"In Dewey’s mind, he’s the fountain head of all of modern American music. He thinks he was Elvis before Elvis was Elvis. He was Dylan before Dylan was Dylan. From his point of view, it’s all about him. I’ve been having fun with the commentaries for this film, saying things like, 'I have the power of two Elvis Presleys and the poetry of 10,000 Bon Jovis!'"
He’s been nominated for several accolades for his dramatic work in the past but John C. Reilly seems to be on a role with his comedy performances. He reunites with “Talladega Nights” producer Judd Apatow in “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,” opening in theaters this weekend. Reilly plays the fictional Dewey Cox in this story about the rise and fall of an endearing, but dense, rock and roll musician.
We talked to Reilly at a press day in New York City about taking on the part.
Q: Did you do any research into Dewey’s life?
JOHN: (Laughs) I did. I did exhaustive Dewey Cox research. I went to his estate, went through the archives. Got to wear some of his clothes even! You know that sumo diaper in the film? That was his. It fit me perfectly, believe it or not.
Q: Was he always there on set?
JOHN: He was there on the set. He caused a lot of trouble. He wasn’t an easy guy to get along with.
Q: What were some of the things he said to you?
JOHN: He just said, “Tell it like it is, kid.” Then he’d say, “What’s your name again?” I’d say, “John Reilly. I’m playing you.” And he’d say, “You’re not as good looking as I am but good luck to you.”
Q: Did he tell you to “walk hard”?
JOHN: Yeah, he said that over and over again. We got sick of hearing it by the time he passed away. We were like, “O.K. Dewey, we’re sick of it.”
Q: How’s the Dewey Cox tour going?
JOHN: The tour’s going really good. We have a few days off and we did a show in Los Angeles last week. It’s a lot of fun. It beats your basic Q&A in terms of getting to interact with fans of the movie. It’s one thing to introduce yourself at a screening but it’s another thing to take an entire audience from a screening and bring them to a music club and perform all the music from the movie. It’s ridiculous fun and I should not be getting paid for it. Wait, I’m not…
Q: At what point was it known that you were going to go on tour?
JOHN: It’s something that we immediately started talking about when we started recording the music. A lot of guys involved with the music – the songwriters, the music and the producer – said, “We got to get out and promote this thing!” They started joking with me, “I hope you like touring because you’re going to be on tour with this music.” It’s been really fun. It takes a lot of energy to go out there and do that but to hear a whole club full of people chanting, “We want Cox” is something everyone should experience if they can in their lifetime.
Q: Did you contribute much to the songs?
JOHN: I did a little bit of writing on almost every song. I’m not credited on every song but we’d rejigger the lyrics a little bit or to make them funnier, or we’d change the wording of something to make it sound more like the character would say it. There were many different ways I’d collaborate with the songwriters. Sometimes, I’d pitch an idea to them, like I was driving to work one day and I was thinking, “Ah man, it’d be great if he got into the women’s liberation movement but his whole thing was for women to take their bras off. The bra burning would be the most important thing to him.” And so they were like, “What would it be called?” I’d say, “Ladies First.”
Q: What is it about Judd Apatow’s sensibility that fits right in with your own?
JOHN: I think the secret to Judd’s success and the reason that actors as well as audiences really like him is that he’s so honest. He decided, when he got the chance, to make his own films. He was working behind the scenes for a long time for guys like Ben Stiller, Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler. When he finally got the chance to really tell his stories, he made the bold choice of telling the truth. He laid it all the line, from “The 40 Year Old Virgin” to “Knocked Up” and even with the films he’s co-written and produced as well. He tells the truth in a really very frank way. He lets the actors improvise in a way that’s totally truthful because it’s just coming off the top of their head. Today, with the media so being controlled and designed not to offend, it turns out being honest is a really radical thing to do and people really respond to it.
Q: You do some pretty outrageous things in the movie…
JOHN: There were lots of moments that were personal boundary moments for me but here’s the thing with comedy, and I learned this from Will Ferrell: you can’t be ashamed. You have to fully commit to the joke. Shame is not part of it. If you act shy or uncomfortable about your body, it makes the audience uncomfortable and shy. In a comedy, you want them to loosen up and laugh. I really learned that from Will. You have to be brave and damn the torpedoes. If you have to be in your underwear, so be it. If it’s funny, you should do it.
Q: How did you guys keep the comedy so consistent throughout the film?
JOHN: It’s funny that you remark on the consistency because at first, when we first started putting the movie together, the consistency was hurting us a little bit, I think. We were so concerned with having the movie look like a real biopic and not stepping out so that there was anything anachronistic to the time period, or have anything look wrong. We wanted it to be a virtual biopic experience when you see the movie. We realized in showing the movie to audiences that those moments in the movie – the ones where we break away from the consistency – is what gets the audience energized. They’re lulled into the sense that they’re walking “Ray” or “Walk the Line” and then all of a sudden, you see me in a sumo diaper or crawling like a dinosaur. It was those moments when we deliberately break the consistency which is what gives it its surprise, freshness and originality.
Q: Who were some of your musical influences growing up?
JOHN: A lot of people we reference in the movie were my influences, from Elvis Presley to Johnny Cash to Roy Orbison. I’m a fan of every kind of music we reference in this movie. We were definitely thinking of the musical styles of these people because they were emblematic people of these time periods. But we weren’t trying to poke fun of Johnny Cash or musicians and their actual lives. We were trying to make fun of the way ordinary, or sometimes extraordinary people, are mythologized by movies and by audiences, and this cycle of mythmaking that’s more so with musicians than actors. At the end of the day, people are like, “He’s an actor. That’s not how he’s like at the end of the day.” But with musicians, you expect Johnny Cash to be the Man in Black or Elvis to be The King. In Dewey’s mind, he’s the fountain head of all of modern American music. He thinks he was Elvis before Elvis was Elvis. He was Dylan before Dylan was Dylan. From his point of view, it’s all about him. I’ve been having fun with the commentaries for this film, saying things like, “I have the power of two Elvis Presleys and the poetry of 10,000 Bon Jovis!”
Q: So are we going to continue seeing you in comedies?
JOHN: I like working. That’s the truth. I wish I could say I made a deliberate choice to do comedy but that’s what came my way and that’s what the studio wanted to make. My friends were doing it, like Will Ferrell and Adam McKay and they offered me “Talladega Nights.” It’s nice work if you can get it. It’s a joyful day going into work and making your friends laugh I look forward to doing a lot of different things in my life. If people want to see me in comedy, then that’s fine with me.
"Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" opens in theaters December 21.
