Cake or Death's Groovy News

[from metro.us]

Eddie Izzard has quite the crowded business card these days: actor, stand-up comedian, political activist, marathon-runner, avid Twitterer. And with “Cars 2,” he joins the ranks of Pixar voice actors as Miles Axelrod, a Range Rover-ish entrepreneur who’s designed a new, environmentally friendly fuel, Allinol. The incredibly busy Mr. Izzard sat down with Metro just hours after arriving in L.A. from Paris, where he’s doing a series of stand-up shows. In French.

So, you’ve never really considered yourself a big car person?

I do like cars, but I’m not a car nut. I always thought, “Well I’m doing OK, I’ve got a bit of money, let’s get a stupid car, a crazy car.” And I started hiring a few, and nothing really grabbed me. I kept coming back to the Beetle or a Mini because they’re kind of cool, and they didn’t separate me. I wasn’t saying, “Hey, look how good I’m doing.” But having said that, I’d go for any type Jag, or an Aston Martin DB5 or 6 — there’s a five and a six, and I keep looking at them going, “What’s the difference?”

In this you’re playing what looks like a Range Rover.

I’m playing Sir Miles Axelrod, the … am I a millionaire or a billionaire? I can’t remember. All the positive side of Miles Axelrod has something Richard Branson-esque — or me-esque, because I was at some point studying accounting and financial management. And I am someone that, I suppose I have been taking my comedy around the world, and I’ve tried to do that in a very positive way.

You’ve definitely become something of a do-gooder in real life.

Yes, we’ve raised some money on the marathons. The positive attitude I like about business is like the Pixar model. You don’t have to be a rape-and-pillage business. You know, you can still make a profit. You don’t have to be an ogre. Just you have to work a bit harder at it.

How have you found balancing all the different work you do?

It’s tricky. I think if you just had a lot of films going — film after film after film — then you would just have to juggle those together. Instead I have a film, and then do France in French, and then maybe run some marathons, and then do something political in an election campaign. So it’s mixing things together that I want to do.