'BlackBerry' star Jay Baruchel talks the trials of wig carrying for the film, his hatred for the iPhone, and why he's not teaming up along with his Judd Apatow friends proper now

• Jay Baruchel talked to Insider about enjoying BlackBerry founder Mike Lazaridis in a brand new film.
• We chatted about his hatred for the iPhone, his equal hatred for the wig he wears within the film, and extra.
• “BlackBerry” opens in theaters on Friday.

Jay Baruchel’s anxiety-filled comedic abilities made him one of many stars of Judd Apatow tasks like “Undeclared” and “Knocked Up” within the early 2000s, and later the voice of Hiccup within the hit animated franchise “The right way to Prepare Your Dragon.”

And that is what makes his efficiency so good in “BlackBerry.”

As one of many nerdy Canadian founders of the smartphone, he instructions the display screen with out leaning into the issues which have made him well-known.

Directed by Matt Johnson, “BlackBerry” chronicles the rise and dramatic fall (thanks iPhone) of the first-ever system that allowed you to make calls and ship emails on the similar time. A combination between “The Social Community” and an episode of “Silicon Valley,” this comedy is fueled by its two principal characters — co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, performed by Baruchel and “It is All the time Sunny in Philadelphia” star Glenn Howerton.

As Howerton’s Balsillie is a powder keg of rage, Baruchel’s Lazaridis goes from nebbish innovator to a company shark, full with slicked-back white hair, tailor-made fits, and a befuddlement over why anybody would desire a telephone that is simply all display screen and does not have keys to sort.

For Baruchel, 41, it is a efficiency that exhibits his development as an actor. Although it meant having to do it with a particularly uncomfortable wig on on a regular basis.

“I must take three showers to get all of the glue out,” the actor instructed Insider.

Right here, Baruchel chatted with us about his hatred for the iPhone, Arnold Schwarzenegger selecting a booger off his face whereas they had been capturing the upcoming Netflix present “FUBAR,” and why we should not get our hopes up about him teaming with Seth Rogen and the opposite Apatow ensemble anytime quickly.

It seems like, simply inside the previous couple of years, you stopped utilizing a BlackBerry.

Sure, 100%, and I nonetheless miss it. I hate the iPhone that I am speaking on proper now — and never simply the one in my hand, I hate all of them! 

And mainly, you had been guilted into altering to an iPhone. 

Right. That is precisely proper. All people moved on. When my mom was telling me that I needed to get with the occasions, I noticed it was time. And I do not want half the crap that is on this factor.

Being from Canada, a giant purpose you had been drawn to “Blackberry” was to have the ability to spotlight an innovation created by Canadians, proper?

And one which I truly appreciated. And it is not like this can be a industrial for it. I’ve no real interest in making any model of company propaganda. I am not even that right into a love letter to a product, however what I’m taken with is drawing consideration to a fairly profound innovation, and an essential one.

If anyone is taken with how the best way that we talk and relate to at least one one other is basically knowledgeable by smartphones then it must be attention-grabbing to see the place that began. It is all crazier while you come to study that the innovation was made by some nerds in Waterloo within the late Nineties.

Frankly, the inspiration of how we stay and talk at present is that this system. 

That is the factor. I am much less taken with how a lot folks appreciated it when it was round. What I believe is way more attention-grabbing is how elementary it’s to this world that we’re in at present. Particularly that BlackBerry is considerably forgotten. The iPhone has given us all amnesia in a manner. 

However by way of Canadian ingenuity, it’s having a highlight in the mean time. There’s this film, in addition to the Tremendous Bowl industrial of Dave Grohl giving like to all of the issues invented in Canada. Have you ever seen that?

Oh! That is nice. [Laughs.]

You’ve got by no means seen it?

No, I have never. That is superior. 

Now, right me if I am mistaken, is that this the primary time you’ve got performed a real-life particular person?

I imply, technically, the man I performed in “Virtually Well-known” was an actual particular person. 

Mike Lazaridis is a bit more wealthy and well-known than that man. 

[Laughs.] You are not mistaken. Mike is a bit more rich than anybody I’ve ever identified, mixed. However I believe you are proper, I by no means thought of it, however sure. 

Did you do a deep dive on Lazaridis or simply have the script be your information?

The script. And truly, that was a really early query I requested of Matt: “How a lot of an impersonation are you curious about?” I used to be curious what his priorities had been.

He was way more taken with me and the “good music,” for instance, that comes out of me. He needed to see how that may sound with the notes he’d written. So the Mike in his screenplay isn’t essentially the Mike in actual life.

This isn’t from transcripts. This isn’t a recreation from a documentary. This can be a meditation or a poem primarily based on a e-book primarily based on true occasions. So I went off the Mike on the web page. 

And it is clear that you’re doing issues on this film which can be very non-Jay Baruchel. The ticks and mannerisms that we now have come to know from you aren’t on this efficiency. Was {that a} problem not to return to the outdated bag of tips?

It was one thing that MJ and I talked about early on. As soon as we found out the man that we had been going to create was going to be one thing that wasn’t an impersonation of Mike and in addition one thing I might by no means actually accomplished earlier than, I actually tried to remove the issues that may be crutches for me: shifting my palms loads once I discuss, I’ve an terrible fucking intuition to bust a joke in a scene, all the stuff that one develops being on set yearly since 1995.

I attempted to mitigate and play protection in opposition to that. We felt the stress that may create can be attention-grabbing, simply the trouble to withstand my impulses.

It was difficult and enjoyable, however each night time I’d go residence and suppose I sucked. Then, once I began carrying the actual severe fuck-off wig in direction of the tip of the film — which took two hours to placed on and an hour-plus to take off — all I thought of was, “Thank fuck the wig is off.”

On the similar time, I used to be additionally making this Arnold Schwarzenegger present I am on. 

“FUBAR” on Netflix. So that you had been going forwards and backwards capturing each on the similar time?

Yeah. In order that’s why I could not dye my hair for “BlackBerry.” I mainly had my regular head of hair as a result of I wanted it for “FUBAR” and I needed to glue all of it down and put a bald cap on to get the wig on.

It did not assist that there was a severe warmth wave occurring on the similar time we had been making “BlackBerry.” 

So lastly while you noticed footage, you realized it was all price it. 

You realize what, after we had been capturing. Even when I second-guessed myself I knew what was being shot was spectacular. I knew Glenn was superb and Matt was directing the fuck out of it. I knew it was fucking good. 

And to your level, I’ve to focus on the final shot of the film. I will not give it away, however solely to say it is very a lot an ode to “The Wolf of Wall Avenue” ending the place DiCaprio is saying to all of the folks at his discuss, “Promote me this pen.” Was {that a} scene the place you simply knew you had been on the suitable film?

Oh sure. And to be trustworthy, I used to be aggravated about one thing after we shot that so it elevated the efficiency in that scene. I overlook what I used to be crabby about, however it labored as a result of, in that shot, Mike is crabby. So even being aggravated I knew the work was good. You realize it’ll be film. 

And there is one other nice scene. You and horror-movie icon Michael Ironside have a short stare-down. It is so good that the rating for the scene has a “Scanners” vibe to it. 

That I did not actually get till I noticed it in put up. I did not have a beat on it on the day. I actually hope I introduced my recreation for that scene. I did not wish to make Michael Ironside look unhealthy.

However the film fan a part of me felt if we’re profitable in every little thing earlier than this scene then this scene goes to land like a motherfucker. 

You talked about “FUBAR,” what was it like working throughout from Schwarzenegger?

Loopy. For somebody born in 1982 and due to this fact was a teen when Schwarzenegger was at his apex, to work with mainly my John Wayne was spectacular.

I play his daughter’s boyfriend on the present. He was nice and he even wiped a booger off my face. It was loopy. 

What?!

It was a fast reset on a scene as a result of we had been operating out of time and so they had already clacked the slate and Arnold was like, [speaking in Schwarzenegger accent] “Wait, you’ve gotten schmutz in your face,” and I used to be like, “What?” And he simply wiped it off my face.

He was like, “Oh, it is a booger,” and he flicked it and we went ahead with the scene. So Arnold Schwarzenegger wiped a booger off my face. [Laughs.] Generally this job is simply fucking bananas. 

Do you see your self enjoying Hiccup within the “The right way to Prepare Your Dragon” franchise once more?

In the event that they requested me again and Dean was a part of it, I’d be up for it. I believe it is already evolving into one thing else as a result of they’re doing a live-action one.

I am excited to see the real-life interpretation of what the child seems to be like. I like Hiccup, so if Dean was there and needed me again I might be there in a heartbeat.

Has there been any chatter in any respect amongst you and the Judd Apatow gang — Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Jason Segel, Martin Starr — about doing one thing collectively once more?

Not likely. To be trustworthy, we’re simply carrying completely different universes.

There may be love there, however the love of anyone that you simply chime in with 4 occasions a 12 months. It is like a cousin. I stay in Toronto, and I am doing my shit. They’re in L.A. and doing their factor.

I believe folks dig the shit we did, so I think about if all of it made sense we’d all have an interest. However, no, I do not suppose it is something any of us are itching to do.

This interview has been condensed and edited for readability.