Skip to main content
Games Radar
  • Newsarama
  • Total Film
  • Edge
  • Retro Gamer
  • SFX
Total Film The smarter take on movies
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • More
    • PS5
    • Xbox Series X
    • Nintendo Switch
    • Nintendo Switch 2
    • PC
    • Platforms
    • Tabletop Gaming
    • Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • SFX
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsletters
    • About us
    • Features
Gaming Magazines
Gaming Magazines
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe from just £3
  • Takes you closer to the games, movies and TV you love
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12
View
Trending
  • Best Netflix Movies
  • Best movies on Disney Plus
  • Movie Release Dates
  • Best Netflix Shows
Recommended reading
Jack Black in A Minecraft Movie
Adventure Movies A Minecraft Movie domination continues, as Jack Black's 34-second solo becomes the shortest song ever to enter the Hot 100
Jack Black in A Minecraft Movie
Action Movies Jack Black's Tenacious D nearly soundtracked a film based on cult adventure game MediEvil, and one producer says it came "very close" to happening
Jack Black as Steve in A Minecraft Movie.
Adventure Movies A Minecraft Movie theater carnage has gotten so bad, Jack Black has had to step in
Matt Berry in What We Do in the Shadows
Adventure Movies Jack Black’s role as Steve in A Minecraft Movie was actually supposed to go to What We Do in the Shadows star Matt Berry
A Minecraft Movie chicken jockey scene
Adventure Movies In the wake of chicken jockey, new A Minecraft Movie screenings will encourage rowdy behaviour: "It's time to get loose, laugh out loud and belt out those lyrics"
The cast of Karate Kid: Legends standing together
Action Movies Karate Kid: Legends star Ben Wang on what he learned from working with Jackie Chan: "He's made 200 of these things, and it's like every movie is his first"
Jackie Chan as Mr Han, Ben Wang as Li Fong, and Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso in Karate Kid: Legends
Action Movies Ralph Macchio says Daniel LaRusso is "in a place where I believed he would wind up, even back in the day" in Karate Kid: Legends
  1. Entertainment
  2. Movies

The Evolution Of Jack Black

Features
By Sam Ashurst published 22 June 2009

Black's career, through the ages. What has he learned?

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Barry - High Fidelity (2000)

Barry - High Fidelity (2000)

Is He The Lead? No. He’s hardly onscreen, but Jack Black’s misanthropic music obsessive downloads every scene from under the nose of supposed-to-be-the-star Jon Cusack.

Skills Acquired:
How to be a film star. Black first found success on the comedy circuit with his ranty guitar act Tenacious D.

Fidelity was the first movie role to tap into Black’s innate ability to shout loudly about music. Not coincidentally, it was his breakout role.

Page 1 of 9
Page 1 of 9
Hal - Shallow Hal (2001)

Hal - Shallow Hal (2001)

Is He The Lead? Sadly, yes. Black buckled under the pressure to deliver in his first headline feature.

He’s desperately miscast as an average chap who expects his ladies to be perfect.

Skills Acquired:
Jack learnt the lesson that if there’s going to be a fat character in his films it should always be played by him.

Oh, and that he’s not a romantic lead.

Page 2 of 9
Page 2 of 9
Dewey Finn - The School Of Rock (2003)

Dewey Finn - The School Of Rock (2003)

Is He The Lead? Yes, in fact the part appears to be directly tailored towards him.

No-one else could play a music teacher bringing the power of ROCK to a bunch of kids with quite the same passion.

Skills Acquired : None, Dewey Finn is essentially High Fidelity’s Barry with a parking permit.

Page 3 of 9
Page 3 of 9
Carl Denham - King Kong (2003)

Carl Denham - King Kong (2003)

Is He The Lead? No, despite the fact he could probably have made quite a convincing stab at the title character, with some make-up, fur and a bit of pritt stick

Skills Acquired: None. Kong was Black's first fully serious role, but he played it so tongue in cheek you wouldn't notice.

Page 4 of 9
Page 4 of 9
Nacho Libre - Nacho Libre (2006)

Nacho Libre - Nacho Libre (2006)

Is He The Lead? Yes, he plays the title character, no less.

Skills Acquired : Nothing useful. Libre was yet another role tailored to Black’s shouty fat bloke shtick, he even serves up a song in one scene.

But sadly, adding wrestling and a silly accent to his usual routine didn't connect with audiences.

Page 5 of 9
Page 5 of 9
JB - Tenacious D In The Pick Of Destiny (2006)

JB - Tenacious D In The Pick Of Destiny (2006)

Is He The Lead? Pretty much. Along with his mate Kyle.

Skills Acquired: None. in fact, this is arguably a devolution, as after the disaster of Libre, Black fled back to a character forged during his stand-up career.

But it didn't exactly light up the box office either. Time for some indie cred...

Page 6 of 9
Page 6 of 9
Jerry Gerber - Be Kind Rewind (2008)

Jerry Gerber - Be Kind Rewind (2008)

Is He The Lead? No, but close. He shares the spotlight with Mos Def for most of the movie.

Skills Acquired:
Again, Jack is essentially playing Jack (and yes, he does sing – a hilarious rendition of the Ghostbusters theme tune).

The part is so Jack Black that if someone told you this was a videoshop set sequel to High Fidelity, you’d probably believe them. Still, it's brilliant.

Page 7 of 9
Page 7 of 9
Jeff Portnoy - Tropic Thunder (2008)

Jeff Portnoy - Tropic Thunder (2008)

Is He The Lead? No, Thunder was Black’s first ensemble blockbuster since King Kong. They were both set partially in jungles. Thunder was funnier.

Skills Acquired: The ability to use back-story – his character is a cocaine abuser – to explain why he shouts 90% of his dialogue.

Page 8 of 9
Page 8 of 9
Zed - Year One (2009)

Zed - Year One (2009)

Is He The Lead? Nope, he shares the screen with Michael Cera.

Skills Acquired: Hopefully he’ll take the key lesson from Year One that he failed to glean from Nacho Libre.

Namely, the more flesh Black flashes, the fewer people will be prepared to see the film.

Page 9 of 9
Page 9 of 9
Sam Ashurst
Social Links Navigation

Sam Ashurst is a London-based film maker, journalist, and podcast host. He's the director of Frankenstein's Creature, A Little More Flesh + A Little More Flesh 2, and co-hosts the Arrow Podcast. His words have appeared on HuffPost, MSN, The Independent, Yahoo, Cosmopolitan, and many more, as well as of course for us here at GamesRadar+.

See more Movies Features
Read more
Jack Black in A Minecraft Movie
A Minecraft Movie domination continues, as Jack Black's 34-second solo becomes the shortest song ever to enter the Hot 100
Jack Black in A Minecraft Movie
Jack Black's Tenacious D nearly soundtracked a film based on cult adventure game MediEvil, and one producer says it came "very close" to happening
Jack Black as Steve in A Minecraft Movie.
A Minecraft Movie theater carnage has gotten so bad, Jack Black has had to step in
Matt Berry in What We Do in the Shadows
Jack Black’s role as Steve in A Minecraft Movie was actually supposed to go to What We Do in the Shadows star Matt Berry
A Minecraft Movie chicken jockey scene
In the wake of chicken jockey, new A Minecraft Movie screenings will encourage rowdy behaviour: "It's time to get loose, laugh out loud and belt out those lyrics"
The cast of Karate Kid: Legends standing together
Karate Kid: Legends star Ben Wang on what he learned from working with Jackie Chan: "He's made 200 of these things, and it's like every movie is his first"
Latest in Movies
María Gabriela de Faría as The Engineer
James Gunn's Superman may be setting up The Authority movie with its enigmatic villain The Engineer
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
The Fantastic Four: First Steps gets a puzzling "first look" months after footage was initially released
Super Mario movie screenshot
Nintendo and Illumination are "working hard" on Super Mario Bros. Movie 2, with Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto saying the idea for the sequel is an "interesting" one
David Dastmalchian in Ant-Man
New Street Fighter movie continues to rival the '94 flop for unconventional casting choices, adds The Suicide Squad's Polka-Dot Man as eccentric big bad M. Bison
Amie Donald as M3GAN in sci-fi horror M3GAN 2.0
Blumhouse boss Jason Blum says M3GAN 2.0 flopped at the box office because they "overthought how powerful people's engagement was with her": "We all thought M3GAN was like Superman"
David Corenswet as Superman
Superman star David Corenswet isn't sure if his character "knows of" the "existence" of the DCU's Batman yet
Latest in Features
María Gabriela de Faría as The Engineer
James Gunn's Superman may be setting up The Authority movie with its enigmatic villain The Engineer
Sam sits in a bike looking across at a city in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
70 hours in, Death Stranding 2 is one of few open world games that justifies having such a huge map
Nintendo Switch 2
I can't use the Switch 2's handheld mode, so I'm hoping a Lite is on the horizon
Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl, and Mister Miracle as the Justice Gang in Superman
The Justice Gang explained - The non-Justice League in James Gunn's Superman may be influenced by team of classic DC supervillains
Team Fortress 2 characters looking at a map
I have 464 games on my Steam wishlist, 23 games in my Steam Summer Sale shopping cart, and I can feel my already overstuffed library giving me the side-eye
Heavy Metal Death Can demo screenshot
I got a nicotine rush and set zombies on fire in this PS1-style survival horror demo, and it's basically Resident Evil on a submarine
  1. Sam fires at the ghost mech squid boss in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
    1
    Death Stranding 2: On the Beach review: "This tarpunk delivery epic is more Metal Gear Solid than ever, for better and worse"
  2. 2
    Rematch review: "As with Rocket League, the just-one-more-game pull is magnetic"
  3. 3
    Tron: Catalyst review: "Disc slinging is a thrill in this gorgeous rendition of the series, but I'm let down by a time-loop story that falls flat"
  4. 4
    FBC: Firebreak review: "A disappointingly bland multiplayer FPS that's missing far too much of what made Control special"
  5. 5
    Dune: Awakening review: "Both extremely compelling and extraordinarily boring, sometimes at the same time – yet still a true Dune love letter"
  1. A T-rex in Jurassic World Rebirth
    1
    Jurassic World Rebirth Review: "An unscary sequel that needed a little more time in amber"
  2. 2
    M3GAN 2.0 review: "A bold sequel with a slightly underwhelming conclusion"
  3. 3
    28 Years Later Review: "Enough terror, splatter and suspense to satisfy”
  4. 4
    Predator: Killer of Killers review: "Great characters, thrilling action, and gorgeous Arcane-esque animation"
  5. 5
    From the World of John Wick: Ballerina review: "Brilliant action, even if the plot gives you a sense of déjà vu"
  1. Lee Jung-jae as Gi-hun in Squid Game season 3
    1
    Squid Game season 3 review: "A staggeringly excellent final season wraps up one of the greatest Netflix shows ever"
  2. 2
    Ironheart review: "A relic of Marvel's content-at-all-costs era"
  3. 3
    Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 review: "The show's most assured run of episodes to date"
  4. 4
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 8 spoiler review: 'The Reality War' is "a mix of the good, the bad, and the truly baffling"
  5. 5
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 7 spoiler review: 'Wish World' is "an exciting and ambitious" start to the season finale, with hints of WandaVision

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...