The Massie Twins recently had an opportunity to sit down with actor Seann William Scott to discuss his latest film, Role Models, which opens November 7th, 2008. Enjoy!
Mike Massie, Seann William Scott, Joel Massie
Massie Twins: So how is AZ treating you?
Seann William Scott: I love it here. My brother lives
in Phoenix, and he just had a baby. Well, he didn’t (laughs).
It isn’t like that Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. I’ve been
here many times. It’s really hot, but the girls are too.
MT: You have a lot of scenes with Ronnie
(Bobb’e Thompson) and he does a lot of swearing. Did you help
him out with that?
SWS: Probably the best thing I have in my bag of tricks
is to swear in a movie. Bobb’e’s really funny and reminded
me of Eddie Murphy in Delirious – like an 11-year-old version
of him. He didn’t need any help with swearing and he was so happy
when the cameras were rolling so he could just let go, because there
was a guardian there and he could kind of swear and say some inappropriate
things, but he had to watch it. And I had to watch it too because the
first couple of days I was swearing up a storm improvising and they
were like “Whoa, you can’t do that. There’s a guardian
here.” But I was like “So what?” Clearly they knew
what the movie’s about and they know what he’s going to
be in and then eventually the guardian backed off. But he’s really
talented. And it was humbling working with him – I’d go
home every day and say “Great, the 11-year-old is more talented
than I am.”
MT: So how much improvisation did you
get to do?
SWS: Probably for the first time since The Rundown
or the American Pie movies I got to write my own stuff and Paul wrote
his own stuff and then we just improvised. Most of the stuff in the
movie is improvised as far as our stuff goes. Some things were talked
about and made up as we going along developing the script. And I’m
not saying we improvised because we’re so talented, it’s
just fun that it seems to be working with what I’ve seen with
an audience. You just never know. Sometimes in your gut and in your
head it could be like this feels funny and people are laughing, but
you have no idea if it’s going to come together.
MT: So are you like Wheeler in real life?
SWS: No. But I think there’s probably elements of this character in most guys. We all chase girls. For me I like saying things that get a rise out of people and saying things that maybe don’t make sense just to see their reaction. And I knew it was going to be pretty similar to Stifler because they’re both kind of cocky, have a lot of energy, and swear all the time. But I wanted to add a little more color to it, so he wasn’t the jock jerk. I wanted him to be the guy who has these little simple wisdoms and you never really know if he’s just messing with you or if he really believes in what he’s saying.
MT: What was the process of getting the
part of Wheeler?
SWS: I had tried some smaller films and then the last
two studio comedies were Dukes of Hazzard and Mr. Woodcock and they
seemed like a good idea, and I’m glad I did them because I developed
some really great friends, but it’s important just like any other
business to be successful, and even though Dukes made a lot of money,
I think it was the worst reviewed film I’d ever done. I actually
got more pleasure out of reading the bad reviews than watching the movie
(laughs). I remember watching Vince Vaughn in Wedding Crashers and it
was so rewarding to see him go back to that Swingers’ character
and I thought I need to find a movie that will have enough elements
for it to be a commercial success. I think R-rated comedies seem to
be way better than PG-13 comedies, unless they’re just lazy. I
wanted to cater to the audience that gave me a career.
MT: Did you get to keep the minotaur costume?
SWS: Oh, I fucking burned it. I hated that thing so
much. Every time they said you’re doing the minotaur costume I’d
get so angry. It was so hot in there and I looked like such a jackass
I thought this better be funny because I’m like a clown right
now. They actually wanted to shoot the poster with me in the costume
and I said no way. I’m not going to be on billboards in New York
and Los Angeles and all over the country dressed like a damn man-bull.
Thank God we didn’t do that.
MT: We thought one of the most underrated
films of the year was The Promotion (read
the Review HERE).
SWS: Thanks! That’s awesome. I liked that movie
a lot and it only came out for two weeks. I read the reviews for that
movie and it was 50/50. Half the writers didn’t like it and thought
the tone was off and the director didn’t really go for it. And
the other half really dug it.
MT: So that was the 50% that had retail
jobs when they were younger.
SWS: Maybe that’s what it is. We all relate to
that. I worked at Home Depot, and it’s a little different than
the grocery store, but I do remember that same mundane terrible life
(laughs). Although all I did was walk around and make myself look busy.
MT: Did you really sell churros at the
zoo?
SWS: For two days and then I quit. It was the kind
of situation where the first day I thought I was going to feed animals.
But my buddy screwed me over and I was actually the churro guy. And
they showed me how to make the churros and how to do all the stuff,
and I thought what the fuck, I have a movie coming out in a few months,
I have an interview with Rolling Stone, and I’m the damn churro
guy in the L.A. zoo. The second day I was just sweating and angry and
making churros. I hadn’t seen any animals since I got there and
I just walked away from the cart wearing the big tall churro hat. And
I saw this gorilla and as I walked past it I got rocked in the back
of the head, and I looked down and saw this pinecone. I looked back
at the gorilla and he was tossing another pinecone up and down and then
he chucked it at me – and I’m totally serious here –
and I remember thinking about where I was at in life. And the gorilla
was looking at me and I was looking at him and we had a moment. I was
like “You’re right gorilla, I quit” and I threw my
hat down and walked out. And the next day I got Final Destination. And
it was all because of the gorilla. I don’t know if I believe in
evolution, but I know he and I had a moment together.
- GoneWithTheTwins
More Recent News Articles:
Stiffler is soooo hot!