Actor and comedian Eugene Levy discussed his early life, the insides of his acting career and his Jewish heritage with an audience that filled the lower level of the Technological Institute’s Ryan Family Auditorium on Monday night.
Levy, the 2011 Fiedler Hillel speaker, began the night in self-deprecating disbelief, a theme that characterized most of his responses.
“It’s hard to believe a Hillel organization at any university would ask me to come out and speak,” Levy said. “And then it hit me – wait a minute, I’m Jewish.”
A frequent collaborator with director Christopher Guest, Levy has appeared in such films as “Best in Show,” “Waiting for Guffman,” “For Your Consideration” and “A Mighty Wind.”
Talking about his work with Guest, Levy said he was shocked to find out during the first day of shooting “Waiting for Guffman” that there would be no rehearsals beforehand.
“The great fun of being involved in those first takes on camera is that your scene is opening up for the very first time,” he said. “You don’t know what anyone’s going to say. You know what information has to come out, but without a script you don’t know what anyone’s going to say.”
Levy is also the cornerstone of the “American Pie” movie series-the only actor to make an appearance in all seven installments of the popular teenage comedy. He said when he first read the script, he was repelled by the film’s coarseness.
“I remember vividly what my reaction was when I first got the script,” he said. “I got to page 25 and I called my manager and said, ‘I can’t do this movie. This is a horrible movie.'” “My manager said, ‘Just meet the filmmakers’ … And I was immediately taken by how smart they were.”
Levy said although he experienced aspects of Jewish culture as a kid, he didn’t grow up in a particularly religious household.
“The only thing I knew about being Jewish was that I seemed to be different than everybody else,” he said.
“In terms of my life it never really came into play that much,” he added. “My life was involved primarily with people who weren’t Jewish and that went all the way through high school.”
Weinberg freshman Daniel Schuleman said he liked hearinghow Levy’s personal life differed from the characters he portrays. Communication senior Julia Denardo said she did not expect him to be so different from his “American Pie” character.
“I’ve spent my whole life in comedy, but I’m not really a comedian,” Levy said. “I’m not, like, a funny guy. I’m not one of those guys who when you walk into a room you want to be standing in front of the crowd. I would much rather be at the back of the crowd watching somebody else.”
