Jack Black lampoons his way into the hearts of moviegoers

The Los Angeles Times

Jack Black, wild-man lead singer of off-the-wall cult band Tenacious D, is performing with the group at a Hollywood nightspot in an orange T-shirt featuring a picture of a gorilla head. Black's unruly hair flops in his eyes, his sweaty round face reddens with every oddball raunchy lyric, and faithful fans are cheering him on. It's force-of-nature craziness reminiscent of John Belushi.

Familiar primarily to regular Hollywood clubgoers, Black and mild-mannered partner Kyle Gass are each playing acoustic guitar and singing original - often X-rated - songs about Sasquatch, Dianetics, sex backstage, Jesus and Satan, any number of bodily functions and Fat Albert. They call themselves "the greatest band in the world,'' and while that's meant as a comic exaggeration they do have one high-profile fan so taken with Black that he's given Tenacious D's loose cannon another role to play that could make him a star.

The fan is actor and writer John Cusack, and in the new film "High Fidelity'' Black is stealing scenes as a belligerent record store clerk named Barry. The film, which opened to mostly rave reviews, provides Black the kind of breakout role that has audiences howling and wondering just who that crazy heavy-set guy is - a reaction not unlike the filmmakers.

"I've never met anyone like Jack Black,'' says the director of "High Fidelity,'' Stephen Frears. "It's as if he's come from the moon. I had no idea what was coming next.''

Black, who's been acting for years in smaller parts in films such as "Enemy of the State'' (1998), "The Cable Guy'' (1996) and "Waterworld" (1995), said the role of Barry is "definitely the best part I've had. It's the biggest, juiciest, funniest, best opportunity to get wild. I was intimidated by the part at first. They had to talk to me because I was afraid of failing ... I'm really glad they did because if this movie was coming out with someone else in it I'd be freaking out."

"High Fidelity" is based on Nick Hornby's popular 1995 novel about a struggling record store owner, Rob (Cusack), with a pathetic love life and two employees - Barry and Dick (Todd Louiso), whom he calls the "musical moron twins." There aren't many customers (they only sell vinyl), so the three pass the time compiling meaningless lists, like the Top 5 musical crimes perpetrated by Stevie Wonder in the '80s, or the Top 5 songs about death.

"These guys, they're like idiot-savant Filofaxes of musical trivia information," Black said. "They're kind of lonely dudes that are friends, but they're also kind of mean to each other the way friends can be.

"Barry wants to be making music, and since he doesn't have that going on he takes it out on the world and he turns insulting people into an art form."

Cusack, who co-produced the movie, thinks it's the perfect part for Black. "It might be the first time his talent and a great role have come together with the right director," Cusack said. "It's rare to see someone get as broad and as explosively bizarre as you could possibly want and also break it down and do subtle, discreet naturalism with the best of them. That kind of range is dramatic and great."

After watching Tenacious D - a mix of the Smothers Brothers, Cheech and Chong, Beavis and Butt-head and Spinal Tap - it's easy to see how Cusack thought that casting Black was a no-brainer.

"It jumped off the page in the book and it was the easiest role to write because he's this acid-tongued freak misanthrope. He's just so insane. We all said, 'We gotta get Jack."'

Black is an actor first, but just barely - he loves Tenacious D. Sometimes he's managed to combine the two: "The D" appeared on HBO in 1997 in 10-minute segments following episodes of "Mr. Show With Bob and David." And a 1999 "Tenacious D" comedy series on the cable network, though short-lived, included more wackiness - Jack and Kyle competing for the affections of Flama, a punk record-store clerk who worships Satan, and the two stumbling onto a cult that claimed to have the world's largest potato.

More HBO shows are possible, and Black and Gass are writing a Tenacious D movie script. Black also wants his own TV series, the latest project being "Nostradamus 2000."

"I play a wild-card crazy guy who sees flashes of the future. Jason Schwartzman ("Rushmore") plays the youngest Secret Service agent in history. We hook up in the pilot and rescue the president from robots."

So is there anything he won't try?

"I don't do stand-up, I don't have the (nerve) for it," he said, in a rare reflective moment. "With Tenacious D I have the guitar between me and the audience, and there's the music and Kyle to blame it on if it goes badly. But getting up there and talking for even five minutes, you're naked."

Courtesy of the Los Angeles Times

Jack Black, lead singer of Tenacious D, is making a splash in the latest John Cusack film, "High Fidelity."