Since Just Wright is branded as a romantic comedy, I want to focus on its two central elements: “romance” and “comedy.” Starting with “romance,” what lessons about love do you think the film taught you?
Well, I pulled a lot of things from the film. But I think the central message about love is that it is something that comes from the inside. You love a person because of who they are and not what they look like. And you may be attracted to what somebody looks like, but you've got to love them from the inside. And I think that is something that I need to be reminded of and we all need to be reminded of at times. Like you have to love from the inside out. And beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. That was another theme of the movie. In life, I have learned that you also have to first be able to love yourself, in order to love the person you're with.
And focusing on the “comedy” aspect, what was the most hilarious behind-the-scenes moment that you shared with Queen Latifah?
Oh, she was always joking and calling me “the most interesting man alive”! [laughing] Have you ever seen that commercial? It's a Dos Equis commercial about the most interesting man alive! [laughing continues] And she always would call me that, because this guy's real. You have to see the commercial to get the joke, but it was something that she always did. And we would also play cards and drink a little red wine. So we had fun times – playing ball and stuff.
When you look at your previous film experiences along your eight-year acting journey, in what ways do you think you have grown the most as an actor?
Well, this time, I realized that being a lead has a lot of responsibilities attached to the position. You have to be on, every day. It's like being a starter in a basketball game. You start the game, and you've got to start the game playing well. It also means that there won’t really be too many stars that can come in after you. You are the leading person, so you have to lead and work on your skills every day. You also have to be able to be natural and go with the flow of things.
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1 - Brent Buffone
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