STIFLE IT Seann William Scott
Nov 07, 2008
The gifted actor ain't just a cocky macho fuck.
BY A.D. AMOROSI
In his newest film Role Models, Seann William Scott plays an overly confident, super positive, energy drink swilling goof who is good with the girls and his pals. That his pal here is a snidely un-happy sort (dry-icy Paul Rudd) and that the duo find themselves arrested at the hands of a court appointed youth mentorship program called Sturdy Wing (run by an hysterical ex-drunk/druggie played Jane Lynch), and undergo trials by wild fire filled with dollops of physical humor with a ditzy romantic denouement sounds familiar in Scott's cinematic catalog.
SWS, as he will continue to be known throughout this story, has been "Stifler" in the American Pie trilogy, "El" in Road Trip, "Bo" in The Dukes of Hazard, and "Chester" in Dude Where's My Car?: hits, all. SWS also shockingly stole films from Will Ferrell (Old School) and the entire cast of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back in his barely-there cameos.
In all these films, SWS has played a version of the cocky genial macho fuck he originated in American Pie and that he's playing now. That's he also been the bruised "Farley" in Mr. Woodcock and the cunning "Stauber" in The Promotion - solid, snarky films you don't know - means you've missed some of SWS's best moments.
With Role Models, SWS, at 32, is looking to find the in-between; the soft spot between the snark and the sleaze, the goofy and the giddy. With a script by Rudd, Judd Apatow's right-hand-man renowned for Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, and with quirky director David Wain (The Ten, Wet Hot American Summer, The State) helming this flick, SWS is in deep within that comic spot.
SWS is seeking to capitalize on both the goofy zeal of adolescent flicks and the smart dark humor of Wain and Rudd. Funny, then, that when we meet, his Identity Films production banner comes up (dryly humorous films like The Optimist where he'll play a guy without the gene for unhappiness who falls in love with a cynical reporter), as does his love of dire Danish films, before we get to Role Models.
After looking down at a biography left on a table by his handlers ("I think film companies get these from Wikipedia") his wide grin parts and SWS is talking about Danish fare including Open Heart and The Inheritance as well as brusque new American flicks like What Just Happened?
"Devastating stuff - really sad and remorseless," smiles SWS with his eyes wide open. "Sort of like Role Models," he laughs. "You know, it's that same sort of vibe."
His smile widens. You can't help but wonder if that's his trick - get a production deal based on those raucous boy-o comedies then spring Milk on them. Or become SWS's favorite, Eric Bana in Chopper.
"When I moved out to Los Angeles that's what I set out to do; hard drama," notes SWS. So to get American Pie and have it be my first film was a shocker. But thank God or I wouldn't have a career."
SWS even talks about having read a book and contacted the members of the family it involved with a French Jewish philosophy major and protégé of Jacques Derrida on his side. "I was 25 when I spoke to a producer about a book I wanted to option, Diving Bell and the Butterfly," says SWS ruefully, about the book about a deeply handicapped magazine editor that Julian Schnabel turned into an impressionist masterpiece. "That was my passion project. I still haven't seen the movie. Here I am trying to think up new curse words and there's this human selfless gorgeous book and movie around."
It's hard, according to SWS, to find commercial comedies that work. He thought Woodcock would be great, especially with Billy Bob Thornton and Susan Sarandon attached. Nothing. Total disaster. Fact is, a few smaller film distribution companies that he's done flicks for (like the Napoleon Dynamiteesque Balls Out) also croaked. "It was an R rated sports comedy fresh after Semi-Pro died."
But Wain and Rudd's Role Models is in-between; a big film cut from a small film's jib.
SWS loved Rudd's script - a totally and purposely derivative film that cribbed deliciously and darkly from Big Daddy and Wedding Crashers and allowed Scott's manic-panicked-positivist character to be smart, funny and flawed. That Wain's fascinating vision of court-appointed mentors and the children they'll deal gave SWS a chance to twist his usually identifiable man-child thing was just what the doctor ordered. "I didn't want it to be a rip of five other Apatow films and it isn't."
Funny thing is, SWS did feel like a thief in the temple, what with Wain and Rudd and their highly-developed revolving crew connections. But that worked for SWS. He improvised much of what the relationship between the two leads would be. Rudd liked the idea of The Odd Couple, according to SWS, so that rabble rousing banter became part of their dynamic.
"I felt like the new kid in school," says SWS. "Those guys know each other, so there's total synergy. But I loved coming in to create a character who was an odd take on my usual good goofball. I don't want anything to be a Stifler ripoff. I wanted to have it be more irreverent, more weird in a way that drives the character. I just didn't want him to be some irresponsible girl-chasing guy."
As it comes from the same studio that released the American Pie trilogy - with SWS's name on top yet - the 32 year old was looking to maintain part of his own status quo. But with a twist he hoped would pay off in the (back) end.
"The through-line in so many of my films is that my character's the dumb guy, cocky," says SWS.
"People like seeing me do that. It's not that Mr. Woodcock sucked. I just think people had more fun with American Pie and Road Trip. So Role Models is in-between those things. Look, it's such a strange biz. You can do a crap movie and you're shitty in it and it makes 100 million dollars. Then you get ten offers for ten more crappy movies. You just hope for the best."
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