Photo by Wendy Jones Fletcher
Har Mar Superstar
Issue #23
The musician-actor talks about why you’re sposed to look kinda dumb when you get down
By Amy Schroeder
Published: March 1st, 2005 | 3:06pm
How does a musician named after a rundown strip mall in his home state of
For Har Mar Superstar (a.k.a. Sean Tillman), the answer is self-confidence, the willingness to try just about anything, and a whole lot of “whateva” attitude.
Now living in
“I’m being taken more seriously as an artist, instead of a pop-culture character, you know what I mean?” he said in a December 2004 interview.
When you were working on the songs for The Handler, you moved into Mötley Crüe’s old apartment on
Yeah, I still live there. They’re coming over to take photos in it tomorrow. But I’m moving out in the next couple of weeks.
What’s the apartment like?
It’s like a shitty two-bedroom apartment that I want to move out of.
Did it inspire your music?
Not really. I can’t write a song in there, but it inspired me to leave every day because it’s a shitty two-bedroom apartment.
I love your dance-off scene with Ben Stiller’s character in Starsky and Hutch. How did you hook that up?
I just got a phone call. I guess the director, Todd Phillips, had heard of me and wanted me to be involved, so I just went into an audition. I don’t even think they auditioned anyone else for it. They just sort of gave it to me and let me run with it.
When the director called you in, did you just have to show him your dance moves, or how does that work?
Yeah, I went to an uncomfortable office setting and, just like any audition, I danced around to my You Can Feel Me album in front of a video camera, and then three people going, “Great, great.”
Nice. What was that whole experience like?
It was really fun. Everyone on the set was really great. Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller were two of the nicest people ever.
Did you do your own choreography for that scene?
All the moves that I did were mine, but we had definite sections where me and Ben got together with a choreographer just to make sure everything was tight and made sense and it was a real battle. So, yeah, all the moves were mine, but they were arranged by a choreographer.
I think a lot of men don’t have the kind of confidence that you have when it comes to dancing. Where does your confidence come from?
I don’t really know where it comes from. I’m not really self-conscious. I have confidence in everything I do.
What advice do you have for people who are too shy to dance or think that they’re not good dancers?
Get over it. Quit crying and pitying yourself. Go dance and have fun. No one else cares. There’s no panel of judges sitting there giving out some prize. I’d say just go out and do it. I think most people look pretty stupid when they dance, and that’s kind of the point.
I saw you perform a few years back. You had a lot of sexual energy and stripped down to your underwear. When did you start stripping at shows?
I got sort of hot at this show a few years ago. I don’t really do it anymore because people decided to concentrate on that too much. It just happens; it’s one of those things. I didn’t want to ruin my stage clothes because I toured so much, and I was broke and having everything specially made, so I just took it off so I wouldn’t have to wash it as much.
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