- Koechner (right) with Ethan Embry in Cheap Thrills
Tomorrow the pitch-black indie Cheap Thrills begins its Chicago run at the Music Box. Described by at least one critic as a hybrid of Jackass and Michael Haneke’s Funny Games, it takes place over a long night as two down-and-out guys get lured by a wealthy couple into a bizarre “game” wherein they perform strange dares for cash. (Full disclosure: I used to volunteer with one of the film’s writers, David Chirchirillo, at Odd Obsession Movies in Bucktown.) The dares becomes increasingly grotesque as the evening goes on, but the biggest surprise of the movie may be David Koechner’s performance. A veteran comic actor best known for his roles in Anchorman and NBC’s The Office, Koechner plays the husband of the wealthy couple as a smiling devil—his onscreen charisma, honed over decades of performing broad comedy, gives Cheap Thrills much of its menace.
Once the movie was cast, how long did it take to shoot?
The way you describe your performance, it sounds like acting in the film was a bit like doing live comedy, where you also have to draw in the audience and get them to like you.
- Cheap Thrills
It depends on how you define “dramatic” acting. Some people would say that parts of Thank You for Smoking were more satirical, less out-and-out comic. Extract, though a comedy, I thought allowed me a different kind of performance. Final Destination 5, one could argue, has dramatic elements. But to me, it’s all acting.
I’ve been very fortunate in that I’ve gotten to do a variety of roles—some better, some lesser. But this lets me say I’ve got range. I can be Uncle Earl on Hannah Montana and the bad guy in Piranha 3DD. I mean, come on—that’s some range!
[Close] was just a remarkable guy. And to balance [his style] with the style that was going on at Second City at the time was very interesting. I learned a lot of different approaches to comedy, in both sketch and improv, and that was invaluable.
- Koechner in Final Destination 5
