Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm creator launches feature film career as leading hunk in Woody Allen pic
By Jeff Otto
Over the past decade, Larry David has gone from the man behind-the-scenes of the most popular, beloved show about nothing, Seinfeld, to creating a persona almost as well known as Jerry, Kramer, George and Elaine. That persona, a very slight twist on David himself, has drawn rave reviews and a loyal fan base over the course of six hit seasons on HBO with Curb Your Enthusiasm. Now, David is embarking on his most challenging endeavor to date, portraying the lead role in Woody Allen’s new comedy, Whatever Works.
As Boris Yellnikoff, David’s characterization isn’t a massive stretch from the lovable curmudgeon we’ve all come to know on Curb, but he is now infused with an unmistakable dose of Woody.
Walking into the Four Seasons ballroom to interview David, the actor is involved in a conversation with his co-stars Patricia Clarkson and Evan Rachel Wood about the premiere. “You invited a lot of people?” David asks them with a note of surprise. “Really? I guess I should. It’s too late now.”
In person, it’s nearly impossible to decipher the real Larry David from the man we’ve gotten to know so well on television. The expressions, the verbal delivery and the sense of humor are one in the same.
Although David has been in front of the camera for some time now, the loosely scripted Curb hasn’t saddled the actor with a whole lot of memorization. He admits that aspect was the biggest challenge for him. “It was hard,” says David. “I opened the script, I saw the first page was full of Boris. And then I tured to page 50 and I saw Boris on page 50 and then I went to the last page and I went, ‘Oy vae shmear.’ Yeah, it was kind of daunting to have to learn all that to tell you the truth. I am used to improvising and kind of making up most of it as I go along and it was challenging and I don’t really care for challenges.”
The younger woman
The Larry David and Woody Allen personas have some unmistakable similarities, but David wasn’t interested in aping Allen like Kenneth Branagh in Celebrity or Jason Biggs in Anything Else. “I know that’s a concern. People would say to me, ‘Well, are you gonna be doing him?’ and I would think that they were out of their minds. ‘No, I’m going to try not to do him.’ It never occurred to me to try to do him and he doesn’t want me to do him. He didn’t call me up and say, ‘I want you to do me. Have you ever seen me? Can you talk like me?’ No, it wasn’t really an issue for me at all. It wasn’t anything I thought about or even worried about. I just sort of memorized it and said it. I didn’t want to do Woody Allen.”
In the film, Boris falls for the much younger fish-out-of-water character, Melodie St. Ann Celestine, portrayed by Evan Rachel Wood. While intimate moments between the couple are discussed and Viagra is even mentioned at one point, the two never share a love scene on screen. “I don’t think anyone wants to see me having sex with anyone. It’s true,” David said.
Instead, he and Wood focused on their own comic chemistry together. “I have immediate chemistry with pretty much everyone,” says David immodestly. “Whether it’s good or it’s bad. I really can tell right off. I don’t need to get to know somebody, it doesn’t take me long… I can go out and talk to people. I know just by looking at people if I can say something nasty to them, how they’re going to react. If I can kid around with them, whether they’re going to get it or not. I have a sixth sense like that. There’s a very visceral reaction, very quickly. We were very comfortable with one another.”
I’m not insane
At first glance, Boris Yellnikoff and Larry David might seem just like two peas in a pod, but David is quick to clarify that there are plenty of important differences: “We’re different in that I’m way more normal,” says David. “I enjoy life. I play golf, I like having sex. I have normal wants and needs. He’s insane, really. He’s really on the edge. I don’t wear shorts, which is a huge difference. I’m a much better dresser than he is. We both have some disdain for the human race. And we both come from similar roots. And we probably have a, well we were both Bar Mitzvah’d I’m sure.”
The film’s title, Whatever Works, is also Boris’ philosophy about life, but David doesn’t agree. “It’s actually in conflict with my own philosophy, which is ‘whatever doesn’t work.’ That’s pretty much what I subscribe to. Anyone who finds me unattractive, that’s the one I want. Unappealing, yeah, that’s who I go for.”
Next up for David is another season of Curb, but he says he’s open to another big screen acting gig. “I just finished shooting Curb Your Enthusiasm and I’m editing that right now. I think [another lead role] would depend on the people who are producing the movies. I haven’t been inundated with offers yet. If it was something that appeals to me, I would definitely consider it.”
A Twilight fan?
Meanwhile, David is editing season seven of Curb for a September premiere and spending some quality time with his daughters, who have recently begun subjecting their father to the world of Twilight. “My kids were completely into to it. They read all the books, the whole Twilight series. I went to see Twilight with them. I enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to part two whenever that comes out. I watch all the kids stuff with them. I was at a Hannah Montana concert. What kind of dad am I? Lucky kids.
So what’s next? Surely plenty of golf, maybe a Jonas Brothers concert and perhaps a comedy tour in time. David says he is contemplating a return to the stand-up stage. “I think I will, after Curb [is finished].”
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