Exclusive interview! Jay Baruchel quits acting

I was invited by Dreamworks Studios this week to watch never before seen footage from 3 of their upcoming animated releases for 2010… one of them was ‘How To Train Your Dragon‘ starring Jay Baruchel. After the screenings, Dreamworks takes us to a restaurant called A Voce at the Time Warner Center in Manhattan to frolic and eat with peers. One of the lovely publicists at the event asks me if I could chat with Jay to get to know him better. I said sure.

Baruchel approaches me with a trucker hat, a heavy beard and a tattoo of his mother’s name on his right forearm. I ask him about it and he replies I’m going to get a few more on my body for her. He must really love his mother! We then segue into 4 films coming out this year with him as one of the lead roles: She’s Out of My League, How To Train My Dragon, The Trotsky and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. I asked how happy was he of being in the middle of a comeback. He answers disappointingly that it doesn’t mean anything, it’s all coincidence of the release dates. (as he was cursing up a storm). He continues saying that he’s been through this notion of the IT guys before and nothing has happened, “for example, when I was in ‘Million Dollar Baby,’ everybody said watch out for this guy, he’s gonna be someone. Then when I was in ‘Knocked Up,’ people said I was in a sleeper hit, gonna need to watch that kid. Then in ‘Tropic Thunder’ I was hailed as the one to watch…again! So I say, I don’t believe in being the IT guy nor am I interested.”

He then went on to share with me EXCLUSIVELY, that he wants to quit acting altogether. “You know, I think I’m gonna quit acting. I don’t wake up with that feeling of love for acting, for this business. I really just do it to pay my mom’s bills and take care of her.” With his beard in tow and the disappointed look, I had to ask if he was pulling a Joaquin Phoenix here. He laughed and scoffed at the notion. He says that it was embarrassing to see that and assured me it was nothing of the sort. We finally concluded with a new movie he’s currently filming called ‘Notre Dame de Grace’ which might be his last project.