arts & entertainment
College Course
Josh Radnor returns to his alma mater
to write, direct and star in new film.
Curt Schleier
Special to the Jewish News
F
This side-splitting comedy is about the writing, fighting and wacky
antics in the writers' room of a weekly variety show circa 1953.
It follows the antics of the star of "The Max Prince Show" and his
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sophisticated for Middle America. The characters are based on
Neil Simon's real-life co-workers (Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner,
Sid Caesar, Larry Gelbart and Selma Diamond) when he was a
comedy writer for the television program "Your Show of Shows.'
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„IN
or a guy who wasn't really
interested in show business,
Josh Radnor is quickly and
impressively adding a lot of hyphens to
his name. For the last eight years, he's
been a star, the "I" in the hit television
series How I Married Your Mother.
More recently, though, he's added
several other titles after his name:
screenwriter, director and actor (as
opposed to star). His first feature,
Happythankyoumoreplease (2010) had,
in his words, "a really small theatri-
cal run, but has had a fantastic life on
DVD and television!'
Now comes Liberal Arts, a thought-
ful and entertaining film about grow-
ing up and older and moving on. It is
scheduled to open Friday, Oct. 26, at
the Landmark Main Art Theatre in
Royal Oak.
Ironically, Radnor got into acting
doing a mitzvah for a friend.
"I got dragged down to the audi-
tions for the [high] school musical,
Oklahoma, by a friend of mine. She
was nervous and wanted me to keep
her company while she was down
there. I went, and I was watching
everyone audition and thought, 'Man,
I think maybe I can do this a little bet-
ter than these people.' They pointed at
me and asked if I wanted to audition. I
said 'yes' and ended up getting one of
the leads.
The next year I played the emcee in
Cabaret, and that was kind of it for me.
Once I did that, I started to think maybe
this is something I wanted to do."
A wise decision. HIMYM is cur-
rently in its seventh season and has (in
addition to Radnor) made Jason Segel
and Neil Patrick Harris constellations
in the Hollywood firmament. "They
just engaged us about possibly doing
a season nine:' says Radnor, whose
television success hasn't made getting
a film produced any easier.
"People might think so, but it was
very difficult to get financing for my
first movie. My being attached as a
director was an additional hurdle. We
had some people who were interested in
the script, wanted to make it and were
OK with me being in it. They were less
sold with me being the director.
"After some time, this company in
New York came forward and wanted to
take a chance on it. Financing for this
new film was a lot easier, but I think
Elizabeth Olsen and Josh Radnor in
Liberal Arts
that was because the producers were
fans of the first film and also fans of
Elizabeth Olsen, who was attached at
that point; they had worked with her
before!'
Radnor grew up in the Columbus,
Ohio, area, where he attended an
Orthodox Hebrew day school.
"We belonged to the Conservative
synagogue. My dad and mom were both
active in the synagogue. My dad was
president for a while. They sent me to
the school because they thought it was
a great education. Also, a lot of their
friends' kids went there. I went from
kindergarten to the eighth grade, and
then I went to the public high school."
Liberal Arts is set at Ohio's Kenyon
College, Radnor's alma mater. He plays
Jesse, a thirtysomething college admis-
sions counselor who heads back to
Kenyon to celebrate his favorite profes-
sor's retirement. When he arrives on
campus, he meets a 19-year-old sopho-
more named Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen),
and they fall in love, despite their age
difference.
Radnor is convinced that his back-
ground has impacted his work in other
ways.
"I read somewhere that Tony
Kushner was asked why so many Jews
are attracted to the theater. He said
that reading the Talmud and reading a
play are very similar. There's a surface
read and then digging underneath the
text. I feel having this background,
having this love of literature, look-
ing at something on the surface and
excavating and finding out what more
can be gleaned from it you get from a
Jewish way of learning." 17:
Liberal Arts is scheduled
to open on Friday, Oct. 26,
at the Landmark Main Art
Theatre. (248) 263-2111; www.
Iandmarktheatres.com .