One of the films Klein’s been working on is “American Dreamz,” which he describes as a wonderful satire from the creative mind of Paul Weitz. “It's a satire about the world of an ‘American Idol’-type show, which is called in our movie, ‘American Dreamz.’ At this point in time, it's gotten so out of hand that the President of the United States is going to be a celebrity judge at the finals. Yeah, Dennis Quaid [plays the President]. And at the same time, the mujahideen [terrorists] figure out a way to get a suicide bomber into the finals to blow up the President. It's going to be pretty funny.
Towards the end I find the suicide belt and decide to put it on. So the movie's out there. It's so wonderfully out there. When I read the script I called Paul Weitz. It must have been at…I read it one night and I think I left him two messages on his cell phone by 8 o'clock the next morning. I finally got in touch with him and said, ‘Can we really make this?’ He goes, ‘Can we make it? We're making it. Money's in the bank. Universal's on board.’ I was like, ‘Great. I'm in. Let's go make this thing.’ So we made it this summer. It was a wonderful experience.”
Chris Klein’s Character in “American Dreamz:” “I play William Williams who gets dumped by Mandy Moore's character when she goes off to LA to get famous. I decide to go to Iraq. I come back injured, and her new agent decides that it's great television drama if she's dating a war hero. That it'd be great for her voting public to get her into the finals. So I go through that whole experience to find her sleeping with the producer of the show."
Chris Klein Shares His Thoughts on “American Idol:” “I'm not sure what to think. I don't know if it's lost some of the specialness of the first couple episodes or the first couple of seasons. I'm not sure. It's not something that I tune into on a regular basis.
I think that the one thing that it's great for is that it really sends a message to young people that if you work and if you persevere, your dreams of doing whatever you want to do can be accomplished. I think it definitely has that message to it, which is a nice message to send to young people.”
Chris Klein on His Other Upcoming Film, "The Long Weekend:" “I did that movie in Vancouver with Brendan Fehr. This is a funny story about two brothers - one that is flashy and has the good looks and the charm but is a bit of an egotist, and his brother who is shy and reserved and laid back. He ends up getting disengaged because his college roommate is f***ing his fiancée. And after that happens to Brendan, I move him into my apartment. I decide on his birthday weekend - he's trying to save his job as an ad slogan guy at an advertising agency and he needs to come up with a slogan. I figure that the best way to do that is rock him creatively by getting him a chick and getting him laid. So that's what we try to do, and we end up in some very funny situations. It's more of a zany womanizing comedy than anything else.”
