Interview: Jay Baruchel and Nate Torrence, She’s Out of My League

Out of Their Leagues (But in Their Comic Fortes), Actors Jay Baruchel and Nate Torrence Find Friendship in Broad New Comedy

By Lee Shoquist

The unlikely quartet of lovelorn young men in She’s Out of My League—about a down-on-his-luck TSA agent who flips for an impossibly gorgeous girl (a “hard 10”)—forms an appealing comic ensemble in a movie about the insecurities we face when romancing someone we really have no business being with, according to the laws of attraction, if not the universe. The catch? She actually likes him too.

She’s Out of My League, with its sometimes exaggerated comedy, won me over with a surprising sweetness courtesy of star Jay Baruchel’s awkwardly gawky charm as an average Joe navigating a gross-out family and his own lack of confidence. Wooing the ideal babe, played by a fetching Alice Eve as a woman with a good heart first, and great looks second, Baruchel effectively captures the self-doubt beneath the usual macho bravado we have come to expect from Hollywood coming-of-age hijinks.

At the center of this romp are Baruchel and onscreen buddy Nate Torrence, who plays the straight-arrow voice of reason to the escalating antics. Both actors have a natural ease together that works well onscreen in a movie fitting safely into its formula, complete with a lowbrow scene involving clippers, the limits of brotherhood, a healthy degree of blowing (don’t ask) and big laughs. But under the zaniness, we like these characters, and that’s why the film ultimately works.

I caught up with Baruchel and Torrence recently to chat about the art of onscreen chemistry and how their comic shorthand led to the year’s most “intimate” movie scene, as well as the fraternity of brotherhood that can help a young guy find his place in the world, and maybe even the perfect woman.

Lee Shoquist: So what exactly makes a “hard 10?”

Nate Torrence: It depends! Even though the movie hints at it, it’s not obviously about good looks. Do you want to know what I personally find a hard ten? I like low maintenance! That’s what I’m all about. And that is the anti of what Hollywood is putting down, or any actress! You meet some that are the exact opposite of what you’re looking for!

Jay Baruchel: The low maintenance thing is worth five to six points on its own. Also, if a chick likes the Montreal Canadians hockey team, that’s it! Or a girl that likes to eat hamburgers. It doesn’t hurt when she looks like Alice.

LS: Jay, what about She’s Out of My League attracted you? It’s not exactly flattering to be referred to as a “5” in every scene.

JB: In the original version there were infinitely more references to how repulsive I am. So it was a weird mix of being flattered but also incredibly f**king insulted! I was like, “Is there any way we can get rid of some of the repulsion?” I saw the opportunity to put my stamp on some of the movies that I grew up loving. To me, this owes less to the movies of the last ten years than it does to some of the John Hughes era of films. This is my chance to be in a Say Anything, and those are the movies that meant so much to me as a kid and more to me as I got older, because I understood them more. And this is my chance to kind of leave behind one of those movies.

LS: It’s clear the film that as actors you really hit it off—what was the offscreen dynamic between the guys?

JB: Honestly, I count this kid as one of my best friends, and I count TJ (Miller) and Mike (Vogel) as my best friends. I didn’t know any of them beforehand, and because we were in a city that none of us lived in, we all hung out together and spent a lot of time and money at Dave & Busters and TGI Friday’s. I love the guys and get along with them. We come from similar backgrounds and have similar views on things. And at the end of the day, we all just really enjoy each other’s company. And it could have gone completely the other way and we would have been just going through the motions. But the four of us on camera—those are real emotions and us making each other laugh and loving hanging out together.

NT: The beginning of chemistry is that you do have the same senses of humor. What makes you laugh makes me laugh, and that can make a funny scene. I’ve worked with people where what they thought was funny didn’t go where I wanted to go. What makes for good improv is when you really can make each other laugh. It’s cool when you can have those moments and then see the director use those scenes. In this film, there are a couple scenes and reaction shots that are just totally organic to that.

JB: Like us sitting and having lunch together at the gate. On paper, it was supposed to be that we are all sitting and looking at all of these hot stewardesses. And by the time we got to shooting, that became absolutely irrelevant. There was moment that Nate didn’t even know the camera was rolling!

NT: The whole movie we were trying to tone it down as much as we possibly could.

JB: We didn’t want to have a frat boy, misogynist point of view because that is just none of us. Nate is married and has two kids. Mike is married and his kids. Me, I live two blocks away from my mother and have a little sister. To me, the two are not mutually exclusive. In real life, you can be a slobby, crass guy and still have a good heart and respect people.

LS: There’s one outrageous comic sequence late in the film between the two of you that does qualify as a requisite gross-out moment amidst some of the film’s sweeter scenes.

NT: It was crazy because that scene actually got added about two weeks before we wrapped. They were still writing our script because they saw how our chemistry was working, but when I got that scene, I remember thinking, “What did they just do? Are they going to put “National Lampoon’s” before the title? This just took a really weird turn!” The first draft of that scene was all about the awkwardness.

JB: And the gross-out factor.

NT: And there was this erotic, homophobic thing they were getting at. And I was like, “Is it okay if I play this like it just doesn’t bother me at all—that I am a good enough friend that I am able to put that aside?” I’m like a barber. And that it just does not bother me.

JB: Which is much funnier than, “Oh, my God, balls in my face!” It was kind of affectionate!

NT: The whole scene didn’t make it through the editing room. I was talking about my kids playing t-ball! So I hope that even though it obviously is what it is, that is a scene for the guys to be wacky and fit into a genre, I am proud about the way that went. I was kind of nervous about it!

JB: We were trying to elevate it and make it more than what it obviously was. (Nate) killed it. When we were making it, I was like, “What the hell are we doing?” There was nothing cool about making that scene. But as we got halfway through the day doing it, I was like, “This might kind of actually be working.” Then I saw it and it was actually really funny! My mom say the red band trailer and she kept saying, “When poor old Nate is there shaving you, he looks so pleased with himself. I just could not stop watching! I thought it was the funniest thing in the world!”

NT: I don’t know about my mom. I think that’s yet to be decided!

LS: What do you think elevates this film? You mentioned the Hughes films, and the romantic comedy has been exhausted until something like (500) Days of Summer comes along. What makes this one special?

JB: I think it’s a lot. At the end of the day, we are not douche bags, and I can’t stress enough that we wanted to satisfy what we needed to satisfy, which was to make a certain type of movie. I won’t say we wanted to put substance in it, but we did not want to alienate people. And I also didn’t want to make anything that didn’t reflect me because I am not a guy who goes out to parties and bar hops and is like, “Dude!”

I think it’s all of us being committed to making a movie that we wanted to see first of all. That other stuff we are describing are not movies that any of us would watch. We all wanted to make something that we wanted to see, otherwise what is the point of doing it? I also think that Jim’s (Field Smith) sensibility is beautifully moving and weirdly hilarious at the same time. You can make people laugh but you can also make them give a sh*t. And those laughs mean so much more if there is a connection, if people identify with the characters and feel like they are in there. To me, that is the cardinal rule of any movie in any genre. If the audience is not in there experiencing with the characters, then nothing makes sense.

LS: The film captures a very specific time in a young guy’s life, and while we have talked about your fraternity as actors, it really seems to nail the surrogate family of best friends that surround Kirk—maybe more his real family.

JB: Very much so. I think that’s exactly what it is. I think clearly Kirk is a square peg in his family—as people often are—and they are all on a certain wavelength that he is clearly not on. And I think Nate’s character, Devon, supports me a hundred percent of the time in a way that neither my dad nor mom ever could have, let alone my stupid brother and his dumb wife. He supports me more than my family does. And that is why it was so important that we got along and why there are so many moments of us making each other laugh. They are Kirk’s real family. You picked up on it.

LS: The film has two pivotal scenes that depict the nightmare of meeting your significant other’s family. There are major embarrassments. Ever have a situation like that in real life?

NT: The first time I ever tried to take my in-laws out for dinner, my credit card got declined! And it wasn’t even a credit issue—that’s what sucked. At the time it was a debit card, and there was some kind of mix-up. And then (my wife) didn’t have her purse, and I didn’t have any money in my wallet. It was the first time we were ever going out…

JB: I don’t have any awkward in-law stories but I have plenty of stories of my dad embarrassing the sh*t out of me. I’ve been acting since I was twelve and was on a TV show when I was fifteen. There was a producer that my mother did not get along with. My parents were divorced at the time. This was the night my dad rode his bicycle to the set drunk and picked a fight with the producer! It was the most f**king awkward… He was like, “So you, you’re the one!”

NT: I want to take mine back!

JB: My dad nearly beat the sh*t out of the umpire at a softball game. He was the first base coach and he went to high-five me for sliding in, and I was to embarrassed to high-five my dad, so I didn’t. And then the umpire was like, “No contact with the player!” All of my stories are of my dad beating the sh*t out of other people. He had no social graces. And they they are antiquers. So at an antique show, in the nicest part of Montreal, my dad beat the f*ck out of a guy.

NT: Over a Pez dispenser!

JB: Just constantly beating up everybody! Those are my embarrassing moments.

Special thanks to Jay Baruchel and Nate Torrence for this interview