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Interview: Adam Herschman

In Soul Men, Adam Herschman's character Phillip embodies the intern struggle so many college kids go through. He gets abused by the boss and does all of the menial busy work, but he also has the chance to be around his idols—without earning a dime, of course. However, at the same time, the entertainment biz needs more people like Phillip: real fans. He loves The Real Deal, and he ultimately ends up bailing them out on the road. Adam talked to ARTISTdirect.com about working with Bernie Mac and Samuel L. Jackson, being a fan, and much more in this interview.

In the movie, your character is the intern. Had you ever interned before anywhere?

Yeah, I interned at an advertising agency, and I was probably the world's worst intern. [Laughs] I just took home a lot of pens. I thought it was a great way to take home a lot of books. I actually interned one summer at the Minnesota Twins. They had a case of Milk Duds, and by the end of the summer, the case was gone. It's funny because I know what it's like to be ready to please. Everybody loves the intern, and at the same time, the intern loves everybody else. The intern's just happy to be there. You can't fire the intern because he's not getting paid. They have a stop date of workage—a lot of times it'll be three months or six months. It's like the intern's trying so hard to get that nine-to-five. That guy in this movie, Phillip, is desperately trying to get that nine-to-five to please but may not necessarily have the skills to do it. He's got to charm his way in a little bit. I was kind of like the intern on this movie. I'm a fan of Bernie Mac's, Sam Jackson's, and Isaac Hayes'. I remember when I did Accepted, when I saw Sam Jackson down at Comic-Con I was just star struck and two years later, he's calling me a motherfucker. It's totally full circle. You've reached Hollywood when Sam Jackson calls you a motherfucker. I don't need a star on the Walk of Fame, I just need Sam Jackson to call me a motherfucker and I can retire. If I never do anything again, I've made it. That's how it feels. I was a huge Bernie Mac fan, too. I loved to watch Def Comedy Jam. It was so raw. Bernie was really supportive of me. One thing I'll always remember about Bernie: he had this big beautiful smile. It's captured so well in the movie. He would just look at you and smile off camera when we worked together. It's hard to explain. He'd look at me and be like, "Come on kid, you can do this. Make me laugh." He would just always come up and talk to me. He gave me little bits to think about here and there.

It seems like there's a theme where being a fan is more important than anything else. That was one of the most interesting aspects of the film. So often, being a fan gets downplayed and people get jaded.

Right! Without fans, where is the industry? Where is any of this? It's kind of taboo in this industry to be a fan of somebody. It's taboo to be like, "Man, I really appreciate your work" or express how you really feel about something. I quote Sam Jackson's lines to this day. I'm always quoting Pulp Fiction and all of his movies. So it's like I'm never really afraid to tell someone how much I appreciate their work or what it meant to me. I'm always very cautious to do it. On this film, it was like fantasy acting camp for me. It was super-cool. I don't understand why being a fan is taboo. People want to keep their image up and pretend they're so cool, and everyone tries to be so cool. That's one thing I also learned on this movie, you either are cool or you aren't cool. I'm not cool! [Laughs] Sam and Bernie are the coolest. You can't pretend to be cool, and you can't play cool—you just have to be who you are. When I say I'm not cool, it's in comparison, but I do think you've either got it or you don't. Bernie was such a great dresser. Sam was, too. The way they talk and their presence was just so fun to be around.

Did you get to hang out with Bernie and Sam off set at all?

I did. That was cool. I got to hang out with Bernie in his trailer. He always had his family around. I got to know his daughter a little bit and his granddaughter. She was adorable. She was one or two-years-old. Bernie was always very productive. He told me that he wanted to do one more comedy show. I don't know if he was able to shoot it after the movie wrapped, but he was talking about how he wanted to do one last standup show. He had some ideas of other things he wanted to do. He had big plans. Bernie was able to do whatever he wanted in his career. Sam, too! They're two people who built everything from the start on their own.

—Rick Florino
11.07.08