WALT BECKER
What does it mean to have National Lampoon attached to the movie? How did they get involved and what is their involvement?
On one level, it's such a powerful brand it's going to help us a lot. I was doing these college screenings and was curious as to whether 17 year-olds would know anything about Lampoon. These were 16-17 year-old kids who have seen “Animal House,” they've seen all of the “Vacation” things and I talked to them about why they came to see the movie. They all said it was because it's a Lampoon movie. It means a lot for us in terms of giving us a chance in the market place. It's also kind of a standard that I think we need to abut. There's a little bit of pressure there, too.
What about National Lampoon's involvement during the filming of the movie?
It's interesting because when we started making the movie, it wasn't a Lampoon movie. The “Animal House” and the "Vacation” series were based on Lampoon articles and so Lampoon got into the whole producing gig like that. But with this movie, this is the legend as it's told to me: Somebody from Lampoon - just an assistant - had gone in and looked at a screening at Artisan and loved the movie. [National Lampoon] had been looking to do a movie for 10 years and [the assistant] ended up telling the bosses about it. Guys from Indiana flew out, heads of Lampoon, screened the movie and loved it. So they came in after - they'd been looking to do another Lampoon movie but they just hadn't found the right material. When we were shooting it, I never thought about the Lampoon thing and having to live up to, it was after the fact. For me, it was a bonus because I've grown up on the Lampoon movies.
There are a lot of producers listed in the credits of "Van Wilder." Did they give you the freedom to work or did they have a lot of input?
Most of them were pretty good. I mean, you always value people's opinions on the set. I think your job as a director is kind of to [listen] to the thousands of questions and comments that you get from literally everybody and just try to pick the best ones. In this particular instance, we all were pretty close and we got along. I've done other movies where I've not seen eye to eye on a creative issue and you just battle it out. Usually the best stuff floats to the top. I think as a director it's just your job to step back and say, “Okay, is this really a good idea?” even if you don't like the messenger. Sometimes you don't get along with some of the producers but is this a good idea, is it going to help the movie? If it does, then I'm all for it.
How difficult was it for you to relate to the collegiate frame of mind?
Not too difficult because I'd only graduated 10 years ago from college, and I was in there for six years. I could kind of relate to the Van Wilder thing. I'd actually known a guy who, when I went in as a freshman, was 30 at the time and he was still there when I graduated. The guy must have been 35-36, and he was the guy who planned all the parties and did all these things. It helped that the screenwriters were all in their mid-20s. We weren't that far out of college. I didn't feel too disconnected and we ended up putting a lot of our college experiences into the movie - but not the éclair scene.
You are an author, director, and screenwriter. Why do you think you were chosen to direct this movie?
They watched my first movie, which is still not released. It's going to be released after this, which is kind of bizarre. It's a movie called “Buying the Cow” that I worked with Ryan Reynolds on, which is the reason I cast him in this. They saw a clip of it that was pretty outrageous; it's kind of the same broad comedy. Otherwise I don't think I would have ever gotten this gig because I write adventure novels and legal thrillers; I'm all over the map in terms of my taste. I don't think they would have just put two and two together and said, “Hey, let's get Walt Becker to do this kind of far out, raunchy comedy.” It was just really off my first movie.
You brought Ryan Reynolds into this film after working with him in "Buying the Cow." Did the studio have someone else in mind for the part?
When I first read the script and met with the producers and the studio, they pitched me the top five guys at the time but I basically said, “If you guys don't want to do it with Ryan Reynolds, then I don't want to do it.” They watched a clip from the movie and just loved it. I just knew, in my mind, that he was the only guy who could pull this particular part off. He's got that rare quality, it's kind of a rogue-ish charm. In a role that could be very off-putting, he makes it lovable. With the wrong actor, you could turn off to that guy so easy.
This character is very off-putting. How did you help him make it lovable?
It was a conscious decision to watch that in particular. When he gives his speeches, we didn't want him to seem too patronizing and condescending. There were times when we actually asked ourselves, “Is this coming off? Is this just too much?” You almost want to root against a guy who is so self-aggrandizing. We always wanted to balance right on the edge. This guy is really flamboyant and he's really confident, that's his thing, without turning people off to him. A lot of it is done in editing. There were scenes where I thought this is pushing it too much and we just cut out a little bit. The other stuff is just Ryan being able to push the envelope like that but still make both guys and girls go, “I still like this guy.”
Is there any room for subtlety in a movie like this?
Yes and no. I think in a lot of it, the relationship stuff and the character stuff, you deal with some subtleties. There are some conscious efforts to layer in a few things. In terms of the comedy, it just seems like every year the bar is set at a different level and unless you are hitting that level, it's kind of like you are hitting this desensitization wall - like everybody has seen everything. It wasn't that we were trying to be grosser than other movies. I look back on “Animal House” and I heard people 20 years ago [talk about] the Belushi zit scene and the horse scene. I think that, for its day, was pretty raunchy. I mean that was like cutting edge. I think our éclair scene and a couple of other things are kind of cutting edge.
This whole movie is kind of over the top. Was it a conscious choice to remain on that edge the whole time?
We basically wanted to make the movie funny. When I hear it playing for the audiences and there are just consistent laughs through the whole thing, I'm really happy. I do think it has heart, too. In the end, I think you do root for those two people to get together. What ends up happening, especially in romantic comedies - or even not so much romantic comedies but comedies that are really just out there pushing the line - is that when you have romance, if you have a little bit too much, then you lose the people who just want to have an out-there good time. Conversely, if you just have an out-there good time, you turn the people off who want a little more story and a little more romance. It was the same thing I faced on the first movie I did, “Buying the Cow.” It's hard to find the optimum balance. That's why if you notice after the big romantic scene where things are calmer and it's all about the characters in the story then we have the gag reel which was a conscious choice - not just to say, “Hey look at all the funny stuff that happened outside the movie,” but basically it allows you to laugh again and get back to that same tone without getting too serious or sappy. It's amazing because you give them too much romance and people think it's too sappy.
What does Tara Reid bring to the film?
Besides a boatload of publicity? It's not the actress you would think of to play a conservative reporter. That's about as off-casting as you can get. Her motto is kind of like work hard, play hard. We just thought it would be interesting to take someone like that and switch her up. My biggest challenge besides dressing her down was to take her through that and gradually, as Van Wilder's character works on her, have her literally at the end of the movie let her hair down and learn how to relax and enjoy the moment and live in the present. That was the toughest part, starting off on that conservative thing. I was very surprised by how great she was. She was totally professional and I thought she was great.
Was there anything that was just too crude that you had to pull it from the film?
There are a couple scenes on the DVD that aren't in the movie that are actually pretty funny, but were cut for time constraints. We pretty much went about as crude as we could go and it's all in there. My thing with comedy is that it's going to be offensive to some people, somewhere. My theory is that if you aren't offending anybody in the audience, then it's probably not funny. We just decided to go for it.
