You may know him best as Lex Luthor from the television series Smallville, but now actor Michael Rosenbaum is showing us what he can do on the big screen with Back In The Day. Not only did he star, write and produce this upcoming comedy, but he also made his directorial debut with it as well. One can only imagine how busy he was behind the camera as well as in front of it, and it makes you wonder if Robin Williams was right when he said at the Oscars that the writer, producer, director is one of the few people in the world who can “blow smoke up his own ass.”
Rosenbaum plays Jim Owens in the film, an aspiring actor in Hollywood whose biggest claim to fame so far is starring in a series of insurance commercials. With his future in Los Angeles seeming very uncertain, Jim decides to travel back home for his high school reunion in Indiana. Once there, he quickly reconnects with his old buddies and they start to relive their glory days as if they never came to an end. Everything changes though when Jim runs into his high school sweetheart Lori (Morena Baccarin), who is now engaged. Despite this, he begins to wonder what might have been if they didn’t break up and he stayed in Indiana. That’s not Jim’s only problem though, as he winds up getting his buddies in trouble with their wives and reignites the wrath that his high school principal has towards even after so many years.
Last week I had the chance to speak with Rosenbaum at the Back in the Day press junket, which was held at the Soho House in West Hollywood, California. He was joined by Baccarin and Nick Swardson, who plays the eternally drunk Ron Freeman. From the challenges of wearing many different hats during the making of this movie to how hard it is playing a drunk character, we discussed a whole range of topics. We also asked Rosenbaum if he would want to play Lex Luthor in Batman vs. Superman.
Check out the video to see what this wonderful cast had to say and be sure to catch Back in the Day when it hits theatres on January 17th!