Q: What about working with Sam Rockwell?
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HH: I first saw Sam in Box of Moonlight, the Tom DiCillo film where he costarred with Catherine Keener and John Turturro. I loved that film. I immediately saw that he had something special in the character he played in that film. He's always done interesting work. He's never fallen into the trap of making loud, pointless films. He's continued to do interesting work. He's incredibly subtle, one of the most subtle actors I've ever seen. And it's only when you actually watch the rushes after the fact that you spot how amazing he is. And what he gives you with a little look, a little glance, a little smile. He is outstanding, and he's a really lovely guy to be around and very easy going.
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Q: And he does a Cockney accent.
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HH: I sent him some clips from Youtube with different kinds of Cockney accents. There's always been this thing with American actors doing an English or cockney accent. It's always terrible. He wanted to push it in a ridiculous way. Sam was constantly searching for a unique way to pull it off, listening to authentic Cockneys, chatting to people on set, trying to find a way to crack it. Then on the day when it came to the scene where he has to finally nail it in the film, he came up with this thing of eating a sandwich while he does the accent. He does it with a face full of sandwich and it was outstanding, really funny and the Cockney accent worked. The accent is a running gag, he's trying to endear himself to her and he finally perfects the accent right at the end at the crucial moment, so it paid off at the end.
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Q: And working with Ben Schwartz?
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HH: Ben is a stand-up comic, very funny and a writer himself. He was suggested to me by my manager, Tom Lassally, and also by Sam who was friends with him. At that point I hadn't heard of Ben, but suddenly I realized that everyone knew about Ben apart from me. He was in Parks and Recreation and a whole range of other TV shows and he's worked with the Internet comedy duo sensation Jake and Amir.
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Ben's part is the sidekick, but what he brings to it is his utter likeability, he plays a character whose traits aren’t that likeable, but Ben is so good you side with him, and of course Ben is very, very funny. It helped that he and Sam knew each other, they were friends and had worked together before. They are in lots of two shots together so we could see them play off each other.
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