BlackBerry Star Glenn Howerton Gets Candid on Comedy, Career, and Canada
In a recent interview for his film BlackBerry, American actor Glenn Howerton shared that Canada (and Canadians) made his time filming so memorable, he can’t stop declaring his love. His turn as Canadian businessman Jim Balsillie is terrific and terrifying, but hilarious nonetheless.
BlackBerry, which opened in theatres on May 12th, follows the rise and fall of the world’s first smartphone created by Waterloo-based company Research in Motion. Directed by Matt Johnson, the film follows co-founders Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel) and his business partner Douglas Fregin (Johnson). When they employ businessman Jim Balsillie (Howerton), they get the experience they need to sell the world’s first smartphone.
The 47-year-old is best known for playing Dennis Reynolds on the long-running dark comedy It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. He loves roles where humor complements drama. He’s been itching to do more dramatic roles and this film certainly gives him that palette.
Reynolds likes to think he isn’t a method actor, but the way he shaved his head and got into the film’s routine made him think he might be. One thing he won’t do, though, is compromise his relationships to get the work done — his professionalism and candour are admirable.
We caught up with the actor when he was in Toronto for the premiere of BlackBerry, discussing his role (in the running for his best to date), his career, and his red carpet style.
I’ll start with the important question: Did you ever own a Blackberry?
No. It was very much on purpose. Honestly, at the time, I didn’t understand the appeal. I think [it was] for people who wanted to email and text as quickly and efficiently as possible, to always be available whenever that was needed of them, and I was the opposite. I don’t want to always be reachable by email — I never liked email. I still don’t like email. It’s the bane of my existence.
When I first saw the iPhone, I was like, ‘that thing is really, really cool!’ But the only reason I got one was because it was a gift.
I found your interpretation of Jim very entertaining and really well done. What was the draw for you with this script?
The screenplay was just so marvelously well-written, so well structured. As a writer, I’m looking at it, just enjoying it for what it is and examining whether I’m drawn to or inspired by the role. But I’m also looking at it as a screenwriter and admiring the actual structure of the film. Not to get too geeky, but I was really, really impressed with the structure of the script. And then, of course, I was introduced to Matt Johnson’s earlier films.
I had a couple of Zoom conversations with [Johnson] and knew almost immediately that I was 100% in because it was all of those things. When you combine that with the fact that I truly, truly love Canada and Canadians, I knew it was going to be a rewarding experience.
“I’ve been itching to do more dramatic roles. But for me, a great dramatic performance is really not interesting if there’s not some comedic element to it, some elements of humour to it.”
Glenn Howerton
What was the biggest difference between your first impression of Jim and who he turned out to be as you prepped for production?
That’s a good question. I had an initial impression of what I wanted to do [with the role]. Then, having had multiple conversations with Matt Johnson and feeling like we were on the same page, it was on the day of actually filming the scenes, coming up with variations throughout with every take. There was a lot of experimentation on set. For instance, if Jim was getting really upset about something, we would try it multiple different ways.
That was one of the wonderful things about working with Jay too – every take is different. The way [Matt] choreographed the cameras and the scenes – even though we didn’t have the budget to do a million takes – he shot it in a way where we could do multiple interpretations of each to give him as many different things to play with in the editing room as possible.
Jim is sort of the villain, but I didn’t completely see it that way. How did you want to portray him?
Like any great villain. I think he would think that he’s the hero of the story, and that the only reason things fell apart was because people didn’t listen to him. So he had to be, I guess, what some people would consider the bad guy in order to achieve what they were trying to achieve globally as a company. He knew that nobody else was willing to take it on, and sometimes you need that guy. There’s a reason why sharks exist. Jim was less concerned with people liking him than he was people admiring him on a larger scale. I think he knew somebody needed to take on that role, and he knew he was the kind of personality to do that and also have the intelligence to back it up.
“It’s almost like people in America don’t know how to be brutally honest without being rude. Somehow, Canadians have a way of being very straightforward and very direct … that doesn’t feel rude or unpleasant. It’s that combination of things that I’d love to strive for in my own life.”
Glenn Howerton
You must have had a lot of fun playing a ruthless character, and it’s not completely dramatic, but a comedy angle too.
It is a lot of fun. I just enjoy playing things that are almost entirely different from who I am as a real person. For me, it’s cathartic because I get to exercise parts of myself that I never would in real life.
I like to consider myself a people person; I don’t like making people feel uncomfortable. I don’t like being mean to people. There’s certain qualities of someone who can be brutally honest in any given situation that I genuinely admire, but it’s just been fun to put on a different pair of pants.
Do you prefer to play roles like this which allows you to exercise different acting muscles with drama and comedy at the same time?
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I’ve been itching to do more dramatic roles. But for me, a great dramatic performance is really not interesting if there’s not some comedic element to it, some elements of humour to it. That really humanizes it for me. I also think that humor is a great tool. In a movie like this, it disarms you. The greatest effect is that the humour disarms you and makes you more susceptible to the more dramatic moments.
This is a very Canadian film and it’s a big part of our history. How would you describe your experience making it and filming here?
Incredible. I need to come up with a way to describe what it is exactly that I’m drawn to [about] Canadian people. Every time I encounter a Canadian in the United States or come to Canada and encounter Canadians everywhere, there’s just something about Canadian people that I really, really like.
It’s almost like people in America don’t know how to be brutally honest without being rude. Somehow, Canadians have a way of being very straightforward and very direct, but like, doing it in a way that doesn’t feel rude or unpleasant. It’s that combination of things that I’d love to strive for in my own life. I have tremendous admiration for someone who could be direct and honest, even in the face of possibly insulting someone, and yet somehow not feel like they’re being rude. So, anyway, that culture was very much present on set and so it made it a very pleasant set to be on.
“I would show up in my trailer, I’d go to hair and makeup, I would shave my head, I would get my makeup on, put on a full suit, and it felt like getting ready for work.”
Glenn Howerton
We love talking about style and it seems that with Jim, he’s always dressed in his best suits. Did you enjoy the hair and costume choices for Jim?
Truth be told, I don’t enjoy putting on a suit every day. I actively avoid living a life where I have to do something like that (laughs). But it certainly was great for the character – and shaving my head and walking around as a bald man for two months was really quite liberating. It actually liberated me from my own identity in a way that I found very helpful for the character and maybe take myself a little bit more seriously.
Honestly, after about a month of filming, I was still putting on a suit every single day. It became ritualistic for me. I would show up in my trailer, I’d go to hair and makeup, I would shave my head, I would get my makeup on, put on a full suit, and it felt like getting ready for work. It really put me in the place I needed to be in to, certainly, feel much different than I feel in my normal life.
Do you usually go out for a character like this in terms of shaving your head?
I guess so; it’s funny, I don’t think of myself as someone who does that. But I realized, seeing how people reacted to the film, that I do it more than I realize. I’m certainly willing to do whatever it takes to embody a character, but I’m not willing to compromise my relationships with the people around me. That’s the one thing I’m not willing to do. I won’t compromise my relationship with my children, my wife, my friends, my family in order to become something. But shaving my head, wearing a suit every day, or like, dyeing my hair orange or something like that – why not?
How would you describe your sense of style?
I tend to be a T-shirt, jeans, sneakers, and cool jacket guy. Casual but slightly elevated, I guess. Just so I don’t look like a slob. If I’m gonna wear jeans, I want it to fit well. And if I’m gonna wear a T-shirt, it’s gonna be a T-shirt that fits well and has good material. So it’s kind of elevated, nice versions of very casual things.
BlackBerry is now in theatres.
Feature Image by Corey Nickols, courtesy of Getty Images.
