Interview: Rob Schneider

Interview by Clint Morris

Interview with Rob Schneider
Star of the movie Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo.

Crazy. Goofy. Unrestrained. Wired. Dishevelled. That may be Deuce Bigalow, but the man behind the gigolo? That’s a different story. Comic superstar Rob Schneider is ostensibly quiet, well mannered, quite cluey and most unexpectedly, discernibly lacking in a little self-confidence. Granted, it would be a little hard for anyone to watch themselves dressed as a baby, diaper and all, crawling to an oversized female wrestler, wouldn’t it?

Schneider, sitting comfortably in a swanky city hotel suite, tells Clint Morris it's not only his performances that he finds hard to watch, but also the films themselves: in short, he’s a perfectionist.

The always amusing Rob Schneider is quite critical of his older feature films

After the success – especially on DVD – of the comedy hit Deuce Bigalow: American Gigolo (1999), about a fish-expert turned involuntary male prostitute, Schneider decided seconds might be tasty, but he isn’t distanced enough from the new sequel to tell you whether it’s any good or not.

“I never wanted to do a sequel because I didn’t want to have the feeling I have now – that ‘God, I could’ve done better’,” admits Schneider, saying he’s his own worst detractor.

“But, on the other hand, I don’t want to please the studio – I want to please the audience, and they seem to be enjoying it. There’s some real funny stuff in there - that I know.”

Schneider knows exactly what the critics are going to think of the film too – but he doesn’t care. “There’s not a lot of intellectual humour to this and it’s not a roller coaster, but at the end of the day it’s made for a specific audience, and sometimes even I have to remember that – they’ll love it.”

Schneider says he has to sometimes console himself by remembering the tales of other filmmakers before him: “I remember Roman Polanski, on the 25th Anniversary of Chinatown, saying ‘There’s that one scene where Jack Nicholson walks out of the hotel and down the street – I’d like to do that again’ and there’s this great book by [Peter] Bogdonavich on Orson Welles where Marlene Dietrich came to Welles and said ‘Oh Orson, I’ve made so many films – but only two greats’ and Orson said ‘Well, at least you made that! How many people can say they made that?!’.

"Film is truly heartbreaking," continues Schneider, "but sometimes you do catch lightning in a jug. All you can do is try your hardest and try and make sure it’s something you can be proud of.”

Of his films, Schneider says he enjoyed his last major film, The Hot Chick, a charming comedy about a teenage girl and a bumbling middle-aged crook that swap bodies, the most. “I just saw The Hot Chick the other night. It I can easily watch. That’s a good little movie. Maybe even a perfect movie.”

He’s not so fond of The Animal though, his 2001 comedy in which he played a man whose been transplanted with the parts of animal and takes on their individual mannerisms. “It doesn’t have the charm [of some of my other films] and it’s just about joke structure and scene structure. Even the physical stuff in it – it’s not hilarious, it just falls flat. It doesn’t appeal to me at all.”

Rob Schneider as Deuce Bigalow in the risqué sequel set in Europe

Schneider got his big break on TV’s Saturday Night Live – starring alongside such notables as Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Chris Rock and David Spade. Only a select few from the show have gone on to achieve success in films though. So how’s that make Schneider feel?

“I don’t know if I’d call it making it, I guess it’s just what I love…” Schneider, whose other film credits include Big Daddy, Judge Dredd and Eight Crazy Nights, says, before bringing up the success of co-star Ferrell, “He needs to surround himself with better people. He’s being pressured into making movies that aren’t ready to be made yet – and he’s better than that.”

Schneider says he doesn’t want to do movies like that and that’s why he took his time in coming up with enough jokes and enough of a story to warrant a Deuce Bigalow sequel - if only because he was going to try and rope in some pretty esteemed actors into co-starring, including acclaimed Dutch actor Jeroen Krabbe (The Fugitive, Ever After) who plays chief of police, Gaspar Voorsboch.

“I love him. He’s one of a few dramatic actors that don’t mind making fun of him or herself, or being silly. Australian actors are different – Alex Dimiatrides is another guy in this that didn’t mind having a bit of a laugh at himself - but American and English dramatic actors are afraid to look silly, so it was good that Jeroen was willing to make an arse of himself,” laughs Schneider. “I will work with him again.”

Next, says Schneider, is a low-budget project he’ll be directing called Big Stan (aka Unrapeable), but before that he’s got a few in the can ready for release - among them, Grandma’s Boy starring Allen Covert: “I just did a day on that. It’s kind of fun.”

Then there's Click with good friend Adam Sandler (“I love Adam man, I’ll do anything for him. There’s no ego. But I was in three hours of make-up for this part though, aaarggh,”) and The Benchwarmers with Jon Heder, of Napoleon Dynamite fame.

Unlike Deuce Bigalow, Schneider doesn’t think a sequel will ever happen to his personal favourite, The Hot Chick. “It’ll never happen, [because] I don’t think we could afford [co-star] Rachel McAdams,” he laughs, referring to his co-stars rising status in Hollywood.

After the release of impending hit Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo however, he may just be able to.

Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo commences on September the 22nd, 2005.

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