JAY CUTLER FAN ROLLS ‘ DICE’
Chicago native runs sitcom, does Bears podcasts
Writer, producer and director Scot
Armstrong, also co- host of the “Bear Down” podcast with fellow Chicago native Matt Walsh (“Veep”), is a bigger Jay Cutler fan than many Chicagoans.
“I’m in the camp that Cutler got the shaft,” said Armstrong, who trained here at iO Theatre and Second City. “He definitely had some terrible interceptions, but I feel like he had more potential than the team gave him the chance for. I never thought he had a very good offensive line around him.”
Reacting to Cutler’s recent signing by the Miami Dolphins, Armstrong quipped, “I’m going to start picking Dolphin receivers for my fantasy league team.”
Since relocating to Los Angeles, he’s worked as a writer on films including “Road Trip,” “Old School” and “The Hangover Part II,” but he returns to the Chicago area often to visit family. “I love going back,” he said. “The house I grew up in Wheaton is now owned by my sister, so when I go to visit her, I stay in the room I grew up in. It’s the guest room now.
These days he’s a producer and “show- runner” on “Dice,” inspired by the life of comedian Andrew
Dice Clay and beginning its second season Sunday on Showtime.
He was skeptical about the idea, Armstrong said, until meeting Dice. “He had all these crazy stories from his real life, plus he proved he was willing to be vulnerable and show himself as the guy who was down on his luck. ... I thought there was a lot here that was funny and could work. ”
Along with Dice playing a fictional version of himself on the series, Armstrong loves having the chance to create fictionalized personas of other well- known actors who will be seen on the show this second season — including Adrien Brody, David Arquette, Ron Livingston, Michael Imperioli, Mickey Rourke and James Woods. “We were very lucky to get them.”
Aubrey’s Chicago favorites
“I’ve been to Chicago more this year than ever,” says actress Aubrey Plaza. “I’ve been there like three or four times, just since January.” Twice Plaza came through town briefly to promote her film “The Little Hours,” but she was able to spend a few more days in the city when she was cast on Joe Swanberg’s “Easy” TV series.
“I really got a chance, because of that, to explore some Chicago neighborhoods I had never been to. We shot in Beverly, for example, where I’d never been. I loved it and found it very beautiful. The same goes for the Loyola [ University] campus up in Rogers Park. It’s so lovely by the water.”
Yet, when it comes to Our Town, “my first thoughts about Chicago always start with the Music Box Theatre,” said the former “Parks and Recreation” star. “It’s one of my favorite theaters in the country — maybe even in the world! I love that place. It has such a magical vibe to it.”
In her new film “Ingrid Goes West” ( opening Friday), Plaza’s Ingrid character becomes so obsessed with an Instagram star ( played by Elizabeth Olsen) that she moves to Los Angeles and finds a way to befriend the woman.
“Obviously, California is the perfect setting for a seemingly perfect woman, with the perfect figure, gorgeous, perfect boyfriend and seemingly perfect life — that seems right out of a lifestyle magazine — for Ingrid to obsess over,” said Plaza. “But I’m sure there have been similar situations in Chicago or Miami or New York.”
Returning to library
Obviously authors love coming back to the Chicago Public Library’s annual Carl Sandburg Literary Awards dinner. This year, six former “21st Century Award” honorees — Jeffery Renard Allen, Blue Balliett, Elizabeth Crane, Eric Charles May, Nami Mun and Christine Sneed — plus “One Book, One Chicago” authors Stuart Dybek and Thomas Dyja — will be on hand at the Oct. 11 gala. Among the other attendees will be Pulitzer Prize winners Margo Jefferson, Blair Kamin and Bryan Gruley and best- selling novelists Elizabeth Berg (“Open House”) and Gillian
Flynn (“Gone Girl”). The UIC Forum event will honor Carl Sandburg awardees Margaret Atwood and Dave Eggers, plus Natalie Moore, who will be presented with this year’s “21st Century Award.”