Zach Galifianakis photographed in Toronto during TIFF. September 10, 2010.Ryan Enn Hughes
Anyone familiar with Zach Galifianakis's comedic repertoire knows the guy is the king of left-field questions.
"Hey, I know it's really kind of dumb," says Galifianakis, who is in town for his latest, more serious, comedy, It's Kind of a Funny Story. "But dumb anything, always makes me laugh. If you do it very convincingly, without laughing. It just works. When I'm acting, I kind of Zen out. And I find that helps because when you give yourself freedom, and you don't worry about things, the comedy comes a lot easier."
Audiences roared during the hit comedy The Hangover, when he and his stag buddies check into Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and Galifianakis asks if the Roman dictator, who died in 44 BC, actually lived there.
In his online show, Between Two Ferns, he delights in skewering his friends/guests with queries such as: Have you ever farted on a cocker spaniel? (to Jimmy Kimmel). Is your middle name honey-baked? (to Jon Hamm). And did you wish you had more scenes with Chewbacca in Star Wars? (to Natalie Portman).
So it's only fitting that Galifianakis kicks off the interview by telling a story about the question he put to his dinner companions, the directors of his latest film, the night before. "So I'm out with Ryan [Fleck]and Anna [Boden] and Frank Sinatra is playing in the background, obviously on a record," says the stand-up comic. "And I say, 'Do you think that's a live band?' They look at me – and I'm totally straight-faced – and then they start chuckling. Don't ask me why, but stupid and simple is just plain funny."
Galifianakis appears as rumpled and hastily put together as the characters he plays on screen. His green khakis look as if they've been in his closet for 20 years. His blue golf shirt has a torn pocket. And his lace-up shoes need a good polish (and probably some new soles).
But his laissez-faire attire aside, Galifianakis insists he's a lot more serious - and way less goofy - than the types he plays on screen. And in It's Kind of Funny Story – from the directors of Half Nelson and Sugar – the 40-year-old comic finally gets a chance to tone the comedy down and inject some pathos into his part. "I'd seen their movies, and we chatted about the character and the subtlety of the kind of movies they do," says the North Carolina native, who plays a wise, but deeply troubled guy named Bobby who lives in a mental institution.
"The kind of movies I like are not necessarily the kind of movies I've been in," he says. "I like good stories, more grounded kind of things. I like very sad movies, those are my favourite kind. Very emotional movies. This role is a little bit of a departure from what I guess I'm known for. But Ryan and Anna are really good directors, and very smart. And they were willing to let me not be so crazy and animated. And in real life, I'm not that crazy and animated."
I t's Kind of a Funny Story stars Keir Gilchrist as a clinically depressed teenager who can't cope with the pressures of school and his parents' high expectations. He contemplates jumping off a bridge, but then checks himself into the adult psych ward, where he meets Galifianakis's Bobby, who becomes a surrogate dad.
The movie was shot in Brooklyn in an abandoned wing of a working hospital. Galifianakis says he rarely does much research for his roles, but he did visit some mental facilities in New Mexico to prepare for this role. "I wanted just to hang out and get a feel for the place. I'd seen a couple of people in those facilities who, if you met them on the street, you'd never know ... but you know behind those eyes, something could snap. That intrigued me," says the actor, who is a regular on HBO's Bored to Death, and will be seen next in Todd Phillips's Due Date, with Robert Downey Jr.
Galifianakis says he'd like to go forward "mixing it up" with full-out comedy as well as a few more sober roles. "People don't understand that comedy is hard. With drama, people just sit there and stare at the screen. As an actor, you don't necessarily need the feedback. But with comedy, if you don't hear any laughter .... well, there is an extra layer there. For it to work, you have to get a reaction from people out of their body - and that's laughter."