Jim Rash Was “In Heaven” Working with Scarlett Johansson
In "Fly Me to the Moon," Academy Award-winner Jim Rash plays a preening director and steals every scene that he's in.
Ask Jim Rash what it’s like to work with Scarlett Johansson, and he visibly swoons.
“How much time do we have?” he says. “I was in heaven. I didn’t know her. And I didn’t know Channing [Tatum], either. But they were genuinely funny and lovely. And the tone that they both set the stage with was just joy.”
Rash co-stars with Johansson and Tatum in Fly Me to the Moon, a winsome, modern-day screwball about the faking of the 1969 moon landing, directed by Greg Berlanti (Love, Simon). Rash plays Lance Vespertine, a high-strung diva of a director hired to create the landing on a soundstage as a backup, in case the actual landing goes bust.
Leaning into the age-old conspiracy theory that Stanley Kubrick secretly directed the moon landing, Fly Me to the Moon is sweet summer froth, and Rash’s performance is one of its absolute highlights.
“It was a blast to play someone who was unapologetic for themselves,” he says of the character. “Bravado and a little bit of narcissism. And, plus, he has impeccable style. How could you not want to be that person?”
Rash, who is gay, is well-known for his portrayal of Dean Pelton on the sitcom Community, which ran from 2009 to 2015. He’s also an Academy Award-winner for the screenplay to 2011’s The Descendants, a George Clooney vehicle that he co-wrote with Nat Faxon and director Alexander Payne.
“The clichéd statement I think I’ve always made,” he says of the moment they called his name at the Oscars, “is that it’s an out-of-body kind of a moment. You go a little flush when you hear your name and know you’re actually going to go up there.
“A lot of people are like, ‘Oh my, it’s changed everything,’ but [winning the Oscar] didn’t really change everything in the sense that, for me, writing has always been this prickly ballet between your love and hate relationship with it. Nothing’s better than a finished script. Nothing’s better than hearing it read out loud for the first time.
“But nothing’s worse than a blank page — sometimes for days. But then, you know, knowing that you wrote one page sometimes feels like a huge success — a chore, but a huge success.”
Rash’s next project is Miss You, Love You, which he not only wrote but directed. He’s aiming for it to hit the festival circuit later this year. The drama, which stars Allison Janney and Andrew Rannells, concerns “a woman whose husband has passed away. With a funeral to plan and grieving to be done, she reaches out to her estranged son. He refuses to come home, choosing instead to send his personal assistant to help make the arrangements,” according to Deadline.
“I wrote it during the pandemic,” says Rash, “and we shot it last February really quickly, like, in 17 days.”
On the topic of LGBTQ roles only going to LGBTQ actors, Rash is honest yet diplomatic.
“For me, it becomes prickly in the sense that is the reverse going to be thrust upon us?” he says. “Where a gay man can only play gay and straight can only play straight? I think that that’s where it gets a little difficult…. I don’t know if it should be all or nothing.”
Still, he stresses that casting directors should give more LGBTQ actors a shot at LGBTQ roles. “I’m one thousand percent on giving those who are overlooked an opportunity because there will be a richness within the texture of someone [who identifies with a role] inhabiting that role.”
He advocates that LGBTQ artists should be “making art for people to see themselves on the screens,” as his friend Billy Eichner did with Bros, in which Rash appeared. “It’s invaluable,” he says.
Wrapping up our Zoom call, he’s asked to list his current favorite LGBTQ films. Seated in a stylish, cream-colored gaming chair, he ponders the question briefly.
“I mean, there’s so many,” he says. “Moonlight. All of Us Strangers — god, I love that movie. Carol is really lovely. Call Me By Your Name.” He pauses. “And I’ve got to put in Bros, because Billy will see this and I’ll get in trouble.”
Fly Me to the Moon is now playing in theaters nationwide. Visit www.fandango.com.
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