Jack Black Has Overdosed On Himself [Video]

There is a moment, I think, when an actor’s persona becomes so chiseled and locked-in that it’s impossible to accept that person as an actor anymore; he’s a movie star now, and that’s all he will ever be again. This is not to say this movie star cannot be effective in a film; Tom Cruise hasn’t been anything other than Tom Cruise for two decades—Tom Cruise in a wheelchair! Tom Cruise with an eye patch! Tom Cruise in a fat suit!—and he can still work, if you put him in the right role and let him be the best Tom Cruise he can be (Brad Bird’s Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol being the most recent example). But once the persona is set, it’s hard to come back. Cruise can’t play Abraham Lincoln. Cher can’t be anyone other than Cher. Robin Williams can try to button up his cokey-boomer energy all he wants, but he’ll never not be Robin Williams. (Poor guy.) I’m pretty sure Jack Black has joined this club. Jack Black is always going to be Jack Black. And that Jack Black feels a lot more like Robin Williams than it used to. More »