Paul Rudd covers the latest issue of Men’s Health to promote The Shrink Next Door and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. I learned some things I didn’t know about Rudd in this piece. One, his people come from England?? I always thought he was descended from youthful-looking Irish stock. But no, he comes from the Rudnitsky stock of England, and his grandfather changed the surname because of the prevalent anti-Semitism in England. I also learned that Rudd is a liar! This 53-year-old told Men’s Health that the secret to his agelessness is not that he’s an undercover vampire, doomed to spend eternity as a baby-faced 29-year-old. His fountain of youth is SLEEP. Bitch, you lie!! Some highlights from Men’s Health:
He decided he would be an actor at the age of 16: “I never wavered from it. And I never had a backup. I said, I’m gonna go to school and study this.”
Doing a play in New York right after he wrapped on Clueless: “My agent said, What are you doing? My career was just starting. But I had a real clear vision then of what I wanted and how I wanted to do it. I didn’t want to be considered a joke among actors who I really admire. I really wanted to learn how to do this right. I had a real focus. Certainly some of the movies were not as good as I’d imagined, but they were beneficial, each in their own way.” After a string of romantic comedies, he did Wet Hot American Summer. “Without that, I don’t know if I get to do Anchorman, which was seminal. And I’ve gotten to work with Judd Apatow for years now.”
Landing Ant-Man wasn’t part of his plan. “My agent set up a meeting with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. Marvel was pretty new. They weren’t even part of Disney. It would’ve been like somebody saying, How would you feel about doing Dancing with the Stars? A superhero franchise was never on my radar. I never really thought I was the type of actor that they would offer any of those parts to. But when this idea came around, I was excited about doing something that was so out of left field, and I knew that if it was announced that I was going to be joining a superhero franchise, most people would say, What the f–k? And I got to wear a superhero suit.”
His secret to a superhero physique & eternal youth: “Sleep… Then diet. Then weights. Then cardio. People ask me, ‘Can you send me your meal plan? How many times a week do you work out? Do you drink? Do you eat carbs? Do you have a cheat day?’ The most important part of training is sleep. People will set their alarm and then sleep for four hours and they’ll get up so that they can train. They’re doing themselves a disservice. If you can somehow get eight hours of sleep...”
How Ant-Man changed his habits: “I get up and I have a cup of coffee, and then I do cardio before I eat anything. I never would’ve done that before [Ant-Man]. I lift weights, hopefully at least three times a week. And I’ve learned so much about how my body reacts to foods, how it reacts to exercise, and where I’m happiest and how much it affects me mentally....If I’m in this suit, running around playing a character who’s supposed to be a superhero, I just feel better. And I feel less like an impostor.” He eats eggs every day. A lot of salmon. Protein shakes that are just protein and water, no fruit. “It sounds like hell. It’s really not. I find routine comforting. There isn’t an office that we have to go to every day where we see the same people and do the same kind of job. Routine is a human need. It’s grounding in a really positive and healthy way.”
How he feels when people talk about how young he looks: “I see some things that people are politely not acknowledging. I’m certainly happy that people don’t say the opposite. Like, God, he looks a hundred years old! It’s flattering, but at the same time, I never know what the response is supposed to be.”
One, it’s truly crazy how winding and weird his career has been – he’s arguably been a household name since the ‘90s and he’s worked consistently in all kinds of films and TV shows but none of that build-up would indicate that he would eventually be a Marvel superhero in his 50s. What a crazy career for him. Two, I believe that Paul believes that sleep is important. Sleep IS important and people should prioritize getting better sleep. But “sleeping” is not the reason why Rudd is so ageless. It’s because he IS a vampire.
Cover & IG courtesy of Men’s Health.
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