Sundance 2011: Paul Rudd worried ‘My Idiot Brother’ was over-hyped (VIDEO)
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Heading into Saturday night, everyone at Sundance seemed to be buzzing about ‘My Idiot Brother,’ the Paul Rudd comedy bought by the Weinstein Co. (more on that sale here). Hundreds of festival-goers were turned away from the Eccles Theater because the screening got so crowded.
Suffice it to say, there was a lot of hype. Maybe too much, worried Rudd, whom we caught up with on the red carpet a few minutes before the premiere.
‘I only saw this [movie] once kind of by myself about a week ago, and it’s a little nerve-racking, because I know people have been talking about it and there’s a hype around it but nobody’s seen it, he said. ‘So I just hope it — I just want people to like it and not just be totally let down because it’s been hyped up.’
In the film, Rudd plays a lovable loser — part-stoner, part, well, idiot. His sisters (played by Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer and Elizabeth Banks) are alternately fed up with his antics and inspired by his honest approach to life.
The three actresses seemed less concerned about the film’s sales prospects than their male co-star.
‘That’s not my business. I’m just an actor,’ Deschanel, who was celebrating her 10-year Sundance anniversary, said somewhat curtly.
Mortimer was more candid, admitting that the prospect of sitting in the Eccles Theater terrified her.
‘It’s really scary, actually,’ she said. ‘It’s really the first time anyone has seen the film outside of the people that have made it, and you’re just so aware of that as you’re watching it and just hoping that it goes down well.’
Of more concern to her, however? Her on-screen appearance.
‘I’ll probably be paying attention to my double chins and weird hair and weird teeth and sort of getting into a panic about stupid things like that,’ she laughed. ‘That tends to be the thing you focus on the first time you watch a movie.’
To watch our interviews with Mortimer, Banks and Deschanel, click beyond the jump.
— Amy Kaufman
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