With more U.S. citizens interested in the outcome of a televised singing contest than who runs their country, the President's Chief of Staff decides the best way to get his man back in the public spotlight and reconnect with the populace is to have him serve as a guest judge on American Dreamz, an American Idol-like reality show.
The Timeliness of American Dreamz: Weitz said it's all very strange. "It’s almost too timely. Both the administration and American Idol do such a great job of parodying themselves that you almost can’t top them."
The Inspiration for the Film's President: What would President Bush think of his American Dreamz character? Quaid joked, "I don’t know... I just hope I don’t get audited (laughing). All I really can say is everybody is up for grabs as far as being made fun of. This movie the joke’s on all of us – not the administration and not American Idol – because more people vote for American Idol than vote in the Presidential Election. That’s what we’re all really into. So I think that’s where the joke is."
No Paula Abdul or Randy Jackson Characters: Weitz said he wasn't trying to copy American Idol. "Honestly, I was only basing Hugh Grant’s character on Hugh Grant. Like the character of a depressive, morbid but really funny, cynical guy," explained Weitz. "That’s how he is so it just was almost like a fluke that it ended up being like a cross between Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest. But the idea with him is that this character is too egotistical to have any other judges so it’s just him kind of projected up on screen judging the contestants."
Speaking of American Idol...: In American Dreamz Mandy Moore is one of the finalists, but in real life Moore says she doubts she'd make it that far. "I’ve never really entered a real contest before and I think I would have auditioned for American Idol, but I don’t think I would have made it too far," laughed Moore. "I don’t want to say I don’t know if I have what it takes but I think I would crumble under the pressure. Like watching every week I marvel at how these people who really have no experience performing, get up on stage and just own it and do their thing. I mean it’s shocking to me and that’s I think what keeps people tuning in each week."
Moore's an avid fan of the series. "I’m pulling for Taylor Hicks. He has my vote big time. I love him. I love that he’s original. I love his song choices and his style. He’s really soulful. He seems very unlike any other Idol contestant in the past."
Moore's American Dreamz co-star Dennis Quaid definitely isn't an Idol watcher. Quaid said, "I’m not an American Idol fan, I rarely watch it. I know who [Simon Cowell] is. Simon Cowell – he’s a personality. A smart guy, he knows how to play it. Hugh Grant plays [that character] really great."
Weitz on Reuniting with Stars from His Past Films: "Well it’s really nice and in this case also like it was a pretty crazy movie and it was good to be able to convince them all to do it," said Weitz. "But it’s also fun to have newcomers…I really like that. But it was very strange to have people from About a Boy, In Good Company and American Pie all in the same movie. It was like a weird dream that you have where everyone you know is in the dream."
Weitz says he really didn't write American Dreamz with specific actors in mind. "I did picture Hugh but the problem is if you write something picturing people, you can get disappointed if they don’t want to do it. But I just feel incredibly lucky. It’s really bizarre that all these people agreed to do the movie."
The Tone of American Dreamz: Weitz described American Dreamz as being more similar to American Pie than it is to About a Boy or In Good Company and says he doesn't consider this film to be a political satire. "No, I kind of don’t. In a way it’s more like a cultural satire. Actually, when you’re approaching subject matter like this through a comedy, it’s like you feel like you’re an idiot savant, like you’re using the vocabulary of an idiot – like idiotic comedy – to try and talk about real things."
Mandy Moore Shares Her Take on American Dreamz: "It's a very smart fusing of pop culture and politics done, I think, without too much opinion sort of involved. I think Paul seamlessly sort of blended all these stories with terrorism and this American Dreamz type show with the state of the country with the President and whatnot, and has sort of done it in a way where I don’t think it’s going to necessarily offend people. I think it’s just going to create a dialogue and get people talking. I’m proud to be a part of something that’s smart and really has something to say."
Interview Video from the World Premiere of "American Dreamz" - Play the Video
