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Jay Baruchel Talks About Directing & Hockey Comedy 'Goon'

by Ethan Anderton
February 28, 2010
Source: ComingSoon

This is a big year for Jay Baruchel who has no less than three studio movies seeing release this year. Both She's Out of My League and How to Train Your Dragon will be hitting theaters later this month, while The Sorcerer's Apprentice comes out this summer. But no matter how busy or successful the actor is, apparently Baruchel has his sights set on writing and directing as he revealed to ComingSoon that he's been working on a script for a movie called Pig which is a "21st century re-imagining of the slasher film with a lot of socio-racial commentary." In addition, he's apparently trying his hardest to make that film his directorial debut.

Baruchel said: "I'm trying to get that going as best I can, 'cause all I want to do is direct horror movies in Montreal for the rest of my life." A little hyperbole never hurt anybody, but it's obvious he has passion for directing. Meanwhile though, he's still very interested in getting another project he co-wrote off the ground: a hockey comedy called Goon which he wrote with Superbad writer Evan Goldberg. He's got quite a bit more to say about that one, but with all the hockey comedies coming to the forefront of the screenplay scene lately, it'll be interesting to see which ones actually get off the ground. Baruchel also waxes about Goon:

"We like to think of it as a funnier 'Raging Bull.' It's real mean, and it's truthful, and it's everything hockey is without any of the bullshit sports movie clichés, and it is dead funny. Lot of swears, that's a hard R. It's a very crass movie, there are something like 20 fights in it, but it's the badass movie that hockey fans have been waiting to see their whole lives. It will be by far the best hockey movie since 'Slapshot.' Hockey fans have needed one for a long time, it's a sport that movies never do well. Ours will be a fucking movement."

At least he's modest about it. Either way, the film sounds like it has the potential to start shooting later this year, but this project has been close to launch before with director Michael Dowse (It's All Gone Pete Tong) but nothing had every come from that, if it was ever even a serious possibility. But it doesn't sound like he's pushing for one project over the other as he told ComingSoon: "There are a few things I'm trying to do and it's just whichever one happens first." We'll be waiting to hear more. Let's hope this doesn't overlap with Kevin Smith's Hit Somebody, but I'm always down for more hockey movies (especially after the Olympics).

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