Chris O'Dowd in Cannes (Andreas Rentz / Getty Images) |
Irish actor Chris O’Dowd, who made it big last year as Kristen Wiig’s love interest in Bridesmaids, will walk down the aisle himself this summer in London with British TV host Dawn Porter, and the Roscommon-born comic sounds like he can’t wait.
Being alone, he told the Daily Telegraph in London last week, just isn’t for him – not that he didn’t partake in some of the joys of bachelorhood when he had the chance. After going to LA in search of his big break in January of 2009 he eventually was cast in the film Gulliver’s Travels with Jason Segel and Jack Black. A friendship developed with Segel, who he calls a “kindred spirit.”
"We spent time together being, you know, single,” O’Dowd, 32, recalled.
"Being awful men essentially. Waking up either alone or with someone, but still feeling lonely. That's what I remember about being single. It's not for me."
He met Porter while she was in LA on business a couple of years ago, and they’ve been together since. He also eventually met Judd Apatow, the uber-producer who O’Dowd says is the reason he journeyed to LA.
Apatow is the mind behind hits such as Knocked Up, Bridesmaids, Superbad, etc., etc., and O’Dowd is one of his go-to actors now – he co-stars in Apatow’s This Is 40, due for release in December.
“Judd's amazing at depicting believable male friendships, and his films are very truthful while also being s***-your-pants funny. It's a tricky combination,” O’Dowd says.
Recalling the audition for Bridesmaids, O’Dowd was sure he’d be second best. “I honestly went to this audition thinking, there is no way I'll get this. I knew other people were auditioning who I'd lost out
to before, so I was kinda like, ahhh, f*** this."
Now, O’Dowd says, Apatow is encouraging him to write his own film, with Apatow on board to produce, a formula that’s worked successfully for other favorites like Seth Rogen and Segel.
"Writing a movie for Judd feels like the thing I should be doing now – I just have to find the time,” he laughs.
Undoubtedly that will be one of his projects for the future, but in the meantime O’Dowd remains busy.
He was in Cannes last week for the premiere of an Australian ensemble film called The Sapphires, in which he co-stars as the manager of an Aboriginal band of sisters who dream of making it big in the sixties.
Harvey Weinstein picked up the film for worldwide distribution rights, and it seems like a shrewd move as the reviews have been incredible.
“Following his endearing turn in Bridesmaids, Chris O’Dowd asserts himself as one of the most effortlessly funny actors working today, his pliant, Mr. Congeniality demeanor yielding and snapping like an elastic band,” wrote The Hollywood Reporter.
The film will be released towards the end of the year. Could be that Weinstein has another one like The Artist on his hands, which would certainly bode well for O’Dowd’s burgeoning career.
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