NEW YORK — Paul Rudd immediately warns me about bullet ants.

He beat me to the American Museum of Natural History’s entomology collection, where I find him leaning over a glass case of meticulously arranged specimens. These guys are scarier than they look, he says, gesturing to the rows of shiny black bullet ants. Apparently they rank high on entomologist Justin Schmidt’s pain index, which is based on his personal experiences of different species stinging him. Can you imagine going through all that? Rudd mimes being stung. “Ow!”

He imparts this knowledge as if he has been carrying it around for years. Maybe an above-average understanding of insect life is just a function of playing Ant-Man, the Marvel superhero whose suit allows him to shrink all the way down to subatomic size. Later that January evening, a stranger at the museum catches a glimpse of the 53-year-old actor and exclaims, “Don’t sting me!” Rudd smiles politely. He has become the ant.

The encounter doesn’t faze Rudd, who has spent nearly a decade in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, leading three of its stand-alone films — the latest, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” out Friday.

He was already a star before, securing heartthrob status in 1995’s “Clueless” and displaying affable goofiness in some of the aughts’ biggest studio comedies, including “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” and “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.” Playing Ant-Man thrust Rudd in front of a devout global audience. His list of credits now boasts the second-highest-grossing film of all time.

To Rudd, the Marvel projects are similar to any other: He stands in front of a camera trying to remember his lines and hit his mark, same as he would on the set of a Judd Apatow movie. Sure, he helped save the world a few times. He’s still Paul Rudd.

“I thought if I were ever going to be cast as a superhero, something like ‘Ant-Man’ would make sense,” he says. “This is not someone who’s really born with any kind of superhuman ability. He’s just a regular person.” [More at Source]

After reuniting with the May 2000 copy of Interview, in which he shared the cover with his pet goldfish, Paul Rudd, the ageless star of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and reigning Sexiest Man Alive, got on the phone with our executive editor to look back on that time in his life when anything seemed possible.

PAUL RUDD: Hello?

BEN BARNA: Hey, Paul. How’s it going?

RUDD: How’s it going? I’m using AirPods. Do I sound okay?

BARNA: Yeah, I can hear you. I’m okay too?

RUDD: Yeah. Sounds like you’re on speaker.

BARNA: I’m using Skullcandy earbuds, that’s probably why. So I heard that you were on set today for your photoshoot, and you got to hold a May 2000 copy of Interview in your hands for the first time in a long time, and that you had a bit of a reaction to it.

RUDD: Well, normally I don’t love reading interviews that I’ve given. I don’t like revisiting that kind of stuff. But that was funny to read. I was like, “Oh yeah, I remember that young guy who’s trying hard not to try too hard.”

BARNA: At one point, you ask Donal Logue, who interviewed you, “Do you think our humorous tone is going to come across in print, or are we just going to sound like a couple jack-offs talking about Shakespeare?”

RUDD: [Laughs] Yeah. [More at Source]

On a chilly Sunday in January, Paul Rudd found himself enduring what he called “the least enjoyable, most enjoyable experience you can ever have.” He was in Kansas City, Missouri, watching his favorite team, the Kansas City Chiefs, battle the Cincinnati Bengals with a spot in the Super Bowl on the line. It was bitterly cold in Arrowhead Stadium, with the temperature dropping into the teens. To keep warm, Rudd layered three hoodies (including one from Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce’s brand) under his number-10 Isiah Pacheco Chiefs jersey. “I felt like the kid in A Christmas Story,” he said. To ward off any confusion, he affixed a nametag to the front of his jersey. It read: Paul Rudd.

Rudd lives with his family in New York, but he spent his formative years in a suburb of Kansas City and remains a diehard fan of the team, sometimes to a degree that surprises him. “I’m a 53-year-old man watching these guys that could all be my sons playing the game and I’m so emotionally invested in it,” he marveled. “And when they lose, it’s irrational how sad it makes me.”

But the Chiefs won, taking irrational sadness out of the equation and replacing it with something a good deal more fun. One of the perks of Rudd’s rise—from small parts in indie films to supporting roles in blockbuster comedies to, for nearly a decade now, superhero—is that, when he has Chiefs tickets, he gets to go down on the field and interact with the players before and after the game. “As I’m down there, I’m like a teenager,” he told me of the experience. “I can’t believe it. I’m standing next to these giant guys and hugging players. And it’s the most surreal thing.”

He didn’t linger long in Kansas City, though: the next day, he was set to fly to Australia (with a brief stopover in Los Angeles) to begin promoting Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, his latest outing as the Marvel superhero. So Rudd spent the night at his mom’s house, where he stays when he’s home, and then made his way to the airport. (He left one of his hoodies with mom, since it didn’t fit in his Australia carry-on.)

When we met the next day, in the lobby bar of a Los Angeles hotel, he was a little hoarse, and nursed a mint tea. He wore a fuzzy gray sweater, Brooklyn-dad eyeglasses, and upstate-dad Blundstones. His hair resembled a field of question marks swaying on their points. All to say: he looked like a version of Paul Rudd who’d been out in sub-freezing temperatures for four hours the previous night. It was hard to tell if the shine in his eyes was leftover joy from the Chiefs’ victory or just a small outward manifestation of his Paul Ruddness—a faint trace of the sheepish warmth that has helped make him one of the planet’s most purely appealing movie stars, and increasingly one of its more bankable ones. [More at Source]

“AND THEY ALL COME WITH A SIDE OF FLEET FOXES.”

That was Paul Rudd’s first joke, and it came about 30 seconds into our lunch at a Brooklyn café, right after I acknowledged that the sheer number of toasts available on the menu—from avocado to burrata to fig—made this the most “Brooklyn” café he could have possibly chosen for this interview.

Avocado toast with a side of Fleet Foxes. It’s a 2017 joke, but, still, it’s funny.

He would deliver like two other jokes over the next couple hours. Okay, maybe three. Ten max.

Rudd may be singularly hilarious in I Love You, Man; Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy; This Is 40; and even Marvel’s Ant-Man, or in a million absurdist Conan appearances, and don’t get me wrong, the next two hours would involve laughter, good cheer, and so much grinning my cheeks hurt, but he’s not comedic in person. Not zany. Not even remotely off-the-wall. Wearing a beanie, glasses, and maybe a day and a half’s worth of stubble, he squinted at me for about five seconds outside the restaurant before I realized it was him. He politely asked if it was okay if we grabbed a table in the restaurant instead of in the coffee-shop area. And when we got to the table, I asked him if he’d rather sit facing the wall because, you know, he’s Ant-Man and people might sneak a few iPhone shots, and he said, “Well, I do usually. . . .” The overarching vibe is chill, gentle, low-key, generous.

And thank God. You can watch Paul Rudd chewing up scenery in his movies or during any of his five SNL hosting gigs, or just clear your schedule for an hour and YouTube “Paul Rudd.” He is genuinely very, very funny in literally every single thing he’s been in. But as with so many funny people, it’s complicated. Fueling that humor is a hopeful weariness we can all relate to—especially now. His funniest roles are marked by equal parts indignation and empathy. It’s as if Rudd has played a confused middle-aged dad his entire career, even as Josh in Clueless, when he was 26. Now that he’s actually a middle-aged dad, well, his portrayal of a fool suffering fools is highly compelling. Paul Rudd’s gift is something more interesting than being funny. And, to me, more powerful.

PAUL RUDD DOES NOT come from a lightweight people.

“This is my grandfather David,” Rudd says while moving his iPhone across the table and showing me a sepia-tone image of three frowning chaps with their arms crossed. David Rudd is in the tightest ribbed turtleneck ever donned, and the other two—Rudd’s great-uncles Jack and Morrie—are shirtless. They’d be considered jacked if they were around today. Correcting for inflation, they’re swole. “My grandfather would tour all over London as ‘The Strongest Man in England.’ ”

Pardon?

“He and my uncles would travel around and wrestle.”

After making plans to write a whole other story about the Fighting Rudds of England, I ask him if his dad was fit like his grandfather. Not really. But his grandfather—who would change the family name from Rudnitsky to Rudd during a time of anti-Semitism in England—passed down a genetic predisposition to hard work and earnest effort. His dad—an airline exec—was funny, but the target of his humor was foolishness and idiocy. “He was pretty cutting. Anything that George Carlin said sounded to me like my dad. He was pretty clear thinking, no bullshit. He could get very frustrated by idiots, and he would never let things roll off his back. He could get pretty animated talking about something that annoyed him, which was a lot of stuff.” [More at Source]

Last week, Paul Rudd was announced as People’s Sexist Man Alive for 2021. The announcement was made on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Check out the videos that lead to the announcement and make sure to head to the gallery to see the released photos from the shoot so far.

Public Appearances > 2021 > 09 November – The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
Photo Sessions > 2021 > Session 001

Like many other moviegoers, Paul Rudd emerged from “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” thinking a lot about Brad Pitt. Having spent a couple of hours this summer in a darkened theater, where he watched the effortlessly self-assured Pitt spar with Bruce Lee, pal around with Leonardo DiCaprio and strip off his shirt to fix a television antenna, Rudd left feeling slightly bedazzled and slightly intimidated, but also feeling that his own place in the cultural hierarchy had been clarified.

“I thought, my God, what a movie star, just so cool,” Rudd said a few weeks ago, still sounding awe-struck. His voice rose to an ironic timbre — “Leo’s no slouch either!” — before it returned to its usual, gentler register as he described how the Brad-gazing experience reminded him that audiences were never going to see him in quite the same way.

“I came to terms pretty early on,” he said, “that I was not going to be the guy up there that people would watch, going, ‘Yes! That’s who I want to be!’”

Rudd has been a film and TV star in his own right for more than 25 years now, from his earliest appearances in movies like “Clueless” to his first Netflix series, “Living With Yourself,” which debuts Oct. 18. Though some of us may feel that we’ve known him forever, he is, at age 50, just reaching a new peak of fame, thanks in part to mammoth Marvel blockbusters like “Avengers: Endgame,” in which he plays the wisecracking superhero Ant-Man. He’s been filming a lead role in a new “Ghostbusters” movie that is planned to open next summer, and which could elevate him even higher.

But his costumed adventuring is an outlier; Rudd has carved out his particular piece of pop-cultural turf by playing people who don’t necessarily get to swagger triumphantly, save the day or induce swooning.

O.K., maybe just a little swooning. But the tough, quiet Brad Pitt roles are “not coming my way, and I’m not fighting for them,” Rudd said. “Because the truth is, I don’t quite relate to them in the same way that I relate to a guy who is mildly depressed or put-upon, and trying to fight his way out of this common situation.”

His wheelhouse, as Rudd understands it, is a certain sort of Everyman who, despite the good looks and charisma, is an avatar of averageness. In his most successful performances, he is besieged by quotidian problems; he is blessed with impeccable comic timing but at his funniest when he’s flailing and frustrated. Sometimes he can seem like two people at once.

It’s a dichotomy Rudd uses to full advantage in “Living With Yourself,” a comedy-drama with a science-fiction twist. In the series, he plays Miles, a dejected brand executive who has lost his passion for his work and his marriage. On a tip from a co-worker, he tries a mysterious spa treatment that he hopes will make him a new and better man — and which instead results in the creation of a clone (also played by Rudd) who is seemingly superior to Miles in every way. [More at Source]

   

Over the course of 10 years, Marvel has built a reputation for delivering two inevitabilities: meaty post-credits scenes and spoiler-free press runs.

Case in point: At the hush-hush “Avengers: Endgame” “Avengers: Endgame” press conference in downtown Los Angeles, Paul Rudd and Jeremy Renner (who play Ant-Man and Hawkeye, respectively) managed to talk about the Marvel Cinematic Universe while revealing absolutely nothing about the upcoming superhero team-up.

“You don’t want to ruin it because people spoil stuff, man,” said Renner, who skillfully dodged every question that even alluded to the top-secret film. “It’s terrible.”

He was right to be cautious. Just over a week before “Endgame” is slated to hit theaters worldwide, five minutes of credible footage from the film was leaked online.

According to descriptions, the footage includes scenes from throughout the movie that reveal key details about the plot. Disney has not confirmed whether the footage is indeed from the upcoming film.

On Tuesday, the Russo brothers, who have directed four MCU titles including “Infinity War” and “Endgame,” issued a statement via Twitter urging “the greatest fans in the world” not to ruin the movie for other fans.

“Please know that the two of us, along with everyone involved in ‘Endgame,’ have worked tirelessly for the last three years with the sole intention of delivering a surprising and emotional powerful conclusion to the Infinity saga,” read the statement. “When you see ‘Endgame’ in the coming weeks, please don’t spoil it for others, the same way you wouldn’t want it spoiled for you.”

“It’s a bummer that we are in this place where there are people that really want to find things out and then advertise that to get clicks and sell advertising dollars or whatever it is,” said Rudd, prior to the leak. “I always think it’s fun to see a movie and not know anything about it.”

“It’s a better moviegoing experience not to know anything,” Renner agreed.

Keeping fans (and journalists) in the dark is so emblematic of Marvel that it was surprising to find even the slightest hint about the upcoming film hidden in the form of Hawkeye’s updated “Endgame” costume, which was displayed among a decade’s worth of movie posters from 22 MCU films and mannequins sporting the Avengers’ uniforms.

Not far from Ant-Man’s familiar red, white and black suit was Renner’s costume, which looked more befitting of a ninja, complete with a katana and a hood rather than the usual archer’s bow and arrow.

The refreshed look, plus the few glimpses of the character offered in the movie’s trailer, hint that Hawkeye will assume the mantle of Ronin, a persona multiple characters have adopted over the years in the comics. (The word Ronin means “lone samurai” in Japanese.)

“I’m not cleared to say anything,” said Renner when asked about Ronin, again proving how seriously everyone involved wants to preserve even the most expected “Endgame” twists.

The finished product is so top secret that Disney even took the unusual step of not screening the film in advance of their press day, instead showing only a meager amount of footage — something that was also done for “Infinity War” and a handful of “Star Wars” titles, but is typically unthinkable in the world of studio press junkets.

That left the stars free to riff on things like the costume display.

“My favorite one was Bruce Banner’s,” said Rudd of the character’s dark blazer and jean-clad mannequin, which was positioned between Captain America’s rogue soldier uniform and Okoye’s Dora Milaje armor. “Because it was a dude standing like a mannequin at Macy’s among all these super suits.”

“So was [Tony] Stark’s,” said Renner with a laugh. “It was like fancy sweats and a shirt.”

“Like at Barneys,” said Rudd. The two burst into laughter. [More at Source]

Paul is on the cover of the July issue of Men’s Journal magazine. The full feature isn’t online yet but the issue is available for subscribers and online. I bought the magazine through the Zinio app and extracted the shoot without text so please consider linking back to the site if you re-post the shoot/scans anywhere else online, thank you!

   
   

   

In Taiwan, people might call him “Ant-Man” when see his face. Some might not even know what his real name is. Indeed, Paul Rudd has become very famous all around the world after playing the marvel hero. Actually, he was known in quite some famous films before he played Ant-Man, those films were well-known among American. He appeared in Clueless in 1995, played a handsome guy Josh. His cast on US sitcom Friends has helped to gain his popularity. Producer has even amended the plot for him so that he could continue to cast on the sitcom. The two blockbuster comedies, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) and The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), have made him the regular cast-member of comedy. Ant-Man And The Wasp will be released in end June this year. We grabbed the opportunity to invite him to have photo-shooting in New York before he starts the promotion for the film. This superstar conquered the scene with his easy-going charm, he made us laugh non-stop.

Paul Rudd is good at playing romance comedy. He has a unique position among the Hollywood artists. He does not have the classic handsome face with gold hair like Captain America, nor the muscular body like Thor. However, his smile and high forehead have attracted a bunch of fans. He is not like Owen Wilson, likes to make the character silly but lovely, nor like the James Franco’s style of acting, nor like Steve Carell’s favorite awkward style acting. He can integrate American humor into every expression, every sentence and every session very intelligently and naturally. Humor can be lively too.

“Down to earth” is his weapon

He has never been thought of being an actor when he was young. He grew up in Kansas. His parents migrated from UK to USA. The family was not wealthy. His

charm comes from this kind of “down to earth” characteristic. Every man can see themselves from the character that played by him. Therefore, he is the most suitable one to play Ant-Man. Scott Lang (Ant-Man) does not possess the inherent supernatural power like other superheroes do. He, just like Paul, is an ordinary person. His attitude towards a story of superhero is like “Wow! What is happening?”. You might not know, he has been involved himself in the process of the script writing of Ant-Man since beginning till amendment. This might be the reason why he could act so naturally. Then, where does the charm of Paul Rudd come from? He is not pretentious, not arrogant; he treats other friendly and nicely; he is humorous. Those are nature-born characteristics, somethings that no one else can copy.

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Happy new year everyone!

Paul was in Park City, Utah a couple of days ago where he started promoting The Catcher Was a Spy. I’ve updated the gallery with photos from his different stops around the festival ground.