Kathryn Newton has one goal: “Whatever project I do, I want to be the Paul Rudd.”
It took one day on set of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, in which she stars as Ant-Man’s daughter Cassie Lang, for her to realize it. On that day, they had yet to get to know each other, and yet they were already filming scenes altogether, encouraged to joke and improvise.
They had spent all morning, but Rudd could sense Newton was holding back. At their lunch break, Rudd got his food and sat down across from Cassie. At first he just listened, hearing about her experience, her joys and fears about taking on the role of a Marvel superhero so early in her career.
“Finally, I asked him, ‘what do you think?’”
Paul smiled.
“If I could say anything, it’s don’t hold back. I can tell you’re funny, I can tell you have ideas, and you need to try them, because you won’t know unless you try. Don’t be afraid to look like a fool, don’t be afraid of failing, because it’s a movie, and they’ll cut it if it’s no good,” Rudd told Newton.
“You’ve got to try,” Rudd continued.
Newton went back to set, and as they started filming, and the camera came to her, she started trying stuff. After she finished, the director went back and filmed reaction shots to her new jokes.
“It was because it was actually working,” Newton says with a smirk.
“By me bringing something, everyone got better. Because I wasn’t afraid of being myself, it was a better movie. We were laughing together, we were feeling stuff, and all that was real.”
This is by no means an isolated story. Everybody likes Paul Rudd. Since his early days in sketch comedy, to his star turn in 1995’s Clueless, through hit comedies such as Anchorman, Role Models, and the 40 Year Old Virgin, Rudd has proven not only to be an affable screen presence (as well as the man who doesn’t age), but one of the most popular men in Hollywood, the person no one has a bad word to say about.
Here’s his first secret: He’s unselfish.
“It’s one thing to be the funny guy and take all the jokes, but he’s not like that. He gave me jokes by setting me up. I was blown away by that,” says Newton. “He’s the king of that. Everything he said made me funny. That’s genius level comedy.”
“Whatever project I do, I want to be the Paul Rudd. I want to bring other people up. I want to make other people funny and set them up. I don’t know how to do that, but I’m going to try and figure it out.”
Paul Rudd looks forward
Paul Rudd himself is at a point in his career where he’s starting to look for the next challenge. He’s seen so many other comedy actors stretch their skills to new dramatic heights—he wants to see if he can do the same. After all, he got to do more dramatic scenes in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania than he ever has before.
“I have an interest in many different genres, and I’d love to do something like [Brendan Fraser in The Whale]. I’ve never tried that before, and people would never see me as something like that. But you know, that’s the thrill. It’s just a question of getting these roles.”
He doesn’t necessarily think those roles are coming to him this moment, of course.
“I love this job, and I hope to continue doing it, and down the road, maybe there’ll be some parts that would be unexpected,” Rudd adds.
This wouldn’t be the first time he broke out of a box, he reminds us.
“There was once a time when people were shocked I was playing a superhero.”
“Some people still might have a hard time believing that I’m a superhero now, but it’s been a fun, fun ride. I think trying other roles and other genres will be equally fun and thrilling.”
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