The skating lifestyle comes to the big screen in the Warner Bros. Pictures comedy, “Grind.” The film follows the misadventures of four buddies – Matt (Vince Vieluf), Sweet Lou (Joey Kern), Eric (Mike Vogel) and Dustin (Adam Brody) – as they pursue their dream of becoming professional skaters.
Relaxing in the beach-like atmosphere of the W Hotel in San Diego, “Grind” stars Joey Kern and Vince Vieluf had a lot to say about working on this loosely scripted movie:
There was a big casting call for skater types to appear in “Grind.” What was the casting process like for you?
JOEY KERN: They started out on Monday shooting it, and I was cast on Thursday before. I was in New York and they saw a tape of another movie – “Cabin Fever” – that I have coming out. They cast me out of that. I flew in on Saturday morning, met these guys, and spent the weekend working on the character in the script and then we started shooting on Monday.
So you didn’t have any time to get prepared?
JOEY KERN: No, other than two days worth.
You read the script and jumped right in?
JOEY KERN: Yes. I enjoy kind of doing stuff on the fly. I find that sometimes you’re too prepared and get screwed up. This movie wasn’t brain surgery; it was fun. The main thing was they wanted us to just have fun all the time.
Vince, how did you get cast?
VINCE VIELUF: I was cast two months before the movie. I was the first person cast. The casting director knew me from “Rat Race” and so she had me in and I went and talked to the director and the producer. They told me that the idea was “Jackass” on the road. The script to me was real bad so they let me know that that was like the outline and that there’d be tons of improv. They were like, “We’re 40 year-old men who want to make a hit movie, so it’s up to you guys with the vernacular and with the humor.” I was like, “Man, skateboarding, freedom in the lines…” You know what I mean? So I was hired as sort of the Jack Black slob character.
Was there much of the original script actually used in the movie?
VINCE VIELUF: No, not much. Joey and I would definitely call each other every single night and not stray from the idea. The movie is seamless, meaning it’s not like “Blue Crush” with skateboards. There’s not a lot of exposition and s**t. The improv we did were just like all the bizarre talking about the heartbeats of elk and all that weird stuff.
How did the four main characters develop the buddy chemistry?
VINCE VIELUF: We were lucky.
JOEY KERN: That was the thing that I felt; the main thing that they tried to create on the set was just to have a good time. The more fun we had together and the more fun on and off screen, the better the movie would look in that way. I think that they kind of developed a system that really worked. We all get along really well.
Road Trips and Weird Experiences
