Paul Rudd Was Involved In A Terrifying Armed Robbery While Filming Clueless
In the 1995 teen comedy "Clueless," actor Paul Rudd was burdened with the tricky task of playing Cher Horowitz's (Alicia Silverstone) ex-stepbrother and love interest. But hold up just a minute; Rudd's character, high-minded wannabe environmental lawyer Josh, wasn't blood-related to Cher, the hapless high schooler whose hobbies include matchmaking and giving makeovers. The characters also didn't live together long as stepsiblings. Not that the odd family dynamics mattered all that much; Rudd did such a bang-up job convincing viewers that he was a dreamy Baldwin that most fans didn't walk away from the film feeling like writer-director Amy Heckerling was totally buggin'.
Heckerling explained why Rudd was so perfect for the role to Little White Lies, saying, "He's funny, smart, and a wonderful actor. You could see him giving [Silverstone] s*** but still being warm-hearted." Before Rudd charmingly bickered his way into becoming a bona fide heartthrob, he only had a handful of acting credits to his name, but he'd paid his Hollywood dues. On "Conan," the "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" star recalled sleeping on a few towels tossed on a friend's floor before upgrading to a bed bug-infested dumpster mattress when he first moved to Los Angeles. To stay fed, he filled up Tupperware containers at a nearby Chinese food buffet.
Even when Rudd landed his breakout role, his woes didn't end; he found himself in a frightening situation that was uncannily similar to one in "Clueless."
Paul Rudd considered fighting back when he got mugged
If you're up-to-date on your "Clueless" lore, you might already know that Amy Heckerling drew from real-life experiences for some scenes in the movie. One example is when Cher gets mugged at gunpoint in a parking lot. After handing over her phone and handbag, she pauses when her mugger commands her to lie down on the ground. While clutching the sides of her coat and showing him her dress, she says, "Oh, no. You don't understand; this is an Alaia." Heckerling told Interview that the scene was inspired by an anecdote about an agent who found himself in a similar situation, but with an Armani suit.
Rudd also became an unfortunate mugging victim while filming "Clueless." On "The Howard Stern Show," he recounted how he was about to get in his car when a man put a gun to his head. To prove to Rudd that his weapon as the real deal, the thief actually fired it. "He shot it right next to my head, where I felt it go through my hair," Rudd recalled. Because Rudd had no cash on him, he told the mugger to take whatever he wanted out of his car. The Marvel star considered trying to be a real-life superhero by smashing the man's legs with his car door but quickly concluded that this was not the best move. "I could've broke his legs, then he would have sat up and shot me," he said.
Paul Rudd's mugger took something important
In an interview with GQ, Paul Rudd remembered the surreal way life went on after his dance with death; he returned to the "Clueless" set the following day and had to shoot a lighthearted dancing scene. But he was able to find some humor in the scary situation. The man who had shot him had stolen his backpack, which contained one item of value. "[It] had my 'Clueless' script in it," Rudd told PopSugar. "I'm sure that the crackhead who held me up was thrilled to get the latest 'Clueless' draft."
For the PopSugar interview, Rudd was joined by his "Ant-Man" co-star Evangeline Lilly, who pointed out that the mugging would have had much larger ramifications if it had been their movie's script inside his backpack. "Marvel would have freaked," Rudd agreed.
The thief also could have made off with some other "Clueless" memorabilia if the future Sexiest Man Alive had stuffed any clothing inside his backpack. While Alicia Silverstone's movie wardrobe was carefully curated, Rudd told GQ that some of the apparel he wears in the film actually came from his own closet, including his Amnesty International tee and his University of Kentucky hat. But we're guessing Cher threw out Josh's entire wardrobe and built him his own futuristic closet after they became a husband-and-wife environmental attorney team in our "Clueless" sequel dreams.