/Film Interview: Jay Baruchel Talks ‘This Is The End,’ Opening Against ‘Man Of Steel,’ And ‘RoboCop’

By Germain Lussier/June 12, 2013 4:00 pm EST

Along with co-director Seth Rogen, Baruchel is arguably the film’s lead character and the “in” for the audience. He plays the pseudo-outsider who finds himself at a star-studded Hollywood party just as the world is about to end. It’s a role he’s been playing for some time, starring in the original Jay and Seth vs. The Apocalypse short film the feature is based on, and having worked with seeming every other actor in the film at one time or another.

We spoke to Baruchel, a film junkie, about his outsider role in This Is The End, and some of the film’s more controversial elements as well as aspirations to write more movies, opening against Man of Steel, working with first time directors, odd career choices, How to Train Your Dragon 2 and the RoboCop remake.

/Film: So, you starred in the original short film and for a long time people were talking about this movie coming out and it just sort of didn’t happen. When did you finally hear this was being made and that you’d essentially be the main character?

It’s obvious from your body of work that you prepare a lot for your roles. How do you prepare to play yourself since your character, as opposed to everybody else’s, seems to be the closest to you?

What I was focused on the most was serving the plot. Because out of all the crazy actors I am probably the least actorish in the movie, therefore I am the audience’s way in; I wanted to, as hokey as it sounds, serve the plot as best I could. I looked for spots to be funny where I could find them, but my biggest concern was making sure that the story was tracking, and the arc was tracking and there was something to build all the jokes on.

A lot of the humor, especially early on, focuses on Hollywood inside jokes. Although you do get a little bit of ribbing, compared to Franco and Rogen you get off scott-free. What is some stuff that you mentally prepared for that you knew might be right for parody?

The problem is, I’m easily the least famous of anyone in that cast, so when it came time to everyone riffing on each other about Flyboys and Moneyball there weren’t a lot of She’s Out of My League jokes spun around. I love and respect these movies, I have a big affinity for them, you owe a lot to a lot of people, but they’re all on another planet – they’re on planet movie star. So when James started making fun digging the piss out of everyone’s resume, I think there might have been one How to Train Your Dragon joke, but besides from that… I also don’t know that any of them have seen any of the movies I’ve ever been in.

You’ve worked with some of the best directors in the world. Were you trepidatious even though you’re very familiar Seth and Evan, who were making their directorial debuts?

Speaking of that, one of the things that I found really interesting in the movie that you totally don’t get from the trailers, besides the jokes and the action and the violence, it really does has strict rules about religion – there is a heaven, there is a hell, there is God.

Did you guys talk at all about making such a statement, which could be polarizing in this comedy?

Your relationships with all the characters are pretty specific, but the one I latched on to and enjoyed was your interplay with Jonah Hill. You are almost the object of his affections.

Once you see that this movie has this summer release date, against a new Superman movie, does part of you gulp?

I also believe in our work. I think we made a tremendous flick, and I know finding an audience will be a huge battle for us, but all the same we will find one. And that’s good, and people will see good stuff. Especially when you do a movie for a studio, you have the means to make sure that people see it. I’d be much more afraid if this was like the independent movies I make in Canada. It’s never a fear about the quality, it’s always the fear of whether people will even get a chance to see it or know it’s out there to be seen. I have every confidence that people will see our flick. I’m not the least bit worried. And that’s not me taking a potshot at “Superman,” like I just said I’m gonna go see it. But I also believe that people will go see our movie as well.

Have you recorded your voice part yet for How To Train Your Dragon 2?

You’re also doing a RoboCop remake. Do you think fans will be pleased it? And, being a film fan, what is your thought being in a “Robocop” remake?

All I can say is that I got to work with a director who I was a fan of. I went and sought out the Elite Squad movies under my own steam, on my own time, about two years before there was a RoboCop remake. So after already being a fan of Jose’s [Padilha]… when they said it was him and mentioned Oldman and Michael Keaton it was just, clearly, go pick the brains of people who I really, really respect. The film nerd that I am was a pig in s***. I got anecdotes from Beetlejuice for God’s sakes. I mean I have Commissioner Gordon on one side of me and Batman on the other, it was a wet dream, man.

I know you are working on a sequel to Goon, and you’re supposed to be adapting a baseball book Baseballissimo. Is writing where you want your career to be going right now? Or do you like to move back and forth between that and acting?

I’m a massive movie nerd. That being said, I could retire tomorrow because I wrote this movie Goon and it came out, and it connected and it’s a wonderful flick that I think is beautiful and then it had this wonderful life and it means a lot to a lot of people. A lot of people will tell you in their whole careers they never had anything that comes close to that. So, ideally it’s something I do more and more, and hopefully there will come a time where that’s just what I do. I enjoy acting, and it’s given me a ton of happiness and it’s affected my life and my family’s lives in ways that we just can’t imagine. I grew up poor and it’s given us a life we would not of otherwise had. That being said, acting has never been my raison d’etre and I would like to think writing is.

This Is The End is now in theaters. Read our review here, and check back Monday for one final question about the film’s biggest spoiler.