Bill Hader

                

All photos courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment

Bill Hader is frantically fumbling with his BlackBerry. He doesn’t even look up or make eye contact. After a minute he apologizes. “I’m so sorry about that!” he says earnestly. “Is your wife in labor?” I wonder. Hader laughs. “Not yet!” The Saturday Night Live stalwart and up-and-coming film actor is about to take on yet another new role: dad. (His wife, filmmaker Maggie Carey, is due to give birth to their first child later this month.) But first, he’s helping to usher a less tangible baby into the world: the new film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs based on Judi and Ron Barrett’s book of the same name. A veteran of family-friendly fare—he’s worked on Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and the upcoming Hoodwinked Too: Hood vs. Evil—Hader has also lived up to his not-ready-for-prime-time status playing a variety of hilarious morons in films such as Superbad, Adventureland and Knocked Up. In real life, however, he’s warm and kind, goofy but not obnoxious—much like his Cloudy animated alter ago, Flint Lockwood, a quirky inventor with more ambition than he can handle. Times Out Kids chatted with the star about all things Cloudy, whether he'll stay on SNL and how he likes his burgers.

How did you get involved with Cloudy?
I was a big fan of the book, and of [directors] Phil [Lord] and Chris [Miller]. It was an honor that they asked me to play the part. When I first saw Flint, I was like, “Okay, I know how to play this.” But when I looked further into who he was, there were some things that weren’t fully working. It ended up taking a while to find the right voice and attitude for him. On my second session, something changed and they were like, “That’s it! That’s him!” That was a great feeling. It was really just about heightening my voice. My voice—just on steroids.

Do you relate to Flint?
Oh yeah, totally. Just the idea that you have something geeky that you’re passionate about. When I was young, I used to make these short films in my backyard, these comedy sketches. And I loved music and comic books. I always thought to myself, “Man, no one else is into this except me.” And then I got this weird confidence about it, like, “Man, no one else is into this except me. Cool. This is my thing.” I liked that that was one of the main messages in the movie.

Did you record your part separately or were you ever in the studio with the other voice actors?
Anna [Faris, who plays Flint’s love interest, meteorologist Sam Sparks] and I got to work together. It was the scene in which burgers are falling out of the sky, so we actually got to eat cheeseburgers together. There was one other scene, which I recorded with James Caan [who plays Flint’s father, Tim], but otherwise it was just me in a booth with Chris going, “Okay, so it’s raining cheeseburgers right now and this big hot dog almost takes your head off...”

From what place did you and Anna order your cheeseburgers?
Oh, In-N-Out! Animal style, of course. That was pretty awesome, to walk into the studio and see just a huge line of cheeseburgers waiting for us. That’s when I knew signing up for the movie was a good decision.

Do you prefer being in front of the camera to voicing characters?
I really like them both. They’re both challenging and rewarding. The voice thing is kinda harder because you’re channeling everything into your voice. But even then, you’re acting, you’re being physical, to get the right emotion out. There are just so many takes of one line. Your mind becomes mush. There’s more pressure to do it right the first time when you’re in front of the camera.

What’s going on with the as-yet-unnamed horror-comedy that you’re working on with Judd Apatow?
I’m still writing it, and we're trying to find a draft that works. We’ll see what happens. It’s in development. Judd has been so good to me from the beginning. I remember my first meeting with him; he just told me to write, write, write. I'd written a couple of scripts before, but never really specifically for me to act in. So I had to think of it in a different way. It’s been a really rewarding experience. That’s what’s been so great at Saturday Night Live—I’ve worked with the writers and generated material for myself, which has helped me immensely.

I heard that you and Judd met when he saw you reading a comic book. Is that true?
That’s how I met Seth Rogen. We were on the set of You, Me and Dupree and we just started talking about the comics we liked [with actor-director Evan Goldberg]: Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, Watchmen, etc. Then Goldberg was like, “You need to be Officer Slater.” About four months later I met with Judd and he told me I’d be playing this cop, named Slater [in the movie Superbad]—then it all clicked. I was on board right after reading the script and finding out who was involved. I mean, Greg Mottola! I was a huge Daytrippers fan.

Now that your movie career is taking off, do you plan to stay on SNL?
Oh yeah. I’ll be there as long as they’ll have me. I love being in New York. Every week is a new batch of challenges. It’s hard work, but anything that’s worth anything is hard work. It’s a great place to showcase yourself and try stuff and stretch. I feel very lucky to be involved with that show.

What are some of your favorite places in the city?
Strand Bookstore, love going there. Joe for coffee—there’s three or four of them in the city. And Momofuku!

Do you see yourself raising your kids here?
Um, yeah, I dunno. We’ll see.

Do you think your sense of humor will change once you become a dad?
Nah, I don’t think so. Some people think it might, but I don’t. I just thought of another place I love in the city: Other Music. I love that place. And Veselka. I remember when I first started hanging out with Demetri Martin. He would always say he was going there. Met the Flight of the Conchords guys there one time. Michael [Cera] went there, like, every day when he was filming Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. So that’s the place to go!

Aside from fatherhood, what’s next for you?
I have this new movie, Paul, coming out [also directed by Mottola]. And SNL. We’re doing Thursday night shows and the regular shows, so it will be busy. It’s gonna be a fun season. It will be nice to get back into the swing of things.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs opens Sept 18. Click here to read our preview.

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