"Everytime I mentioned that I was doing a movie with Tom Green, kids around me's eyes would just light up," actor Rip Torn, who co-stars with Green in his latest film "Freddy Got Fingered," said. "I think I disappointed them though when I told them how Tom really is-- decent, sweet, highly intelligent and organized. Oh, and he's a lot of fun."
In Tom Green's "Freddy Got Fingered," Tom steps back into the spotlight as the co-writer, director and star of the film. While many may think the film focuses on Green's own life story-- Green plays a grown man named Gord who moves back in with his parents while he pursues the job of his dreams-- Green insists that despite the similarities, the film is not about him.
"The movie isn't based on what happened in my own life per say, but it is based on what a lot of young people today are going through," Green said. "I think that there are more parents today skeptical of their children's career choice than ever before because these jobs are newer and unknown to them, like jobs on the internet."
Never-the-less, Green still sees where viewers-- and especially his fans-- would see a correlation between the film and Green.
"I guess you would say that in my own life I wanted to have my own TV show and be a comedian but that my dad wanted me to get a real job," Green recalled. "Still, my parents were very supportive in my decision to pursue a career in comedy, while Gord's parents were not. Sure, I still felt I was being misunderstood by my parents and it was frustrating living in their basement, but I took broadcasting in school so they saw my community access show as an extension of school. However, when I was twenty-six asking my mom for twenty bucks to hang with the boys... there were those moments of conflict."
Fans of Green's may see some obvious differences in the movie versus Green's own life. The most largest difference being that Gord's mother is the calmer parent while in real life Green's dad seems to take being the butt of his jokes better. Still, Green felt he needed to capture part of his own family's insanity for the story, whether their actions matched their real life characters or not. While having "Wonder Boys"'s Rip Torn play Gord's insane father may shock some who know Torn for his more serious parts, Torn knew he could handle working with a character like Green and portray Gord's father both physically and emotionally.
