Doors are opening for Windows-basher Long
Justin Long knows he’s getting famous now that his neighbors have stopped yelling at him.
Time was, he would awaken to people complaining about him partying too hard, playing music too loud and parking too close to their cars.
Now they’re more likely to compliment him on a talk-show appearance. Or his Apple computer commercial. Or his latest film role.
“It’s weird,” Long says. “Before I was that loud, obnoxious kid. Now everyone is being sweet.”
Including Hollywood – which has in the course of about 18 months made him one of the hottest commodities in the industry.
Since his role as the lanky geek who takes shots aplenty to the groin in “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story,” Long, 28, has been everywhere.
He has seven films out this year and two more in 2007. He’s also the “I’m a Mac” guy in the popular commercials opposite the nerdy PC guy.
Most important – and surprising – to Long is his first starring role. In “Accepted,” which opened Friday, he plays a slacker who starts his own fictional college.
Not only is Long at a loss to explain his sudden fame, he’s unsure whether he can handle it.
“It’s really bizarre, and not in a good way,” he says over a game of ping-pong at a Santa Monica beach cafe not far from the home he rents with actor buddy Jonah Hill.
“When I was younger, I harbored these secret desires to be known, to be recognized at premieres. But it’s not what I thought it would be. I’m in therapy because it’s so unnatural, people coming up and (my) not knowing their intention.”
It’s a far cry from the characters he has played over the past seven years, from the flamboyant assistant in “The Break-Up” to Lindsay Lohan‘s love interest in “Herbie: Fully Loaded.”
“It’s not that I’m talented or funny,” he says. “I just got lucky to get a part in ‘Dodgeball.’ Everything changed after that. And that wasn’t because I could act. That’s because I could take 20 minutes of shots to my head and (groin).”
Comedy was not in his early career plans. A Connecticut native, Long is the son of a philosophy professor and a stage actress. His early ambition was to be a priest like his godfather, a missionary in Papua New Guinea.
“Then I hit puberty,” Long says. He had dreams of playing football or becoming a biologist, “but you can’t be shrimpy and suck at biology for those jobs. So I decided to be a clown.”
Although he has been working steadily since landing a role on the NBC sitcom “Ed,” his profile soared with the Mac ads. He says he’s recognized more for the commercials than his film roles.
“Some people get angry because they think I hate Windows,” he says.
“One guy came up and said that nothing happened when he was typing control-alt-delete. They think I know something about computers, and I can barely turn one on. I’m just an actor.”
The birthday bunch
Singer-actor Isaac Hayes is 64. Newswoman Connie Chung is 60. Singer Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) is 58. “Today” show weatherman Al Roker is 52. Actress Joan Allen is 50. Actor James Marsters (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) is 44. Rapper KRS-One is 41. Singer Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit) is 36.