Seann William Scott Interview

Emmanuel Itier: With Role Models, was there a danger when you first read the script and you saw the character that he was going to be too much like some of these other sort of coarse buffoons you’ve previous played?

Seann William Scott: That’s why I did it, actually. Yeah, I remember -– the first draft was very different. I mean, the guys, I think, worked at a beer company and the characters were actually too unlikable. They were too, like, frat-boyish. I didn’t think that Woodcock and Deuce really played to my strengths with the audience that gave me a career. I would never compare myself to Vince Vaughn, because I think he’s a genius, but when he did Wedding Crashers, it was like, wow. It’s so great to see him in that Swingers mode, you know? And I was just like, I need to find a movie that’s gonna make some money and that’s going to be funny and put a little bit of a different spin on a character that’s allowed me to have a career. So I wasn’t concerned. That’s actually why I went after it, yeah.

EI: What makes it different, do you think? I mean, there’s a lot more heart.

SWS: I think so. He’s just not a jerk, really. I thought Stifler was like…my swearing all the time, and he chases women, and he says inappropriate things, so for sure there’s a similarity there. But I think that he’s not that jock guy…I mean, he’s not really mean to anybody. He’s actually a very optimistic guy. But clearly just the whole kind of physicality of it and just that vibe is very similar. But I wanted to add something that just made him a little more irreverent — a guy who always tried to give advice to Paul that doesn’t really make sense, and just add a little bit more –- something a little bit different than the American Pie character. But I knew it was going to be similar and I was like I don’t really care because I see kids out there and I’m like, “It’s because of you guys I have a career, so I’m gonna try to make you laugh.”

EI: You don’t have many scenes with Christopher Mintz Plasse.

SWS: Yeah, it’s too bad.

EI: It looks like McLovin’ is gonna be a real defining role for him, like Stifler was for you. Did you have any advice for… Were you like, “You don’t want to just be McLovin’ forever”?

SWS: Well, he’s really talented. It was interesting because he was going through basically the same thing I went through, because this was his next movie after Superbad. And I remember after American Pie came out, my next movie, I think, was Road Trip, and that whole thing where you go out and girls are talking to you, and you’re just like, “Whoa, this is cool,” and you kind of know it’s only because you’re in a movie. He would come up to me like, “Was it kind of weird when people called you Stifler when the movie came out?” I’m like, “Yeah, it’s weird but it’s a compliment. It means that you did a good job.” I mean, how many movies do you see, that you don’t remember the character’s names? I’m like, “You gotta embrace that,” and I think he’s smart enough to know that he wants to keep trying different things, but you still kind of try as much as you can to find some movies that make some money which will create some freedom for you, and if that means that you have to do a variation of what seemed to have worked, then you have to do it. It’s a business, at the end of the day. But he did say, “Yeah, I think it’s pretty cool because I was in Santa Barbara and I hooked up with these two girls…” I think he said at the same time or whatever. Maybe it was the same night. And he’s like, “And I know they only wanted to hook up with me because I was McLovin’.” [Laughs]

EI: Stifler really never grew up. I mean, he was a character who never grew up and never changed. Do you feel very differently about this character in that, do you feel that he’s much more of an evolving character — somebody that people can identify with more readily than Stifler?

SWS: I think a little bit. I don’t know. I mean, he’s not like a stand-out in the film. Whereas in American Pie, he just kind of popped a little bit because he was just so different than the other guys, whereas in this movie, everybody’s so good. I mean, it really is a variation of the American Pie guy, but it does seem a little bit more –- it’s not as one-dimensional, so I think that if people respond to the movie like that, then it’d be pretty great that they were like, “Ah, I kind of know this guy, and I know that it’s never too late to grow up.” Truthfully, all I kept thinking about was trying to create little moments that people would quote, and just try to make people laugh. I’m not a Method actor by any means.

EI: You’re not a Method actor?

SWS: Surprise, surprise, right? [Laughs]

EI: In the rehearsals for this movie, was there ever any apprehension of cursing in front of Bobb’e [J. Thompson]? Was it ever shocking to hear him saying some of the lines?

SWS: No, I was always encouraging him to swear. No, he’s a stand-up comedian. He’s got a foul mouth. He’s like a little Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy…

EI: How old is he?

SWS: I think he’s 12 now, but I think when he started the film, I guess he must have been 11. Maybe he’s 13. But we had to be careful. I had to just kind of do it without his mom knowing and stuff like that, so I never felt weird about it. I mean, I know there’s been some people that are like, “It’s kind of weird to be swearing to a kid,” but people do that and that’s the point of the movie. That’s what makes it funny — hearing a little kid swear and then adults speaking to a kid as if he’s 32.

EI: What about working with Paul Rudd? Had you two worked together before?

SWS: We never did, no. I was attached, like, a year before and they gave me a list of guys to work with, and I was like, “Let’s go out for Paul.” And Paul was already big but not nearly as huge, because I think it was before Knocked Up and Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the Dewey Cox one, whatever it’s called. And we were really psyched to get him on board, and then he and I developed our characters, went through a real process of different writers, and then his relationship with David Wain was fantastic so we got Dave on board, and so we worked with him and came up with ideas and the voice of our characters. It was great. We didn’t really hang out that much, other than just going through the creative process.

EI: He’s got a writing credit on this. What did he do on the script?

SWS: I don’t know. He worked hard, though. He worked with David on it, but I never really said anything that anybody else wrote for me, although David wrote some good stuff too. But yeah, I think Paul wrote a draft of the script and then we got David on board, and David and Ken Marino rewrote it. So he definitely was working on it.

EI: Are you a Kiss fan?

SWS: I am now, actually. At first I was like, “Wouldn’t it be cooler if it was Rolling Stones?” and I realized that was David’s idea. It was such a great idea because at first I was like, “It doesn’t seem…I mean, it’s cool. But does this fit this guy? Would he be talking…?” And then I was like, “He was so right.” Not to mention just that moment at the end when we show up as Kiss, but just the one time that I relate to the kid with “Love Gun” — it’s so inappropriate and strange, but it’s so effective.

EI: When you saw yourself in the mirror with that Kiss makeup on, what went through your mind?

SWS: Well, it was really uncomfortable wearing those tight leather pants. It was like, “Wow. How did these guys do it?” It’s like, “Well, they’re making millions of dollars.” But I kind of liked the long hair because it reminded me of Lou Diamond Philips in Young Guns. I kind of felt like an action hero. [Laughs]

EI: Was it fun doing all that fighting in the Medieval scenes?

SWS: I didn’t think it was so fun, actually. That was David –- David really did a great job because I remember being on set, I was like, “This is kind of weird. This is kind of a strange thing. Is it kind of goofy?” And he was so right because it’s such a strange world and there’s so much potential for comedy or comedic moments that…there’s one I don’t really get. I had an idea. I was like, “I should be the guy who’s taking it too seriously and really crushing people.” But we didn’t have enough time to film that. But it was fun to watch all these people. We had real LARP people. It’s LARP, in real life, I guess, not LAIR. And so there’s real people that are talking about it and twirling foam axes and stuff. It’s like, “Whoa. This is a strange world.” I would do it if you could really crush a president with it. Otherwise, what’s the point? [Laughs]

EI: Will you ever revisit Stifler, or do you think that’s enough?

SWS: Oh, that was enough. After American Wedding, I knew when I did it, I was like, I just want to complete this character for whatever kid that liked it. I want to answer every question, and I just want to go out with a bang, especially after eating shit. What else can I do that’s disgusting? What’s the point of doing a movie if you can’t do anything else to top the last one? There’s nothing else to do.

EI: I know that last year there was a script floating around for Old School II. Do you know if your character was gonna come back for that?

SWS: Oh, I hope so. I heard that too, yeah, and I just thought, “They’re never gonna make that.” I mean, Vince Vaughn? It’s gonna be a hundred-million-dollar comedy. You know, Vince Vaughn, Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell… I wish, though. I should almost send the letter to Ivan Reitman saying, “Why don’t we just base it on Peppers? Let’s do Old School II just about the petting zoo guy.”

EI: Just two hours of the laugh.

SWS: Yeah, exactly. [Laughs]

EI: I remember running into you at an AMC theatre just hanging out. Are you still able to go to regular places and do that?

SWS: Yeah, all the time. It’s easier in New York. I spend a lot of time in New York, and people just don’t really care about actors out there.  I still am amazed how much people like American Pie, but people actually liked Rundown. I hear that more than anything. I saw it the other day with my nephews and I was like, “Oh, this was really good.” We were lucky to get Peter Berg early on because now he’s just a phenom. But yeah, I’d go anywhere, and also because of the character, I have a really interesting relationship with the audience because I play a guy that everybody knows. So I don’t play the cool guy. I’m not like Brad Pitt on a horse in Legends of the Fall, so people come up to me and they’re just like, “Hey, man!” You know, we feel like we’re friends so it’s really cool.

EI: What are you working on now?

SWS: Right now I’m writing a film and I’m writing a book, but I haven’t decided. There are a couple really great comedy scripts. I’m gonna try to do another comedy again. I tried some independent dramedies, and you lose momentum. God, I haven’t had a movie come out really, other than The Promotion came out for, what, two days?  I’d rather go back, and I don’t worry as much about being typecast.  I guess other than Jason Segal in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, where he plays a really different character, it really only feels like there’s the Ben Stiller kind of character and there’s the Vince Vaughn kind of character in most of these movies. It’s so formulaic. It’s so derivative. I don’t think I do the Ben Stiller rip-off as well as other guys, so in the movies I’m looking at with commercial comedies, it’s more like looking at things that would play to what I think people would like to see me do, and so there’s a couple really good ones.

EI: So you look at things from a business perspective more than from an acting perspective these days?

SWS: I think I have to. I think, at this point, a guy like Seth Rogen has had so many monster hits, he can do whatever he wants to do, and it’s because he really catered to what people want to see him do. He had his hands in a lot of the stuff and now he can do The Green Hornet. And so right now, I think it’s important for me to find some films that work and make money. I’d much prefer to do Eric Bana’s role in Chopper, something cool like that — some movie that I’d rather watch at home. But for me, I think after Mr. Woodcock and Dukes of Hazard and some independent films, I just need to do some movies that make money.

EI: …And that are good.

SWS: Hopefully good, yeah, but in the business, though, it doesn’t even matter if they’re good. If you’re not very good in it, you’re okay, and it’s not even well-received but it makes $100 million, all of a sudden you have a chance to maybe work with Sam Mendes. It’s weird.

EI: How do you look back on Southland Tales now? Because that was such an ambitious project as it started out. I liked it.

SWS: You liked it?

EI: Yeah.

SWS: I liked it too. I really appreciated what he did, and he took many risks with the casting — casting me and some other guys, and I just appreciate somebody doing something different. He put his career on the line and I appreciate what he did. I’m not quite sure if I know exactly what was going on in the movie, but I liked it. For a $15 million budget, it looked like a huge budget film, and he wrangled all these amazing musicians to be a part of the soundtrack. We’re actually talking about trying to do another movie together. And it was nice for me to get a chance to do something slightly different, whether people think it worked or not — just to be able to hold a gun was fun.

EI: With the rise of the mainstream-appeal, R-rated comedy, do you feel like there are a lot more options on the table now? Right after American Pie, it seemed like the genre was still veering towards PG-13, and now, with Role Models R-rated, do you feel like that opens you up a little bit more?

SWS: I think so, yeah. A lot of the scripts that I’ve read have been R-rated and they’ve been funny — way funnier than PG-13 films. I mean, it depends on the movie. There are a lot of R-rated films where it feels like lazy dialogue — you’re just throwing in F-bombs here and there, and people could make the same argument for this movie. But I’ve read a lot of really funny scripts that are R-rated because I think they seem to be really working, if they’re done right. It seems like they’re the ones that people seem to watch more and more, and it helps me out because I think it’s better when I swear. [Laughs]

EI: You mentioned the kinds of movies you like to watch yourself at home. What are you watching these days? What are you rediscovering?

SWS: You know, I’ve watched more foreign films. I love Suzanne Bier. She did After the Wedding – the Danish girl, I think. She did Brothers, Open the Hearts…

EI: You said you’re writing a book?

SWS: Yeah, just an experience about my dad — a personal project.

EI: Is it a nonfiction book, or is it a novel?

SWS: Well, it’s called A Year to the Day. My Dad was diagnosed with cancer, so we ended up burying him a year to the day that he was diagnosed, so it’s just about my experience — really honest. I think it depends if I rework it at all. But this isn’t going to be Tuesdays with Morrie or Diving Bell and the Butterfly. It’s not going to be as special as that. It’s just special to me, so it’s just a personal little project.

EI: Do you want to have it published? Are you looking for a publisher?

SWS: Yes, absolutely. I think it’ll be effective not only for me but for people that suffer loss and go through those things. It’s terrible. There’s never a good time to lose a parent. It happened, actually, five months before we did this movie, and this was only just a year and two months ago. So it’s one of those things where you’re forced to grow up so fast and you look back and you go, gosh, I remember when I was 22, 23, and I was so naïve. I had cares, but I wasn’t so stressed out. And then all of a sudden you end up feeling like Neo in The Matrix, where you see everything completely different. It’s almost like Tron. Everything’s gridded out and you’re looking at the world in such a different way, and you almost want to get back to that youthfulness you had when you were a kid – the summers were forever and days were forever. Who knows if it will get published. I’m almost finished with it. It’ll be fun.

EI: It’s cool that movies are still your reference for that experience.

SWS: Yeah, I can’t help it. I feel like that. I love The Matrix, actually, but you see how he looks at the world differently as he starts to open his eyes and his mind to it, and sometimes every little thing sticks out. Every little human moment now, after that. You almost want to get to a point where you can still have that in your life, but still relaxed a bit, and still really, like, alive. And we can’t be so heavy-hearted all the time.

EI: Is the film you’re writing also based on that, or is that a different one altogether?

SWS: It’s a comedy. It’s going to be a mockumentary. I love mockumentaries. When they’re done right, they’re really good, and I think, as a beginning screenwriter…who knows if it’ll ever get made, but I like the format. I think it gives you a lot of freedom. One of my favorite actors, if not my favorite actor, is Ricky Gervais, and I think what he did in the BBC Office is just incredible. I’ve seen every episode 20 times and I think the guy’s a genius. But I love American Movie, even though that’s a documentary.

EI: Have you talked to Jane Lynch about this? Because Jane is obviously very familiar with that.

SWS: Oh yeah. I’m gonna go after her. There are two ways I’m gonna go with it. I’m either gonna go after people that I’ve had a relationship with and really try to get them, or go with total non-actors and try to really –- although you guys will know about this now — make people think it’s a real documentary, because I think those are actually… We’ve never really seen…well, Office was kind of like that, actually — the BBC Office. When I first watched it, it was like, “Is this real?” Like, I knew it wasn’t, but it was like, “Wow, this is so good.” And if you have so many familiar faces… One character I’m writing for myself that I would like to play, I’m basing it on my brother. But I thought, “It might be better if actually you don’t have any familiar faces in it and people are just watching going, “Holy shit, this is hilarious. Is this real? These people are crazy.”

EI: What’s the general set-up?

SWS: It’s about ice fishing in Minnesota. It’s called Jack Pine Savages.

EI: Are you an ice fisherman?

SWS: Well, I grew up in Minnesota and so it’s just the strangest culture/community. It’s really the weirdest sport on the planet and it’s just about all these different people that are…it takes place in one week, called The Jack Pine Savage Days, and they actually have these festivals in Minnesota and Wisconsin. And it’s on Lake Winnebegosh and all these people need to win the money for one reason or another, but they all have shacks out in the lake. Imagine the Minnesota –- you think about Fargo, stuff like that. That dialect, that culture, you know? It’s really rich with opportunities for comedic moments. At least I think so. Maybe you’ll read it, you’ll be like, “What the fuck is this?”

EI: Have you completed a first draft yet?

SWS: Yeah, I’m close. I haven’t had a chance because I’m working on that and the book, and it’s one of those things where I usually rewrite my own stuff in these movies, but it’s not like I’m really rewriting. I’m playing “crazy guy,” so we could probably all play this character in this movie. But this is the first time I’ve actually written a whole thing. I like to write short stories, so I’m taking my time before I send it out to somebody because I want to make sure it’s good. Jack Pine Savages is a term in Minnesota and Wisconsin — kind of like redneck or hick. But they actually have Jack Pine Savage Days — this big icefishing festival, and it’s the weirdest shit you’ve ever seen. It’s awesome.

EI: How disciplined are you as a writer?

SWS: It depends on my time. I’m disciplined, but I just need to be able to sit down. I have a hard time relaxing. Once I sit down and write, then I’m just going and going. But I’m careful, though, because I want to make sure it’s good. It’s easier to write the book than the script, actually, I think because it’s a personal experience.

EI: Is it very cathartic, writing the book?

SWS: It is, yeah. It’s a little tough, though, but it is. That’s one of the reasons why I wanted to do it for sure, because sometimes you can’t even deal with it. The mind works in such a strange way, where you just don’t deal with it. You don’t allow yourself to suffer or to grieve. And you go through it, and you just keep going. You keep moving on instead of actually feeling the experience and thinking about it, and then letting it go.

EI: How surprised are you by your success as an actor?

SWS: I’m always surprised. I’m surprised I have a career. Ever since American Pie, I’m just blown away. But I’m really happy with this movie. I really love it. I think it’s really, really funny. Sitting in the screenings with the kids was like…whether the movie has flaws in it or whatever, I think I might even read reviews for this movie because it’ll be interesting to see what you guys think. But I’m just happy to sit in a theatre with an audience that…the kids are just laughing. Because I think it’s a good time to laugh. There’s never a bad time to laugh. I haven’t felt this excited since probably the American Pie movies. But I remember, I went out to Woodcock and Dukes of Hazard. I went to an audience. People are like, “Phhhh.” You know? It’s nice just to hear a big laugh. But to answer your question, I’m very surprised.

EI: Do you see yourself as a role model for kids?

SWS: I could be, yeah. I was kind of a role model for Bobb’e, actually. He has a genius mind. The first couple days, I think he really felt like he had something to prove, and then I just spent a lot of time with him and then he let his guard down and he showed himself to be a typical 11-year-old, ten-year-old sweet kid. And so I spent a lot of time with him and I tried to be a good influence. But I’m not the best role model. I am with my nephew, although when his dad’s been away, I’ve had him watch all the American Pie movies and Road Trip and Old School. And so I’m like, “What is it?” “Ear muffs!” I’m like, “Ear muffs! Don’t tell your Dad this stuff!” And he’s like, “Okay, I promise, Uncle Sean. I love you. I promise I won’t tell anybody.” [Laughs] So maybe not the best role model…