Synopsis:
At East Highland High School, new guy Gil Harris is at the top of the popularity food chain. Mysterious and charming, Gil's got girls falling all over him and thugs scrambling to get his back. He's got East Highland High School in the palm of his hand. But Gil's got a secret. Not so long ago, at Rocky Creek High School, across town, Gil - formerly known as Diz, a.k.a. Dizzy Gillespie Harrison - was a 'blip,' a loser so low, he wasn't even on the social radar. So how did Diz change his life and become Gil the new guy? A simple plan, determination and the help of some unlikely friends.
DJ Qualls ("Road Trip") stars as Diz/Gil in this high school comedy with a heart. Taking time out from his work on the action/drama "The Core," Qualls discussed "The New Guy," his career aspirations, and the responsibilities that come with being famous.
DJ QUALLS (Diz/Gil)
Was Patrick Dempsey in "Can't Buy Me Love" an influence on you?
Absolutely. When I first read the script, that's exactly what I thought about. I was like, "This movie is 'Can't Buy Me Love' with sort of a 'Something About Mary' sensibility." I liked that. It's not gross. I read it when all the gross-out movies were starting to die and they were just so disgusting. I thought they were funny like everybody else when they came out, and then I was just sick of it. There was a real purity to the movie and a real honesty. It wasn't preachy - even at moments in the movie where it could have gotten preachy, it just turned kind of silly. It turned around on itself and I liked that. Also, I wanted to do something PG-13 - that was really important to me. I was in Miami shooting a movie and I went into this high school and none of those kids are actually legally able to see "Road Trip," but all of them had seen it. I thought I should do a movie that they can actually get into the movies to see. Also, I have an 11 year-old sister and a 12 year-old brother.
How did you learn to play physical comedy?
I really believe that everybody has something that they are good at. Like some people, I watch them on television take 10 numbers and add them up in a second and know exactly what it is. For some reason, I can look at a script and tell what joke will play and how it will play. I really sort of do whatever feels correct and whatever feels honest in the scope of the reality that I'm trying to create.
Did you and Lyle Lovett work together on getting the father/son bonding thing down?
The unfortunate part about being a lead in a movie is that you are so pushed for time. I'm almost in every scene of the movie. So like scenes when Eliza's doing the bathing suit scene, I wasn't even there for that. I was never actually in the room for most of the movie, but I would be somewhere in a box reacting to it. There is so little time. Also, I was in band camp and in rehearsals for the performance scenes. We recorded the songs that were actually in the movie. There's so much that goes on in the periphery that you don't have a lot of time.
Were you really in the car with Lyle Lovett for that scene in the beginning?
Yes. That was a glamorous day because Lyle was lucky. He was actually the driver so he got to stay in the driver's seat all day. I spent most of the day crammed in a cameraman's crotch, doing off-camera [work] for everyone else so that the eye line is right.
How was the flaming marshmallow scene done?
It was all CGI. It was a wooden marshmallow with some sort of adhesive on it. I flicked it on him and then he just went crazy. That was my favorite scene to shoot because seeing Lyle be on fire without the fire, it was very funny to me. I get such a big kick when I see my fellow actors do something outside themselves. I would expect Lyle to roll around on the floor and act like he's on fire, but when I see an actor do what I wouldn't expect them to do, it really gives me a lot of joy.
You play in a band in the film. Do you like the type of music that band plays - funk?
I'm really into 70s R&B actually. I guess they are akin. Rap and songs like punk, if I can't say the words to the song, like when I'm driving I get really nervous - I have to have words. I can't dance without words; I need words. The good thing about 70s R&B is that you always get words. They are normally only "ohhh baby baby" type things, but they are words.
You are also starring in a movie called "Comic Book Villains." What's that film about?
"Comic Book Villains" is a movie that James Robinson wrote and directed. He created "Starman." It's with myself, Natasha Lyonne, Donal Logue, Michael Rapaport. It's a black comedy about these two rival comic book collectors who find out a man has died and has this million dollar comic book collection. They basically kill each other trying to get it. It's a really great movie. I'm very proud of it. It's the first work that I've done that was strictly dramatic. Now I'm sick of drama because I've done three in a row and I'm really ready to do a comedy.
Did you ever collect comic books?
No, and you know my character doesn't do that in the movie, so it was pretty good. The story is sort of told through my eyes. Donal Logue is the guy who is actually my best friend in the movie. He owns the comic book store and I actually get close to the older lady and she winds up getting killed. I have this weird relationship with her like it's almost love but it's not physical, and she's in her 70s. It's a really, really unique script.
Is there anything funny out there right now?
No, there's nothing funny right now. The last thing that I got sent was a POW drama. I couldn't bear it. I didn't want to go to Malaysia or China and sweat for 8 weeks. Especially because now, I'm doing a drama but I have a comedy coming out - but I really want to do a comedy. I'm telling people, "Look, I'm really looking for comedy." They're like, "You just did a comedy." I'm like, "I did this movie in the 80s!" I'm really ready for something funny.
Are you amazed at the way your career is taking off?
Everyone is amazed, everyone. It's not even a thing that I can…I would like to say I'm amazed but Hollywood has been really kind. You know what? People, even the studio here, they don't really fully get it. I kept telling them, "I went to Fox and the valets clapped for me when I got out of my car." Or "I went to SuperCuts and got my hair cut for free. I think I'm pretty well known now. I could possibly open this movie if you trust me." We went to Phoenix last week. I went and did a Q&A after the movie because it was the high school journalists and it was crazy, they had to bring security. I was like, "I've sort of been telling them that." But everything has to be proven to people. No one can understand how I got famous off of one movie. It just doesn't make sense. People rented that movie to death. It so scanned the gamut of people who watched it. A 70 year-old man in Las Vegas and his wife came up to me and said, "My wife loved your movie."
You have a very distinctive look.
Nobody is going to be confusing me with anybody else. As far as looking like this in America, I feel like a tall American in Asia. You know what I mean? You stand out in front of everybody, like you are walking above the crowd. Everybody can tell where you are from. That's sort of what I'm like. I feel like I stick out in society. I get recognized so often and I wonder if it's because people recognize me or because I just act nervous? I draw attention to myself because I feel like an incident is coming. It's really hard to get used to the fame. You can't quantify it. I don't understand it. I like it because it is like a drug in the fact that if I'm feeling bad, I can go to the mall and people will be nice to me and it's an icebreaker. But also, I realized that I can only take it in small doses because if it goes away, I have my whole life to live without it.
What dramatic films have you done?
I did a movie called "Chasing Holden," for Lions Gate. The thing that's so insane, I'm under a tremendous amount of pressure right now, more than I ever thought I would be. I've always acted out of a place of ignorance, and the fact that everything that's happening to me is sort of happening to me for the first time - like my first Premiere and I was on Leno the other night for the first time. Things have yet to equalize where I'm repeating old territory. Now I'm opening my own movie and I did three independent movies - or three really small movies - and now they are all waiting to see what this movie does to decide what kind of release they are going to give them. What really sucks is that at least one of the three is amazing; it's just an amazing movie. I hate myself and if I think the movie is amazing - and I'm all over that movie - it must be a good movie.
What movie are you referring to?
There's a movie I did called "Lone Star State of Mind," and it's just something so different than I've ever seen before. And also, it's the most fun I've ever had. Josh Jackson, James King and myself, we just bonded so quickly. We just laughed every day. The movie shows it and it's just a great movie, but the studio doesn't know what to do with it. We finished it a year ago and they don't know because my test scores are higher than everyone else's so they have to market it based on me. If the movie doesn't do well, [then there's] all this crap that you don't want to think about. It's really sad that the business is like that, because we turned out a good movie.
Going into this, I know that when I do this publicity tour, at the end of it, the movie is going to open. At least my immediate future will be guided by the first weekend's receipts. I mean, I really don't think I'll suddenly go away if the movie doesn't open big because I've continued to work, and I've only had one movie out. I continue to get things sent to me. But I know what it could do if it came out and opened big. It would totally change everything for me. I'm not after the money, I'm after the creative input because I see so many bad decisions made, based on money, and they're the wrong decisions. And also the people who run studios are so much older than the movies are targeting. There's such a barrier. Even the actors who act in them, they don't go out and talk to people.
Let's say you get this creative input. As you grow older in the business, how are you going to keep that foundation?
Part of the thing is to keep a connection. When people get older, or as they get more successful, they do things crazy - like run out of parties when there are kids waiting for autographs. That may sound like a relatively minor thing but that is symptomatic of their whole ability to disconnect from the general population. That will never happen to me because it's disgusting first of all, and it's a place I could never feel comfortable. And when I see it, it embarrasses me. You know when you see someone on TV, like a stand-up comic who is really bombing and you get this painful sweat on the back of your neck and you have to change the channel? That's what a lot of celebrity and a lot of power in Hollywood makes me feel like. I don't want to feel that way. I don't want to project that. Also, you have to rely on young people. You have to rely on a constant stream of young, talented people.
Do you want to direct?
I don't ever want to direct because my actors would hate me.
Why?
I don't think I could let go like that because I like to act so much. I could never direct a comedy. I would be stabbed to death in my hotel room. But I do want to produce my own movies.
Did you produce "Comic Book Villains?"
I co-produced it. [I want input on] things like marketing decisions and the trailer.
So that's your plan?
Yes. I just worked with Ed Zwick and [he has] that type of input. Adam Sandler has a lot of input in his movies. Every time he opens a movie, $100,000,000 pours in. If that would happen, if I could just have a little more control, I would be able to sleep better at night.
What are you going to do during "The New Guy's" opening weekend?
Actually I'll be in New York doing press. I was so hoping to go to Barcelona. I just wanted to get out of the country. I just wanted to leave so badly but the problem is that after the movie opens, I've still got to promote it for another week. I just wanted to get the heck out of Dodge.
The thing that's crazy in the entertainment business is that now how much money a movie makes in a weekend leads the news. It's so important to people. There's nowhere I'd be able to escape it. They'll call me Friday night and tell me. We'll know on Friday night what it's going to open at. I'm just trying to set myself up where if it doesn't open [big] then I can't be upset. I feel like I've done everything I can do. So if it doesn't find its audience, there's nothing else I could possibly have done. I think that I've created a movie that I am proud of. It serves its purpose. Reviewers who say things like, "I laughed but I felt guilty." Who the hell feels guilty for laughing? It's sort of that 'holier than thou' culture.
I was up at 4am the other morning and I was thinking, "Oh my God, people totally diss teenagers and that's the reason why there's violence." I started thinking about all this stuff, and then I realized that people never get over what happened to them in high school. One day, somebody is going to be taking care of you who went through those high school things and you want them to be in the best possible mental condition they possibly can be. So why would you discount teen angst? Why would people make movies about that or make movies about things that are common to all of us? Do people feel like when they get past a certain age, there's no validity to that? I don't understand that.
There are actors who feel they don't need to do print and online interviews, but will only do TV and "Vanity Fair."
Ohhh, I won't do that. There's a weird mentality that people, when they get to a certain point, that every one is trying to use them, but this is what I realize - I need you right now in order to do more jobs. I am your job and this is your job. And it's the same as the guys who stand outside of Premieres and have pictures of you to sell. But why wouldn't you sign a picture for someone to sell for $10? If they can make $10, what are you going to do? Sell your own pictures?
I can't understand the mentality that would not allow somebody to do that, especially in Los Angeles. I recently went on a tour in South Central Los Angeles and I always thought poverty was people who dropped out of high school or didn't get a good education and got a factory job - it's not. Those people, the people in South Central, wish they could have a factory job. There's no living wage in South Central Los Angeles and I'd never seen that before. The fact is in California, which is one of the highest tax states in the country, we have the worst dropout rate in the whole nation. There's so many problems in this state and so many people and such a lack of jobs, I could never honestly deprive somebody of $10. I could never deprive someone of making money off of me as long as it's not hurting me. I would guarantee that none of those people in those studios or any of those really famous actors have ever gotten on a bus and gone down to the flashpoint of the LA riots, or gone to a Community Center and gotten presentations all day about a high school valedictorian who graduated with 4.5 GPA and then found out she would not be able to go to college because her school was not funded to give her the correct courses that she would need to get into a California State school. There're so many things that I've become aware of and so many ways to lend your voice as a celebrity that there's no way that I could not act.
At the end of the interview the director, Ed Decter, joined DJ for a little discussion about horseback riding:
DECTER: Did he lie to you (the press) about being able to ride a horse?
DJ: Do you know what? This is what I want to say about riding a horse, I can ride a horse but the problem is I cannot ride a horse when there are 300 people running at the horse and waving things and screaming, and expect the horse to stay in one place.
DECTER: DJ was incredibly honest. He said, "I can sing," and he could sing, and he said, "I can do both sides of the character," but he lied, you have to have an ass to ride a horse and he does not have one.
DJ: I had two Appaloosas growing up down on the farm but I never had 300 people down at the farm running at them.
DECTER: That is true. It was more like 1,100 people running after the horse so it got a little skittish.
