Glenn Howerton – Animal Instincts

Q) What are some of the most recent projects that you are working on?

A) Well, the most recent project I’ve been working on is “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” which is my baby. It’s a show I created with my two buddies and we’re producing. We wrote all the episodes and we’re acting in it. It’s been a lot of fun and a lot of hard work.

Q) You are in the new movie Must Love Dogs. Please tell us about the premise of the film and your character, Michael.

A) The premise of the film is basically my older sister, Sarah, is recently divorced and she hasn’t been getting back into the dating scene at all. Her family is really trying to push her into dating so her sister signs her up for an online dating service. She reluctantly agrees to do that and she starts going on a whole bunch of dates.

Q) What made you want to be a part of this project?

A) First of all, the first thing was the script. The script is terrific. It is just a really funny, really smart and really cute script. Then, I heard that Diane Lane was attached and that I’d be playing her brother. I think she’s amazing.

Q) What is your most memorable moment from filming?

A) I would have to say when we did this one scene outside, during my nephew’s christening. We’re all sitting at a barbeque and Christopher Plumber gets up and recites this William Butler Yeats poem. Watching him do take after take of this poem was just one of the most inspiring things I’ve ever seen. What that man can do, is so incredible. He’s an amazing actor, he’s got incredible presence and he’s just an incredibly charming man in person. It’s just amazing to watch him do this poem. It got me every time. The poem was called “Brown Penny.”

Q) Why should viewers take the time to see Must Love Dogs?

A) You should watch the movie to take a break from all the summer blockbusters. It’s just a cute movie and it’s got a lot of great actors in it. That’s why I like to go see movies. I like to go see movies that have great actors that give great performances and this movie does.

Q) You have a role in the movie Serenity, which is based off the hit show “Firefly.” How do snag a role in such an anticipated film?

A) I am not starring in that movie. I’m in one little small scene. That came about because I had gone in for a different role and one of my best friends in the entire world is Morena Baccarin and she is one of the stars of the movie. They kind of slipped me into this small role so I could be in this movie with her. Morena and I have known each other since Julliard when we were classmates.

Q) Did you ever watch “Firefly” before joining the project for Serenity?

A) I did, it was a terrific show and I can’t believe it got cancelled. It was an amazing show! I haven’t seen the film yet, but the trailers are out now. It looks incredible. Morena has seen it and she says it is really good. I’m excited to see it. I thought the show was incredible and I think Joss Whedon is just an awesome dude. He’s a really cool guy to work for.

Q) In the upcoming film Two Weeks you get to work with the amazing Sally Field. What was your experience like working with such a well-respected actress?

A) She’s incredible. The thing that most impressed me about Sally Field is that not only is she incredible on camera, but she is incredible off camera too. When you are acting with her, when the camera is not on her, she is giving you just as much as she was giving when she was on camera. That was the thing that impressed me the most about her. She gave a 110% on every take, even when she wasn’t on camera and was doing whatever she had to do for you to do your bit. She’s a class act. She’s been in the movie business for a long time and you would almost expect that she would kind of slack off a little bit, but she never has. She’s incredibly inspiring.

Q) “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” is a series that you are staring in and helped create. How did you come up with the concept for the show?

A) My buddies and I, Rob McElhenney and Charlie Day, who are a couple of friends of mine from out here, we had been shooting a couple of things on our home movie camera. Rob is an actor, but he’s primarily a writer, so he came up with this idea for something that the three of us could shoot again with our home video cameras. He brought it over to my house and he and I sort of developed the ideas. We sort of thought to ourselves, people are making independent films, but no one is really making independent television shows (at least that we had heard about). We thought this would be an interesting idea if we turned this sort of into an idea for a television pilot that we would shoot on our own. So, that’s what we did. We developed the idea and started shooting the show on our own cameras with our friends holding the camera and the boom mic with absolutely no money at all. Literally, shooting in our apartments and then like guerilla film making with running and shooting on the streets. That’s how we shot the originally pilot and we also shot a second episode just to see if we could top ourselves. We did, the second episode turned out really well. We brought it over to 3 Arts Entertainment, which is our management company and they also produce a lot of television shows and films. We brought it to them and they loved the show. We started taking it around town and basically FX, a network that has a great deal of my respect, wanted the show. We reshot the pilot on their dime and the show got picked up. We just finished our first season, which is only seven episodes. It comes out August 4th!

Q) What has been your favorite project to work on?

A) This one, by far, has been my favorite project to work on. If for no other reason than that I am lucky to get to work with my friends. Not only are Charlie and Rob my closest friends out here, I think they are incredibly smart and incredibly talented people. My other friends, that got to work on it, the guy who helped us edit it at my house on my laptop for the original pilot who was an editor friend of our’s, we actually got to bring him on as the editor of our show. We got to bring a lot of friends on as guest cast and it has just been the most rewarding experience. We’re running the show, we get to make the decisions and we get to do the kind of television show that we always thought would be really funny. It really has been a lot of work, but it has been a labor of love. I just have a tremendous amount of respect for Rob and Charlie and I think they are incredibly talented and are so much fun to work with. It’s been amazing to get to do something that was our vision from the beginning.

Q) What do you do in your spare time?

A) Recently, I haven’t had a tremendous amount of spare time. I am a very athletic person and I have a lot of energy so I play a lot of sports. I used to play a lot of tennis and basketball. Those have always been my favorite things to do. I just recently really got into playing racquetball. I have been playing three or four times a week. It’s such an addictive sports. I watch a lot of movies and I kind of chill with my friends out here. I have a great, really cool, smart, awesome and fun group of friends out here and we just hang out.

Q) What would you like to say to your fans and supporters?

A) For whatever fans and supporters I have out there, what can you say? I just hope that this television, in particular, because I think this is really going to show people what it is I like creatively at least in terms of comedy. Keep watching and tuning in. I really appreciate the fact that I am lucky enough to work as an actor. I’ve been acting since I was twelve years old and it is a passion of mine. If people are willing to watch me do it, I think that is amazing and I really appreciate it. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the acting profession and if I am lucky enough to actual be a part of that then fans are going to support me and that’s absolutely amazing.