Word: nachos
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...irresponsible and gross and all those other things associated with burly comics since John Belushi first belched his way into moviegoers' hearts. But for Black, chilaquiles moments are actually pretty rare. "We lived together during The School of Rock," says Mike White, who wrote Rock and co-wrote Nacho Libre, "and I can say Jack's surprisingly unlike his screen alter egos. He's really smart and effortlessly funny, but he's not a garrulous slob. There's a bit of that in him--he can access it when he wants it--but that's what acting is about...
Which is another way of saying that Black is a guy who's funny in movies rather than a funny guy who happens to be in movies. (Think of the difference between Bill Murray and Adam Sandler.) In Nacho Libre, out June 16, he plays a half-Mexican monk who starts wrestling to earn money for his order's beloved orphans. Because Black wears tights and has a physique like a throw pillow, many people have tabbed Nacho as this summer's Wedding Crashers--an over-the-top comedy poised to do big business. As directed by Jared Hess (Napoleon...
...real power in a film performance," he says, crediting director Stephen Frears). When The School of Rock followed and made him one of a handful of people who might actually be able to carry a movie, Black moved forward with his plan to make movies fun. Nacho Libre is the first production by Black and White's Black & White Films--"and it's kind of a model of what we want to do," says Black. The movie came about because Black and White loved Napoleon Dynamite, so they called director Hess to see if he wanted to hang out. "There...
Hess, 26, didn't have an idea for a movie, but after some record shopping and pizza he mentioned a fascination with the life of a Mexican priest named Fray Tormenta. (Yes, Nacho Libre is based on a true story.) Black said, "Dude, I'm in." "We didn't have a script or anything," says Hess, "but he was confident we'd come up with something good." Hess, who co-wrote the film with his wife Jerusha and Mike White, had never worked with a celebrity before, and when it came time to shoot, "I kind of beat around...
...Black, Nacho Libre is more than just a chance to have a say; it's a shrewd career move. He gets to do things he knows audiences love--move his eyebrows like inchworms, sing goofy songs, make fart jokes--while trying his hand at difficult physical work as well (he performed most of his own stunts in the ring), delivering a few moving speeches in Mexican-accented English (which is funny without being too offensive) and producing. The biggest challenge, though, was getting used to seeing himself as Nacho. "At first I would have rather been naked to tell...