Hot Rod Junket

Hot Rod
Get Your Motor Runnin'
As a 20-year old unpaid intern, the chance to fly to Los Angeles for the Hot Rod press junket seemed unreal.

Even when I was there, I felt like I was floating in a dream.

I arrived in LA and walked around Rodeo Drive looking for celebrities. I overheard a 6-year-old girl say, “Mommy, I want to go to Dolce & Gabbana.” This was not Detroit.

I think I saw Brad Pitt with an Amish guy. I swear.

For the actual press junket, they put me in a room with four other journalists who were all easily 30 years my senior. Two were reading Harry Potter and the others were Canadian, talking about the greatest Canadians ever — I knew only a couple.

Isla
First up for interviews was Isla Fisher. As if I wasn’t nervous enough — she sat down right next to me. She seemed like the girl next door that she plays; her Australian accent only added to the cuteness factor. Spunky, sweet and beautiful, I was in love, although the seven months pregnant thing was kind of a turn off (maybe it would have been hot if that was my bun in her oven … so to speak). I finally mustered up enough courage to ask if her career had changed post-Borat. Not the best question. She gave me a pity smile, briefly answered and walked out of my life forever.

What was it like on the set?
It was a lot of fun, it was a boys' club in a way, but these guys are so friendly, I felt instantly welcomed. I feel like a few of those men have vaginas, and that made me feel at ease.

You mentioned that originally your character was going to wilder or funnier places, why the switch?
We went between various characters. Essentially, we wanted a funny counterpart for Andy and a way of explaining why someone like Rod, who’s emotionally sort of stunted and slightly special needs, was able to get someone like Denise. But in the end, they wanted someone for the audience to relate to, so Denise was the straight girl. And I think it actually works really well; it’s really charming, their relationship.

Was there a back-story to why she had the bad boyfriend?
No, that would be absurd. We weren’t doing Shakespeare, but whatever genre the movie is, you really want it to work to a degree, but you don’t want to look too closely at it because it would probably dissolve.

Is there something that you brought to the film that the boys warmed to or they appreciated in what you did?
I didn’t bake any cookies, if that’s what you’re asking. Girlfriend, I do not bake. What did I bring? I’d really have to ask them.

Andy
I was more prepared for Andy Samberg; he was way less intimidating. I had a lot to ask, but everyone else did, too! After touching on almost everything, I asked if they consciously tried to make scenes that could be played on YouTube. Not as bad as my Isla question; maybe I was starting to get used to this. Here are the highlights:

This is your feature film debut, what are you feeling right now?
No matter how it’s viewed by the public or how it does money-wise, I feel like it’s very representative of our sense of humor and the kind of movie we would want to see if we were moviegoers. It’s weird to have your face on a billboard, especially if you’re collecting unemployment two years ago. It’s awesome, it’s like, I used to be a P.A. driving up and down this street, and now I’m on it. It’s really bizarre, but at the same time it’s what we always wanted. We feel like everything from this point on is just icing, because we’ve got to do everything we’ve wanted — it’s just nuts.

How have the reactions been?
People really dig it. I’ve been traveling from city to city doing press and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. I was scared to go out there and have people be like, “Yeah, it wasn’t that great.” We’ve had people like, “Oh my god, you guys did it! It’s so crazy and silly, I laughed so much.” Just to hear people say that they laughed and they want to quote it, it’s the best feeling in the world. We’re huge comedy fans and to this day I’m the kind of guy that sits around quoting movies with my friends. To think that we could be that to somebody, that’s the greatest feeling there is.

Lorne

In walked Lorne Michaels and director Akiva Schaffer. The opportunity to speak to a comedic legend was too good to pass up, so I tried to come up with a brilliant question before someone else did. I asked why he thought the time was right for the movie. He rambled while never answering the question. The Canadians batted over questions for their countryman, while Akiva sat, arms folded, only speaking twice.

How did you feel about giving these guys all the freedom with the movie?
I think there’s freedom, and then there’s the illusion of freedom. Akiva had never shot a feature before and Andy had never been in one before, so there was not as steep a learning curve as you’d think. Once we had the cast, my bet was that it would be original, and not be like any other movie I've made or (is) coming out this summer.

Can you talk a little about Andy?
The show is like an early warning. You can tell — whether it’s Bill Murray, Adam Sandler or Andy Samberg, for that matter — how they are connecting to the audience and each time they are out there, they’re taking it to another level and they have confidence and poise. Each week they are getting better, you can see it on that scale before a movie studio would. For me, when I know people are on their game and there’s sparks coming off them, and you can see they are exploding, you can say it’s easier to trust that because you’ve seen it happen 15 times.

You haven’t been involved in a movie since Mean Girls, and there hasn’t been a movie with such an SNL feel … you could go all the way back to The Ladies Man ...
We seldom go back to that (laughs).

What was it about the time right now that made you decide to go forward with this movie?It was a script everyone wanted me to make and I just had to find a way into it that would make it interesting for me and I thought we could make it a hit. There’s also a big risk on this because I don’t think the American public knows Andy and at least half the people think it’s a serious hot rod movie, so we might get mangled in the marketplace, but I think our core audience will find it and they’ll spread the word.

Ian

Ian McShane was next, dressed in black and speaking with a British accent. One journalist was a huge Deadwood fan, and they talked about the show for 15 minutes, leaving little time for questions. I had one about working with so many first-timers — but didn’t get to ask it.

Was the relationship with you and Andy like Frank and Rod at all?No, I did whack him around in the fights, though. He’s delightful, we had a good time.

This isn’t a film people would expect Ian McShane in.
I got offered it right after Deadwood got cancelled and it’s better to laugh than cry, so it came at the perfect time.

Jorma, Bill and Danny

Last were Bill Hader, Jorma Taccone and Danny McBride. Entering, they spotted me, and Bill said, “Look at the young guy, must be pretty smart.” We joked around about our ages and how I had the same haircut as Jorma. They all gave me high fives as we talked about Nintendo and things from our youth, while the other journalists awkwardly laughed. They joked around and told stories most of the time. Seeing these guys from the movie acting like me and my friends do was very profound.

You guys got the chance to improvise quite a bit, correct?
Jorma: When they ring the bell and we all start making the “ding” sound — amazingly that wasn’t written. But then "cool beans" was in the script, so you can never tell with us.

Bill: But Danny’s dream and when he’s beating the shit out of that guy, that was really funny.

Danny: He said he was going to punch my dickhole in, and I don’t like it when people cuss. That whole fight was improv.

******

And on the image of my own dickhole being punched in, the junket was over. I started to reflect: I realized I was in LA, the land of eccentricity and social saturation. I was livin' it up at the Four Seasons, the land of mini-bars and mega babes, hanging out with Lorne Michaels, Andy Samberg, Isla Fisher and Bill Hader. You know, I’m not gonna lie: it was one hell of a nerve-racking weekend — but it was one of the coolest times of my life. RDW