Cool people think your flaws are swaggy
John C. Reilly on the power of owning it, blessed Philip Seymour Hoffman memories, going “Empathy Mission” mode in his new show & more
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John C. Reilly — he’s one of the very best. We’ve never seen this man give anything less than a brilliant, fully committed performance in anything, and he’s done it in some of the greatest comedies of our time and some of the greatest dramas of our time too. The list of actors who can do that kind of tonal switch-up on John’s level is extremely short… there’s him… Emma Stone…? Adam Sandler…? Robin Williams…? Who else??
It might have something to do with the fact that you detect heart, dignity, buffoonishness, and occasional exhilarating flashes of unhinged power in John’s acting — but you detect zero ego.
That’s because he is not just a GOAT. He’s a GOAT who builds with fellow GOATS in a spirit of total collaboration — whether it’s Philip Seymour Hoffman, Will Ferrell, Paul Thomas Anderson, Martin Scorsese, Joaquin Phoenix or Tim & Eric and on & on down his lavishly pimped-out IMDb page.
Also?? John cares about clothes and pulls off swaggily anachronistic looks on the reg, rocking three-piece suits, floppy ties and — extreme high-degree-of-difficulty alert — all manner of hats.
I (Jonah) was psyched to tap in with him the other day. We talked about learning to recognize beautiful flaws in yourself, how singing & dancing is tight, the intensity of his bond with Philip Seymour Hoffman, the “holy mission” that is clowning, and more unbeatable topics.
Blackbird Spyplane: Your suspenders look great. I’ve been wondering if I should try a transition to suspenders, because I’ve been wearing higher-rise pants and a belt jacked up and cinched that high is not very comfortable on the stomach.
John C. Reilly: “I wear only suspenders these days. Belts are a thing of my past, unless it’s part of a costume. You’re right about your stomach, it’s much better on your digestion. Much better. These are cotton pants that came with belt loops, but I have these buttons put on. You can buy rivet ones online and do it yourself, too.”
Blackbird Spyplane: You’ve been doing these theater performances lately where you play a guy named Mister Romantic — what’s the deal?
John C. Reilly: “It’s this kind of vaudeville show I’ve been thinking about since I did Mr. Cellophane in Chicago — I thought, ‘I love doing this character, it’s a shame to do it just one time for the performance in the movie.’ So I collected all these songs, for years, and I’d pop up at Largo and sing them in this vaudevillian style that not many people do these days. When I finished Winning Time I was like, I have to break free, I finally wanna do this. I came up with Mr. Romantic because I realized all the songs were about love. Some of the things I talk about in the show are, Are you lovable? Could you be loved forever? Is it possible to love someone you don’t know? Is it possible to love someone just for being a human being? It’s got an empathy mission, I guess is what I’m saying. ”
Blackbird Spyplane: This newsletter has an empathy mission too, that sounds beautiful.
John C. Reilly: “And the show’s really funny, too. I do a lot of pantomime, dancing, and I walk into the audience, because the character is trying to fall in love every show. It’s been a real joy and a way of me addressing the despair I’m feeling about the world. You know, ‘What can I do?’ Well, I can sing songs and make people laugh. I can do pantomimes? Haha. As innocent and earnest as that sounds, that was the place I started with the character.”
Blackbird Spyplane: You care about style, and your son Leo studied fashion design. Has he put you on to any designers you like?
John C. Reilly: “I think we’ve influenced each other. But he’s into a different style in general than I am. I’m regressing as I get older: I’ve settled into the 1800s, hahaha. I like three-piece suits and floppy ties and hats. Around the time I did the Sisters Brothers, I said, You know what, I like dressing like a cowboy. Who cares what anyone else thinks, it makes me happy. If more people did that, it would be a more interesting world to look at. A more beautiful world.”
Blackbird Spyplane: You’re a big hat collector. How many do you own?
John C. Reilly: “I probably have about 50 hats. It’s not like I wear all of them in cycle. I’ll fall in love with one or two, wear them for, you know, 8 months, then change it up. But yeah I was a theatrical kid, and I remember back then, hats to me were this amazing thing to play with — it’s like a character itself, it can transform you.”
Blackbird Spyplane: We got a reader question about hat-rocking that I wanted to put to you: anujil._.l asked, “How do you avoid feeling ‘stupid’ when putting a hat on, especially a new one, in our headgear-devoid world?”
John C. Reilly: “I totally understand the feeling. When I was younger, trying to find the right hat, it does feel like this thing on top of your head and you think everyone’s looking at it. You know, they did this sociology experiment where they had a person wear a bright yellow t-shirt that said I Love Barry Manilow on the front and they sent them into a crowded party. Before, they asked, How much do you think people are gonna think about the t-shirt? ‘Everyone’s gonna think about it, it’s this crazy color, I don’t even like Barry Manilow!’ Then they interview everyone in the party afterwards and no one mentions the t-shirt. All they talk about is the person they met.
“So that’s first off: Not as many people are looking at the hat as you think. That said, like any piece of clothing, you never wanna just pick one off the rack and assume it fits you. It’s important to go to a good hat store, because there’s a geometry to it. There’s this egg shape to your face, and the hat is an extension of that, and the height and width of your face determines the width of the brim, so that it all looks in proportion. So get fitted.
“But the most important thing is to believe, yourself, that it belongs on your head. Own it. When you put it on, say ‘This is it, this is part of me.’ Because people can read that lack of confidence. It’s the same as acting — with a character, you can start doing a performance and you’re unsure, ‘This person’s not like me, I don’t like this line,’ and that comes through. People don’t believe you.
“I also recommend that anyone getting older, get into hats now. Because as you lose your hair, it will become more and more obvious that you’re trying to cover for it. But if you start early it’ll be like, ‘Oh, he was always into hats.’ Hahaha.”
Blackbird Spyplane: I read a conversation between you and Spyfriend Alana Haim where she talked about working with Paul Thomas Anderson and feeling self-conscious about the gap between her teeth. You said you’ve always been self-conscious about your teeth, and one time you told Paul you wanted to get them fixed — and he told you, “Are you out of your mind? That’s what makes you you.” We’re all familiar with the concept of beautiful flaws in other people. How can we get better at recognizing beautiful flaws in ourselves?
John C. Reilly: “That’s a good question. I think it comes from willfully ignoring the standards that are implicit in media: You have to accept OK, I don’t look like Ryan Gosling or Margot Robbie. You have to stop comparing yourself to that person and really invest in what your own assets are. Because you’re right, you find the unique qualities in someone else so much more engaging and fascinating. You see a gap in someone’s teeth and think, ‘Oh, you’re so beautiful,’ meanwhile they probably grew up thinking, ‘My God, I wish this stupid gap wasn’t there.’ So I think what you’re asking about is self-acceptance and understanding that you have value and you’re special just the way you are. I sound like Mr. Rogers but I think that’s the truth of it.
“Someone once asked David Byrne about his voice. It’s unique, it’s not classically trained. And he said, ‘People don’t really believe a singer that’s too perfect. I use my flaws to my advantage.’ As an actor, I have a lot of flaws. I have a unique face, let’s put it that way. And the strength that gives me is, I don’t look like everyone else! You see me and you know it’s me.”
Blackbird Spyplane: You came up with Philip Seymour Hoffman, grew very close, and did a lot together. Could you share something that’s stayed with you from working with him?
John C. Reilly: “He was an incredible actor — I call him a lion among men. He really had this gravitas, even as a very young guy. This presence I was always in awe of: I’ve never seen someone who had such an easy command of an audience. He could hop on a countertop and get a huge laugh, and I’d look at him and say, ‘He’s not a clown. Not in the way I am. I know what I’m doing when I’m going for something with an audience’ — but he had a way of doing it invisibly. I was fascinated. How does he do it?
“We did True West together on Broadway, where we played brothers, switching roles every 3 performances, so it was this really intense thing, and it forged us together in a way I’ve never had with anyone else. It was like being in a foxhole together in a war, what we went through together as young men — at the time we were both untested on Broadway, no one really knew who we were. So I remember that we were in conflict a lot in that play — the brothers are kind of battling each other for each other’s identity. And I knew I couldn’t feel like I was actually in conflict with Phil. So before every performance, every night, I’d take him in my arms and hug him, and say, ‘I love you brother.’”
Blackbird Spyplane: Man.
John C. Reilly: “It was a really special thing. I miss him a lot.”
Blackbird Spyplane: The Oscars just happened a few weeks back. Whose acting did you love over the last year?
John C. Reilly: “I thought Paul Giamatti was wonderful. He actually auditioned for True West, because there was a period where Phil was maybe going to do a movie instead. I remember meeting Paul and thinking, D*mn this guy is great.
“Also Mark Ruffalo, that’s someone I’ve known a long time. I’d go see him at the Storefront Theater on Santa Monica Boulevard, way before he had any traction in the business. To me a great acting performance is what he did in Poor Things, where it’s dark and light and funny but serious — he’s so pathetically desperate but also funny and confident and a scoundrel. It’s a very complicated performance. So seeing him and Paul up there, I said, ‘Man the good guys sometimes do make it into the matrix.’”
Blackbird Spyplane: Who else is in your matrix?
John C. Reilly: “The actors who have meant the most to me are Benicio del Toro, Sean Penn, Giamatti and Ruffalo, like I mentioned, but Joaquin Phoenix to me really stands alone. There are actors who are very good technically speaking — they use the craft of acting to create illusion — and then there are people who are really good instinctually, and that’s Joaquin. He’s one of the most brilliant instinctive actors I’ve ever seen, he’s so good at it that you don’t see his technique. It’s definitely in there, but I always describe it as watching a wild animal on camera: You just can’t take your eyes off him: What’s he going to do next? That’s how I feel watching Joaquin.”
Blackbird Spyplane: All right, finally, I asked you to share a cherished unique possession, and you chose the clown painting behind you. I know you’re a longtime student and practitioner of the clowning tradition. What’s up with this?
John C. Reilly: “This is the first clown painting I ever got. My wife got it at a secondhand store and gave it to me a long, long time ago. I’m sure she regrets it now, because it began this clown-painting collection of mine. I have 150 of them now.”
Blackbird Spyplane: Holy s**t!
John C. Reilly: “Yeah. But what I love about clown paintings is that there’s three different layers going on, at least in my clown collection. First, it’s an amateur painting, so you’re seeing the hand of someone who doesn’t have the full facilities of a professional painter. Second, the design of the makeup is a very sacred part of clowning — the design of what your face will look like is almost a reflection of your soul, of inherent things that come out when you’re a clown. And third, in almost every painting I have you can see an emotion in those eyes. You can see someone behind it. So there’s all these layers of personality to these paintings.”
Blackbird Spyplane: I’m glad you picked this because there’s this kneejerk dismissal of clowns in our culture as creepy — the clown discourse doesn’t really get past that point these days. But this guy does have a great smile.
John C. Reilly: “I’m on a crusade against ‘The Scary Clown.’ I get it, there can be something scary about clowns and masks in general — not being able to see who’s behind the mask.
“But any good clown knows how to back off if someone’s afraid. It’s an unfair thing — it’s because they’ve commodified the clown to be scary. I think clowns have this monastic quality, almost in the same way nuns and priests do. And yes some priests are scary, but the vast majority of them are very special people devoted to a holy mission. And with clowns, they make themselves look like fools so you can feel better about yourself — there’s a holy mission to clowns, too.”
Blackbird Spyplane: Peace to clowns.
John C. Reilly: “I’ve noticed lots of people in their 20s and 30s are being drawn to clowning these days, too. Not necessarily full-face-paint clowning, but clowning as an art form, as a kind of improvisation, as a way of trying to make sense of the world right now. Almost this spiritual quest, but it’s a lot of fun, too. I think there’s a big wave of clowning coming.”
John C. Reilly’s next show as Mister Romantic is in L.A. at Largo on May 18th. Other performances are on the near horizon!!
this was dope, what a g
I saw that True West performance in high school. My parents drove us to the city for a matinee. Was obsessed with him and Philip Seymour Hoffman and the Paul Thomas Anderson universe. I had a little book of the script. We waited for them after the show and they signed it. Feel very lucky to have been there.