There’s a high probability that studios keep piles of generic comedy scripts like The Rocker sitting around in the vaults. They probably lay in stacks, divided up based on type, each pile with a Post-it note on top baring a hopeful casting suggestion; the stickie on the Sports Comedies says “Will Ferrell,” the note on the Cringe Comedies says "Ben Stiller," and while the one on the Rock Comedies probably says "Jack Black," fortunately for us in this hypothetical scenario, Mr. Black’s agent noticed a tad too much similarity between the Rocker and Black’s 2003 hit School of Rock, so this film was handed down to Office vet Rainn Wilson – who turns this fun, simple story into something fresh.

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Rainn Wilson's new comedy, The Rocker, follows the exploits of Robert “Fish” Fishman, a drummer for the '80s hair metal band Vesuvius. The film opens to find the group kicking Fish out of the band, just as they're about to sign their first big record contract and become massively popular -- leaving Fish to spend years working soul-crushing day jobs, and brooding about what could have been. Fish gets an improbable second chance at stardom, however, when his teenage cousin asks him to drum for his band during a gig at the high school prom, and the oddly matched group decide to make a go of it. In honor of The Rocker’s release, Wilson recently sat down for a roundtable interview with a handful of critics for a freewheeling Q&A about geek-cool, religion, and the upside of a rock star diet.

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