Today begins a new interview series for TFS. Over the next few days you will see interviews from many cast and crew members of the upcoming sequel, The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day starting with Bob Rubin. Now, you probably don’t know the name, but Rubin is a newcomer to the The Boondock Saints series. He is a stand up comic who is in the new sequel playing the character of Gorgeous George. Check out the interview below.
Merrill Barr: First question, how did you get the part of Gorgeous George in Boondock 2?
Bob Rubin: I was doing a Monday night at this club in Hollywood and Troy Duffy was in the audience, I didn’t know it. He liked my stand up and he kept coming back and then we met one night at one of the shows. That basically led to the part, he told me that he wanted to use me and gave me a script in July of 2008. Then I worked on it with him and I did a screen test at which point Sony Pictures signed off on me.
Merrill: That’s actually pretty cool.
Bob: Yeah, it was nice.
Merrill: Were you a fan of the first film?
Bob: Yes I was and it was funny because when Troy handed me the script I didn’t know that, that was the movie he was talking about. I said “Hey there was this great movie, The Boondock Saints,” he goes “yeah I know, that’s my movie.” I go “Oh, ok.”
Merrill: [laughs]
Bob: I’m a little slow on putting 2 and 2 together but it was real exciting to realize I had a shot at being in the sequel.
Merrill: What was it like to work with him and the rest of the cast?
Bob: Well I just had a lot of fun. Everybody’s so nice and then I never met a lot of the cast but knowing them from the first movie and it was exciting to know that I was going to be part of the sequel, but some of the scenes I had to do with Norm [Norman Reedus] and Sean [Sean Patrick Flannery] and Julie Benz, it really raises up your game because they’re such great actors and I just wanted to make sure I was keeping up with them — which I think I did.
Merrill: What can you tell me about your character Gorgeous George?
Bob: Well Gorgeous George is a new character, there’s not a lot I can tell because I don’t want to give any of the plot away, but I’m a New York gangster and I’m brought in to Boston to help the local Boston crew take care of business. But the main reason I am brought in is something you’ll find out when you see the film.
Merrill: Is there a lot of physicality for your character?
Bob: I get beat up a lot. [laughs]
Merrill: [laughs]
Bob: I kind of wish they would have let me fight back a little bit more. I get beat up a lot, but It was a lot of fun.
Merrill: Cool.
Bob: I get beat up a lot. I don’t want to tell you what happens of course, but it was a lot of fun to be able to get the physical. I was joking when we were up in Canada; I go “I guess I didn’t read the script closely enough, ha.” Just being right there doing that with Sean and Norman was exciting because that basically landed me in the center of this legendary film. It’s a cult classic, and it’s funny too. A friend I talk to goes “when’s the movie coming out?” I’ll tell him “Oct. 30th” and he’ll go, “oh yeah what’s it called again?” I’ll go “Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day.” He’ll say “that’s part of that Boondock Saints thing?!” And they will get all excited. It’s amazing the following that this film has.
Merrill: Now, Bob Marley who plays Detective Greenly is also a comic so did that lead to a lot of ribbing and such on set?
Bob: Oh, yeah man we had a lot of fun. I obviously don’t have a lot of experience working in movies but I do have experience just working in show business — all the years of stand-up, television, and writing gigs. It was just a happy bunch of people having a good time.
Merrill: One more question: Did you do a lot of improvising?
Bob: Yeah, a lot of different takes. Troy likes that, which is great. I think that’s such a good way to do it because you know you’re going to do multiple takes. Even if someone sees it done right you can take a few more. I think Troy was drawn to that in my stand-up because it was a lot of improvising and he really gets a kick out of that. The actors are so great that you can do that.
Merrill: Well thank you so much for your time.
Bob: No problem thank very much.
Check out previous interviews here and come back for more leading up to The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, which hits theaters October 30th.