Entertainment

AUSTIN – David Schwimmer has just stepped off a plane from Chicago, but he looks as if he might have run from there. A little disheveled, hair damp with sweat, it's not what you'd expect from a guy who made a fortune starring in one of the seminal shows of the '90s.

But it is what you might expect of a director who for the last year and a half has labored in London to make his feature film debut while shuttling back and forth to work with Lookingglass, a theater company he co-founded in Chicago.

The new film is Run Fatboy Run, starring Simon Pegg (who co-wrote the script) as a slacker who decides to run the London Marathon in an attempt to prove to his ex-fiancée and mother of his 5-year-old son that he's turned his life around. The comedy has already pulled in more than $24 million worldwide and could double that amount when it opens in the U.S. today.

Earlier this month, the 41-year-old discussed why this film was right for his first feature, whether he considers himself a full-time director and whether he finds himself catching any reruns of a certain sitcom.

You've directed a lot of theater and television, including episodes of Friends, but what about this film made you want to make it your feature debut?

As a director, I was struck by the challenge that I thought the script presented, which was that it was kind of three films in one. You had some great, big physical comedy, and I thought funny dialogue and characters. And then there was some real emotion to it with the relationship between the father and the son and the romance aspect. And then it turns into kind of a sports movie – kind of a comic Rocky in a way.

Did you ever consider playing a part in the movie?

No. That was one thing I was determined not to be convinced of. There were a couple of urgings, but I really just wanted to wear one hat. But I do have a cameo – I do have a Hitchcock in the movie.

Fitzroy Barrett / MCT

Director David Schwimmer, Thandie Newton and Simon Pegg at the premiere for Run Fatboy Run.

Do you consider yourself a full-time director now?

No, I don't. Almost everyone is asking me, "So, are you just directing now? Which is it?" And I'm like, "It's the same as it was 20 years ago, though directing a film takes a lot longer than directing a play." So it kind of takes me out of the acting game for a year or a year and a half. But no, I just finished acting in a film playing Kate Beckinsale's husband in this political thriller [Nothing But the Truth]. I love acting, so I want to try to juggle both.

So what's next on your plate?

I think after this experience, and because it was such a big chunk of time, I feel like I want to be even pickier on the next thing I do. I'll be reading something, and I'll love it – one out of 30 or 40 scripts I'll pick up and I'll go, "Wow, I really like this." And I'll put it aside for a couple of days, and I'll read it again and I'll go, "Yeah, I like it, but a year and a half like it?"

Ever catch an old Friends episode on TV? It's only on 25 times a day.

Every once in a while I'll be skipping through the channels and I'll find myself in the middle of one. And I think I'll stare for like 10 seconds at our hairstyles, but then I just kind of move on. I think I'll be able one day when I have kids to go back and watch and revisit and introduce them to the show. I think I'll probably take greater pleasure in that.