MOVIES .

Where There's a Will


	print	email	reply	rss feed

Published: Aug 20, 2008

Dana Marschz is a horrible actor, a lousy teacher, an indifferent husband and a textbook case of repressed anger. That said, he's also essentially a decent guy — which instantly separates him from the bulk of Steve Coogan's characters.

"Normally the characters I come up with tend to be pretty dislikable," admits Coogan. "But this character I liked because he's quite innocent and has a sort of vulnerability, which is not normally what I do. So there was a question mark even to myself as to whether I could pull this off."

Coogan has been tasked with pulling off a great many comic characterizations of late. Besides Hamlet 2, he's currently on screens in a small role in Tropic Thunder, and recently lent a bit of life to the otherwise dreadful Finding Amanda. His in-demand status was in evidence during Coogan's recent stop in Philly, where a long day of interviews left him yawning when he wasn't responding to BlackBerried e-mails about a stage show he's putting together in England.

That show will return several of Coogan's guises to the stage for the first time in 20 years. Facetious talk show host Alan Partridge, aimless video diarist Paul Calf, bitter ex-roadie Tommy Saxondale — most of Coogan's own creations have been insufferable and self-absorbed.

"The common denominator would be that there's something dysfunctional about them, something wrong with them," Coogan says. "They're damaged goods and they're funny in some way that's difficult to explain."

Coogan faced other challenges on Hamlet 2 besides just trying to remain appealing. One was playing opposite co-stars known more as actors than comedians per se — including Elisabeth Shue and, especially, Catherine Keener. "She's not in the film a whole lot," he says, "but what she brings to it is a real emotional truth. She stops it from being dumb. You believe my character's gone through something, even though he's making these stupid choices. She raised my game as an actor. It's like playing tennis with a pro: You have to get good quick just to survive."

Then there were the musical numbers, in which Coogan tried out a few dance moves and strutted onstage as "Sexy Jesus," which came with its own requirements.

"I'm not really a dancer," he says. "I just had to cut down on carbs and pray a lot, really."

(s_brady@citypaper.net)