Also Starring: Dan Fogler
Posted by Rob Ortenzi on 29-Oct-07 @ 06:09 PM
You can't judge a book by its cover, but you can judge DAN FOGLER by his most recent role. This month, he stars in Balls Of Fury, an epic comedy about... Ugh... Ping-Pong. That seems funny. And weird. Which is exactly how we would describe this former Broadway star...Actors always talk about training for films. Did you have to do anything to prepare for your role in Balls Of Fury? Oh, yeah, man. I trained with the best. Now I am what they call "a Ping-Pong master." But I don't really play anymore because I hurt a guy. I've retired from it. So you're kind of like Paul Newman in The Color Of Money, only with Ping-Pong? Actually, I'm more like Bruce Lee and karate. I don't play anymore because I might hurt someone. I know it's hard to believe, but that's the burden I have to live with. So what happens when you get to a family gathering and someone is like, "Who wants to play Ping-Pong?" Do you just sit there harboring this secret? No, I killed a guy in front of all these people. It's not a secret, man. [Pauses.] You're making fun, but this is something I have to live with. Okay, I should probably change the subject... You won a Tony for your work in the Broadway musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. No offense, but you don't really seem like a theater guy. Man, I grew up going to theater. There's something very magical about it. When you see Chicago, there's something lasting there. It's sexy, dude. [Laughs.] There's some sexy stuff going on. Who have you been listening to lately? I listen to the White Stripes on an intense basis. I make films and I'm hoping to put their music to them. I want it to be like Scorsese's relationship with the Rolling Stones. Your character in Balls Of Fury wears a Def Leppard T-shirt throughout the film. Did you listen ever to that stuff? "Pour Some Sugar On Me?" Whooo, I made out with many girls to that song. [Laughs.] I was a sleeveless denim man. I wore sleeveless denim with fringe. -Trevor Kelley CHEAT SHEET >> Maybe you missed him alongside Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Heder in 2006's School For Scoundrels, but you'd have to be a total dumbass not to catch Fogler in this month's Balls Of Fury. Also, be sure to check him out next month in the sexed-up comedy Good Luck Chuck starring Dane Cook and Jessica Alba. ALT SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES Listening to a good soundtrack is like a eating a bag full of M&M's. However, listening to a kick-ass soundtrack is like savoring a Knipschildt Chocolatier dark chocolate truffle: It's just so much more satisfying. Not sure if the soundtracks in your CD collection measure up? Look no further than our top picks. REALITY BITES (UNIVERSAL, 1994) Reality Bites was supposed to depict how disenfranchising and disillusioning life after college can be for ridiculously attractive, Bohemian-types. But in reality, the film seemed more like a Diet Coke-induced, Gen-X version of Melrose Place-but with better hair and waaaaaay better clothes. In this Friends precursor about a clique of 20-somethings searching for purpose, love and acceptance as Violent Femmes in an Ace Of Base world, Winona Ryder & Co. even make unemployment and STD scares seem like a blast. How come no one offered a Reality check? Probably because A) this movie was exactly what every ridiculously attractive, Bohemian-type secretly wanted life to be, and B) the soundtrack was pretty dope. Even if you never stomped around your studio apartment pouting like Lisa Loeb in the video for "Stay," we could totally get into the indie-retro-hipness of tracks by Squeeze, Crowded House and World Party, plus the sitcom sing-along-ability of the Knack's "My Sharona," Big Mountain's nearly forgivable cover of "Baby I Love Your Way" and the surprisingly uncheesy inclusion of U2's "All I Want Is You." However, the real post-flannel, '90s nostalgia comes from tracks like the emo precursor "Going, Going, Gone" by the Posies and the grimy goodness of "Turnip Farm" by Dinosaur Jr. Peg your jeans, grab a cup of Seattle's Finest and obtain a copy of this soundtrack through whatever non-illegal means possible. (We're looking in your direction, Winona.) -Tim Karan |
