What it takes to be superbad: A one on one staff interview with the cast

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 17:38:00 GMT

By Emily Torres

Starting from left: Samuel Angarita (MLEC Student), Emily Torres (MLEC

student), Javier Mantilla (former MLEC student), Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-

Plasse, Bill Hader, and Michael Cera.

The world of glitz and glamour can put a damper on any teenage actor. Being swept away in the middle of senior year and having to perform like a nerdy student for thousands of people can influence your perception of stardom. But for Christopher Mintz-Plasse, he loved it and still acts completely normal. “The second half of my senior year changed a little bit. Like, random people came up to me and said; ‘you’re in a movie –tight,’ and people who I hadn’t talked to in five years came up to me and would hug me,” Mintz-Plasse said. Being cast as the nerdy kid in this summer’s movie Superbad directed by Greg Mottola has given him a new nickname, McLovin, which has fans intrigued. Jonah Hill and Michael Cera also play leading roles. Hill plays Seth, the foul-mouthed, impulsive and much consumed in the opposite sex kid. While Cera, his best friend Evan, is the sweet, smart and shy student. “We had such a great time, it wasn’t even like we were filming the movie,” Hill said. Superbad, unlike other teenage films, shadow the real realities of actual high school experiences. The movie takes place under one day, where Evan and Seth try to purchase booze with a fake I.D. for their crushes’ party. A night filled with cops, booze, and adventure will keep the audience laughing throughout. These actors are all young and still have the sense of what high school means. “Superbad doesn’t have the traditional high-school hierarchy that you see in movies,” adds Cera, best-known for his role as George-Michael Bluth on the television series “Arrested Development.” “Jonah had a good point – high school isn’t divided into the jocks and the losers… you might not be hanging out with the popular girls, but you know them, say hi to them, and are passing friends with them. You slip under the radar.” Jonah Hill can also be seen in Knocked Up and Accepted but has really enjoyed this movie. Many of the scenes, according to the actors, were improvised; they would make up a few scenes. This is where they had the most fun. One of the cops in the movie, Bill Hader, from Saturday Night Live, also loved improvising some major scenes of the movie. “The scene with the cops and McLovin in the bar was initially only a few sentences in the script but then we started improvising. Most directors would only use some of it but Greg Mottola would tell us to remember what we said. That whole scene made it in the movie,” Hader said. These young actors are still like everyone else; they admire other celebrities and don’t see themselves as huge celebrities yet. They enjoy their acting and see it as being normal and just hanging out. Surprisingly they still become nervous in front of bid audiences. “I still get a little nervous in front of big audiences. There’s different crowds so we don’t know how they’re going to react. But I get really nervous on a date, I don’t think I’ll ever get over that,” said Hill. Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse all look like regular people. They cherish their fans and hope that this movie is big. They believe that this movie will not let anyone down, from tears of laughter to bouts of seriousness; this movie can inspire any teenager to explore this movie business. “The worst thing to do in comedy is to think that your idea is the best. You need to be open to other ideas. In this business there can’t be ego,” Hader said. Superbad premiered Friday, August 17, 2007 and is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for pervasive crude and sexual content, strong language, drinking, some drug use and a fantasy/comic violent image – all involving teens.

The Harbinger

What it takes to be superbad: A one on one staff interview with the cast