According to Larry Wilmore, accountants are indeed funny.
Wilmore plays the accountant to the eponymous Jerry Selbee in the Bryan Cranston and Annette Benning film “Jerry and Marge Go Large.” It’s based off a Huffington Post feature about a real life retiree who figures out a way to turn his local lottery odds in his favor.
“This story is about this guy that beat this thing with math,” Wilmore told The Knockturnal on the Tribeca Film Festival red carpet. “It’s a nerds winning type of story.”
When asked how he brought levity to a putatively humorless occupation, he pushed back, citing a counter example. “Jack Lemmon played [an accountant] in the ‘Apartment’ and he was kinda funny,” he said. “I was just working off of [Cranston and Benning]. The part was written funny. I had a lot of funny lines. It’s me just really reacting to Jerry being ridiculous with the whole lottery thing.”
More than just a funny movie, Wilmore characterizes the story as inspiring — especially during cynical times. “When I read the script a year ago it was in the drudgery of the pandemic. PTSD was already in full effect,” he said. “He didn’t just do it for himself. He didn’t care about the money. He included the whole town in it and everyone got to share. That was so inspiring to somebody not thinking about themselves.”