The Changing Faces of Jack Black - page 2

01-07-2008 11:47

The role of Dewey Finn, a wannabe rockstar who pretends to be a school teacher and puts together a band of fifth graders, landed Black a Best Actor - Comedy or Musical nomination at the Golden Globes.

Animation was next as he lent his voice to the character of Lenny, a great white shark, in A Shark's Tale from Dreamworks Animations.

In 2005 he stepped into the blockbuster movie for the first time when he was cast as troubled filmmaker Carl Denham in Peter Jackson's King Kong. The film grossed over $550 million at the global box office and is one of Black's most successful movie.

Next he was a masked luchador in comedy Nacho Libre. Ignacio is a friar who became a masked wrestler to help support the orphanage that he directs.

Unfortunately the film received only mixed reviews. Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny, a film based on Black's band, was next and that also performed poorly at the box office.

A change of pace was next as Black teamed up with Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh in black comedy Margot at the Wedding.

This year has already been a busy year for Black as he starred alongside Mos Def in Be Kind Rewind, where two friends and remake some of movies most classic movies before returning to animation with Dreamworks' Kung Fu Panda.

Black's character Po the Panda's defining characteristic appears to be that he is the laziest of all the animals in ancient China.

That's a problem because powerful enemies are at the gates, and all hopes have been pinned on a prophesy naming Po as the "Chosen One" to save the day.

The film has already topped the American box office, ending Sex and the City's reign at the top and has already grossed over $200 million.

He returns later this year with comedy war film Tropic Thunder alongside Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr as a group of actors making a movie about Vietnam when they find themselves in the middle of a real war.

Be Kind Rewind is out on DVD now and Kung Fu Panda is released 4th July.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw