- 16 hours ago
The actor chats candidly about his scariest on-set moment, why he hates editing himself and the best directing advice he's ever received.
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00:00Hi, everyone. I'm Ashley from The Hollywood Reporter, and we're here with Jay Baruchel.
00:05Thanks for coming in.
00:06Thank you very much for having me.
00:07We are very excited to discuss something very important that happened to you.
00:12Yes.
00:13I mean, you have officially made your feature directorial debut.
00:15I have, yeah.
00:16Goon, Last of the Enforcers, which is going to be in select theaters and VOD on September 1st.
00:22Indeed.
00:22Oh, thank you so much.
00:23So, okay, for someone who's just tuning in, scrolling through Facebook, being like,
00:26who's this guy with the pink hair, what's Goon, tell us the elevator pitch for what this sequel is.
00:33Oh, a great time.
00:36No, we really try to just make a kind of old school flick, the kind that you used to get
00:42to see,
00:43where you get your money's worth.
00:45You see some awesome sports, some great action, you'll laugh a lot,
00:48and I think you'll be surprised at how much you end up feeling.
00:52So, yeah, old school night out at the movies.
00:55It is very heartwarming.
00:57Oh, thank you.
00:57I'm glad you think so.
00:58I didn't expect it to get there.
00:59Nobody ever does.
01:00I was watching it, and I was like, whoa, okay.
01:02No, that's the same thing on the first film.
01:04It was, it's been close to a half decade of people being like, it's actually good.
01:11It's just hard to find good movies sometimes.
01:13Period, period.
01:15In general.
01:15And then when you make something as niche as Canadian hockey comedy,
01:20you know, a lot of people, I think, are going to be turned off,
01:23think they're going to be turned off until they give it a second.
01:26Definitely.
01:26So the first movie came out in 2011, and, I mean, you co-wrote both of them.
01:31What were you like, okay, I need to have a sequel?
01:34Oh, we all knew as we were making the first one,
01:38because we always had a surplus of ideas.
01:40We always had more character, jokes, story than we knew what to do with.
01:45And also there was something, it's going to sound super hokey,
01:49but there's something really awesome that happened when we were all together in Winnipeg,
01:52making the flick together.
01:54Not, on some sets, everyone shows up, enjoy each other's company,
01:58but you're sort of doing your thing and you don't really have a sense of what the end result is
02:03going to be.
02:04And on some sets, you're there and you get the feeling that everyone's as psyched as you are
02:09and that you all see the same flick and see what's cool about it and see its potential.
02:13And Goon was one of those.
02:15Yes, and so we saw there was something special when we got together,
02:19this group of people, in this particular story.
02:22And so literally the day that it ended, our last shoot day in Winnipeg,
02:26we were like, God damn, we're just scratching the surface.
02:29Yeah, yeah, okay, so maybe a third one coming up in a few years.
02:32Who knows?
02:32We have a lot of story left, and I'll say this,
02:35that if the world wants to see more stuff with these characters and in this universe,
02:42that's a thing that could happen.
02:43So fun.
02:44Okay, let's talk about this one.
02:45So you had Sean William Scott, you have Liev Schreiber, Alison Pill,
02:49just so many fun people.
02:50Yeah, amazing.
02:51How did you get anything done on set?
02:53Yeah, no.
02:55That is the director's job.
02:56Yes, it is too, yeah.
02:58Well, it helps that those are most of the people in this cast are friends of mine
03:05or people I lived with for three years, like in Alison's case.
03:10And so they helped me, and they helped me quiet people down when we needed to be quiet.
03:18But I wanted everyone to have fun, and I wanted everyone to have fun while also never feeling that they
03:26didn't know what they were doing.
03:27So a lot of sets have a sort of hurry-up-and-wait thing, and you also will be just
03:32a two-hour period, and you just don't know what the hell is happening.
03:35And I wanted that to never be the case.
03:37I wanted us to always be doing something, always plugging forward, but I also wanted everyone to always be in
03:41a good mood.
03:42And so to that end, yeah, there would be times where we might waste half an hour doing a seven
03:50-minute take of something that maybe will be 20 seconds in the movie.
03:54But you've got to go through that.
03:56You've got to do that.
03:56You've got to give everyone a chance to paint.
03:58So you've worked with so many great directors, especially in the comedy world.
04:02What is the best tip or best piece of advice that you got just looking back on your own acting
04:09career?
04:09There's sort of two bits of directing advice.
04:13There's two people's, two directors' opinions matter.
04:17They all matter, but two in particular matter a great deal to me.
04:19It's my friend Michael Dowse, who directed The First Goon, and my friend Jacob Tierney, who directed two movies I
04:25was in and is just one of Canada's greatest directors.
04:29And Jacob said to me, you've been on set since you were 12.
04:34Just remember that.
04:35You know you will always have at least one idea.
04:39There's going to inevitably come a moment where the cat will get your tongue or you'll have a brain fart
04:43or something, and you're going to panic.
04:46Don't, because that's when experience will kick in.
04:49And just remember that you're a set animal like him.
04:53He and I are both kid actors, and we grew up on set.
04:55And there's, like, sadly, it's like my house, mom's house, set.
05:00The three places I'm comfortable on earth.
05:02And then Michael Dowse, much more sort of ballsy, gonzo advice, which is the advice he had been given on
05:12his first film, which was find the most expensive pair of sunglasses you can and walk in like you own
05:18the place.
05:20And I tried to walk a tightrope.
05:24It's a weird thing because you need confidence in the director, and you need to believe that this director believes
05:31in themselves.
05:32And you want your director to be a general, and you want, as an actor on set, to follow your
05:38director to hell.
05:38You want to want that as well.
05:40And you don't always get that.
05:41And I find there's people that are, like, easy, great guys to get along with, but piss poor at being
05:46a director and at being the general.
05:48And then there's people that are great at being a director and being a general who are piss poor people
05:51as friends and acquaintances.
05:54And the history nerd that I am, I definitely modeled a little of my directing style off of Napoleon Bonaparte.
06:04Interesting.
06:05Just because if you study Napoleon, his men would follow him to the gates of hell, but they also all
06:14loved him.
06:15He ate with them.
06:16They saw themselves in him.
06:17He was one of the soldiers.
06:18He was just the highest-ranking one of them.
06:21But they also believed that this guy had an end in sight and would take them there.
06:26And so I tried my best to be somebody whose company they enjoyed, but also somebody who would lead them
06:31to the finish line.
06:32That actually really works.
06:33That's really good.
06:34So you had to do a lot of different type of directing.
06:37So, for example, there was a lot of action sequences, lots of blood, lots of stunts.
06:41And then in other scenes, you're directing yourself with other people.
06:46What was maybe the most unexpectedly difficult part about taking on this movie?
06:52Having to edit scenes that I'm acting in, number one.
06:58What was that like?
06:59Awful.
07:01This could come as a huge surprise.
07:02I'm not a vain man.
07:04And so to sit there at the computer with my editors and be like, yeah, that one's better because my
07:12eye did a cool thing.
07:13Like, that's fucking so weird.
07:14You know?
07:15Like, I don't – and so that was awkward.
07:18And so I did the bare minimum of that.
07:20And then – no, the weirdest one is like – so I've been on set since I was 12.
07:24And then I – and so that's like 20-plus years of experience.
07:27Plus, I'm just a film nerd.
07:29And then when I got this – I knew I was going to direct this movie.
07:33I did my homework like a motherfucker.
07:35And I took everything seriously.
07:36You picked a historical inspiration.
07:38You did a lot.
07:39I did, too.
07:41The one thing that I didn't account for because I'd been on set since I was 12 is – so
07:47at the start of every rehearsal for a scene, it was called a blocking.
07:50You know, the entire cast and crew queue up, and the director stands in front of them and explains what
07:55the scene is and how we're going to go about attacking it.
07:57And me, having been through countless blocking since I was 12, I was like, yeah, that's not even a concern.
08:02Of course, I got to set day one.
08:04I was like, right.
08:05Every blocking, I've been in that lineup of 100 people.
08:08I've not been the one fucking putz they're all staring at.
08:10And so – and for me, I'm like – I'm ill at ease in front of groups of people.
08:16That's just my nature.
08:17And it's not – and they were great people, and I found a way to do it.
08:21But that was just like I did all of this homework, and it never occurred to me that that would
08:24be what stresses me out.
08:26That's a lot, though, because it's definitely something that –
08:28Well, it's just, you know –
08:29It's second nature once you're on the other side.
08:31And also, you can't help but like – because I also wrote it, co-wrote it with my friend Jesse.
08:37And so when I'm explaining the scene and my take on it, it's coming from my heart.
08:41This is stuff we created.
08:42And so in addition to just trying to explain it to all 100-plus people, I'm also like I can't
08:47help it but clock to see –
08:49Oh, do they think that's a stupid idea?
08:51That sounds like a dumb scene to that guy, doesn't it?
08:53He doesn't – oh, he thinks this is lame.
08:55Like you can't help but just like clock everyone.
08:57I was like, does this guy think I don't know what I'm doing?
09:00But, you know, I was quite spoiled with the crew that I had.
09:04And if you want to make a hockey movie, make it in Canada because you have 100 people on set
09:10who will call bullshit if they need to.
09:12There's no population on earth better acquainted with what hockey is meant to feel like and how it's meant to
09:18be photographed than in Canada.
09:20And so to that end, I used everyone.
09:24I wanted us as a group to be a resource.
09:26And so I wanted everyone – the same way I'd let the actors find their way with any scene.
09:30I always give them a chance to find their own way in or try a color that seemed weird or
09:35wasn't on the page.
09:36I left that same option open to every crew member.
09:39I'd have people come up and pitch camera setup – shot setup, camera setup ideas to me.
09:45I'd have them pitch jokes.
09:47I'd have them take the initiative and go off and just do stuff.
09:50Like my focus puller, Andy, we were using this thing called the Lens Baby, which is if you ever see
09:56the opening of Sherlock, the title sequence, and it's kind of blurry and weird.
09:59And like I said, Lens Baby is this little thing you put on the front of it.
10:01So Andy, my focus puller, took a stencil, this piece of black paper, cut a weird stencil, put it on
10:08top of the Lens Baby.
10:08He was like, hey, come take a look at this.
10:10Look through the monitor.
10:11And he's like, when I put the stencil on it and I wave the camera past the lights with the
10:15Lens Baby on it, you get a little bit of the Highlanders logo coming out of the light.
10:20He created this weird little thing.
10:21And I was like, dope, awesome.
10:23And I didn't have to tell him that.
10:24He just came up with that, and that was the sort of – that was the vibe.
10:26Or I'd go off for a smoke break, and I'd come in.
10:28So we had to take three breaks a day for Zambonian, right?
10:31Like we'd just turn the ice into a pile of shit, and then we'd have to wait for 20 minutes
10:36for the Zamboni to clean it and make it skateable.
10:38And when that was happening, we were never doing anything.
10:40And one of the Zamboni cleanups, I'd come in afterwards, and my crew was like, hey, Jay, take a look
10:44at this.
10:45They had just, of their own volition, got on the ice with the camera and followed the Zamboni in laps.
10:51And that's in our movie.
10:53And it's just like – it's not like that on a lot of sets.
10:56That's great to see such a collaborative setting.
10:58Yeah, well, it's just like – if everyone takes ownership of it, A, it's just better.
11:03But it's also from a cynical utilitarian standpoint, like I've got everyone as invested as I am or close to
11:10it.
11:10And that just is like – it behooves a director to have everyone give as much of a shit about
11:15their movie as they do, it seems to me.
11:17Well, it sounds like it was a pretty positive experience overall.
11:19Are you thinking about the next time you're going to jump into the director's chair?
11:23Tell me, tell me.
11:24So, you know, there might be an announcement in the near future, potentially at a film festival in Toronto, Ontario.
11:31We'll see.
11:33But no, it's Random Acts of Violence.
11:36It's a horror movie that Jesse and I adapted from a graphic novel by Jimmy Palmiotti.
11:42And we did our first draft of that like seven years ago.
11:45And that's what we – that was the flick we were building when Goon 2 kind of exploded and became
11:50a thing.
11:51Because, like, it's so strange, small movies, how they work.
11:54Small movie is not a movie, and then it is.
11:59And if you work in small cinema, it behooves you to work on a bunch of different ones at once.
12:04Right.
12:05But, yeah, if I get to – if we get to do half – if we pull off half of
12:10what we have attempted in our script, this movie is going to take the pain off the walls.
12:15It's going to – it's going to fuck people up.
12:18Awesome.
12:18That's definitely a really great pitch.
12:21And also, being from Toronto –
12:23From Montreal, live in Toronto.
12:25Excuse me, my mistake.
12:26Important fucking distinction.
12:27I am not from Toronto.
12:28Living in – being a Toronto resident.
12:30I love it there, though.
12:30I live it there.
12:31I live there.
12:32I love it.
12:32Okay, so since you live there, everybody in Hollywood is heading over to Toronto for the film festival.
12:38Any tips, any place that you love that you're like, dude, you have to try food from here or anything?
12:43Yeah.
12:44I mean, I can't imagine anyone that goes to TIFF has been to the – what's called the Pacific Mall.
12:49Okay.
12:50So there's a place called Markham.
12:52It's a suburb of Toronto called the Pacific Mall, even though it's nowhere near the Pacific.
12:59North America's largest Asian-themed mall.
13:01Oh.
13:02And it is incredible.
13:04Best food court, best stores.
13:06My friends won't buy cell phones anywhere else.
13:09I will go there and walk out filled with – I'll walk out filled with Chinese food.
13:14I'll just buy a new parka and a fucking airsoft rifle.
13:16And, you know, like, it is a great –
13:18One-stop shopping.
13:19It fucking surely is.
13:20And it is laid out not like a Western mall.
13:24It's broken up into all these beautiful, cute little streets named, like, Fortune and Happiness and all this different stuff.
13:29And, yeah, it's a trip.
13:31It's something – and for whatever reason, it's underreported.
13:35Go to Pacific Mall in Markham.
13:37You won't regret it.
13:38Definitely.
13:39Okay.
13:39You're just selling everything right now.
13:40I love it.
13:41Awesome.
13:42Well, thank you so much for coming in to chat.
13:44Thank you for having me.
13:44Such a great time.
13:45Goon, Last of the Enforcers, hit select theaters and VOD on September 1st.
13:50And first of many films directed by Jay Bareshoff.
13:54Here's to hoping.
13:54That's nice of you to say.
13:55Thank you very much.
13:56Thanks.
13:56Bye.
13:57Bye-bye.
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