By Rob N. LeDonne

Paul Rudd is one of the most recognizable faces in the entertainment business. He has appeared in countless films (Clueless, Anchorman, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Night At The Museum), on television (Friends) and on stage (Three Days of Rain alongside Julia Roberts). He can next be seen in a follow up to Virgin- Knocked Up, a film likely to become the breakout comedy of the summer.

Chronicle: Before you start a film, how do you prepare?

Rudd: Well, I never memorize a script before shooting and I hardly memorize while I’m shooting. The last few films that I’ve done have been primarily improv, so I’ll memorize the scene the day before shooting, or even the day of. I really like working like that and sometimes great things can happen, it’s cool to get something really organic without memorization at all.

Chronicle: Your first role was in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Meyers, the sixth film in the series. What was going through your mind during the making and release of it?

Rudd: When I got that role, I was in my early 20’s and very particular and artistic about choosing roles. At first I thought it was embarrassing because I had gone to this acting school and was taking myself seriously- I never felt that it fell in line with what I was trying to accomplish, but I totally feel differently now. I was also very ignorant about the way things worked, like talking to the casting director and saying things like ‘This isn’t going to be like Halloween two through five. This is really gonna be the classy Halloween film’. When it came out I was horrified, but I totally had fun making it, and loved the experience. It’s a part of my past I weirdly treasure.

Chronicle: Then came 1995’s Clueless…

Rudd: I didn’t really have a barometer and when Clueless came along. I was overwhelmed, because I had never done anything like that before. I loved everybody that I was working with and was especially excitedabout working with Wallace Shawn (a comedic actor that appears in the film). I was pleasantly surprised when the film came out with how well it performed and was liked.

Chronicle: Going from films to a sitcom, you next appeared in Friends.

Rudd: I was on some episodes during the final years during the ninth and tenth seasons. It was so surreal, I was only supposed to do two shows and I had never really done anything like that before. My role turned into a much bigger thing that I had ever imagined it was going to be. It was easy to be on set though, because I had known Jennifer Aniston beforehand, because we had done a movie together (The Object of My Affection) and knew David Schwimmer as well, because we would find ourselves in the same auditions. It was exciting to be around, to see how they tape the show and how excited the audience was to watch it; just how crazy people went over the six of them. Being around there when they shot the last episode was so strange, like I had shouldn’t have been there. It was weird to be privy to something that so many people in the world were so interested about, but it was definitely cool to see.

Chronicle: When you get noticed on the street, what is the most common thing people say to you?

Rudd: Well, it’s usually something about ‘sex panther’ from Anchorman. I also get, “You know how I know your gay?” – a lot from 40-Year-Old Virgin, which is cool. The last couple of years have been interesting because I had always loved comedy, that was my main interest when I was in high school, but then it changed during college. A lot of things in the comedy world started after I did the film Wet Hot American Summer. It has a small audience, but the ones who have seen it are passionate about that film. Those guys that made that movie are some of my closest friends, which is why it was so much fun. I actually got the role in Anchorman from that film, since the director (Adam McKay) liked my performance. That snowballed into me getting the role in 40-Year-Old Virgin, from Anchorman and now Knocked Up.

Chronicle: What is the atmosphere like working on comedies like Anchorman or Virgin?

Rudd: It is really, really laid back because it’s working with people that you know and are friends like, like Steve Carrell or Seth Rogen. There’s a lot of joking around when we’re shooting or not. Everyone is totally free because they know that even if we go too far it won’t make the film. We really enjoy each other’s senses of humor and are equally inspired by each other. They are just great films to work on.

Chronicle: Did you realize during filming how popular the films you have appeared in would later become?

Rudd: You never know how a film is going to turn out. During the filming of Wet Hot, I remember Micheal Showalter saying to me, “I have no idea if this movie will ever come out or if anyone will even see it. I just want to get this on film, because that’s the way we felt.” As for Anchorman, I knew all three of those guys (Will Ferrell, Carrell and David Koechner) before filming started and I thought they were just great. I thought it would be funny but whether or not it would catch on, you never know. When I read Anchorman, years before it was ever made it was completely different, same thing with Virgin. The first draft of Anchorman had the newsmen on a plane, and they are smoking so much that the plane crashes and they wind up on an island that was infested with apes. The plane had a bunch of karate equipment so the movie was essentially these guys using Chinese throwing stars to fight with chimpanzees. It was a movie you couldn’t even make- just unfilmable.

Chronicle: What was it like being in such a high profile Broadway show, Three Days Of Rain, and working alongside Bradley Cooper and Julia Roberts?

Rudd: Well, Bradley was in Wet Hot so we knew each other. I remember when we started rehearsing we kept on saying, “We are in a play with Julia Roberts!” It was a very different experience – much more challenging just to be kind of around that level of fame. And she was just so cool around everyone. Pretty quickly who they are goes away after a couple days of rehearsal. When we finished the show at night, there would be 700 people waiting. Things like that would just be surreal. It was pretty stressful – I’m sure much more for her than me.

Chronicle: What can you tell us about your newest offering, Knocked Up [out June 1st]?

Rudd: Judd Apatow wrote and directed it and a ton of people are in it from his past TV shows Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared. Judd is kind of the poster boy for doing these amazing high quality shows, and it’s great to see he is finally getting his due in film. It is basically a story about a guy that gets a girl pregnant on a one-night stand. It’s a very real comedy, very funny and surprisingly moving.