Q&A: Paul Rudd

Paul Rudd (Credit: Sam Urdank/Universal)

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Paul Rudd has demonstrated varying degrees of disarming sweetness, dry wit and a foul mouth as a supporting player in hit comedies from “Clueless” to “Knocked Up.” Now he gets a chance to actually star in one.

The plot of Rudd’s star vehicle, “Role Models,” opening Nov. 7, sounds like it’s right out of the Eddie Murphy/Robin Williams family flick playbook: Rudd and Seann William Scott star as slackers who get arrested and assigned to serve as mentors to a pair of challenging kids. But the twist comes from the clients—a socially awkward, teenage role-playing aficionado (Christopher Mintz-Plasse of “Superbad”) and a 10-year-old (Bobb’e J. Thompson) with an awfully adult vocabulary.

The script went through many forms in many hands, but it’s Rudd’s rewrite—with help from pals David Wain and Ken Marino—that’s landing on the big screen. Metromix spoke with Rudd about potentially misguided expectations for “Role Models,” his own unusual hobbies and what he has in common with Paris Hilton.

There’s a fan site about you called "Unassuming Charisma." What do you think about that, and how would you describe yourself in two words?
First of all, I'm incredibly flattered that anyone would set up a website for me. I didn't [make] it. I've visited it a lot. A couple of times. So if I had to use two words to describe me it would be "Massive ego."

People may bring kids to “Role Models” and only later find out it’s not so wholesome.
It's filthy. When they first put out the trailer it seemed kinda like a kids' movie, like "The Pacifier" or "Daddy Day Care" or something. I thought, "Well, that's really not what this movie is." [Laughs] It could be. It certainly has elements of that. I like the idea of a really, really raunchy R-rated kids' movie.

What will go through the heads of people who bring their young sibling/niece/etc.?
They'll leave within three minutes. Because I was just kind of realizing that almost like the first thing that happens is Seann puts his fingers under my nose 'cause he was with a girl. That is not in "The Sandlot." That's not in a kids' movie. It is so gross. So they'll leave immediately.

It’s a movie about growing up that could destroy the nation's youth.
I know for a fact, if I was a 13, 14-year-old kid, I would love this movie. But I would not be able to buy tickets to it.

What's an unusual habit you had when you were younger that if you were assigned to a court-appointed mentor, they'd be pissed they got you for a protégé?
As a teenager I was way into New Wave music. I was in a big Adam Ant phase and I asked [my mom]—'cause I had curly hair, kinda like Adam Ant—if I could shave [points to front of his hair] this part of my head to give myself a receding hairline like Adam Ant. And she said, "No f***ing way am I going to let you do that!" I didn't get what a receding hairline was; I just thought it looked really cool.

You’re rumored to be appearing in the next “Ghostbusters” movie. What skill do you think you could bring to the franchise?
If I was in the next Ghostbusters film, I feel like I could slime just about anybody in the cast and I don't even need a ghost or a proton pack.

That makes you qualified?
I think so. I'll do it in the room when I audition.

It seems your next movie, "I Love You, Man," where you search for a best man for your wedding, has a little in common with Paris Hilton's show, where she looks for a new BFF. What else do you have in common with Paris?
I have a sex tape. I'm also the heir of hotel magnates. I have my own cologne/perfume. I have several lapdogs. And for all intents and purposes I do think that most things are “hot.”

There’s never anything in the tabloids about you. Make something up.
I've got three balls. Down south. Who else can say that? Mark Linn-Baker from "Perfect Strangers." And now comes a lawsuit.

Anything else?
No, it's a banal, very, very normal, humdrum existence. It's a nice life. I have a wife and a son and I watch "Project Runway" and I play cards on Tuesday night and I watch a football game on Sunday. As boring as this sounds, that's it. That's what you got. Jesus, I'm depressing myself now.

Find showtimes for "Role Models."