Copyright ©2007 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved.
Posted:
October 29, 2007.
Love him or hate him, one thing’s for sure – you simply can’t ignore Andy
Dick.
One of the most irreverent comic voices on the scene, Dick has occupied his
own unique niche in show biz. He has played goofy sidekicks on two
long-running show-biz themed sitcoms (NewsRadio and Less Than
Perfect) giving those shows a jolt of off-kilter surrealism.
His more experimental tastes have been aired out on two respected MTV
sketch shows. He was one of the regulars in the cult-classic The Ben
Stiller Show and then allowed his cracked comic vision full reign in
The Andy Dick Show.
And if the tabloids tend to obsess about his off-screen antics – like the
dust-up with former NewsRadio co-star Jon Lovitz or being removed
from the stage on Jimmy Kimmel Live for being just a little too
friendly with newly-buxom heiress Ivanka Trump – it’s all just grist for
the mill for the eccentric mind of Dick.
His latest project is Danny Roane: First Time Director, a
semi-autobiographical mock documentary that finally allows Dick to be a
multi-hyphenate (writer-director-star) on a feature film project. Roane
tells the story of a former sitcom sidekick who is trying to get his
career back on track by directing a movie – while desperately trying to stay
on the wagon.
Any resemblance to real life is kinda intended.
Lots of Dick’s famous friends drop in for cameos, including Ben Stiller,
Jack Black, Jimmy Kimmel, James Van Der Beek, Anthony Rapp (Rent),
Bob Odenkirk and his former sitcom co-stars Maura Tierney (formerly of
NewsRadio, now a long-time regular on ER) and Sara Rue (Less
Than Perfect).
However, it’s Dick’s own warped world view which
playfully runs roughshod over the plot. As Danny Roane’s pet project
swerves further and further from his original plans, Dick rides his
swinging moods and
mostly-destructive urges downhill with no brakes – turning the
fictional director’s life into an out-of-control wreck.
Soon before Danny Roane’s video release, Andy gave us a call to fill
us in on his labor of love.
So how much of Andy
Dick is in Danny Roane?
Well, how I describe it is – I had to actually mute some things about me… or
turn them down, so to speak… just so that people can stomach them. Then
there are things that – just for the dramatics of them – I turned some
things up. Like, I would never… you know, the weird thing is, I was just
about to say that I would never pee on Jimmy Kimmel, (laughs) yet I
have tried to pee on Steve-O from Jackass on TV. The weird thing is,
I shot the scene where I get dragged off of Jimmy Kimmel for trying
to pee on him… I shot that a year before I actually got dragged off for
groping Ivanka Trump. Isn’t that interesting? People are going to think
that it is based on the Ivanka Trump groping scenario (laughs again),
but it’s not.
A
lot of your friends – like Jimmy, Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Maura Tierney and
Sara Rue do cameos in the film. How did they get involved and how fun was
that?
I’ve always worked with them. I’ve been working for about twenty years. They know the real me. They know that I’m truly not a
monster. I’m actually quite professional. They also know I’m not going to
make crap. Everything that Pollywog, my production company, has ever made –
in fact our motto is: We make things that don’t suck. If you go to my
website, andydick.com, there’s just all these great things. None of them
suck. All of them are good. They know that. Maura Tierney – she’s so
sweet, man. That’s one of my favorite scenes. It’s so short but it’s so
sweet. You can see the concern in her eyes when she’s looking out the
window with her cup of coffee, at me naked on her lawn. (laughs) I
love it. I love that. I love heart. There’s a little bit of heart in my
movies that I appreciate. I think I could have had a little more, but I’m
glad that there’s not too much, because my next movie is going to have a
little, little bit more. But, with Maura Tierney, then I did a really nice,
juicy guest spot on ER. That was really fun. Then, of course, I got
Jack and Ben – I pulled in my favors, because I’m always doing favors for
them. I’m always doing cameos in their movies. We’re pretty close.
They’re shooting – Ben and Jack are shooting Tropic Thunder right
now. I’m probably going to go visit them on the set. They were in Hawaii,
but now they’re at Universal Studios and I think I’m going to pop over on
the set. I put those guys in to draw in the audience, but I’m more excited
about my friends who are untapped veins of comedy gold – like Paul
Henderson, the big… like 400 pounds… he plays the producer guy. And Bob
Odenkirk, who is one of the funniest guys I know, but doesn’t really have a
big acting career. I think he should, because he’s really funny.
What was it like being
a first-time director – not to mention screenwriter and star? I know you’ve
directed some shorts and some TV directing, but this is your first feature
length film.
Yeah, I’ve done tons of shorts. I was making films when I was about
eleven years old with a Super 8 camera – and I haven’t stopped. So I’ve
always made shorts that had beginnings, middles and ends. In high school I made many – probably twenty different shorts
with Anthony Rapp alone. I made hundreds of them with other people. But
Anthony Rapp, who is in this movie…
Yes, he
plays himself…
Yeah! He and I used to make shorts all the time. If my brother was
available… he’s not an actor… but he’s in my movie. Jeff Dick is in my
movie. He plays the Hassidic Jew who gets chased by Hitler. Whoever’s
around, give me a camera and let’s start shooting something. It was always
just fun for me. It was always a hobby. I just translated that into a much
longer feature film. It was more difficult in my mind before I did it. In
my mind, I’m like: There’s no way I can do this! I don’t know what
I’m doing when it comes to a feature film. But you know what? It was
sooo easy. I should have been doing this ten years ago – making one per
year like Woody Allen. That’s my goal, to make one per year. I have
another great idea that I’m flushing the script out right now.
Is that
the Daphne Aguilera one?
The Daphne one is already written. That’s ready to go. But, no, not
that one. That one I decided not to even use my script and to just take
skeletal scenes and just shoot it Borat-style – to throw Daphne into
these scenarios and the scenarios all kind of string together to tell one
big story, a la Borat. There’s a lot of improvising. But now,
there’s this great idea I have that is also based on a short that I did. I
don’t want to tell you which one, but it’s on my website. It’s one of these
shorts that’s on my website that I did on one of my TV shows. But, yeah,
I’ve done commercials that have won awards. I’ve done short films. I’ve
done music videos that have won awards. I’ve done lots of good things. And
then Danny Roane, which I don’t think has won any awards, yet.
(laughs) I don’t know if it would, because it really didn’t come out in
theaters. But I think it’s better straight to DVD, because I’ve shot it on
video – on Panasonic cameras – and it actually looks better on your TV than
it does on a big screen. I saw it on a big screen at South by Southwest and
it just gets a little… when it’s really, really big, it’s just not as
sharp as when it’s right on your TV, right in front of you.
Well,
it’s also done in a fake-documentary format and anymore most people are used
to seeing them on television rather than on screen…
Exactly.
How do you think that format adds to the opportunity to bring out humor in
normal situations?
I
love that format. I love it because people are so comfortable with
documentaries so they can really kind of relax into it and they can feel
like it’s really, really, really happening. I am good at that. I’m good at
capturing moments that are super-real, so it feels real. I think everybody
in the movie did such a great acting job. They were just really, really
good. It just feels believable. It feels like a real true story.
In the end, Danny doesn’t really conquer all of his demons or succeed in his
directing. How important was that sense of reality to you – that people
don’t always reach their plans and dreams?
Incredibly important. I really wanted the ending to be not happy. He’s
going back to rehab. I have these little promotional video blogs that were
bleeding out onto the Internet that Danny Roane stars in. He’s making these
video blogs from rehab, talking about how there’s this movie coming out
where they documented him making his movie, Ded Dream. That just
keeps the reality alive. He’s still in rehab. (laughs) He’s going
to be there for nine months.
Danny is not necessarily a likable character, particularly when he’s
drinking. How hard was it to keep the audience on his side?
I
don’t know. I didn’t really try to do that – and maybe I should have.
Because, my friend is doing a movie and I keep telling him, you know, you
really have to be more likable. I was literally giving him acting notes,
even though he was directing. You might want to do that again and just not
be so condescending or not be so defensive. You’ve got to be likable. I
didn’t focus on that [in Danny Roane] and like I said, maybe I should
have focused on keeping Danny… having that sympathy where – you know, the
guy is just a wreck. He’s battling these alcohol demons. That’s a part
that maybe…. But I think people get that. I think they get it. And that
is how it is with me. There are times when I drink… not all the time, if I
can maintain my drinking and drink like a gentleman, things are great. I
can do that for a while. But if I get drunk – even if I get drunk it can be
really happy – but every once in a while I can get drunk and just be a
monster in real life.
Your humor is extremely in-your-face and politically incorrect – like for
example the musical scenes about AIDS and Hitler. Do you ever worry that
you’ll go to far for people?
I
used to not really care at all. Now, it’s more important for me – not that
I’ve gone too far – but that it’s just old hat. I don’t want to be cliché
or boring or old hat. Like, I see now, there’s an actress out there that
has literally made a career doing what I have been doing. And she does it
bigger, better, stronger and constantly. Do you know who I’m talking
about?
I think
so, yes…
Who?
Sarah?
Yeah. Sarah Silverman. She has like taken what I’ve done – and I sprinkled
or peppered my comedy with that if you will – where she has literally taken
the lid off of the pepper and covered the Caesar salad in it. It’s like,
now it’s too much. I love her show and I love her. She’s hysterical.
But you know – we get it. You’re a racist, weird, totally
inappropriate character. Okay, now what are you going to be inappropriate
about? We hit AIDS. We hit race. We hit sex. We hit gays. We hit this.
We hit Chinese. We hit blacks. I was like, what now? That’s what I don’t
want. So, it’s not that I’m afraid that people are going to think I went
too far. I’m more aware of people becoming bored of that. You understand
what I’m saying? So that’s why my next movie, it’s not going to even have
that. It’s going to always be the element of… I like the element of
surprise. When you don’t know what’s coming. It’s funny because you don’t
know what’s going on.
You’ve played a big part in two long-running TV sitcoms. How is television
work different from movie work?
Well, first of all, I really hit pay dirt with TV. Great. I’ve bought
houses and property and paid for private school for my kids. Set my kids’
futures up, financially and really great things. And it’s a lot less time.
But, it’s a lot of times not as creative unless you are doing a cable show.
Then you’re not getting as much money. I’m about to do another one, by the
way. I’m creating another show. We’re signing the papers this week.
They’ve already given me the offer and we’re going back and forth. So just
look for that – probably on VH1, unless something goes terribly south.
They’re chomping at the bit for me to get going on that. Then movies, at
least for me, because I’m not starring in Rendition with… what’s her
name?
Reese Witherspoon.
Reese Witherspoon. And I’m not in… actually, I am in Knocked Up.
But I’m not starring in any of these. Nobody is giving me the opportunity
to… except I was one of the leads in Employee of the Month.
Being in Employee of the Month is like being in the movie version of
a TV show. It’s very soft. It’s not a lot of money, because I’m not a big,
giant movie star. I’m really more of a TV star on my close way up there.
Doing movies is more like doing art. It’s very, very, very, very
fulfilling. But it doesn’t fill my wallet. That’s probably obvious. But
I’m telling you, it’s fun and it’s great, because I’m in control. I paid
for this movie with my own money. I made this movie with my own money – and
I have already made all my money back. Lions Gate and I have this great
deal. I’m part of the Lions Gate family. Hopefully, this next movie I’m
about to do, they take it on. Then they put some of their money in this
time. But I don’t even know if I want to go that route, because then all
the sudden I’ve got Lions Gate or whoever calling going, “Hey, can you
change this?” Or “Can you get Reese Witherspoon for that part?” What if I
don’t want her? I like the whole [John] Cassavetes vibe. I don’t know who
got the money for his movies, but he did it his way. I like that. My
movies, I hope, are in the end – ten years from now, when I have five or ten
movies as a box set and they are all mine, I own them all and you can buy
them as a box set – people will compare them to Cassavetes. I hope so,
because they really are like that. Not purposely, just because when you
don’t have a lot of money, they are going to be rough around the edges –
like a Cassavetes film. That’s how they are going to be. If I could re-do
the movie, I would love it to look better and have dolly shots and be shot
on film. All that stuff. But the content, for what it is, I’m so proud of
it. I love it.
Speaking of DVD box
sets, The
Andy Dick Show on MTV had a real cult following…
I
know. The reason why… I know what you’re going to say. Why isn’t it out on
DVD? It’s so disappointing to me, because not a lot of… there are people
turning eighteen every day and they would love that show. I want to get
them out there because they were really fun and I think people should see
them. They would really have a good time watching them. They can’t because
– and there’s a big lawsuit going on, I heard, with Viacom – they can’t
because of the music. There was this deal that we could use any
music. Any music – as long as it was literally 37 seconds or less. I was
like a kid in a candy store. Really? I can use that song? This song? And
nobody pays? Well, it caught up to them now, because now when we want to do
the box set or we want to put them on DVD – now you have to pay. It would
cost millions in music rights. Or we’d have to go back and take all
the music out. That would be virtually impossible. That would cost
millions to do that. And maybe… probably… be impossible to do, because
there are no raw files anymore. So we’re kind of stuck between a rock and a
hard place with that. People are just going to have to find it.
You first really
appeared on most people’s radar with
NewsRadio.
How did you get that role and what was it like to be a part of?
Well, I had done The Ben Stiller Show prior, and [series creator]
Paul Simms was a fan of the show – which won an Emmy for writing. I used to
see Paul Simms around. I also was performing a lot live at the time –
which, incidentally, I just started to do again just within the last few
months.
No kidding. That’s great.
My son, who is nineteen, has gone back to my old stomping ground, which is
the Improv Olympics right on Hollywood Boulevard – called IO West. I was at
the IO East in Chicago. That’s where I trained, right alongside with Mike
Myers and Chris Farley. Now he’s doing it and he comes home so jazzed up
every night, like “I just did a show and I did this…” and I’m like, whoa,
wow. I see myself. The spark in his eyes is so contagious. I want to go.
I want to come with you this time. I started coming and watching.
(laughs) And then he put me up to the challenge. I’m like, yeah, you
know, I used to do that twenty years ago for ten years straight. Every
night. He’s like, “Yeah, right.” No, I really did. I used to perform with
that guy there. Dave Koechner is up onstage. I said, yeah, Dave Koechner
and I used to perform. “Oh yeah, like you could go up there and keep up
with them – improvising onstage with Koechner.” I’m like, yes I could. He
was so doubtful that I started doubting myself. (laughs again)
Maybe he’s right. Maybe I lost it. I realized – I started seeing that I
was scared. To prove it – not only to him but to prove it to myself – I
started going back. I started performing live. It’s been frightening.
He and I went skydiving a few months ago. Going onstage in the last few
months has been more scary than jumping out of a plane – and I’m not
exaggerating. I’ve been petrified, but I’ve been doing it anyway. I’ve
been going every week. I do feel like a newbie. Brand new. But the
positive is that it’s also exciting! It’s exciting. And it’s very
hard for me at my age – 41 – to find anything that turns me on or is
exciting. So I really am happy that my son has moved in with me and just
gotten me going. I’m loving life again.
In recent years it seems that people talk as much about your personal life
as your work. Does this get frustrating to you?
More so. More so. I think that they have ignored my work. I think there
are people out there that don’t even know I have work that exists. Like I
said, there are people that are just coming into… they’re turning fifteen
and eighteen and whatever. [They hear the name] Andy Dick. “Oh, that
weirdo?” They don’t even know that I’ve had this twenty year long span of a
career. Award-winning career. Shows I’m on have won awards. I’ve won some
awards. Not to toot my own horn – but somebody has to. Because all they’re
doing is putting all the crap [out there]. Yeah, there’s been some bad
times. But this one here, I’m not dead yet. I’m not dead. In fact I’m
alive and kicking and I really do feel like a new baby just popping out for
the first time, all wet and bloody and ready to go. (laughs) It’s
been very disillusioning, disheartening and disappointing to have people
talk about my personal life and completely ignore my professional life. I
don’t like that. That is why in the last couple of years I took myself out
of the whole game and went into a semi… a slight early retirement, which was
not very fulfilling – and depleting financially. (laughs again) I
need to make money. So now, I have a new career move that is very
calculated on my part. Hopefully it turns things around.
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