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Up Next – The Further Adventures of Harold and Kumar: “The guys that wrote the first one, they wrote the second one. I trust them implicitly with their layers of comedy. Like the first one, if all you get out of it is that it's a stoner movie, then that's fine. But hopefully you'll see some of the subversive political elements of it, too.”
There have been rumors that the second movie won’t involve a trip to Amsterdam after all. Penn said, “Who says that we don't get to Amsterdam by the end? Similar to not showing up at White Castle five minutes after we took our first hit, we don't show up in Amsterdam right after wanting to leave. But I think we might get there by the end.”
The Return of Doogie Howser: Penn confirmed Neil Patrick Harris will be back for more road trip fun. Penn says a lot of people don’t get that Harris isn’t playing himself in the first Harold and Kumar film, he’s playing Neil Patrick Harris. “Neil, in the first one, is not playing himself. Neil is playing ‘Neil Patrick Harris.’ So if you look at credits, usually when actors play themselves...If he was playing himself, it would say, ‘Neil Patrick Harris...Himself.’ But it says, ‘Neil Patrick Harris, playing Neil Patrick Harris.’ So he's playing a version of Neil Patrick Harris.”
Transitioning to Dramatic Work: “When you study theatre, you do both. You do dramas and comedies, and it's just kind of when you start working in LA that people assign you to what you do. I think if you're a pretty blonde guy from Iowa, then you work on the WB for a couple years. If you're not, then it's a little harder to get your foot in the door. I think if you're under 35, you...not gravitate towards, but there are more opportunities in comedy to begin with, which actually is a lot of times different than your own career goals. If you know that you want to be an actor for the sake of acting, for the sake of telling compelling stories, then that's what you do.”
SPOILER ALERT – If you’re one of those people who like to wait until 24 is available on DVD, or watch it after taping an entire season, do not read any further. Penn plays a key role in 24 this year, and the following answers do give away his part of the plot.
Penn on His Character on 24: “You know, I didn't know they were going to kill me till I watched it. Because they shot...They don't...A lot of the scenes are not in the script. Like they'll do it later if they know it's giving something away. So in my script, there was no phone call between the two characters indicating that I died. I knew I got shot, but I was told that I got shot and sent to CTU, not shot and killed. So I was watching it like, ‘Am I going to work again in a couple weeks? No. All right, there it is. I'm not working.’"
Getting Involved in One of the Most Watched Shows on TV: Penn explained how it all came about. “During their hiatus I talked to them and met with them, auditioned and stuff for that role. It was awesome to work on. They're so brilliant. I mean, the people that shoot that show, obviously it's such a high caliber show. The way they shoot it is very interesting. They have their own like things that they put their camera on. Usually when you shoot a scene, you don't often shoot it from start to finish, especially if it's a 7 or 8 page scene. But because it's shot in real time, they focus on rehearsing all the scenes privately, just with the writers and Kiefer and the director and the actors - and that's it. They ask you how you feel about your character and whether or not it feels organic, and then they bring the whole crew in and you rehearse it for them and shoot it, which is rare. Usually things are shot in pieces. But I think that's what makes the show work so well.”
