Will Arnett of Arrested Development fame stars in Let’s Go to Prison, a comedy film directed by Bob Odenkirk and co-starring Dax Shepard and Chi McBride. Arnett plays the spoiled son of a deceased judge who’s wrongly convicted of a crime and sent to prison.
How do you like going full on R-rated?
“I think it’s good. You definitely get a lot more freedom to do what you want to do. You don’t have to hold back. First of all, you can cuss as much as you want.”
And do you?
“Well, my character doesn’t really need to curse as much as Dax [Shepard’s] character does. I’m a little more refined, if you will, at least at the beginning of the movie. But it’s nice to be able to have that. Knowing that it’s going to be R-rated, you don’t have to sit there and think about whether this is too much or not. I imagine we probably could have made an X-rated version of this movie, even harsher.”
They’re not screening this for the media so does that mean there are big plot twists?
“Well, do you remember The Crying Game? It’s like that. You know, there’s a pretty sweet arc in it. There’s a pretty nice story that’s told. I don't know if it’s really ‘Who Shot JR’ kind of cliffhangers and twists like that, but it does go in a couple different directions.”
Don’t you want us to see your big film?
“Yeah, I think the thinking on that is the audience for this movie is going to be sort of the harder core. It’s a dark little movie and they wanted to kind of hold it until it comes out. Oftentimes when you see a movie that’s not reviewed, where they don’t let people see it, you think, ‘Oh, this is a real stink bomb.’ I don't think this movie’s a stink bomb in any way. I just think that they kind of wanted to let it just come out and people decide for themselves what they think of it. I’m a little disappointed because I’m proud of my performance in the movie and of the movie itself, so I wish that people had had the opportunity to skewer me.”
Is this your Shawshank Redemption?
“Yes. That’s a movie, right? Yes, without question. There’s a tremendous amount of Oscar buzz surrounding this picture. I’m excited about that. I’m trying to decide what I’m going to wear to the Oscars.”
Have you tried prison food?
“Well no, because I’ve never been in a prison. I’ve never been really incarcerated for real, other than when I served time. So I’ve never tried it but I’ve had some pretty bad food. I’d imagine it’d be the worst food of any institution you could imagine. Wouldn’t you think? There’s no real incentive for them to provide good food. What the hell do they care?”
What was the difference in shooting at the prison in Joliet and on a set?
“Well, even the collapsible set that we worked on was built in the gymnasium at the actual prison in Joliet. No matter if we were working in the cell - like right on the cell block - or in this set that they build, this cell block that they build, you still had to drive into the prison every day. You’d drive over that drop that they had where they could go underneath the cars. It’s almost like a Jiffy Lube where they step down and go underneath so they check under the car. Even though the prison doesn’t have any prisoners at the time, still didn’t have any prisoners in it, it was still maintained by the state of Illinois. You still had to drive into prison, go under that thing, get checked by security. And you’re driving into this really imposing old building. Prisons were built to be superimposing so that when you walked in, you always felt like the building, the institution was bigger than you and that you were just a small little thing. You never forgot, you were always reminded of where you were.
It’s not like we shot it on the lot somewhere in Burbank where it was sunny outside. It was still crappy Joliet, Illinois. But definitely being in the cell block, I remember the first day walking onto the cell block. We went to rehearse in the cell, you realized, you can’t believe how small the cell is and two guys gotta live there for potentially years on end. It’s pretty daunting.”
Does the trailer give away the funniest parts of the film?
“No. There are some great moments that are not captured in the trailer which is great, which I’m actually really happy about. It ended up really great in that way. And also the trailer doesn’t capture, there is truly a pretty sweet love story between my character and Chi McBride’s character that’s not there. I think that people will respond to it. It’s like oddly touching.”
You've also got Blades of Glory with Will Ferrell in the works. Who's Will #1 and who is Will #2 on that film?
“Well, I know I’m giving a long pause but easily Will Ferrell is Will #1. We actually have three Wills on that set because one of the directors is Will Speck. So we early on gave each other, we had to come up with nicknames so that we could differentiate between the Wills. I was A-Train because my last name’s Arnett. Ferrell was F-Bomb and Will Speck is The Inspector. That actually worked great. It’d be really funny when you’d see Will Ferrell getting directed by the directors or the camera guy asking him to move to the right a little bit as he’s adjusting the shot saying, you know, ‘Hey F-Bomb, do you mind coming closer to that table? Look, A-Train, we need you to come in a little quicker or deliver this line a certain way.’ That was always an added level of laughter.”
Is it more difficult to be funny on skates?
“No, it’s easier because it’s kind of goofy. It’s just inherently goofy not being on your feet. Especially when you do stuff that’s really bad.”
But how about saying lines while trying to stand up?
“No, I was okay with it. I had more experience being on the skates than any of the other folks in the movie, having grown up in Canada. For me it was a little bit easier to do that and I really relished that, having that advantage.”
Page 2: Will Arnett on Arrested Development and Keeping Busy
