Ed Helms Video Interview On ‘Cedar Rapids,’ ‘The Office’

Ed Helms, best known for his hilarious role as Andy Bernard on the hit TV series The Office, stars in the comedic film Cedar Rapids. Helms was attracted to the film’s story before the writer, Phil Johnston, had even started the script. “He liked me for it and we had a meeting, and I immediately sparked to it and I immediately sparked to Phil, who I think is a genius, and we were kind of creatively right on the same page,” Helms told Uinterview exclusively. “He went off and wrote the script, which he just nailed, and then of course, as you said, it wound up on the blacklist of the best-unproduced scripts. Then we just had the good fortune to get it then set up with Alexander Payne and that is where we are now.”

Helms believes that even though his character, Tim Lippe, is silly, there is more to him than what meets the eye. “He looks at first blush like just a small town rube, but you learn in the movie, his backstory is very heartbreaking,” Helms said, “and you kind of understand maybe why he’s stunted the way he is and why he’s never had so many of the normal life experiences that most of us have had by our mid-30s. So the city of Cedar Rapids really is a baptism by fire for him.”