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Close-Up: Rainn Wilson
Alternative Press - Rob Ortenzi on 1/29/09 @ 5:19 PM - altpress.com
Interview: Tim Karan
Photograph: Miriam Santos
They don't put just anyone on a Schrute buck. That distinction could've been a curse for RAINN WILSON, who's synonymous with the name Dwight Schrute-the sycophantic assistant (to the) regional manager he plays on NBC's The Office. But there's a million Stanley nickels more to Wilson than bulk paper sales and assorted bear facts. The Seattle native got his start with a MFA from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and appeared on- and off-Broadway before snaring bit parts everywhere from CSI to Law And Order: SVU. After a two-season run as a funeral director-in-training on HBO's Six Feet Under, Wilson landed his breakthrough role in 2005 on The Office. This month, he's shunning his pocket protector in favor of drumsticks as Robert "Fish" Fishman-a has-been '80s hair-metallurgist who drums (occasionally in the buff) for his nephew's garage band in The Rocker. Maybe reinvention for Wilson won't be that hard after all. (That's what she said.)
How's it going?
I'm doing good. Though, I'm a little bummed that I'm talking to you now because Guns N' Roses were the [phone] hold music, and I was really digging it. What was that song where Axl Rose is like, [singing high-pitched] "Where do we go? Where do we go now?"
"Sweet Child O' Mine."
Yeah! For a heavy metal song of that era, it's really quite musically advanced.
I should've let you bask in that for a while.
[Laughs.] I can handle it.
What drew you to the role of Fish in The Rocker?
I get sent a lot of scripts. I'm not trying to be like Mr. Big Shot. I don't really get sent the good stuff-that all goes to Jack Black and Will Ferrell. But the main thing that drew me in was that I really felt for [Fish]. That's what's missing from most comedies-there are clever situations and funny dialogue, interesting set-ups and stuff like that, but you just don't go, "Wow, I love that guy!" [Director] Peter Cattaneo is very character-based. He's the guy [who directed] The Full Monty. He grounded this story a lot. It could have been really silly and fluffy and ridiculous, but he brought out a lot of the character, and I thought he did a great job.
Did you have any drumming experience before this?
No. About two-and-a-half weeks before we were going to [film in] Toronto, they hired a drum coach, got me a drum set and set it up in the garage. About two or three times a week, [my coach] taught me the basics, but also what it is to be a heavy metal drummer. [You're a] larger-than-life animal behind the kit, pumping up the crowd and keeping a beat going.
Did you see The Rocker achieving larger-than-life status?
There are very few really good rock 'n' roll comedies-like Almost Famous and School Of Rock-and I really think The Rocker has a chance to join their ranks. I can't say now that it's going to be a classic like those movies are, but I think if it can be mentioned in the same breath, that would be a major accomplishment.
Here's a question this movie brings up. Drumming naked: More or less comfortable?
Oh, it's ridiculously uncomfortable. The throne-that's what they call the drummer's stool, by the way-you're on your throne, and your ball sack just sticks right to the pleather. You need to quote me on that.
That's a pull quote if I've ever heard one.
Your ball sack sticks to the pleather. [Laughs.]
Fish's '80s band, Vesuvius, seems like the kind of metal band Dwight Schrute could pump up to in his Camaro before a sale.
[Laughs.] Maybe that's what we need to do-have a crossover where Dwight gets the job as the drummer for Vesuvius.
Could Dwight and Fish hang out; maybe play some paintball or something?
I don't know if they'd get along. I think Fish is kind of a big, dumb lummox with a heart of gold. I just think he would be doing a lot of stupid things that would make Dwight think he was just an imbecile.
Do you ever worry that Dwight is too large of a character to get away from?
I don't think so. I think that I've got range as an actor, and it's just a matter of people willing to see me do other stuff. Most people have only seen me do [Dwight], and [he's] pretty distinct. But other people have seen me do Six Feet Under and still remember that memorable character.
So The Office is filmed as a documentary. But in this fictional version of Scranton, Pennsylvania, has the documentary aired yet?
No, it hasn't aired yet. It's something [the writers] have been talking about. I think the final season of The Office will somehow feature that the documentary starts to air and we see how that affects the lives [of the employees at Dunder-Mifflin]. It's the final page to be stolen from the British [version of] The Office. The crew is compiling tons and tons of great footage for it.
What are you up to next?
I'm voicing a part in Monsters Vs. Aliens-a DreamWorks 3-D animated movie with Reese Witherspoon. I play the alien in it, so it really should be called Monsters Vs. Rainn.
But please tell us we haven't seen the end of your nudity.
This is not the end. I want to dedicate my enormous pale body to comedy, because it's always good for a laugh.
THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE
Growing up in suburban Seattle during the mid-'80s, Rainn Wilson was fed a strict diet of classic radio-rock. "Everything was the [Rolling] Stones and [Led] Zeppelin. I'd heard of punk rock, but how could you hear it? There was no internet and everything you got was from the radio." That all changed when Wilson was handed a copy of the Clash's London Calling, along with Elvis Costello's This Year's Model. "That just opened up the world to me," he says. Wilson's corner of the world also gave him a perfect view of a certain Northwestern musical movement. "I went to school with a lot of guys who were in bands who would open for, like, Nirvana," he says. "I think I saw one of their last shows in the U.S. at the Roseland Ballroom in New York."
Wilson began playing guitar himself after hearing Bob Dylan's Blood On The Tracks at age 20 and still, "Stupidly hacks out songs." Nowadays, his tastes lean toward modern indie rock. "I really like Vampire Weekend, Manchester Orchestra and the National," he says. "This summer I'm going to see Radiohead for the second time. In my mind, nothing compares to them live." But, occasionally, he gets a hankering to step onstage and follow the Hollywood path walked before him by Russell Crowe and Johnny Depp. "All actors secretly want to be rock stars," he says. "Now that my career's going better, I've got the secret thought, 'Oh, I could get a band together.' But then, you're going to be a laughingstock. Remember Keanu Reeves' Dogstar?"
CHEAT SHEET
Now that his face is instantly recognizable, it's easy to spot Rainn Wilson during his early acting days in everything from re-runs of CHARMED and ENTOURAGE to big-budget movies like HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES and SAHARA. In 2003, he joined the cast of SIX FEET UNDER and two years later, he was cast as Dwight Schrute-the bespectacled bureaucrat on the U.S. take of the BBC hit THE OFFICE. Last year, he returned to the big screen with memorable turns in THE LAST MIMZY and JUNO before snagging top-billing as a washed up '80s metal drummer in this month's THE ROCKER.
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