Actor J.K. Simmons still spreading comic joy

This interview with actor J.K. Simmons would never have happened if my daughter Lauren hadn't accidentally bumped into him on the streets of New York.

They hit it off pretty well, and she told him that her father would love to interview him, which was true. She got his e-mail address, then pestered me on the phone until I finally sent Simmons a request for an interview.

So, on a rainy California afternoon in his car, Simmons spoke to me as he dodged insane motorists. He talked about his early start as a Detroit-born actor struggling to make it as a waiter/actor in New York. He talked about being a dad to a 7-year-old and a 10-year-old. He talked about making his new comedy "I Love You Man" opening Friday.

"It was just a laugh fest," Simmons said. "It was such a funny script. All we had to do was be those people and get out of the way. It's like what we said with 'Juno.' All we had to do was not screw it up."

If you don't quite know his name, you for sure know his face, and especially his voice, a mellifluous sound that can slide from undercranked comedy to ominous menace in a heartbeat.

Simmons played the droll dad in "Juno." And the efficiently perplexed CIA boss from "Burn After Reading." And Peter Parker's hard-bitten newspaper editor in all three "Spider-Man" adventures.

"I Love You Man" puts the 54-year-old actor back in dad mode as father to Paul Rudd and Andy Samberg. It's about how Peter (Rudd) must find a quick best friend in order to secure a best man for his wedding.

"John (Hamburg, the director) had such a good script on paper, but then he gave us the room to improvise," Simmons said. "Unfortunately, the funniest scene in the movie, I thought, is one we never shot. We kept pestering John to put in the Tiger Woods scene."

The Tiger Woods scene?

"Andy and I watching the U.S. Open on TV before Paul's wedding. Andy makes some kind of reference to seeing Tiger Wood's (unmentionables) through his pants. I say something ... that is very funny now, but I can't remember! Man, this is embarrassing! Anyway, it was the funniest scene in the movie, and it ends with a nice bonding moment between the two of us."

After a string of off-Broadway shows and tours, Simmons landed a movie role in the 1994 comedy "The Ref" where he played a blackmailed military school executive named "Siskel." Yes, named after the late film critic Gene Siskel.

"Richard (LaGravenese, screenwriter) said he wanted to find someone who looked vaguely like Gene Siskel because he had an ax to grind with him," Simmons said. "He wanted to name this unsavory character after Gene Siskel - something to do with a script of his that got a less-than-flattering review."

The most flattering review Simmons ever got?

It came from Seattle Times critic Wayne Johnson, who wrote of the actor's performance as the mute king in "Once Upon a Mattress," "A good share of joy is created by J.K. Simmons."

"I thought that was the greatest thing anyone could ever say about whatever it is that I'm trying to do up here," the actor said. "That I created joy. That moved me immensely. It moves me now just talking about it. Joy isn't always the emotion that I'm expressing, but to create a visceral and intellectual response in people is, to me, the best that you can hope for."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=279657">Dann Gire's review of "I Love You, Man" </a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>