Wheeler's assigned to mentor Ronnie, a foul-mouthed, wise-cracking kid played by Bobb'e J Thompson. And strangely enough, Scott said he had no problem cussing in front of Thompson, who was only 11 years old at the time they shot the film. "He’s a stand-up comedian. He’s got a foul mouth, you know? He’s like a little Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy, like the guys."
"But you know, we had to be careful," added Scott. "I had to just kind of do it without his mom knowing, and stuff like that. So I never felt weird about it. I mean, I know there’s been some people that are like, 'It’s kind of weird to be swearing to a kid,' but people do that. And that’s kind of the point of the movie. That’s what makes it kind of funny, is hearing a little kid swear and then adults speaking to a kid as if he’s 32."
In real life Scott does see himself as a role model for kids. "I could be, yeah," said Scott at the LA press junket for Role Models. "I was kind of a role model for Bobb'e, actually. Like, he has a genius mind. And the first couple days I think he really felt like he had something to prove. Then I just spent a lot of time with him, and then he let his guard down and he showed himself to be a typical 11 year old, 10 year old sweet kid. So I spent a lot of time with him and I tried to be a good influence. But I’m not the best role model. I am with my nephew, although when his dad’s been away, I’ve had him watch all the American Pie movies and Road Trip and Old School," admitted Scott. "I’m like, 'Ear muffs! Don’t tell your dad this stuff!' And he’s like, 'Okay, I promise, Uncle Seann. I love you. I promise I won’t tell anybody, ' so maybe I'm not the best role model."
The Appeal of Role Models
With Role Models, Scott returns to the type of comedy that made him a hit with audiences. Wheeler isn't Stifler (from the American Pie movies) but Scott sees a few similarities between the two characters. "I thought Stifler was, like, my swearing all the time. And [Wheeler], he loves…he chases women and he says inappropriate things, so for sure there’s a similarity there. But I think that, because he’s not that jock guy, he’s not really mean to anybody. He’s actually a very optimistic guy. But clearly just the whole kind of physicality of it, and just that vibe is very similar. But I had wanted to add something that just made him a little more irreverent. A guy who just kind of always tried to give advice to Paul that doesn’t really make sense. And just add a little bit more – you know, something a little bit different than the American Pie character. But I knew it was going to be similar and I was like, 'I don’t really care,' because I see kids out there and I’m like, 'It’s because of you guys I have a career, so I’m going to try to make you laugh.'"The kid Paul Rudd's character's mentoring (played by Superbad's Christopher Mintz-Plasse) is big into live-action role-playing, and both Rudd and Scott get roped into medieval swordplay. No spoilers here, but they all wind up dressing up as a famous foursome. But Scott says that despite what it looks like in the film, he wasn't really into the role-playing scenes.
"I didn’t think it was so fun, actually," said Scott. "Like, that was David – David [Wain] really did a great job. Because I remember being on set, I was like, 'This is kind of weird.' Like, 'You know, this is kind of a strange thing? Is it kind of goofy?' And he was so right because it’s such a strange world and there’s so much potential for comedy, or comedic moments."
"I had an idea. I was like, 'I should be the guy who’s like taking it too seriously and really crushing people,' but we didn’t have enough time to film that. But it was fun just to watch all these people."
Broadening His Horizons
In addition to reading scripts and looking for the right project, Scott's been busy writing both a film and a book. The book, A Year to the Day, is in remembrance of Scott's father. "My dad was diagnosed with cancer, so we ended up burying him a year to the day that he was diagnosed. So it’s just about my experience, and really honest," explained Scott. "This isn’t going to be Tuesdays with Morrie or Diving Bell and the Butterfly. You know, it’s not going to be as special as that. It’s just special to me. So, it’s just a personal little project."That said, Scott's hoping to get it published. "Yes, absolutely. I think it’ll be effective not only for me, but for people that suffer loss and go through those things, you know?"
"There’s never a good time to lose a parent and it happened, actually, five months before we did this movie. This was only just a year and two months ago. And so you know, it’s one of those things where you’re forced to grow up so fast. You look back and you go, 'Gosh, remember when I was 22, 23, and I was so naïve?' I had cares, but I wasn’t so stressed out. And then all of a sudden you end up feeling like Neo in The Matrix, where you see everything completely different. Like, you know, it’s almost like Tron. Everything’s gridded out and you’re looking at the world in such a different way. You almost want to get back to that youthfulness you had when you were a kid – you know, the summers were forever and days were forever. So, yeah, who knows if it will get published. At least it will be… I’m almost finished with it. It’ll be fun."
Page 2: On His Ice Fishing Movie Script
