Will Arnett is the funny one. He’s the guy that makes people laugh with an expression, or a slight turn of phrase. He’s not the one that makes us cry, unless we are laughing too hard. But then came along the Searchlight Pictures project Is This Thing On? A film inspired by the life of British stand-up comedian John Bishop. It’s a story about marriages, aging, confronting fears, and being honest. It’s a special movie, and Arnett’s performance, opposite the incredible Laura Dern, will leave many shocked and pleasantly surprised.
Is This Thing On? premieres in Toronto with a limited engagement on Dec. 19 before it hits theatres everywhere in January.
We headed to Arnett’s old Yorkville stomping grounds to chat with him about the project.
This film captures something new for Hollywood romances. What interested you in exploring this kind of emotional realism?
I was inspired by John’s story [British comedian John Bishop] of how he became a standup. But really what got to me was this idea that this person, this guy, who we find at the beginning of the film kind of catatonic and not knowing how to express what he’s going through, is able, through addressing rooms full of strangers, to start to zero in on what’s going on with himself. I think we live in a world where communication between people gets lost, and we lose track of the people in our lives that we love and how we express ourselves. Sometimes we get so far away we don’t know how to get back. That felt important to me.
How much of your own perspective shaped the story you wanted to tell?
I think it’s really difficult not to bring some of your own stuff. We’re all made up of our experiences, right? No matter what anyone asks you to do, how you do it will be based on your experience. As we wrote this, it’s not a biopic and it’s not autobiographical of me and my experience, but there are things I can identify with and relate to. If you’ve ever been in a relationship, you can relate to it — I hope. We hope it feels authentic.
You actually performed live standup in character, with mixed results. What was that experience like?
Well, I’m not a standup, so I did give myself some grace to be bad. But it was scary. It was daunting — getting onstage, doing it and trying to understand what it was like for that guy. It was weirdly my first time onstage, trying to understand what that would be like. I come from more of a performing background than [his character] Alex does, so for me it was about finding that gear of what it would be like for someone who’s never done it before. It’s a narrow target. We wanted it to feel authentic and reflect what it would be like for a guy with no connection to standup.
Sounds terrifying.
It was very scary. I didn’t know if I could deliver from one day to the next, one scene to the next, one take to the next. Bradley [Cooper, the director] always said, “We start at zero every day. We can’t rest on our laurels.” There are no wasted moments. I had to really learn a lot of things for the first time as an actor.
It sounds like he really pushed you.
He did, in the best way. He pushed me to trust myself. He said, “There are no tricks here.” The camera’s right there — he’s operating it a foot away from me. There’s nowhere to hide.
What did you want to say here about rediscovering yourself after a number of years?
I didn’t fully appreciate the idea of reinvention until we were doing it. I wasn’t looking to redefine how people look at me, but I found through this process that I was much closer to the kid who left Toronto 35 years ago.
Can you tell me about your upbringing in Toronto — your old stomping grounds?
I used to spend a lot of time at the Pilot, the bar that used to be down the street [in Yorkville]. I went to the Morrissey a lot in the late ’80s and early ’90s — that was our pub. I broke my kneecap playing shinny at Ramsden Park. I went to Subway Academy on Bloor at Brunswick, and I rode my bike through here. I took theatre classes at Maggie Bassett Studio at Tarragon Theatre. So yes — this is my spot.
