Neil Patrick Harris returns to play Neil Patrick Harris in the third Harold and Kumar film, A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas. The R-rated holiday-themed comedy finds that the best buddies (played by John Cho and Kal Penn) have gone their separate ways, but since this isn't just A Very Harold 3D Christmas or A Very Kumar 3D Christmas, it's no big surprise the two will get back together for further outrageous adventures. NPH is once again involved, and at the roundtable interviews during the LA press day for the Warner Bros release he said he loves being a part of these films. "I get to come in for two days and cause mayhem and then go back to my life," laughed Harris.
On the possibility of NPH getting his own spin-off film:
Neil Patrick Harris: "I’m always so wary of that being shark jumpy. I don’t know. It would be fun to do a whole movie where I was like an ‘80s blaxploitation NPH with guns."
On being approached by fans:
Neil Patrick Harris: "You know what’s funny? I find it amazingly funny that people know I’m in a relationship with a guy and we have two kids and yet super crazy frat guys are like, 'Barney Stinson! Harold and Kumar, dude!' I like that dynamic."
On Harold and Kumar starting the 'NPH legend':
Neil Patrick Harris: "Yeah, I guess it did because that’s the first sort of NPH-y discussion. It was sort of weirdly reverential even though I was such a mess in it and stole their car. They were still kind of like, 'That was cool, I guess.' The first movie I was really concerned about because the franchise didn’t exist back then. You don’t want to sign up for something playing yourself and then have a new writer come on board and change the tone of it and suddenly they’re making jokes at your expense. I just legally was very specific about what my specific content entailed, and they were super cool with all of that."
On his reaction to the whole 'NPH' thing now:
Neil Patrick Harris: "It makes me scratch my head. It’s funny. Yeah, I think it’s funny. I’m glad that I’m able to, while the NPH legend is carrying on, that I’m allowed to do other roles like Barney or some theater stuff or get to have people see me as myself as well, so it doesn’t seem like I’m trying to create some sort of façade. Does that make sense? I’m glad it’s a tangent and not the only way you’re seeing me, because then it might feel like I’m trying to overcompensate for something."
Did anything come up that was too much for NPH?:
Neil Patrick Harris: "Not really action-wise. I don’t like to be disparaging about my past roles. That’s the only taboo that I don’t like to cross. I don’t think it’s funny to have cracked out NPH talking sh*t about Vinny. I just don’t think that’ s funny."
"If you look back on the first movie, he’s very wistful about that whole chapter and regretful and missing it. I think that’s a funnier take than, I’m too cool for my past.' That’s just not my style."
Keeping with the film's holiday theme, what are his Christmas traditions?:
Neil Patrick Harris: "Our family always dealt with stockings, rather than having Santa come and fill the stockings on Christmas morning, that the stockings were slowly filled throughout the month and it was a trust thing to not reach in and see what was going on inside. So the stockings were slowly filled by everyone, which is kind of a cool tradition I think."
"I didn’t look. I actively don’t want to know. I would love, and I encourage my family, to tell me, 'Don’t look in this closet. That’s where your presents are.' I don’t want to have to inadvertently find a gift and go like, 'What the hell is - - oh no, that’s for me!' And then have to pretend like I’m surprised later. I won’t look. If I know where they’re hidden, I will not look. I love presents and I hate faking surprises."
On learning the film's choreography:
Neil Patrick Harris: "We did this in an afternoon in a recording studio and it was great fun. It’s really fun to do these things in a recording studio rather than having to do them live because you can embellish here and there and use funny weird references. You can riff if you want and see if that’s funny. We just angled towards what was funniest and cleanest."
Rating Kal Penn and John Cho's dancing ability:
Neil Patrick Harris: "Just terrible. But, thankfully, they were supposed to be terrible. That was intentional so they just brought them in in the rehearsal day at the very last minute for like an hour to figure out what was going to happen. But too polished was bad. Kal has a real fear of falling apparently. That thing they get knocked over at the end and fall out of frame, he had to fall into a big airbag thing that was literally four feet from where he was, and he just couldn’t do it without looking back. We had to coax him into trusting that he could fall back."
On Kal Penn's break from Hollywood to work in the White House:
Neil Patrick Harris: "I think it’s good for him. He’s following what he wants to do, right? They were kind of contractually obligated to do these films because the first one they signed had clauses that made them. They were going to make this movie last year, and then Kal joined up with the White House so they had to hold off until he was done. No, I think it’s important that you follow what you want to do whether it’s a role or something in your life."
On Kal's guest starring role on How I Met Your Mother:
Neil Patrick Harris: "It’s great. It’s the first thing he’s done as far as I know since spending two years in the White House, so he was oddly nervous. But he quickly got over that and he fits right in. He’s doing eight episodes this season."
On his partner David Burtka's involvement in A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas:
Neil Patrick Harris:"That was a little more massaging and finessing on my part. Originally he was involved in that first half of it and then he kind of just went away. Like, we had a fight in the dressing room and then he kind of skulked off. I thought it made more sense for him to have a powerful position within the dynamic, so it was kind of my pitch to have him be my dealer because I thought that was funny. Actually the studio was kind of weirded out by that, but they agreed in the end. I think it was a good call."
On the film's use of 3D:
Neil Patrick Harris: "I was impressed that they chose to film it in 3D as opposed to transfer it to 3D later, if for no other reason than for every shot they were having to contemplate how to make it impressive visually because the camera sort of demanded that. I think for people who are stoned watching the film, 3D’ll be dynamite. I think they kind of honored those visuals."
On where the fourth Harold and Kumar film should go:
Neil Patrick Harris: "Space... It’d be so fun to do cheesy wirework where they forced us to move in slow motion on weird green screen wires."
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A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas hits theaters on November 4, 2011.
