Jack Black fights monsters in the new kid-friendly movie, Goosebumps, and opens up to Parade’s Dotson Rader about his childhood with a few demons of its own.
He talks about his troubled youth, the devastating loss of his older brother from AIDS, and how King Kong inspired him to get married and start a family. Some excerpts below:
On playing writer R.L. Stine in Goosebumps:
“I thought it would be fun to do a kids’ movie that was scary in the right amounts. My sons are 7 and 9 years old, and they love a little spooky in their movies. Goosebumps felt like a perfect project, scary and funny—a great combo for me… It’s about forgiveness and not letting your rage and thirst for revenge control you, but it’s also about how some of those darker emotions can be used to create great masterworks. I play a guy with a dark past and a brilliant mind, wrestling with his own demons, literally.”
On his own childhood demons: His parents divorced when he was 10 years old, and by 14 he was struggling with substance abuse:
“I remember just lots of turmoil from that time period. I was having a lot of troubles with cocaine… I was hanging out with some pretty rough characters. I was scared to go to school [because] one of them wanted to kill me. I wanted to get out of there.”
On completing high school at a private college prep school in Santa Monica, known for its programs in the arts:
“As far back as I can remember, I loved putting on shows. I loved acting. I loved the attention. Maybe there’s a connection in terms of finding an escape and always needing to be up onstage. The turning point was when I started thinking acting was what I wanted to do.”
On the death of his older brother, Howard, who died of AIDS in 1989:
“Losing a family member is the worst thing I could imagine… I have two gay siblings: my big sister Rachel, and my big brother, Howard. He was a big influence on me. He took me to my first rock concert. I was 11; he was 23. He was so vibrant, creative, amazing. He shaped my taste in music. [Death] didn’t happen quickly. We all saw the deterioration. He was only 32. So very young. We were robbed of something precious. It was devastating.”
On meeting Tanya Haden, a gifted cellist and singer and a former classmate, whom he married in 2006:
“I didn’t date Tanya or talk to her or anything in high school. I was pretty shy. I just watched her from afar. We only started dating like 20 years after high school.”
On marriage:
“Before Tanya, I had always felt like marriage was not for me. I didn’t like the way it worked out with my parents. I didn’t ever want to be in a divorce, so I was never going to get married.”
On what changed his mind:
“Something happened when I was on King Kong. The fellow who plays King Kong, Andy Serkis, was there with his wife and kids, and he let me read a bedtime story to his kids. And I thought, Oh, I should have a kid. I want to have a family. There was an emptiness that started to develop after that. Now I’m happiest just swimming with my boys in the ocean.”
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