By BETSY PICKLE
Scripps Howard News Service
May 30, 2003

- Paul Rudd tried to resist, but he's changing.

"My dad was a Brooklyn Dodgers fan, and the New York Yankees, it was unheard of to even talk about (them) in my household," says Rudd. "But I live in New York, and in the last few years, because I just like watching baseball so much, I have to come to realize that there is no team more exciting - except for maybe last year's Anaheim Angels - to watch than the New York Yankees. They're just so good.

"I don't like it about myself, but I'm actually kind of getting into the Yankees."

It's eerie - as though Rudd is becoming his malleable character in "The Shape of Things." The film, which started life as a play, stars Rudd, Rachel Weisz, Gretchen Mol and Frederick Weller.

"Maybe the play just had that kind of effect on me and it's now filtering into every aspect of my life," jokes Rudd, 34. "I've actually lost 10 pounds for Derek Jeter."

In "The Shape of Things," now playing in select cities, Rudd plays a frumpy collegian who lets new girlfriend Weisz mold him into a new man, even though the changes create a divide between him and his old friends (Mol, Weller). The four actors lived in their characters a long time, playing them first onstage in London and then in New York before putting them on film, so Rudd was able to learn about himself from the experience.

"There are episodes in the play that happen because this character Adam decides one thing instead of another," Rudd says in an interview during a visit to Atlanta to promote the film. "In a way, it made me reflect on some of the choices I've made in my own life, and the outcome was, I was an idiot for doing that."

However, he accepts that it's human nature for partners to try to change each other.

"I think no matter what, man or woman, there's always that feeling of, 'They're so great and I love them so much; they would be perfect if it just wasn't for this one thing. If I could just change that, they'd be amazing. If they just dressed a little cooler. If they just listened to better music. If they just were funnier. ...' "

Rudd, who married longtime girlfriend Julie Yaeger in February, has played variations on the clean-cut all-American cutie in such films as "Clueless," "Romeo + Juliet," "The Object of My Affection," "The Cider House Rules" and even TV's "Friends" (as Phoebe's boyfriend, Mike).

When he looks back at what influenced him most in his formative years, it's comedy that's on top.

"The spark might have been those Steve Martin records," he says. "I listened to them all the time - 'Let's Get Small' and 'Comedy Is Not Pretty.' I would perform the routines in my bedroom. I never really watched movies or television shows and thought, 'I want to do that.' I just loved the idea, I think, in listening to those Steve Martin records: 'Wow, he's just telling jokes and talking, and people are laughing, and that's his job.' That just blew my mind.

"I don't think I have what it takes to be a good standup comic. I wouldn't want to do it. But I love (full)-out comedies. I did this movie, and I do a lot of theater ... I don't know why. It was never, ever my goal. ...

"When I was in high school, the only thing I was ever really interested in was improv comedy and things that made me laugh. It's a crazy and wonderful thing to be able to do 'Twelfth Night' at Lincoln Center and then also do 'Wet Hot American Summer.' "