For "The Big Bang Theory," actor Simon Helberg plays the geeky aerospace engineer and mama's boy Howard Wolowitz. For the film "We'll Never Have Paris," Helberg actually plays a version of himself, and for the actor, nothing could be more terrifying than that.
Helberg himself wrote, directed, and starred in "We'll Never Have Paris," which is a romantic comedy based on his engagement to wife Jocelyn Towne.
"The film is based on the story of our break-up and then our proposal that followed shortly after, both of which were epic intercontinental disasters," he shared with BT.
"We are married now, and thought, 'Let's tell the story of our demise and relive that for years to come'. Why we did that, I'm still trying to work out. It's really personal, it's really scary. I feel freaked out knowing that this movie is going out into the world," he added.
Suffice to say, they initially thought that making the movie would be great for their relationship, but when they finally did it, the couple felt overwhelmed - and not in a good way.
"The ideal version is that it was cathartic, but I think it was a bit more masochistic probably in some ways, and twisted," he explained.
But when Helberg sees audiences appreciating the film, he feels consoled. In a way, it feels okay to bare his life for the world to see.
"Watching it again with an audience helps. There's a lot of gasping and smacking of the forehead or that kind of laughter where you would hear at a tragic crime scene that's very inappropriate. That's great," he said. "I know that means people are relating and I think that as long as people are relating in some way, even though it's an embarrassing time and it's a pretty poor light I've shown that guy in, I know that that's good because it's human and it's flawed and that's the way we are."
Other stars of the film include Melanie Lynskey as Jocelyn and "Star Trek" star Zachary Quinto as Helberg's friend Jameson. He was actually very excited to get Quinto for the film, and Helberg teased that audiences will see Quinto in a new light.
"I was just so excited because I had never seen him do anything like this. You don't really get to see him play this kind of eccentric, bohemian guy in a comedy and I thought that would be exciting," he said. "And to have him wear a sarong, I think that's something the world is waiting for. You can't put any man in a sarong and have him water the garden, but Zach was ready to do it."
