Michael Cera is currently earning plaudits for his work in The Phoenician Scheme, Wes Anderson’s new film, but the Canadian actor’s breakthrough film role arrived all the way back in 2007 when Superbad became an instant classic.
Judd Apatow’s coming-of-age teen comedy spawned dozens of endlessly quotable lines, put co-writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg on the Hollywood map, and launched the careers of Cera, Jonah Hill, and future Oscar winner Emma Stone.
In a new Rolling Stone AU/NZ interview, which features in our June-August issue, Cera reflected on how he landed the role of Evan in Superbad.
“When it came to auditioning for Superbad, I just wanted to do it more than anything,” he said. “It sort of comes down to being the right age at the right time and, like, a constellation of miracles and good fortune.
“It was an enormous opportunity for me, that size role in that size of a production with Judd [Apatow] and Seth [Rogen] who were carving this niche for themselves and doing really good work, and I was also very excited about Jonah [Hill].
“I didn’t really have a sense of the release or anything like that because we never really have had much of a sense about the business of the movie coming out and what that means when we’re making it.”
Cera revealed that he still gets people yelling out “McLovin” at him to this day, despite that iconic Superbad character being portrayed by Christopher Mintz-Plasse.
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Elsewhere in the interview, Cera praised the impact Arrested Development had on his early career, calling it “a great opportunity… to do that kind of writing.” (Cera famously played the anxious and well-meaning George Michael Bluth in the beloved sitcom.)
“[…] that put in me a great appreciation of writing and a sense of how important that is, especially if you’re trying to do something funny,” he added.
Cera stars as Bjorn Lund in Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme, with Rolling Stone praising his “nebbishy academic” character for “adding to the screwball vibe” of the black comedy.
“You leave impressed that Anderson can still manage to do what his does best without succumbing to self-parody here. The blueprint may be familiar. But it’s still a pretty foolproof plan,” the review added.
Read Cera’s full Rolling Stone AU/NZ interview here. The Phoenician Scheme is in Australian cinemas now.
