John C. Reilly stays loyal to character actor role

John C. Reilly was Oscar-nominated in "Chicago" for Mr. Cellophane, but in real life, the star of "Cyrus" (see movie review on Page 34) prefers to remain opaque.

"I don't want to be the 'hot' actor. I want to stay cool. Keep working, have a long career, be able to play different roles when I get older, and so far it's worked out," said Reilly, in town to promote "Cyrus," an offbeat independent comedy. "Part of the reason is I don't do a lot of personal press. I don't invite magazines into my home, I don't do a lot of overt advocacy for things. I like keeping the audience mystified as to what I'm really like. There are some actors who have personas, and pick roles that suit their personalities, but I'm not that guy. I like to keep the slate kind of blank."

Despite his best efforts, Reilly has become a commodity among comedy buffs, thanks to his work for Adam McKay alongside Will Ferrell in "Talladega Nights" and "Step Brothers," and for Judd Apatow in "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story."

His chemistry with Ferrell (shake and bake!) came naturally.

"I'd met Will years before we ever worked together, through Molly Shannon, when Will was at 'Saturday Night Live.' I remember the feeling of immediate familiarity, somewhere deep down in the DNA, like we must have been part of the same barbarian tribe centuries ago."

And it's through Ferrell that he became acquainted with McKay.

"Every time I'd tell Will about a sketch that I'd really liked, he'd tell me it was written by Adam. I mean, every time," Reilly said.

So working with them was a privilege, and, as it turned out, enormous fun.

"There's this sense of organized chaos, the feeling that let's you try anything. No holds barred. You improvise, explore, in this exciting, creative way."

That formula was taken to extremes in Reilly's new movie, "Cyrus," made by Mark and Jay Duplass, who insist that their actors improvise at all times, to the point of inventing narrative as they go.

In "Cyrus," Reilly plays a lonelyheart who falls for a single mom (Marisa Tomei) whose live-in son (Jonah Hill) causes problems.

"People associate improv with comedy, and that's how it's developed in movies. The whole point is to get a laugh. Improv is never allowed to get weird or dark, and to me, that's the holy grail, and that's what we do in 'Cyrus.' "

It's because the movie is dark and weird and not always funny that Jonah Hill has been getting credit for doing his first real acting, a notion that annoys Reilly.

"Jonah's said to be doing something really different here, but it's not. It's not as broad or as silly as his other comedies, but what he's doing here is the same. Just telling the truth, and being in the moment."