Writer and director John Hamburg has shared his memories of working with Rush on his hit 2009 bromance I Love You, Man, starring Paul Rudd, Jason Segel and Rashida Jones.
In the film, Rudd’s character Peter Klaven is struggling to find an appropriate best man for his upcoming wedding to his fiancée Zoeey Rice (Jones) until he meets new best friend Sydney Fife (Segel), a fellow Rush fan. In pivotal scenes in the film, after bonding over their shared love of the Canadian prog rock trio, the two men jam on Rush songs, and attend a Rush gig together, much to the bemusement of Klaven’s fiancée, who isn’t entirely sure whether or not to accept her beloved’s offer to have Neil Peart “all up” in her.
“It felt like the perfect band to have these two guys bond over,” Hamburg tells Vulture in a new interview. “Rush is iconic and everybody knows them, but they’re not the Rolling Stones or the Beatles where everybody is a fan. A Rush fan is a certain type of person, and obviously there’s millions of them out there, but there’s a certain connection between Rush fans where even though they’re huge, you still feel like you’re part of a secret club. That’s what felt right for the movie.”
To get Rush’s blessing for the film, Hamburg wrote to the band, explaining that he was a big fan, and assuring the trio that referencing them in his film was based on respect and admiration.
“Once they understood that, they were onboard,” he tells Vulture. “They’re funny Canadian dudes. They have goofy senses of humor.”
“They couldn’t have been nicer and cooler,” he adds. “What I learned was they got it. You know what I mean? They understood what the scene was about and where the comedy was. I knew from their short films that appear at their concerts that they do have great senses of humor. They go in makeup and as these crazy characters. It’s obviously different from I Love You, Man, but it’s all under the umbrella of embracing comedy and the absurd. I would say Neil was the surprise. He’s pretty intimidating. First of all, he’s Neil fucking Peart. He’s the GOAT. People think he’s super-serious, but he could be the goofiest one out of all of them.”
The film-maker goes on to say that filming the band at the Avalon theater in Hollywood for the movie “was the most fun I’ve ever had on a set”
In addition to the film, Hamburg later shot an additional short forFunny Or Die in which Rudd and Segel actually meet Rush.
“The movie came out and did well,” he recalls. “It certainly introduced Rush to new audiences. It was just a win-win for everybody – and we all got along. They were going on the Time Machine Tour and asked if we would do a film to end their concerts. Of course we were like, ‘Hell yeah’…. It was funny to watch them interact with Paul and Jason, because in the movie, they never interact.”
Following Neil Peart’s death in 2020, Paul Rudd paid tribute to the drummer in a statement shared with Rolling Stone.
“When I first met Neil, I was intimidated as I certainly knew him to be a serious and private person,” Rudd said. “Within two minutes, we were cracking up and quoting lines from Team America. I’m missing him as I write this. Being the greatest drummer on the planet was only a part of Neil. He was a thunderbolt of a human being, and he’ll live forever.”
Watch the Funny Or Die sketch below.
(LouderSound)
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