Dane Cook

Spotlight By: Rocco Passafuime
RoccoPassafuime@TheCinemaSource.com

In the last few years, no comedian has made more of a name for himself than Dane Cook. Amassing a massive following, predominantly of college students, his comedy has made massive headway with the documentary series Tourgasm and the special Vicious Circle, both of which aired on HBO.

After he got considerable notice in Hollywood appearing in his first starring role in the comedy Employee Of The Month with Jessica Simpson, he's now switching gears from comedy to drama in the new psychological thriller Mr. Brooks. He stars alongside Kevin Costner, Demi Moore, and William Hurt as the creepy and voyeuristic neighbor Mr. Smith.

The first thing discussed with Cook is how he first got wind of the role.

'I was working down in New Mexico at the time on Employee Of The Month and got the script sent down to me,' Dane recalls, 'It was one of those things where it was like, 'This is happening really fast, man. This is really scooting right along.' So I was reading the script and I was like, 'Oh! I really want to just do this in front of people!''

However, due to his current commitments, Dane realized he had to prove himself through highly risky and impersonal means.

'You always want to be able to have a chance to go back and meet with the producers and the writers so you can, away from the part, show them that you're not insane and you have a take on that character and all that other stuff,' he explains, 'So going on tape is certainly like the kiss of death. Most of the time, you know you're going on tape just to be told, 'We really liked you, but'' So I went on tape and had a really great bead on who this guy was immediately.'

'I had a friend of mine, who's not an actor, reading off-camera,' Cook continues, 'It was like everything you would not want to do for any kind of audition. But I really, really felt that I just had an understanding in a different take on what I think was on the page about Mr. Bafurter a.k.a. Mr. Smith. And so I finally sent it out and I said, 'All right, the rest is up to the universe.''

And indeed, the universe smiled upon him, and he learned he had secured the role.

'When I got that call, I was like, 'Oh, great! Now I can really chew into this guy. I know what I want to bring to this character,'' Dane exclaims. 'And once I got it, everything was easier after that. That was the hardest part of this whole thing, was putting this whole thing together.'

An important next question to ask was whether Cook had felt any considerable pressure in trying to prove himself to Hollywood of his acting skills.

'I've been doing stand-up comedy for 17 years,' he notes, 'You've been through the spanking machine there enough times that really anything after some of the highs and lows of comedy are manageable. So, no, I was like, 'This is just the business of making this movie and I can't be there.' So I want to fight for this part and if that means going on tape or auditioning over the phone, I don't know what I got to do, but I'll take it on. And I know the stigma with that is if it comes out bad, then the word gets around town that you stink. But, I just had enough confidence that I was in the ballpark with the guy.'

Amassing a massive considerable cult following like Cook has with his stand up, it had to be wondered whether or not his fans would embrace his creepy turn in a big Hollywood psychological thriller.

'One of the reasons I did this is because [my fans] are so encouraging when it comes to me doing things that are outside of the box,' Dane says, 'If you see my stand-up, and my die-hard fans know when they come to enough of my shows, that it's not just 'set up, punch', it's not jokes. I tell a lot of stories.'

He also adds that his observational style of comedy isn't that big of a stretch in seguing to such a dark genre of film.

'When I talked in [the HBO special] Vicious Circle about crying, it's such a dark piece,' Cook notes, "I literally wrote this thing one day when I was having one of the worst days of my life. And I'm crying and I'm talking about how you cry and you watch yourself in the mirror cry and what that symbolically means to watch yourself look your worst. But they're laughing at this thing and it gives me permission.' [Ed. note -- you have to see that "crying" bit, it's the funniest part of the whole special.]

In regards to his fans, Dane believes his direct nature with them has enabled them to embrace more diverse creative pursuits.

'I felt like my fans had an understanding,' he states, 'And I've always, through messages on my website or I've reached out, told them, 'I want to do a lot of stuff, you guys, so if you want to be a fan of my comedy, then you better be willing to be a fan of anything creative that I'm going to attempt. Because everything is an attempt, every joke is an attempt. If you're laughing, it's all an attempt. So come with me on this ride with these movies and let me entertain you in a different way.'

Cook also recounts his experiences working with such a high-profile cast in the film.

'William Hurt is an incredibly felt presence,' Dane recalls, 'To ignore and play him like, 'William Hurt, you're not here,' is like trying to ignore a parade going by your house. I don't hear all that shit going on outside. This guy is massive and the same with Demi and Kevin, these are iconic people. Their reputation and the way they carry themselves is huge and felt.'

However, Cook also notes that there were times where he had to detach himself from his fellow actors in order to effectively perform.

'For me in those scenes, once I finally had to dance down and knew how it was going to operate, I did kind of shut [William Hurt] out,' he recalls, 'I remember one of the first days when William came up and grabbed me to tell me something and I'm like, 'No! Don't touch me!' Because I was so in the zone at that point and I was almost like, 'No, let's keep living this thing we have.' But, then, just away from moments we shared acting, I had a great rapport with him.'

When asked about what Hurt and him ended up having in common, Dane remarks, "We both realized that we both loved conspiracy stuff. All the strange conspiracy things that are on online about whether it's 9/11 or UFO's. So I started feeling like, wow, I'm just rapping, just real regular sitting on the stoop in the middle of summer type of conversation with William Hurt. Once you do that, then they're just your peers. All that other stuff goes away and all three of them were good about putting me in that comfort zone immediately.'

He also touched on whether the comic actor felt nervous about playing his a more dramatic role.

'I felt the little twinge of fear,' Cook states, 'Every once in a while, especially going back to comedy, if there's a little fear going into your performance, it's going to be a better performance. You don't want to saunter into something. There's nothing there. You really want to be able to feel that adrenaline going.'

Building from that, it was important to then ask whether the he felt any personal hesitation in playing such a creepy role.

'Taking from some people that I met in experiences that I had and trying to make that work with the thoughts that I had of who Mr. Smith could and should be, I just was ready to do it,' he insists, 'I really wanted to explore myself in that way.'

'We all have that voyeuristic, dark side of ourselves,' Dane explains, 'Whether it be watching a high-speed chase and there's that little thing in the back of your brain going, 'Oh! This car's going to crash! I got to watch this!' Or I used to watch skiing and I remember thinking, 'Wow! At some point someone's going to fall. I wonder what that's going to be like!' We all have those dark little nuggets. It's just certain people actually make those little nuggets come to fruition in a bigger way. And that's what this guy is and I just went for it full tilt boogie.'

However, Cook did note that there were some scenes where he had his limits.

'There were a couple of scenes that left me with a strange taste in my mouth, so to speak, just walking away from it, saying, 'Wow! This exists!'' Dane recalls, 'Especially when you're really delving into knowing that somebody out there right now might be going through this. There might be somebody trapped in somebody's basement being put through hell right now as we're speaking.'

The last question to ask in parting was what kind of impact the 35-year old comedian/actor hopes to make as he delves deeper into the world of acting.

'When you see a movie, when you sit in that dark room and the images are flickering up at the screen, there's a moment when the movie ends and the credits start to roll where you start to pick yourself up off that seat and you feel something,' Cook states, 'You're feeling something all throughout the story, but there's a moment when feel something as you're leaving that theatre where sometimes you want to talk about what you just saw. I'm interested in getting people to stand up out of their seat and go, 'Whoa! I want to talk about that!' And it doesn't have to be funny to get that kind of experience; there are a lot of stories to tell.'