In his new film, "Blades of Glory," Jon Heder trades in his nun-chucks for a pair of figure skates as he masters yet another "skill" - ice skating. After being kicked out of the 2002 Olympics, washed up rival skaters Chazz Michael Michaels (Will Ferrell) and Jimmy MacElroy (Heder) resolve their differences and reenter the rink through a loophole, performing as a team. Working alongside Will Ferrell, Heder displays his laugh-out-loud physical humor once again, and one can only hope this movie will prove just as quotable as "Napoleon Dynamite" (2004). In a conference call, Heder discussed the hard work that went into the film as well as his various views on the overall comedic experience.
Question: What was the challenge of ice skating like?
Jon Heder: It was a challenge but I loved it. I really did. I was extremely excited to kind of learn a new skill. Hopefully, you know, get good at it. But when they train you, you know that you're going to come home hopefully at the end of the day with some kind of new skill and for me that's awesome because I like to rack up the skills. And ice skating is just a challenge because you want to get better. There's so many aspects to it: balance and agility and flexibility, but you have to have grace and pizzazz and it's like athletic, but you're acting at the same time. Because, as opposed to like a line-backer who just has to run, oh, I don't know, some football players have to run or catch, you know, you have to do a lot of the similar things. You have to really work the muscles and be athletic, but you ... also have to be showy. You have to be showy and beautiful on the ice.
Q: You've done a lot of comedic work especially in "Napoleon Dynamite" (2004) and some of your other films. What do you find appealing about working with comedy?
JH: I think it's just there's something ... so fun about it. You feel good when you can make someone laugh and if you can make yourself laugh. But it's just the subject matter. Whenever you get into comedy and you know, it's really the magic of laughter. Whatever, in comedy, any subject you kind of cover, whether it be ice skating or just the kind of character you play, it's really just kind of the thing, finding the things in that subject that you like the most and just taking a light look at it instead of being so, you know dark and dramatic. It's just - it's having a good time I guess.
Q: A lot of the co-actors in your movie were from "SNL" and I was wondering if you would ever sort of consider doing stand-up yourself? What do you think are your comedic strengths?
JH: Stand-up ... I don't know if that will ever happen. I just have never considered it. I definitely think more of my strengths come from [physical comedy]. I really enjoy physical comedy, kind of turning your body into a cartoon. I just love bringing characters to life, whether it be through the words or through their movement and being. You can get so much about a character through the way they position themselves or the way they move or act - not act, but through the way they hold themselves.
Q: Are there any sort of actors or comedians that you look at as models for how you want to do your physical comedy?
JH: You know I try to do my own thing and just try ... to define, instead of you know copying so much of, I mean you know I was always inspired and I was always entertained by you know a lot of the "SNL" stars; Will Ferrell himself, Chris Farley, Jim Carey, Jack Black, all the greats, you know, especially those who were really involved in physical comedy. I was always inspired. But, I'm trying to find my own style and really kind of capture that and give that out in my performances.
Q: Between Will Ferrell and Will Arnett, who is the funnier Will to work with?
JH: Man, they were both amazing. I would say Will Speck, the director. We had a lot of Wills on set. No ... I worked a lot more with Will Ferrell. I'm actually surprisingly not in that many scenes; we don't share a lot of scenes with Will Arnett because they're kind of the quiet, out-of-the-way villains. So I didn't get to know Will Arnett as much. But he was funny when I did see him.
Q: How was the atmosphere on the set?
JH: The atmosphere ... it was murky. No, it was great because it was like a work house. It really was. I mean people always ask did we have a fun time. Yeah, we did have a fun time, but as opposed to like maybe some of the other comedies I've worked on, and you know that we both have worked on, it was a lot of hard work ... [It] was like comedy having fun mixed with - if you've ever been involved in sports, especially in like college ... - those nerves right before a track meet or right before the game. It was mixed with a lot of that kind of thing because we get there and you know we want to be funny, but we also want to look good on the ice. And there are a lot of extras sitting out in the stands you know, who are cheering you on so it's an exciting atmosphere.
