DANNY LEINER: Again, like Neil Patrick Harris it was one of [those things]. It was also something we really wanted. There was no good substitute because I didn’t want it to be like McDonald’s. Any big corporate entity would certainly have felt a lot different. White Castle had a great cult following and is just kind of a more ‘mom and pop’ feel. So we went to them, we were scared shitless. We were like, “Who else are we going to get?” you know, because I didn’t have a good alternative. We were actually thinking of doing a fictional place if we couldn’t [get White Castle]. Nothing was really popping. We just sent them the script. We were really careful, the producers made sure they got to the right person. Truth be told, they saw the merit of the script. Honestly, it’s a love letter to them. They weren’t too big where they had too many corporate concerns. It kind of was like a family-owned business.
JOHN CHO: Yeah, they’re not a franchise, I believe. I mean, I believe every one of those White Castles is owned by the family.
What was the toughest scene for you two to make it through without cracking up?
KAL PENN: He’s not very real funny. We actually didn’t have trouble with each other, I don’t think..
JOHN CHO: Some of the guest stars…
KAL PENN: We had a lot of trouble with the cameos.
DANNY LEINER: I can remember Ryan Reynolds. I was laughing but I wasn’t in the room. These guys were blowing takes.
JOHN CHO: Oh thanks, talk more about the blown takes.
KAL PENN: I also got yelled out a lot, which you’ll see in the DVD outtakes, during the scene at Princeton when we’re buying weed off the hippie.
DANNY LEINER: I loved that. You were laughing…
KAL PENN: I just couldn’t… He kept hitting my hand and it wasn’t scripted. It was so funny. He kept hitting it. And it gets a laugh with the audience, too, the second hit.
DANNY LEINER: For me it was just watching these guys with Freakshow [Christopher Meloni] and the tow truck. When he picks them up, and the whole pus thing. Chris Meloni was so crazy. Like he was totally in character from the second he got his makeup on and he would just freak these guys out. So it would be just like every time we did a retake and had to get back into the tow truck, they were like [laughing]. That was really just funny.
JOHN CHO: You were laughing – I think I heard you.
DANNY LEINER: I did.
JOHN CHO: We were in the studio and I was like, “Danny’s losing it over there,” and that was tough.
For those who haven’t seen the movie, can you explain that whole pus thing?
DANNY LEINER: In the movie, the guys get a flat tire in the middle of nowhere. And Freakshow (Chris Meloni) is the ugliest man alive with all these boils on his face. He picks them up and they’re driving, and he’s really into Jesus. He’s just kind of freaking the guys out. And at a certain point, Kal looks over and these boils are pulsating. Then they start oozing pus. [Kal] continues to have this whole conversation with John, and John’s like, “Dude, he’s a f***ing foot away from me. You don’t think he’s hearing everything you’re saying?” “Don’t worry, he can’t hear.” They have this whole running dialogue as they are 6” away from him.
JOHN CHO: That’s a pretty good synopsis.
They brought you up to Canada two weeks in advance of shooting. What did you do during that time?
KAL PENN: The movie sort of took place over one night so they needed to find the perfect pair of clothes. One of my pet peeves is trying on clothes, which is why I’m a shabby dresser because I just don’t. We must have each tried on at least 120 pairs of clothes. So that took 3 days.
JOHN CHO: You were the finicky one.
KAL PENN: Finicky?! It wasn’t my choice. It was these guys that wanted to make sure they got the right outfit. And I’m glad they did pick the right outfit. So, wardrobe fittings, rehearsals, put we also spent a lot of time just hanging out off the set because we didn’t know each other at all.
JOHN CHO: Yeah.
KAL PENN: And the first scene we were shooting was the last scene in the movie, so we really had to know each other well enough and also establish what happens in this story that we hadn’t shot yet.
Did you do anything special to bond?
JOHN CHO: Herbal bath.
KAL PENN: It was weird because remember that glass divider we got rid of after the first…
JOHN CHO: What are you talking about?
KAL PENN: Between the two tubs.
JOHN CHO: No, that’s weird. I don’t even picture that. I don’t understand spatially what you’re talking about.
KAL PENN: We did nothing special.
JOHN CHO: We did nothing special except we ate a lot. I gave vegetarianism a try.
KAL PENN: When?
JOHN CHO: Like, I wouldn’t have normally tried the veggie burger. That was a give and take.
