Hollywood star Paul Rudd recently revealed that he fabricated a story about playing Hamlet “in a production directed by Ben Kingsley” at the start of his acting career.
The 56-year-old actor, who has been a prominent figure in Hollywood for the past two decades, shared that during his early days, his manager, in an effort to bolster his resume, claimed that Rudd had acted in Shakespeare under the direction of the Oscar-winning Kingsley. The truth is, he had only participated in a masterclass led by the “Gandhi” actor.
During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, Rudd recounted, “When I first got a manager, I had no credits to put on my CV, but I’d once done an afternoon masterclass with Sir Ben Kingsley when I was in school. My manager put this down as, ‘Paul played Hamlet in a production directed by Sir Ben Kingsley.’ I lived in fear that he would one day see my CV!”
Rudd’s big break came in 1995 with roles in the comedy Clueless and the horror sequel Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. Currently, he’s working on a project titled Anaconda, which serves as a meta-reboot of the 1997 film of the same name, blending horror and comedy.
In this new film, Rudd shares the screen with Jack Black in a story about two friends who journey to the Amazon to film an amateur remake of the Jennifer Lopez-led Anaconda, only to encounter a real giant, man-eating snake.
When discussing how the film came to fruition, Rudd stated, “Jack and I are both huge fans of Tom Gormican’s The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, and when this script showed up, it seemed to have similar DNA in that it was a clever meta comedy take on a reboot. I was very excited to work on it, particularly when I found out Jack was involved.”
Black, who was also a guest on the UK TV chat show, mentioned that he was eager to play the role of wedding videographer Doug McCallister after knowing Rudd would be portraying background character Ronald “Griff” Griffen Jr.
He expressed, “It is really very funny and crazy. I had never read anything like it. I was mainly excited to work with Paul because he makes me laugh so much. I made sure he was definitely attached to the film before I signed anything. When I read a script, I need at least three ‘worth the price of admission’ moments, and this definitely has some powerful scenes.”