PAUL RUDD Charon OFFENSIVE

THIRTY YEARS AFTER CLUELESS MADE HIM A STAR, THE ACTOR TAKES A WALK ON THE WEIRD SIDE IN A DARK NEW COMEDY

- Jennie Noonan

When Amy Heckerling wrote the screenplay for 1995 hit Clueless, inspired by Jane Austen's Emma, she had a specific vision for the character of Josh, Cher's snarky yet sweet-souled ex-stepbrother and eventual love interest. “I really wanted somebody that girls would fall in love with, but not your typical young studly kind of guy,” she said during an Original-Cin Q&A in 2020, explaining how she came to cast Paul Rudd - in his first movie role - opposite Alicia Silverstone. “It had to come from his mind - and you can't fake that. He has a great mind and it comes through. And that makes him very appealing.”

Turns out, that appeal would be universal and go on to fuel a three-decades-long - and counting - career, with crowd-pleasing roles in Wet Hot American Summer, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, The 40-Year-Old Virgin and This Is 40 winning over legions of fans and collecting costars as friends along the way.

“There’s something about him that feels so effortlessly kindred,” Kathryn Hahn, who has costarred with Rudd three times - in 2011 movie Our Idiot Brother and on TV's Parks and Recreation and