'You want to leave behind a world that's worth living in'

John C Reilly brings his big-hearted vaudeville stage show to the British Isles - shining a light on things he thinks are wonderful, the Oscar-nominated actor tells Kevin E G Perry

- Kevin E G Perry

John C Reilly eyes me warily as I approach him at the deli in the San Fernando Valley where he’s suggested we meet for lunch. He’s standing near the door, dressed in a tan fedora with black suspenders holding up his slacks, looking like a man out of time. His shirt sleeves are rolled up in acknowledgement of the Southern Californian heat, and he appraises me with a cagey look that seems to ask: Is this the writer sent to interview me, or just some crazed fan wanting a selfie and to “shake and bake” with the guy from Talladega Nights?

A few moments later, after we slide into a booth and order matzo ball soup and pots of tea, Reilly confesses he’s become uneasy with his level of fame. When his career first took off in the mid-1990s, Reilly’s humanity and emotional authenticity made him one of America’s finest character actors, beloved by auteurs including Paul Thomas Anderson and Martin Scorsese. Then came a string of big-budget comedies: his aforementioned Will Ferrell Nascar romp in 2006 was followed in quick succession by sublime music spoof Walk Hard and Step Brothers, his reunion with Ferrell that cast the pair as rival step-siblings. It was those films that made Reilly a different kind of recognisable.

“That part of it I didn’t see coming, and I don’t especially like it,” he winces. “I’m much more shy and private than fame allows. I’m not one of those performers that has a hole deep inside that has to be filled by the audience’s anonymous affection.” That shyness marks our time together. On topics he’s keen to talk about, Reilly will happily hold court for 20 minutes uninterrupted. That verbosity, though, is a sort of defence mechanism, a means of keeping the conversation on safe ground; when we veer towards subjects he’s not interested in discussing, he has no qualms about letting a silence hang in the air.