John Malkovich Gave Charlie Day From ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ This Advice for Acting in Commercials

John Malkovich taught Charlie Day not to be embarrassed about appearing in TV commercials. After all, Rex ate literal shit just to miss out on the billboard.

It should come as no surprise to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fans that, before Day became world famous for playing the delightfully dramatic Charlie Kelly, he was a serious and trained thespian who performed live theater at respected institutions such as the Williamstown Theatre Festival. In fact, Day first met some of the future supporting stars of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, including writer, producer and Rickety Cricket actor David Hornsby, at the respected Massachusetts summer theater. As such, even a massively successful TV actor and writer like Day is liable to end up starstruck in the presence of one of America’s greatest theater performers, if not embarrassed for how literally commercial his own career might be seen by the legend.

When Day was shooting his feature film screenwriting and directorial debut Fool’s Paradise in 2018, he had a formative conversation with one of his actors, the incomparable Malkovich, about the topic of maintaining the dignity of a true thespian while selling Mountain Dew or Tide Pods.

Said Malkovich on the art of commercial acting, “You don’t sell your soul — you rent it.”

Sadly, Fool's Paradise itself wasn’t nearly as worthwhile as the advice Malkovich gave his director and co-star. The comedy about a mentally disabled mute stumbling his way into a high-profile acting job wasn’t a worthwhile use of the many exceptional talents involved in the project. Along with Malkovich and Day himself, the Fool's Paradise cast list included Ken Jeong,  Kate Beckinsale, Adrien Brody, Jason Sudeikis, Edie Falco, Jason Bateman, Common and Ray Liotta in one of his final roles. Fool's Paradise earned a measly 18 percent approval on RottenTomatoes and even landed on many critic’s list for the worst films of the year. 

In a way, you can see how Day’s struggle to make a great comedy movie despite his A-list cast’s talents is a bit like one of those “hundreds” of commercials Malkovich has made during his nearly 50-year career. A paycheck’s always a paycheck, but even the best actors can’t sell a turd.