ENTERTAINMENT
'The Brink' stars Jack Black as a lowly Foreign Service officer Alex Talbot. The series is a dark comedy that focuses on a geopolitical crisis and its effect on three desperate men, who must pull through the chaos around them to stop another World War from taking place.
In this interview, Jack Black talks about the changing world of US television, the role of comedy in dissecting politics and working with actor and director Tim Robbins.
How would you describe Alex Talbot?
There’s a dichotomy – he’s out there on a foreign aid mission, bringing freshwater projects to Pakistan. He loves his country, he’s there representing the United States of America, and he wants to do good for the world. But he also wants to climb the ladder - he wishes that he was 007, master of espionage, because that would be sexier, and he loves to have lots of sex. He doesn’t get very much of it, but he’s constantly thinking about it.
And he loves to smoke weed. So that’s the angel and the devil of this guy - he’s got good instincts but he’s also got these deep unquenchable urges. And he’s that dumb American coming to town, being super insensitive and thinking that we’re the best: “USA, USA”. There’s a lot of comedy that comes from that.
He’s a graduate of Dartmouth, and it seems as if he’s still living out a little of that privileged frat-boy lifestyle, albeit abroad…
Yes, he’s got a nice pink shirt – that was my addition, by the way, and I wanted him to wear loafers with no socks. But at the end of the day the team said we think you’re going to be more comfortable with socks because you’re going to be walking through the desert a lot of the time. So I was like, oh, okay, give me some socks.
What attracted you to the role, and to the show in general?
Well, the script was a strange little creature that I had never seen before - the combination of comedy, action and politics was something fresh and new and original. And the director, who was on board for the pilot to set the tone of the whole thing, was Jay Roach, who I really trust. I’ve always wanted to work with him, so it was a very easy decision, really. And I’d been looking for some television to jump on board, because I’ve been way more interested in the latest TV shows than the latest movies.
Does it feel like television is the only place that’s really doing that at the moment, combining all those things?
Yeah. Kind of. Well, the movies are all about sequels and spin-offs. I guess spin-off is more of a television term, but now, it applies to movies too. As an example, look at all the movies spinning off the Avengers franchise. But I like those, too, so I’m not complaining about it, but as far as trying new things, yeah, it seems like that’s the job for the HBOs of the world.
Does it feel as if television is taking more risks as well in terms of topics it is tackling?
Yeah. Oh, absolutely. I don’t know if you had a chance to see Transparent, but that’s one of the great risk-takers. Way ahead of the curve. Oh my god, I love that show.
Were there any particular challenges you faced in the role?
Being waterboarded. Turns out it is pretty torturous. They put a bag over my head, which is, I believe, how they actually do it, so that the water goes up the nostrils smoothly.
Would you say you are quite political? Do you spend a lot of time thinking about geopolitical situations?
I am political in certain respects, mostly on social issues. I’m a big champion of equal rights for the gays and the lesbians and all the various races. I don’t like it when I see bigotry or racism in our country’s politics, and I like to blow the whistle when I feel like there’s some injustice in that world. I’m not as well versed in world politics, but I’m all about diplomacy over war. So I guess I’m a bit of a hippie.
Did you do any particular research for this role, to brush up your knowledge about world politics?
I watched lots of political television programs - The Rachel Maddow Show, and The Daily Show, which has always been one of my favourites. This show shares a lot of John Stewart’s politics and sentiments, and probably wouldn’t exist without him opening the floodgates of comedy politics. I also watched Homeland – for the action-politics combo, rather than the comedy, obviously. Especially the first season – I thought that was really good.
In the show, it seems that everyone is pretending to be competent, but it’s just a veneer, and underneath that, everyone’s flailing around. Do you believe that’s true to real political life?
It seems like that’s what’s going on when you read the newspaper. You wonder, what? Who? Which bonehead made that decision? There’s obviously human error happening in abundance, and this show is trying to shine a light on that aspect of world politics.
You’ve worked with Tim Robbins – who also stars in The Brink, as well as directing one of the episodes - a number of times over the years. You must have a great working relationship by now, do you?
He gave me my first film role - he cast me in Bob Roberts when I was just 20 years old, which was a million years ago, and I’ve been in every one of his movies ever since. He’s only directed three movies, though, over the last 15 years, so every five years seems to be his cycle. He’s due for another one soon, actually, if you break it down like that.
The episode he directed is me being interrogated - it all takes place in one room and finishes off with a hellacious dose of waterboarding. So it was great and it was horrible at the same time.
Do you think comedy is a more effective way to explore these sorts of issues – that are explored in The Brink - than drama?
For sure; I was just thinking about this the other day because I went to this Steve Martin tribute event, and his big achievement in comedy is The Jerk. That movie has stood the test of time, here we are, forty years later and you can see that’s his Charlie Chaplin moment, when he’s just emblazoned on the consciousness of comedy for the ages. And it starts with: “I was born a poor black child,” and it leads to this really absurd, hilarious strange premise that kind of breaks down social norms and barriers in a way that you couldn’t do in a drama.
And now there are a lot of taboos - when you’re talking about other cultures and their religions and family structures and the differences between us and them - but hopefully we can melt down some of those barriers, find some common ground and some humanity, and say: Look, your politicians are f***ing nuts, our politicians are f***ing nuts, let’s all get along.
The Brink airs on Monday nights at 9 PM, on HBO Defined.
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