Steve Zahn Is Zany Yet Again
From the silly lead guitarist in Tom Hank's That Thing You Do to the daffy car thief in Out of Sight, actor Steve Zahn has picked roles that keep the audience in stitches.
And his zany repertoire continues, as he next plays escaped convict Wayne Wayne Wayne Jr. in the Sundance Film Festival favorite Happy, Texas. CBS News This Morning reports.
"I always think of the parts as just guys," says Zahn. "Wayne Wayne Wayne Jr. isn't a funny guy, but the situation is funny. I play him straight, and that makes it much funnier," says Zahn.
Zhan and British actor Jeremy Northam masquerade as a gay couple hired to direct a beauty pageant in Happy, Texas. But what the town does not know is that they are both escapees from a West Texas chain gang.
"I know nothing about pageants, but I was supposed to know nothing, so it was fun and easy," notes Zahn, who says he got along quite well with Northam as they both come from formal theatrical backgrounds.
"We shot this movie in 26 days, for no money.Â…It was good to have that common background, since we were really stuck together, for better or worse," he says. Since the film festival, Miramax acquired the movie, adding additional footage.
Zahn has been performing for 15 years, yet he notes that the days are long gone when one film makes an actor a star.
"Look at how many movies are made every year. I've done 17 movies. Every time they say it's my breakout role," he says.
Nevertheless he is happy to be working and after making a big splash with Happy, Texas, he says this independent film is like a Cinderella story, where the filmmakers are normal good people who work hard and have tons of fun.
"To think that Mark asked his family for money, and we had just enough to make the film, and here we are - it's astounding," notes Zahn, referring to director Mark Illsley.
So what is next for Zhan? A John Dahl movie called Squelched.
For more information visit Happy, Texas official Web site.
©1999 CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved