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Paul Rudd got to work with a personal hero, Jack Black, on his latest movie.
In Anaconda, the two play aspiring filmmakers who journey to the Amazon to reboot the 1997 creature feature originally starring Ice Cube, Jennifer Lopez and Jon Voight.
“Every once in a while something will happen where I’m afforded the opportunity to get to work with a hero of mine,” Rudd, 56, tells PEOPLE. Turning to his costar, he adds, “It happened on this one in the form of this old hunk of love.”
Rudd also shouts out Steve Zahn and Thandiwe Newton, costars in the Tom Gormican-directed Anaconda. “It’s the people, really, right?”
Courtesy of Sony Pictures
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“It is the peeps,” agrees Black, 56. “It’s funny, because in this movie we are playing filmmakers and so in a way we are playing ourselves. It was very close to home.”
This more comedic take on Anaconda, he continues, follows “these friends that are going out to make their dreams come true. And that’s how I feel every time I go out to make a movie.”
Rudd and Black have appeared together briefly in previous projects: in Will Ferrell’s 2004 hit Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, and playing John Lennon and Paul McCartney in 2007 parody Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. But before Anaconda the duo had never shared lead roles or extensive screen time.
“It really was the first time,” Rudd tells PEOPLE, that “I really got to see [Black] in action… People are in awe, rightfully so, of him. And the greatest thing about all of that was, no matter who it was at whatever age — especially kids — Jack is such a good dude, that to see him interact with every single person was astounding.”
Addressing his friend, he says, “You gave everybody a bit of a Jack Black experience. It didn’t matter what the time was or where you were. You’re a very good person. Honest to God, it was inspiring to see.”
Speaking to PEOPLE on the red carpet for Anaconda’s Los Angeles premiere, Rudd called Black “a genius,” naming his performance in 2003 comedy School of Rock as “a tour de force … one of the most award-worthy, incredible performances. It’s a perfect movie and no one else could do it except him. And he’s got a few of those.”
Anaconda is in theaters Dec. 25.
