by
lawsonjeff
@ 2006-07-10 - 15:49:45
Although he rose to stardom on the strength of his outrageous comedy, Britain's Eddie Izzard has kept things on the serious side when it comes to acting -- until now. His role as Professor Bedlam, spurned-wannabe love of Uma Thurman in Twentieth Century Fox's July 21-opening "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" is "my first really comedic part," he notes.
"He could have been just the bad guy, but it's also playing on his bitterness over being dumped. I constantly attack her whilst being emotionally in love with her all the time. I do know that feeling," he adds wryly. "I think everyone has gone through being dumped."
Busy Izzard filmed his role as Mr. Kite in Julie Taymor's forthcoming Beatles-themed "Across the Universe" movie while he was making "Super Ex-Girlfriend" with Thurman and Luke Wilson -- on different soundstages at the same New York studio.
The peripatetic star was flying around with Prime Minister Tony Blair for comedic purposes last month -- his impressions landed on the Internet, a European podcast and the U.K.'s Guardian. But that doesn't mean he's prepping another Izzard comedy special -- ala his Emmy-winning HBO special "Dress to Kill" -- anytime soon. Though he's constantly doing live comedy gigs, when it comes to concert specials, "I actually like to keep it kind of rare. It can get confusing with my doing comedy and drama."
He's hoping his prospective FX series, "Low Life," will "merge the two together." In "Low Life," he plays "an American-Irish grifter, father of a family, and Minnie Driver is the wife. He's at a crossroads, thinking that all the cons and scams add up to a wasted life. Then, they have the opportunity to steal the identities of another family after a car crash." The pilot is undergoing reshoots right now.