Interview: Martin Starr

It’s possible you don’t know his name, but you know the face; this is Martin Starr. He’s best known for his role as Bill Haverchuck on Freaks and Geeks (R.I.P). The scene of Bill’s after-school latch key kid routine: alone, making a snack, and watching Gary Shandling is one of my all-time favorite TV moments. Since then Martin has popped up in smallish TV and film roles that he makes memorable and special - recently you’ve seen him as the bearded one, Martin, in Knocked Up. But in the next two weeks we’ll see Starr in two exciting projects: Party Down, the new half-hour comedy (from the producers of Veronica Mars, plus Paul Rudd) premieres this Friday (March 20th) on Starz, and episode one is online now . And Adventureland, written and directed by Greg Mottola (Superbad, Daytrippers) is in theatres April 3rd. I sat down with Martin in his hometown of Santa Monica, CA, to talk about his career post, present, and future. —Joanna Calo

Alright, Martin. Please explain the premise of your new TV show, Party Down.
Party who? I think you might have the wrong guy. [Clears throat] It’s on the Starz network. You’ve probably never heard of it. It’s much like Showtime or HBO but different but the same. It’s about 6 caterers who are basically incompetent people: Jane Lynch, Lizzie Kaplan, Adam Scott, Ryan Hansen, Ken Marino, Jennifer Coolidge…

More than 6?
No, that’s exactly 6, but then there’s me. Jane Lynch and Jennifer Coolidge swap out at a certain point. Both are fantastic. I think I was most excited to work with Jane, and then finding out that Jen was going to take over for her was like a dream come true.

Tell us more about the premise of the show.
Didn’t I just?

No. You’re supposed to explain that there will be a new party every show…
Yeah! You already know.

What are some of the parties you have?
We did a seminar for mentally challenged children, did you see that one?

No.
No we didn’t do that. We did like an old folks book-signing thing, that one is pretty funny. You get to see boobs in that one. Old boobs. I can’t wait to be like 90 and play with long stringy boobs… My own of course, is what I’m talking about. I plan to be like Arnold Schwarzenegger and just let them sag. There are other episodes, too, that are funny. You should watch them.

You also are going to be in the movie Adventureland. What’s the plot of that one?
Adventureland is set in the 80s…I think the posters are pretty self-explanatory, it’s about a guy who takes a horrible job [at a carnival] that he doesn’t want to take but he has no other choice. And I’m [Joel] one of the many people that work there on a regular basis.

Are you working on anything else?
No, and I’m worried I’ll never work again. Genuinely worried.

Is that how you always feel?
I guess so. I don’t have anything in the can…there’s something I finished a little while ago but I haven’t heard great things about the post process as of right now. But we’ll see. You never know how they’re going to come out. But I’m very adamant about being very honest…I’d never do publicity for something if I didn’t think it was good, you know?

What’s the longest you’ve gone without working as an actor?
A year, a year and a half?

Have you had to do other jobs in between?
I moved back in with my mom at that point in time. I think I was like 20.

That’s when most people move back in with their parents.
Yeah…it sucked.  I was like 19 or 20 and I just had a horrible agent at the time. I will not mention her name…I think she’s quit agenting, which is good. She was horrible, she was really fucking horrible.

And that must have been vindicating for you that she quit!
Yeah I mean I was kind of hoping she would keep doing it and then…oh I don’t know. I don’t care, it doesn’t matter. It just hurts so much for someone to hold on to you when they don’t believe in you, and you don’t find out about it until long after the fact.

So like in the 4 years I was with her, 3 years, there were so many opportunities that she could have pushed on. The jobs that I was getting at that time were based on jobs I had done previously and people who knew me or people I was friends with, and had little to do with her, she didn’t put any effort into trying to find me work. But she didn’t communicate that she didn’t give a shit about me, so it definitely hurt when I called her up and said, “You better start working for me or I’ll find someone who will” and then she said “Yeah you’re right, you should find someone”. And then she had the nerve at the end of the conversation to say “Well, I guess I’ll talk to you soon”. I was like, No. you’re not going to fucking talk to me soon, you’re so full of shit. She was a horrible person. It just made me realize that friendship is unrelated [to business].

Oh man, yeah. But you have to learn that lesson! And no one wants to learn it.
No. it’s a shitty shitty lesson.

But it’s true. Are you happy with the roles you’re getting?
For right now, yeah. There’s definitely a large variety of things I want to do before I die, but for now…

Hopefully not just acting related.
Yeah, no in many regards. I’ve started writing, and I’m really happy with the process. I started writing maybe 5 years ago. And only now am I really figuring it out. Like how I work. How my mind works. And I feel like, who fucking knows, but I feel like what I’m writing with my writing partner is awesome.

Movies or TV?
We’re writing a feature. It’s just fun. I got a massive crush on Meryl Streep so I’m pushing, I’m writing it for her. My writing partner wants her to audition.

I have a big crush on her too.
Charlyne Yi is who I’m writing with.

Oh awesome. She’s hilarious. What about TV? Do you watch?
I don’t. I watch DVDs. I haven’t started watching it yet but I’ve heard great things about the Allan Partridge Show. It’s a British TV show with Steve Coogan. I’m going to guess that your next question is: what are your favorite movies?

Are you guessing, or is that because you read it?
I read it off your paper. I watch movies. I’m really excited that I just got the original Pink Panther with Peter Sellers on Blu-Ray.

I don’t exactly get Blu-Ray though.
It’s just like DVDs, calm down. It’s just like higher-definition. Don’t you want to see every pore?

Not for Peter Sellers, no. I think I’ll be ok.
I want to see every wrinkle.

He’s wonderful. Okay, what else?
I like a lot of movies. Like Groundhog’s Day…I like the good ones, I like the good movies. But I also like Rambo. The most recent one was the funniest movie of 2008. It was ridiculous and also the action was kinda cool…

What happens in that one?
They have the worst, I mean there are so many funny ridiculous lines that Sly Stallone could only comedically pull off. And then there’s like these moments of, like, this guy at the end gets stabbed and opened up with a knife. And all his guts come out and they look so digital. It’s so bad.

Are they fake guts?
Yeah it’s all like after-effects. It was all digital guts. Guts just spewing out of him…

Is there anyone else, besides Meryl Streep, whose career you wanna emulate?
I want to be Meryl Streep! I want to be in Defending Your Life, that’s the best movie ever…James Earl Jones, I think. His career, he’s been really prosperous. He’s still alive, right? I can say those things. Didn’t he just win an award, at the Oscars?

What award?
Didn’t he get a lifetime achievement award?

No that was someone else…Jerry Lewis got that service award.
Oh yeah, for like servicing children.

It wasn’t even acting based! Everyone was like “Why didn’t they show clips?” and I realized it was because it wasn’t about acting.
They did show clips.

Of him helping children.
No there were some real clips, but very briefly. It was a short story. They told the short story of his life…Have you read that short story about Jerry Lewis?

No. How old were you when you started on Freaks and Geeks?
16.

How early on did you know you wanted to act?
Oh I don’t know. I wanted to for a long time for superficial reasons. I remember watching this movie Blank Check…and that’s what I thought acting was like. You just get a check. And you’re like “This is how much money I want.”

Is it not like that?
No it’s not like that.

Do people come up to you to talk about Freaks and Geeks?
No. Not at all.

That’s weird. I would have thought they would.
Only when it’s made a point of. Like I went to Wondercon last weekend. To sign the poster I’m not on for Adventureland.