A ‘Superbad’ Geek’s Progress
WHEN an adult immerses himself in a comic book or a fantasy novel, it’s usually a harmless act of juvenile regression. When Bill Hader does it, it’s more like career preparation.
In 2005 Mr. Hader was rereading “The Sandman,” the supernatural comic-book series by Neil Gaiman, when he learned he was being considered for a spot on “Saturday Night Live.” He decided the two events couldn’t simply be a coincidence.
“I got all superstitious about it,” he said on a recent stroll through the science fiction section of the Chelsea Barnes & Noble. “Like, when I have Neil Gaiman books around me, I just do better.”
At his “SNL” audition Mr. Hader performed with a copy of Mr. Gaiman’s novel “Neverwhere” in his back pocket. Sure enough, he got the job. And on a restless Friday night before his first appearance on the show that October, Mr. Hader reread the final issue of “The Sandman” to calm his nerves.
A few weeks later he was shooting a small part in the film “You, Me and Dupree,” when he struck up a conversation with another bit player, Seth Rogen, about — what else? — their mutual love of Neil Gaiman. After their brief chat, Mr. Rogen, the star of “Knocked Up,” offered Mr. Hader the role of an unruly police officer in a movie called “Superbad” that Mr. Rogen was developing with his writing partner, Evan Goldberg.

“I went, ‘Oh, cool,’ ” Mr. Hader recalled. “I had no idea what it was.”
Two years later moviegoers are getting a clearer idea of who Mr. Hader is. A lanky Oklahoman with an adenoidal “heh-heh-heh” laugh and wide eyes that threaten to pop out of his skull when he’s especially excited, Mr. Hader, 29, is becoming recognizable for his work on “SNL,” impersonating the scenery-chewing “Scent of a Woman”-era Al Pacino or playing Vinny Vedecci, a fast-talking Italian variety-show host who speaks in convincingly European-sounding gibberish. At the same time he’s making a name for himself with quirky, attentive supporting performances in the summer comedies “Knocked Up,” “Hot Rod” and “Superbad.”
Unlike previous “SNL” stars from almost any post-Eddie Murphy cast, who began their film careers with minor roles after years of late-night television toil, Mr. Hader has been able to land these parts at a remarkably early stage in his tenure with the show. (He has also had the good fortune to appear in two movies, “Knocked Up” and “Superbad,” that have each grossed more than $100 million.)
Mr. Hader has also built a résumé founded as much on his geeky, rarefied pop-cultural tastes as on his ability to portray peculiar characters.
“If you watch ‘You, Me and Dupree,’ he barely does anything,” said Mr. Rogen, who played Mr. Hader’s police partner in “Superbad.” “There was almost nothing to imply that he was a good actor at all. We just liked the same movies, and the same comic books, and that was basically it.”
Mr. Hader acquired most of these tastes growing up in Tulsa, where his mother was a dance teacher, and his father worked as a restaurant manager, a truck driver and occasionally a stand-up comedian. The comedies of Monty Python, Woody Allen and Mel Brooks were always around the house, and they led to Mr. Hader’s further discovery of Roman Polanski, Wim Wenders and Jim Jarmusch.
After studying film at Scottsdale Community College in Arizona, Mr. Hader moved to Los Angeles in 1999, hoping, somewhat naïvely, that an illustrious moviemaking career would soon follow. At his first interview for a production assistant’s position on a low-budget film, Mr. Hader said, “I remember being like, ‘I have an associate’s degree.’ And they were like, ‘Do you have a car?’ ”
Mr. Hader continued to work at menial jobs on Hollywood films like “Collateral Damage” and “The Scorpion King,” and on the “Star Wars” documentary “Empire of Dreams.” He also began to perform comedy at Los Angeles theaters like the Second City and iO West, and as part of a four-man troupe called Animals From the Future, which usually played its shows in a backyard in Van Nuys. At one such show Mr. Hader was spotted by the actress Megan Mullally (sister-in-law of a troupe member, Matt Offerman), who in turn recommended him to Lorne Michaels, the executive producer of “SNL.” Within months Mr. Hader went from no representation and no screen credits to a job with the venerated comedy show, a transition that was as shocking to him as it was to his industry colleagues.
“I knew him as this kid from Tulsa who I met one night at a dinner,” said Ben Stiller, who first encountered Mr. Hader in the late 1990s at a Thanksgiving get-together. “Then I saw him when he came out to L.A., and then all of a sudden he’s on ‘Saturday Night Live.’ It was this kind of reverse fascination, like: ‘I knew that kid! He really made it!’ ” At “SNL,” which has its season premiere next Saturday, Mr. Hader has a reputation among his co-stars for being the sort of actor who, when called upon to impersonate Vincent Price, has already seen every film he made for Roger Corman in the 1960s.
“He’s got to be in a Quentin Tarantino kind of territory,” said Andy Samberg, an “SNL” cast member and the star of “Hot Rod.” “I pride myself on being a nerdy pop-cultural guy, but when you meet Bill, you realize he knows all the stuff I know, and everything that came before it also.”
Mr. Hader is also rapidly expanding his own roster of credits. In the months ahead he will be seen in Mr. Stiller’s “Tropic Thunder,” as well as two comedies produced by Judd Apatow, “Pineapple Express” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” And Mr. Hader is working on a screenplay with his writing partner, Nicholas Jasenovec, that he hopes Mr. Apatow will produce. This is all in addition to the regular “SNL” duties that so fully consume the lives of the show’s performers and writers that the 20-week schedule can feel twice as long.
Mr. Michaels, the executive producer, said that cast members must get his permission for outside projects, but that he generally approves their extracurricular activities. “Anything that makes them better is good for the show,” he said. “I would only stand in the way if it was hurting the show, in terms of their time. We don’t make those concessions.”
He acknowledged that the rise of the Internet, combined with the resurgent box-office performance of film comedies, had accelerated his cast’s transition into movies. While Will Ferrell spent seven years on “SNL” before landing his first lead film role (not counting his work in the “SNL” spinoffs “A Night at the Roxbury” and “Superstar”), Mr. Samberg has accomplished the same feat in two seasons with the show.
But Mr. Michaels said the “SNL” stars who did not rush the process would ultimately be the most prosperous. “The show is incredibly hard work, and I can imagine that at some point it’s incredibly hard work for not that much money,” he said. “But most people have a real loyalty to the show and understand that careers are built slowly and through good choices.”
Mr. Hader said he was just happy to be working alongside performers and writers who share his enthusiasm for obscure culture and comedy bits. “You think you’ve found something that no one else knows about, and then you go outside and someone’s wearing the T-shirt.”
Though his visit to the Chelsea bookstore did not yield the George Saunders essay collection he had been looking for, Mr. Hader was still content to go home with books by Philip K. Dick and China Miéville. With similar equanimity he said that his recent run of film appearances had hardly made him a household name. He recounted how a friend had forwarded him an enthusiastic online appraisal of Mr. Hader’s work in “Superbad,” written by a fan who mistook him for Rainn Wilson from the NBC sitcom “The Office.”
“The guy was like, ‘I love the cops — that dude from “Knocked Up,” and the other dude from “The Office,” ’ ” he said. “I was like, ‘Aw, man. Good for Rainn. That’s cool.’ But not really.”
Da The New York Times, 23 settembre 2007

Ha da poco ultimato la sua terza stagione nel cast del noto programma della NBC “Saturday Night Live”, trovando anche il tempo di apparire in numerosi film. La scorsa estate è stato il protagonista di ben due commedie di Judd Apatow, “Knocked Up” (Molto incinta) e “Superbad”, entrambe al fianco di Seth Rogen, nonché di “Hot Rod” e di “The Brothers Solomon”. Quest’anno ha recitato in altre due commedie prodotte da Apatow: “Pineapple Express” (Strafumati), nuovamente con Rogen, e “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” (Non mi scaricare). Presto lo vedremo come coprotagonista della commedia “Adventureland”, diretta dal regista di “Superbad”, Greg Mottola.

Hader, che ha esordito con la produzione Second City di Los Angeles, Hader vive attualmente a New York con sua moglie, la filmmaker Maggie Carey.