From 'Putnam County' to Hollywood

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Since you're a musical guy like your character [who uses Def Leppard as his theme music], tell us what would be on your ultimate Ping-Pong playlist.
DAN FOGLER: I'll put some ''Pour Some Sugar on Me'' on there, just to get things rollin'. That's my warm-up song. I'm gettin' loose. Then when we start playing, we got a little ''Wanted Dead or Alive,'' Bon Jovi. [Hums] That's probably the ultimate karaoke song. It's off the Slippery When Wet album, which was also a huge album during my formative years. I probably kissed the first girl to that album or somethin'. Then out of nowhere comes ''Sabotage'' by the Beastie Boys. It gets the adrenaline pumping. I always put that on workout tapes. [Laughs] And I also have a million different short movies in my head that go to ''Sabotage.'' They're all directed by Quentin Tarantino. Then comes ''Back in Black'' from AC/DC. I used to put that song on when I played pool growing up in Brooklyn. You knew you were going to get beat...during that song. Okay, then we'll do some Red Hot Chili Peppers, ''Under the Bridge.'' I'm gonna be winded, so I'm rope-a-dopin'...leanin' back like I'm tired. But what I'm really doing is enjoying the song. I kissed several other girls during that song. Then on comes ''Sweet Emotion'' from Aerosmith, or the Black Crowes' ''Hard to Handle.'' One of those will get me to the point where I'm just like Ping-Pong Buddha.

Your next film in theaters is Sept. 21's Good Luck Chuck. Who do you play?
I play a chauvinist plastic surgeon, specifically breast surgeon. He's the devil on the shoulder coaxing Dane Cook into Caligula status with women all over San Diego.

Another interesting choice for a Tony winner.
I knew that people would come see this movie, because it's got a lot of sex in it, and it's got Jessica Alba in it, and it's got Dane Cook in it. I've played a similar character before, and you wanna hit it out of the park because you only get so many chances to make an impression. Also, the producers were a huge donor to my theater company, Stage 13, which I was trying to get going at the time. So I owe a lot to that movie.

Let's go through some other films on your IMDB page: You're supposed to someday play Alfred Hitchcock in a movie called Number 13, which would costar Ben Kingsley and Ewan McGregor.
That's something that's been in the works for a little while. It's a hysterical thriller. I would be playing Hitchcock in his 20s after making his very first feature. He's commissioned by Ben Kingsley's character, this flamboyant actor who wants to be the lead of this movie that Hitchcock directs. It's gonna be a great comedy, except when people view it, no one laughs. So Hitchcock owes all this money and he's freaking out. It's great because you see him when he's just a starving artist. Everyone knows him when he's in his 60s, just being all, [in Hitchcock voice] ''I'm a crazy weirdo, and I've invited you into my mind.'' It's a lot like Shakespeare in Love. Ewan McGregor would play the editor that Hitchcock hires, who starts to suspect him of murder.

You've also got the film Kids in America coming up with Topher Grace.
I'm most excited about that one. It feels like a lost John Hughes movie. It's set in the '80s, over the course of one night and two parties. These kids, who were sort of on the fringe of the cool kids in high school, are now in their early 20s trying to find themselves as adults after college. I'm Topher Grace's longtime buddy, who is a car salesman who models himself after Michael Douglas in Wall Street. He gets fired from his job and goes off the deep end.

Tell me about 2008's Fanboys — that sounds fun.
These guys who love Star Wars have been friends forever. It takes place in '98, before Episode I opens. They're huge fans of the first three films, which I totally am myself, and one of the friends gets sick and as a last hurrah, they wanna drive cross-country and break into Lucas' Skywalker Ranch to steal the first copy of Episode I so they can be the first to see it. I sort of embody both Han Solo and Chewbacca in this movie. [Laughs] Toward the middle [of the shoot] Lucas got wind of it, and he put his stamp on it. It's one of those lessons: If you build it, they will come.

Did you get to film at Skywalker Ranch?
I didn't. Only one of the guys, Chris Marquette, got to go to the ranch. And it was very secretive, he said. I think they blindfolded him and chloroformed him or some s---.