Paul Rudd: ‘After Hours’ inspired me to study acting

February 4, 2023

The “Ant-Man” star decided to take his craft seriously after watching Griffin Dunne’s “sublime” performance in the film.

Martin Scorsese’s distaste for comic book movies has now been the subject of nearly half a decade of discourse, but his influence will still be felt in the upcoming “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” In a new interview with him Men’s healthPaul Rudd has revealed that Scorsese’s 1985 dark comedy After Hours was one of the biggest influences on his acting career – both in and outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“Griffin Dunne has been through so much,” Rudd said when asked about his first impressions of the film. “And she finally finds a safe haven in some guy’s loft because there’s a crowd on the streets looking for her.” And he calls the cops and they say, Go to sleep. And they hang up the phone. But he is not angry. He was simply stunned. And he says, Oh, wow. Wow.’ The only emotion is surprise. This is beyond frustrating. And it’s sublime.”

Rudd says she left the film with a renewed commitment to studying the craft of acting. This led to him turning down major film offers immediately after the success of “Clueless” to work in theater for a year. Although his representatives weren’t thrilled with the decision, Rudd said it was an important step in his artistic development.

“My agent said, ‘What are you doing?’ My career has only just begun,” he said. “But at the time I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it. I didn’t want to be seen as a joke around actors I really admire. I really wanted to learn how to do it right. I was really focused.”

After cutting his teeth on the stage, Rudd returned to film work with his newly confident skills.

“Of course, some of the films weren’t as good as I imagined, but they were beneficial, each in their own way,” he said, before citing “Wet Hot American Summer” as an early project that changed the trajectory of his career. . “I don’t know if I could do Anchorman without it.”,’ which was self-evident. And I’ve been working with Judd Apatow for years now.”

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