Matthew Perry relives his childhood

Matthew Perry in "17 Again"

Matthew Perry is ready for his movie comeback. It’s been quite a while since the former "Friends" star has been in a major big-screen film. He did mostly television since 2004’s "The Whole Ten Yards." Now he’s back on the silver screen in a big way with the comedy "17 Again."

In "17 Again," Perry plays Mike O’Donnell, a bitter guy who's in the middle of a divorce and alienated from his kids. Mike believes his life would’ve been better if he hadn’t given up a chance for basketball stardom to marry his pregnant high-school girlfriend. Through mysterious circumstances, Mike finds himself transported back to the body of his former 17-year-old self in high school (the younger Mike is played by Zac Efron), and he gets a chance to know his kids in high school and reevaluate his life. "17 Again" is set in Los Angeles, where Perry sat down to talk about the film, what he would do if he were 17 again and why Efron once urgently called him while Perry was at a party.

How would you describe the Mike O’Donnell that you play in this movie?

I play Mike at 36 years old in this film, and he is miserable and very unhappy in his life, and feels he made some incorrect choices. He’s just sort of a bummed-out guy. When you first meet him, he is expecting this big promotion. And he sort of acts out and loses his job. And he’s just sort of at the end of his rope.

What does Mike discover when he’s transported back to being 17 again?

Leslie Mann plays my wife in this [movie], and there’s a scene in a backyard where he lets her know that he thinks he made the wrong decision in his life. It’s pretty harsh. And in going back and in getting to be a younger person again, through all the trials and tribulations of that, he realizes that he was the problem.

Zac Efron said he’d call you for line readings so he’d get your way of doing things right. Can you talk a little bit more about that?

I was at a Christmas party and he called me on my cell phone and said, "So I have to say this line. How should I say it?" So I excused myself, went to the backyard and gave him a couple of line readings. That’s a real testament to how cool a guy he is, because there are some people who would just not do that. He’s called me on more than one occasion and [asked], "How would you say this?’ And I’d say it. And he says it.

If you could go back to being 17 again, what would you do?

It’s very tempting to go back and be 17, knowing what I know now. I don’t think I would go back and do it all over again the same way. But knowing what I know now and go back, like Zac gets to do in this movie? I think so. I’d like to know that there was an escape route, an escape clause. "This is a bad idea. Let me go back." Of course, it would be very tempting [to go back to age 17], just so I could be the smartest person in the room, for like a second. That’d be nice.

What mattered to you when you were 17?

Not a whole lot. I wasn’t the smartest 17-year-old in the world. I liked playing tennis at that time. I knew that I wanted to be an actor. I liked girls. Pretty much all the same stuff that’s happening to me now.

Matthew Perry in "17 Again"

Was high school a good experience for you?

Yeah. I liked high school. It’s where I first started acting. That’s the thing. I wish I could go back, knowing what I know now. I don’t think I’d want to relive it [exactly the same way] again.

Did you know anyone who looked like Zac Efron in high school?

I certainly did not. [He says jokingly] Which is not good to say while promoting this movie …

What did you think of Zack imitating your mannerisms?

He did great. I’m embarrassed to say that when I first agreed to do this movie, I didn’t know who Zac Efron was. So we had a table read the first day, and I walked in, looking for a younger version of myself, which is an interesting way to walk into a room. The rehearsal process was really great. Burr Steers, the director, thought it was really important — and I think he was right — to have us rehearse together …

[Zac] worked really hard at it, which was really admirable … He could’ve come into this with an attitude, like, "This is my movie. I’m not going to imitate you. You imitate me." He did not do that at all. He’s a good guy.

Did you and Zac hang out that much off the set?

We didn’t hang out that much, but we rehearsed for two weeks together. We read through the script a bunch of times together. He just really rolled up his sleeves and got to work.

What was it like working with Thomas Lennon, who’s a real scene stealer in this movie?

He’s really funny. It’s a great character for him, too. He’s wearing Spock ears, taking himself pretty seriously. My character is sort of beaten-down by life and judgmental, so it was a good mix of the two of us.

Matthew Perry in "17 Again"

Did you relate to the older Mike O’Donnell in any way?

I did. The least positive aspects of my personality were in him. He’s just a guy whose life didn’t pan out for him, and he blames everybody else. And he’s just sort of unhappy, and I think that’s pretty good fodder for comedy. It’s certainly a good jumping-off place for the rest of this movie.

How was it working with Leslie Mann?

Leslie is really funny and really beautiful, and there’s not many of those [women] out there. It was really fun to work with her.

When you get scripts, is there something specific that you have as a goal?

That’s a question I get asked from time to time, and I really have a dumb answer to it: "Anything that’s good, that aspires to at least be good. Then I’ll show up if they want me to be there." This script [for "17 Again"] was a very moving story. People ask me, "Do you want to do movies or television or theater?" I don’t really care, as long as it’s something that aspires to be good, and you want to show up and make that happen.

Speaking of TV, what your thoughts about your heavily promoted "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" TV series that was canceled in 2007, after one season on the air?

You never know what’s going to work. That show not getting picked up for another year wasn’t from a lack of effort by everybody involved. We really worked hard on that show. I’m proud of a lot of it.

Do you prefer doing comedy or drama?

I like doing both. In this movie, there was an opportunity to do a little bit of both. That’s the best: when you can do both. I did comedy for so long, that it was nice for a couple of years to just do some serious stuff.

Were you ever good at basketball?

Never. That was the bummer that that was the sport that this guy [Mike O’Donnell] played, because I’m pretty good at every other sport. If it was hockey, I would’ve been good. But basketball is the one thing that I just suck at.