Paul Rudd Was Mugged and Shot at in Los Angeles While He Was Working on CLUELESS
Former Sexiest Man Alive and America’s sweetheart Paul Rudd has come a long way since starring in fan-favorite ‘90s comedy Clueless. The actor has gone on to join Marvel as Ant-Man, and has been in a number of comedies that fans continue to enjoy. But he had such a rough time in Los Angeles when getting his start, we are lucky he stuck with acting.
In an old interview with GQ, Rudd detailed a scary incident that went down while he was living in Los Angeles. One evening during the Clueless shoot, he had gone for dinner with a friend at Jerry's Deli in the Valley. Back out at his car, a guy grabbed him and told him to give him his money.
"This is a real gun," he told Rudd. "Watch out, because I'll fucking kill you." Rudd assured him that he believed him and that it was fine. "You don't think it's a real gun," the guy said, and fired it. The bullet went through Rudd's hair.
Rudd told him he had no cash but that he could take whatever he wanted. He offered his backpack and the gunman ran off.
"I just remember the sound of it. I remember people in the parking lot being really freaked out. But I just got very calm. Then I had to go to work the next day. It was a scene at a club. I was dancing. And I had just been shot at the night before."
If this wasn’t bad enough, he then got into a series of car accidents. His car was messed up in a hit and run while it was parked. He borrowed a friend's car, and the next week, when he braked coming down a hill, it hydroplaned and hit another car. So he rented a car and was awakened one morning by a crash—someone had hit the rental car. He began to wonder whether it was time to get out of town.
He had been thinking of moving to New York for some time, but he was waiting for the right moment. Then he went to a theater audition, and one of the monologues he had prepared was from Amadeus, and while walking down the street trying to memorize the lines, he bumped into someone. Improbably, it was Tom Hulce, who in the movie had played the very part he was rehearsing and was one of the actors Rudd most admired. He didn't know Hulce, but he told him what he was doing, and for some reason Hulce asked, "You live in New York?" Rudd told him that he was living in California but thinking about moving.
"You should," he told him. "You'd like it." That decided it. "I didn't need any more signs," Rudd says. After the audition, he called his landlord and said he was moving. "And I did, and I've been here since."
It sounds like Los Angeles just wasn’t the place for Rudd. But it all worked out, and the rest is history. I’m glad he survived and is still making great movies!