8E.Thursday, July 7, 2011 _____________________________________________ POSTANDCOURIER.COM ________________________________________________The Post and Courier
Charlie Day steps into limelight with ‘Horrible Bosses’
of the romantic comedy “Going the Distance.” His unabashed character gleeharlie Day can’t say fully spouted sex talk on no to a good scheme. the street and instituted On “It’s Always an “open door” bathroom Sunny in Philadelphia,” policy at home. the FX series Day stars in, “Horrible Bosses” is Day’s writes and produces with biggest movie part yet. For Rob McElhenney and Glenn many of his scenes, he’s Howerton, his character’s paired with Jennifer Anisexploits have included tryton, who plays his boss, a ing to sell barrels of gas to sexually abusive dentist. capitalize on high prices At the sprawling press junat the pump, saving up for ket for “Horrible Bosses” at retirement with Garbage New York’s Waldorf Astoria, Pail Kids cards and attempt- Day appeared as though he ing to resolve a real estate had been loaned out to the squabble with a flaming bag land of glitzy moviemaking of poop. from the merrily depraved In the new comedy film world of “It’s Always Sunny.” “Horrible Bosses,” opening He has an exceptionally easy Friday, Day stars alongside manner, and a warm glint in Jason Bateman and Jason his eye for every fan of “SunSudeikis as a trio of friends ny” that approaches him. who plot to murder their What’s remarkable is how variously oppressive manag- seamlessly Day has transiers. tioned from the fringe to the While Day’s characters mainstream. seldom lack enthusiasm for “People are like, ‘Charlie’s their exploits, their rate of becoming a movie star!’ I’m success is, thankfully, close like, ‘It’s about time,’” says to nil. McElhenney. “I feel like “Schemes are funny bethis should have happened cause character’s motivayears ago. Charlie’s just the tions are very clear,” Day kind of guy that you can said in a recent interview. write any scene, any line of “You really have to underdialogue, and you know he’s stand why a person is moti- going to find a way to make vated to do a terrible thing. it funny.” You’re watching a character McElhenney first met Day try and do something that years ago on a cross-country they really should not be flight while they were both doing, and enjoying watch- struggling actors auditioning them fail at it. Because ing for the same part in a sitif they got away with it, it’s com pilot. When McElhen‘Hannibal’ or something.” ney created “Sunny,” it beIn the six seasons of gan as a cheaply made home “Sunny,” Day has been a fan movie and he just turned to favorite for his lovably dehis friends, including Day. ranged behavior. His charIn a rye bit of casting, acter, also named Charlie, is Day’s wife, actress Mary illiterate, addicted to sniffElizabeth Ellis, plays Charing glue and extremely fond lie’s unrequited love interest, of cats. known only as “The WaitDay’s performance on the ress.” cult hit, about three self“It was definitely actor first obsessed friends running a and foremost,” Day, a Rhode Philadelphia bar, eventually Island native, says of his caught the attention of Hol- aspirations before “Sunny.” lywood. “I never saw myself as a Last year, he was genercomedian. I saw myself as a ally considered the best part guy who can act funny. Still, BY JAKE COYLE
AP Entertainment Writer
C
opening in theaters this week
HORRIBLE BOSSES (R): We’ve all had them. We’ve all had to suffer their indignities, or else just quit our jobs. But three friends (Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day) come up with an alternative to dealing with their monstrous bosses (Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell and Jennifer Aniston) with the help of an ex-con (Jamie Foxx). ZOOKEEPER (PG): When an animal-loving caretaker (Kevin James) realizes he’s more comfortable in the company of a lion than that of a woman, he decides he must make a career change and quits his beloved job. But the animals at the zoo (voiced by Cher, Adam Sandler, Nick Nolte and Sylvester Stallone) try to get him to change his mind by teaching him the ways of courtship, jungle style.
uneducated, because Day is a graduate of Merrimack College, studied acting with Massachusetts’ Williamstown Theater Festival, and his parents, a professor and a music teacher, both have Ph.D.s in musicology. “Perhaps a lot of that comes out of my own fear and insecurities of my own CHARLES SYKES/AP intelligence,” says Day. “BeCharlie Day stars in the new comedy “Horrible Bosses” ing in such a well-educated family, perhaps I was always alongside Jason Bateman and Jason Sudeikis as a nervous about that. So it was trio of friends who plot to murder their variously good to make light of that in oppressive managers. the show.” He waits a beat, and then adds: “I can read.” Day bears some of his parents’ musical talent, which he’s occasionally exploited by writing songs on “Sunny,” such as the beloved “Nightman,” a nonsensical tune that sparked an actual touring theater show in 2009 called “The Nightman Cometh.” As “Sunny” has grown and continued (it recently wrapped its seventh season, to premiere this fall) the fortunes of its three principals have grown, but none more JOHN P. JOHNSON/WARNER BROS. PICTURES/MCT so than Day. Director Guillermo Del Toro has recently Bateman (from left), Day and Sudeikis in a scene from expressed interest in cast“Horrible Bosses.” ing him in his film “Pacific Rim.” by playing the worst sides when I go on talk shows or But going from the intiwhatever, I worry that I have of themselves, and impromate set of “Sunny” to large vised characteristics (like to live up to some kind of Charlie’s inability to read) as studio productions has been comedic persona.” an adjustment. Day says he, Howerton and they went along. It’s ironic “It’s a real challenge,” says that he plays someone so McElhenney began simply
Day. “Rob, Glenn and myself are probably three of the most opinionated men you’ll ever meet on the set. We’re not phoning it in when it comes to that show. Whether it’s a script or a prop or whatever it is, we have opinions and we really believe in affecting the production as a whole. So it’s very difficult to then hand all that over to other people.” He adds: “Once I really let go, it was relaxing.” Sudeikis also co-starred with Day in “Going the Distance” and made a guest appearance on last season’s “Sunny.” He’s gotten to see up close Day’s propensity to get riled up in high-pitched, rapid-fire fury. Sudeikis calls his humor “hilarious hostility.” “He’s already got a funny take on the world and when you give him an emotion to ride out, he cracks me up,” says Sudeikis. “He’s very genuine as a person and therefore as an actor.” That earnestness is one reason why audiences tend to root for Day, however despicable his schemes. “I don’t think the characters in ‘Sunny’ would ever go as far as to actually attempt to have someone murdered, even though they might seem more extreme,” says Day. “They’d come up with something more clever.”