Jay Baruchel, Nate Torrence and Mike Vogel Feature

For the guys cast “She’s Out of My League,” somewhere during the course of shooting the romantic comedy, the lines between film and real-life began to blur—but far from being some kind of psychotic break for any of the actors, the fortuitous grouping provided an unforeseen payoff…particularly, for young Canadian actor Jay Baruchel, cast as the every-guy Kirk Kettner, who meets and begins to date Molly (Alice Eve), his perfect ten of a woman.

Baruchel states, “Getting this film was one of the luckiest moments of my life, career wise. I was in the process of shooting ‘Tropic Thunder,’ knee-deep in the mud with my M16 on, and they said, “You know, we like what you're doing, and we think you might be right for something like this.’ And I got to meet with the director, Jim Smith, and I watched his amazing short films—the coolest, funniest, best-looking shorts I've ever seen. And I said, ‘Yeah, let's go make an awesome movie together.’ And now, I am so fortunate to have done this movie, because I truly count these other guys as some of my best friends in the world. I know, even if we don't see each other for a long time, every time we do see each other, it's like we worked together yesterday.”

In fact, Baruchel, Nate Torrence (who plays the cheerful married romantic, Devon) and Mike Vogel (cast as the closest thing the guys have to a ‘ten,’ Jack) are now bonded as strongly as their onscreen counterparts. The real-life marrieds Torrence and Vogel probably know better than Devon and Jack do when it comes to counseling a friend on something as fraught with contradictions as dating, however. Baruchel explains, “Once I cross paths with the beautiful Molly—and somehow, she sees something in me—and we start courting, my friends and family can't believe that this is actually true. And, so then, I'm inundated with all sorts of conflicting advice. Nate's character, Devon, supports me from the get-go. But, because on paper, I'm a five and she's a ten…well, everyone, and I mean everyone, has something to say.”

Torrence explains how the group of Kirk, Devon and Jack (along with T.J. Miller’s hilarious Stainer) became friends: “It's kind of cool. We're all best friends from high school, and now, work together at the airport. So, there's obviously this long relationship that we've all had with one another. And I think that's what justifies how different we each are, and why we're friends. I think, when you look at each of us, you're wondering, how are these guys even relating or hanging out with each other? And that's the back story, so you believe it. And so you get these family-type relationships.”

Vogel continues, “Jack’s a baggage handler, and he's sort of the sexier of the group. He started out with these guys in high school, but now, he still puts himself with them because, one, he loves them, and two, he's really clueless in his own world. With these friends, what he says holds weight, whereas, amongst guys that are his ‘type,’ he gets brushed under the table, dismissed. So, I think he fills the slot of advisor on things like being cool and romantic with them. But in the end, he really doesn't know what he's talking about.”

Baruchel relates to the guys’ dynamic on a personal level: “For someone like me, back home, I literally live with two of my best friends that are from high school, whom I've known since I was 14. So I know what it is, to have odd relationships, late into your 20's, with people that, at first glance, you should have nothing in common with. But you have a bond and an obligation that surpasses all of it.”
For Torrence, he admits the similarities between himself and Devon: “What's really funny is, the guy I play—I’m the only married one, and don’t have kids. But, in life, I'm married and have kids. And I'm a smiler. I have to admit it. It's hard to get that off. A lot of people think it’s fake. But it’s not. I can’t stop. I'm a Care Bear. I have a rainbow tattooed on my stomach.”

But for Vogel and Jack? “I’m the complete antithesis of this guy. Which is, I’m married, I have two kids, all that fun family stuff—which I love. Different strokes for different folks. But I think that the possible pitfall with Jack, he could come off as a real cocky hard-ass. I’d like to think that I didn’t go that direction. I think I’m just playing a normal guy who’s…genetically lucky.”

But perhaps the luckiest on the set was Baruchel, particularly when it came to the filming of a pivotal and hilarious sequence in the film. Before Kirk takes Molly on the “big” date, Jack convinces Kirk that a little discretionary shaving of certain areas might please Molly. Unable to do the deed himself, he enlists best friend Devon to help. Baruchel offers, “The best part about the ball shaving shoot was that I didn’t have to have my ass on-camera—I had an ass double—and Nate had to have some stranger's tool in his face. And literally, one of my favorite things was watching Nate's face on the monitor before they'd say, ‘Action!’ Because there would be some stranger’s ass in front of him—so you know what’s hanging in his face—and you just see Nate, sweating, and trying not to look. Man, it was priceless.”