Veteran actor John C. Reilly adds 'Terri' to his filmography

Growing up, John C. Reilly never expected to be in Hollywood.

"I just saw movies as these bigger-than-life things, and the way actors were onscreen, I just thought that was the way they were," says the Chicago native. But with a face that would best be described as a mug, the 46-year-old actor has appeared in more than 40 movies - big films, small ones, dramas and comedies - and has worked with some of the best directors in the business.

On Friday, he opened in "Terri," an indie film about an overweight teen, Terri (Jacob Wysocki), who lives with his uncle, who shows early signs of dementia. Reilly plays vice principal Mr. Fitzgerald, who takes a personal interest in helping the kids at the school who are "different."

The actor says he was attracted to the role because of the journey the character takes.

"He begins as this confident authority figure who has the world all figured out and then the more time you spend with him, the more you realize that he's a guy who's actually becoming unglued a little bit and he starts to question what life is all about."

If you look at Reilly's resume, you would think that he is much like his character.

In 2003, he achieved a first in Oscar history by having featured roles in three of the five films nominated for best picture. He was Julianne Moore's husband in "The Hours," a corrupt policeman in Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York" and Renee Zellweger's sappy husband in "Chicago,"

for which he received an Academy Award nomination as best supporting actor. Yet Reilly says that while the kids working on "Terri" may have thought he knew it all, the veteran actor isn't so assured.

"I never really feel like an expert," says the actor. "It's a nerve-racking business. I wish I really did feel confident and laid-back about it all. That's just not the case."

The fifth of sixth children, Reilly started taking acting classes when he was 8 or 9 at a nearby park in his hometown.

"As a kid, it was so empowering," he says. "The first time I went to this drama class we made up stuff and suddenly that was our show."

While actors were never role models - that was his dad - one of the actors Reilly admired growing up was Gene Wilder. "I really liked him because he was funny. He had intensity. He had a compassionate quality about him that was different than the other macho kind of male role models of the time. There are not many people like that."

It could be argued that Reilly has had that type of diverse career himself. As a youth he performed in a lot of musicals - "Fiddler on the Roof," "Guys and Dolls," "Jesus Christ Superstar" - and he is known for his poignant number, "Mr. Cellophane," in the film "Chicago."

"I get a lot of happiness out of the singing and playing music," says Reilly, who did the parody biopic "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story," about the wild career of a country-rock star. The actor occasionally performs around town, singing and playing guitar and covering mostly traditional, roots and country music.

Though Reilly went to drama school at DePaul University in Chicago, it wasn't until he nearly graduated that he started calling himself an actor. It took the casting of another actor from his neighborhood (Kevin J. O'Connor in Francis Ford Coppola's "Peggy Sue Got Married") that allowed him to believe he could end up in a Hollywood movie.

"I couldn't believe it could be possible until I had a concrete example of somebody I knew making it. It was really inspiring."

When he was 22, Brian De Palma cast him in the 1988 Vietnam drama "Casualties of War." It was a small part, eventually expanded, and he got to take his first plane ride. Reilly has been working steadily ever since in films as varied as "The Aviator," "Boogie Nights," "A Prairie Home Companion," "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" and "Step Brothers."

He also met his future wife, Alison Dickey, who is a producer on "Terri." The couple have two children, but Reilly is fiercely protective of them and doesn't talk about his family.

From a script by Patrick deWitt, "Terri" is directed by Azazel Jacobs. "I like Azazel because he's very patient with letting you reveal the character," says Reilly. "He's not pushing some agenda. He's just trying to give you a sense of peace and space. He has a lot of compassion as a human being."

Reilly says that in Hollywood a director will say one thing in a meeting and then it will be different on a set. "Some people make movies because they're ambitious people," he says. "With somebody like Azazel, the whole thing to him is art. Hopefully, there is a way he can sell that, but it's nice to work with somebody who's first commitment is to truth and honesty and good storytelling."

Reilly, who has signed on for a cameo in Sacha Baron Cohen's "The Dictator," has two highly anticipated films due this year - the Cannes Film Festival sensation "We Need to Talk About Kevin" and "Carnage."

In "Kevin," from Lionel Shriver's controversial novel, he and Tilda Swinton play the parents of a schoolboy responsible for a Columbine-style rampage at a high school. "Carnage" is Roman Polanski's adaptation of Yasmina Reza's Tony Award-winning play "God of Carnage," which also stars Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster and Christoph Waltz.

Reilly also recently finished shooting the comedy "Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie." (Fans are familiar with his Dr. Steve Brule character - a loopy TV correspondent - from a number of videos available on the Internet.)

Reilly says when he was studying acting in college people always said "real acting" was dramatic acting. On the other hand, he had been in lots of musicals and comedies before then.

"I remember when I did `Talladega Nights,' people were like, `Who knew that John C. Reilly could be funny?' But I felt like there were a lot of funny scenes in `Boogie Nights,"' he says. "Everyone's always surprised by your secrets except you."

Source: http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_18399814?source=rss

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