A Conversation with Jack Black

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// Don't change any javascript below this line. var eBayRedirectURL = "http://adfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/" + eBayMP_partner + "?loc="; function redirectEnter(form,url){ var eBayURL = url; for (var i=0;i<form.elements.length;i++){ var e = form.elements[i]; if ((e.type != "image") && (e.type != "button") && (e.type != "submit")){ if(i==0){ eBayURL += "?" + e.name + "=" + e.value; } else{ eBayURL += "&" + e.name + "=" + e.value; } } } var temp = eBayRedirectURL + escape(eBayURL); document.location = temp; } </script> <table width="468" border="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" bordercolor="#3A3AF3" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <tr> <td> <img src="http://img-snv.mediaplex.com/ads/711/1751/ebay_logo_468x60border_searchpull.gif" width="165" height="58" align="left" hspace="20"> <table border=0 cellpadding=1 cellspacing=0> <FORM action="http://service.bfast.com/bfast/click?bfmid=37920209&siteid=37746411&bfpage=350x50_search_border" onSubmit="redirectEnter(this,'http://service.bfast.com/bfast/click?bfmid=37920209&siteid=37746411&bfpage=350x50_search_border'); 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Singleton</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> Many of you know Jack Black from the hit comedies "<A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2000/id253.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2000/id25"><U><B>High Fidelity</B></U></A>" and "<A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2001/id1908.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2001/id19"><U><B>Shallow Hal</B></U></A><B>."</B> In Chicago recently, he talked with us about his new film "<A HREF="id1898.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The School of Rock"><U><B>The School of Rock</B></U></A>."</div> <bR> <div> <B>GS:</B> Although Mike White ("<A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2000/id557.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2000/id55"><U><B>Chuck & Buck</B></U></A>," "<A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2002/id1903.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2002/id19"><U><B>The Good Girl</B></U></A>," and "<A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2002/id1765.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2002/id17"><U><B>Orange County</B></U></A>") is the credited writer, how much of what we see on the screen is Jack Black?</div> <bR> <div> <B>JB:</B> It's the first time someone wrote a part for me with me in mind. It feels good. Me likes it! It's kind of like calling up Ferrari and saying I want a blue one with flames. He did not make it to my specifications but we are friends. He knows my voice and what I like to do.</div> <bR> <div> We were neighbors' years ago; that's how we met. On this movie, he plays my roommate. We pulled some method acting and got a loft in New York and lived together when we made the film. They (the studio) give you a housing allowance for a hotel room and when we pooled our resources together, we were able to get a swank party pad. </div> <bR> <div> <B>GS</B>: How much of the direction of the kids in the film came from you?</div> <bR> <div> <B>JB:</B> Very little. I don't like to get in the way of the director. I tried to give them what they needed off camera, which was often to just leave them alone. These kids had great musical chops and they are actually better than me, most of them; they were my peers.</div> <bR> <div> [Jack added that two of the kids are from the Chicago area, drummer Kevin Clark and bass player Rebecca Brown]. </div> <bR> <div> Kevin interviewed me for his school paper, which was probably the best interview I've ever done and his mom inadvertently taped over it.</div> <bR> <div> I sang all my own songs. Wherever there was a shredding guitar solo in the movie, that's not me. I brought the rock and brought it as hard as I could. </div> <bR> <div> <B>GS:</B> To what extent is "getting back at the Man" inspirational to the writing of rock music?</div> <bR> <div> <B>JB:</B> That is a big part of it. There are not that many bands that rail on the Man any more. "Rage Against the Machine" and some that are super Anti American involvement in the Middle East. Social awareness is definitely missing in music. It doesn't have to be in anger, it just has to be passionate, something you really believe in; that is what makes a great song.</div> <bR> <div> [Jack added that there was a love scene with Joan Cusack that was deleted because it got in the way of the movie]. </div> <bR> <div> Maybe it will be on the DVD. The film is not about our love story but about me and the kids rocking. They are on a quest to learn the secrets of rock.</div> <bR> <div> <B>GS</B>: How do you come across as being over the top without being over the top?</div> <bR> <div> <B>JB</B>: I love scenery chewers. I love Jim Carrey, loved Chris Farley, I love to see great actors go too far. I don't really worry about it but I don't want to hurt the story. I think of this as my crowning achievement. </div> <bR> <div> Many may agree, as it's somewhat of a surprise to see Jack in a movie featuring him as the focus of attention rather than in a supporting role, and his crazy antics play a whole song of emotions rather than just a single note. </div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="591" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> George O. Singleton © 2003</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> <A HREF="mailto:george@reelmoviecritic.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:george@reelmoviecritic.com"><U><U>george@reelmoviecritic.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>