Paul Rudd is one of those Hollywood actors that everybody likes. Go on, do a quick survey of those around you. Nobody would have a bad word to say about the actor, unless out of pure jealousy. He stands out as one of the greatest comedic actors of our time.
With an impressive charm that breaks the seal of industry artifice, Rudd has become one of the few celebrities who seems to occupy the cultural mainstream whilst also influencing its outer circles. His journey, in the mainstream at least, began with Clueless.
Starring Alicia Silverstone, Brittany Murphy and Stacey Dash, Rudd later found a home in the comedies of David Wain, frequently collaborating with the filmmaker, most notably in the 2001 film Wet Hot American Summer. Later picked up by Netflix for an exclusive series, this American spoof comedy became a cult classic shortly after its release at the turn of the new century.
Rudd later entered the mainstream as a regular talk show guest and pertinent comedy star, reaching the heights of Hollywood when he was cast as Ant-Man, Marvel’s most peculiar action hero. Though no experience in his contemporary career would compare to the bizarre incident on the set of his breakout movie, a time when a thief held the actor at gunpoint whilst filming Clueless.
Leaving Jerry’s Deli, having gone there with a friend to get some food during the production of Clueless, when Rudd walked back to his car, a stranger grabbed him and tried to take his money. Recalling the incident in an interview with GQ, Rudd said the robber told him: “This is a real gun…Watch out, because I’ll fucking kill you”.
Despite Rudd’s compliance, the actor explained that the robber didn’t believe him, shouting, “You don’t think it’s a real gun,” before shooting his firearm over Rudd’s head and through his hair.
“I just remember the sound of it…I remember people in the parking lot being really freaked out. But I just got very calm,” Rudd told the publication, with the thief only making off with the actor’s rucksack. Recalling that he had to go to work the next day, the actor explained: “It was a scene at a club. I was dancing. And I had just been shot at the night before”.
With the incident now a distant memory, happening before the dawn of the new millennium, Rudd has been able to look back and shed comedy on the moment, recalling that the backpack that was stolen only had a script of Clueless inside it. “I’m sure the crackhead who held me up was thrilled to get the latest Clueless draft,” Rudd jokingly commented in a separate interview with Pop Sugar, with the incident being one of the contributing reasons he left Los Angeles in search of a new home.
Having long since gotten over the event, Rudd is now enjoying a flourishing Hollywood career where he is soon to re-appear as Ant-Man in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania with Kathryn Newton, Bill Murray, Jonathan Majors and Evangeline Lilly.
