Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008

By GEORGE HADLEY-GARCIA

Special to The Japan Times

Jack Black is an unlikely movie star. He isn't classically handsome, nor is he slim. In the 2006 hit comedy "Nacho Libre," in his wrestler's tight-fitting outfit — and despite a capacious cape — his torso resembled a sausage stuffed into a too-small casing.

Wied-eyed: Funnyman Jack Black (right) and costar Mos Def in the movie "Be Kind Rewind." © NEWLINE PRODUCTIONS/JUNKYARD PRODUCTIONS

Born in 1969, the actor-producer- composer-musician allows that with not too much effort he could shed enough weight to "look more normal, like the guys you see all over the place in California."

"But who wants to look normal? To me, it's kind of obnoxious to look that good. Cos you know, you go to other parts of the country, away from the cities, and people are heavier. Or fat. So in those places, I'm thinner than the norm. They're the American norm. Or I am. Either way, it doesn't really signify for me."

Now in considerable demand for movies appealing to a youth audience who see him as a rebel, a funnyman and someone younger than he actually is (he turned 39 on Aug. 28 this year), Black isn't that interested in reality.

"I could have gone into some field, for a profession, that was a lot more realistic. Instead, I chose this one. I mean, I chose show business. It's very much of a business, but it's also a lot about nonreality. It's a bunch of illusions. Even the happy endings, they are and they always were mostly illusions. Life doesn't always or even usually work out that way.

"But so what? And in so many of the movies I do, the upstart — that's me — wins out. In the real world, he doesn't. The system usually beats him down. Little guys don't usually win like they do in the movies."

He was born Thomas Jack Black, and explains, "Thomas is too serious. I've always had nicknames. At home, in school, now with my friends. Thomas is . . . it's just not a name you can have fun with. Or . . . well, it can be Tommy, but that's either too little-boy somehow, or it's big and goofy, like silly.

"Jack's just fine with me. Like in a deck of playing cards, you know? I wouldn't want to be the king, and I wouldn't want to be the queen. But I like being the jack. He's royalty, but he's kinda casual, and you're glad to see him. And I think he has a lot better time than the stuffy old king."

Black provided the voice for "Kung Fu Panda." © KUNG FU PANDA TM and © 2007 DREAMWORKS ANIMATION LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Black has said more than once in interviews that one of his first tastes of others' disbelief about him was when he explained what his parents did for a living.

"If you say your dad's a rocket scientist, you get a look," he says. "They look at you funny, like, 'Sure he is.' And you know, most people can't even define what a rocket scientist is. I'm not even sure I can."

But in Black's case, his mother was also a rocket scientist, and worked on the famous Hubble Space Telescope.

"My mom was a mom, but she also worked at other, really important things, and to me that was normal. If someone else's mom stayed home all the time, making sandwiches and cookies, to me that somehow was not normal. I was like, 'Is that all she does?' "

Since Black wasn't always believed when he declared that his parents were rocket scientists, he decided it wasn't that crucial what he said or did.

"It's like people mostly tend to believe you if what you're saying is in line with what they think and believe," he says. "And I just used to think, why is reality, or someone's preconceived idea of what reality is supposed to be, so important? And if somebody, say, did want to make up a story to feel better about themselves or their parents, and say that their parents were rocket scientists, even if they weren't rocket scientists, what does that harm? What should that matter so much?

Hot number: Jack Black's set heats up in "Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny" with Kyle Gass. © MMVI NEW LINE PRODUCTIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

"First, kids are told there's a Santa Claus. But when they invent a thing or a person or a situation, that's not OK. It's like it's only OK to fabricate something or someone if an adult does it. Like if they tell you about the tooth fairy. But if a kid tells his parents or teachers there's an elf living in the backyard, then he's saying something bad and maybe he needs psychiatric treatment. He's veering away from the adults' reality and making them uncomfortable. Too bad! To me, that's just all wrong. That just stifles kids' and young people's creativity. So in the end, I didn't go into science or medicine, I went into a field where I could explore and exploit my creativity all I wanted, and also get paid for it."

Black, who grew up in southern California — where else? — attended the renowned Crossroads High School for the Arts & Sciences and early on became interested in both acting and music, specifically rock music. Like most boys of his time and place, he wanted to form a rock band of his own, and in 1994 he did just that, forming the satirical metal duo Tenacious D with friend and fellow actor Kyle Gass. The duo have gone on to modest success in their own right, releasing albums and appearing in the fictional comedy movie "Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny," released in the U.S. in fall 2006 and in Japan in June this year. The plot revolved around Tenacious D's attempt to steal a magical guitar pick crafted from a piece of Satan's tooth that would cement their place in rock 'n' roll legend, and featured cameos from metal hero Ronnie James Dio and Foo Fighters frontman/Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl.

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