John C Reilly is the master actor who brought comic idiocy to Step Brothers, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and more, as well as dramatic performances for directors including Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson and Jacques Audiard. Now, as he makes a foray into vaudevillian music as Mister Romantic, he will be answering your questions.
Reilly’s screen career stretches back to 1988 with the rather inauspicious role of Thug in Bar in Steven Seagal thriller Above the Law, but by the early 1990s he was in the thick of starry ensembles in Days of Thunder, Hoffa, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and The River Wild. An early lead role came in Anderson’s directorial debut, Hard Eight, one of numerous films the pair would eventually make together including Boogie Nights, Magnolia and Licorice Pizza.
Channelling an endearing dopey naivety, he became one of the 00s best-loved comic actors in collaborations with Will Ferrell, and Walk Hard, a brilliant lampooning of music biopics. He’s added zing to megabucks blockbusters such as Guardians of the Galaxy and Kong: Skull Island; been in premium indie fare such as We Need to Talk About Kevin, Carnage and The Lobster; and was the voice of a new-school Disney hero, Wreck-It Ralph.
In 2022 Reilly began a musical stage show under the name Mister Romantic, with songs about the titular character’s search for love: “I looked at our weary world a few years ago and tried to think of a way I could spread love and empathy,” he said. “I decided the most fun way to do that was through performing and singing and telling people I loved them.” He has now recorded the songs – previously performed by Tom Waits, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford and more – and interweaved them with “cinematic audio” for an album release on 13 June.
Ahead of its release, Reilly will answer your questions about his foray into music, as well as his screen career. Post them in the comments before 7pm BST on Wednesday 28 May, and his answers will be published online and in the Film & Music print section on 13 June.
