Kevin James Segways from TV hubby to movie mall cop

The former King of Queens rules the food court and beyond in Paul Blart: Mall Cop as Kevin James trades in his jeans and tee for a snug uniform and push-broom moustache to play the titular security guard in his first starring role.

After nine seasons as the put-upon everyman alongside fiery Leah Remini and hilariously off-kilter Jerry Stiller (a.k.a. George Costanza’s dad), James, who started his career as a stand-up comedian, has nicely transitioned to co-starring roles with bold-name talent like Will Smith and Adam Sandler. Now he’s front and centre in a movie he describes as “Die Hard in a mall” – mining laughs from a seldom-explored profession.

“I thought it would be funny doing something where I was wearing a uniform,” offered James while speaking with Cineplex.com in Toronto to promote the film.

“Almost like ‘CHiPS’. If I was even a motorcycle cop, I thought that would be funny, walking up like I’m a real bad-ass guy…not having real authority made [the character] even funnier. I started to think about auxiliary cops, like what kinda cops don’t really have the authority, and we thought of mall cops – it’s a tough job but no one really takes you that seriously, which makes it harder in a way. You have to enforce the law yet you have no weapons or authority.”

Paul Blart, part bumbling idiot, part super-serious law enforcement officer, bears the brunt of many jokes and jabs while doing his best to save his concrete turf, and new lady crush, from certain doom when a group of Xtreme-sports-enthusiasts-cum-high-tech-thieves launch a siege against his beloved New Jersey mall. James proudly revealed that he did most of his own stunts – a fear of heights ultimately proved to be too much – and found major laughs in one particular self-propelling electric vehicle.

“I did a promo for ‘The King of Queens’ where I rode [a Segway] and I thought this is such a funny vehicle and I found out that it just so happens that a lot of mall cops use these. They’re hilarious – it’s like built-in comedy. Some of them go pretty fast, though. You can get it going 12 miles per hour, which is really fast in a mall. I loved it. It was just very funny to me and I liked being out of control on it.”

But James doesn’t limit himself to silly gadgets in Mall Cop, fearlessly squeezing into ceiling ducts, throwing his body into solid glass doors or soaring into a ball pit for big laughs. The film’s penchant for physical comedy reflects James’ admiration for other husky comedians who used their size to bring on the funny.

“I’ve always been physical and into sports and stuff and then the weight got away from me but I just always had it in me to be active and to go crazy. That’s why I love guys like Jackie Gleason or Chris Farley or Belushi, you know? These are the guys you look back at and you go, man, they were amazing. They were like athletes trapped in bigger bodies.”

Not only did James face physical demands on the Mall Cop shoot, he also had to balance the duties inherent in serving as actor, writer and producer on a film.

“It was actually pretty easy,” he reveals with a laugh. “I [wrote] it with my buddy Nick Backay and we both kind of came up with the idea of how we were going to do it. It became very clear how to write this guy and it made it easier to produce the movie and wear all hats because we had such a clear vision of what we wanted to do. This movie was really, for me…I knew my voice was in there. And I was the most in control of this movie as opposed to other movies where you just go in and act and leave it up to the director.”

When asked if he has any plans to return to the medium that made him a household name, James insists he loves TV – and in fact prefers the hours – but is keen to explore the world of film for the time being.

“The next one we’re talking about working on is called Zookeeper, where I play a zookeeper, go figure. It’s got talking animals but it’s also for adults, which is good. It’s gonna be a little edgy but fun for everybody as well.”

Paul Blart: Mall Cop opens in Cineplex Theatres January 16.