a movie like that [ Sausage Party], and it took them a long time to get anyone to agree to do it, because they were unwavering on the tone of the movie being so ridiculously filthy. Seth [Rogen] and Evan [Goldberg], for as successful as they are, this was their passion project that they couldn't get off the ground.
I've been with that project [ Sausage Party] since its inception, since they wrote the script. It took them four years to get anyone to make the movie, because it was so filthy and there was this firm belief that there wouldn't be a market for an adult animated film, even though 10 or 15 years prior, South Park [Bigger, Longer, And Uncut] did really well.
Someone is spending their life and their passion and their ingenuity on something that's seemingly potentially trite. But it's what they're doing, and it's what's important to them and what's beautiful to them.
There's this cornucopia of potential, and it can't be realized until someone works their ass off for it. Even on a Nickelodeon sitcom.
I came away from that set [ Hail, Caesar !] super inspired, and like I said, it ruined all future endeavors. I'll never have as good an experience as that.
Ultimately, I think the movie's about working as a means of finding meaning in your life. It's about the lesson, the great lesson, of just working, working and being productive.
First of all, it was wonderful to have a home. Consistent work when you're a journeyman actor, when you're a character actor, is really hard to come by. When you can get it, you have to cherish every moment of it - cherish the crew, cherish the cast, cherish the stage, cherish everything. Because when it's over, it's really hard to get back.
