TORONTO -- Zach Galifianakis had to skip the world premiere of his offbeat new dramedy "You Are Here" at the Toronto International Film Festival because his wife Quinn Lundberg was reportedly due to deliver the couple's first baby, and director Matthew Weiner says he's just sad Galifianakis missed a warm reception.
"I feel badly that he didn't get to experience the reaction to the film because I think people are going to be surprised and pleased that he can do all that," the "Mad Men" creator said in an interview Sunday.
"Everyone knows he's funny already, but that he can do all that?"
The "all that" Weiner is referring to is a tonal tightrope walk between Galifianakis's typically hilarious overgrown man-child performance and darker implications of a mental-health issue.
In the earnest dramedy, Galifianakis plays Ben, a paranoid if sweet-natured shut-in primarily interested in hatching conspiracy theories and smoking pot with his best friend Steve, a charming but empty weatherman portrayed by Owen Wilson. When Ben's father dies, the childhood buds become entwined in a conflict over his inheritance with Ben's sister (Amy Poehler) while rediscovering the charms of their rural home town.
It's the first feature film for writer-director Weiner, a nine-time Emmy winner who wanted to make it clear that he wasn't the one who leaked the news that Galifianakis and his wife were expecting. (The couple had kept the pregnancy a secret, similar to their fanfare-free wedding last summer in Vancouver).
But he's excited for Galifianakis to become a father.
"He's going to be a great dad," said Weiner, 48. "He's going to be the ultimate pull-my-finger dad."
"You Are Here" was shot in North Carolina, where Galifianakis grew up. So his parents became a fixture onset, a pleasant experience for Weiner and his crew.
"I could see he has a great family, and of course his mother is really funny ... and his dad is (so) gregarious," Weiner said. "It's a very loving family. I was kind of jealous."
And Weiner certainly understood why Galifianakis had to skip his film's premiere.
"I have four kids. I get it. I have a wife of 22 years. I get it. I understand it. And I admire that he wants to be there."
