American Reunion: Completely new world for the charactersAmerican Reunion: Completely new world for the characters. Producers Craig Perry, Warren Zide and Chris Moore have been with the American Pie films since day one and were determined to give fans another glimpse into the lives of the characters we have grown to love over the years. “Six years ago, I started coming to Universal every six or nine months to pitch some version of the movie,” says Moore. “Finally, the reunion idea caught on, and with the project greenlit, the challenge was to see if all of the original cast members would be on board.”
“One of the great things about the American Pie franchise is that it speaks to moments everyone can relate to,” reflects Perry. “We’ve come to know and love this specific group of characters because they’ve gone through situations we can all identify with, but the outcome with them is always much funnier and more outrageous. I think that’s the reason these movies have always been fan favorites and have become something of classics.”
The filmmakers agreed that the only way to do justice to East Great Falls was to ensure that the entire group returned for the reunion. Cast member after cast member jumped at the chance to reunite with old friends. “It’s hard to believe that we first met these characters 13 years ago,” reflects Zide. “It’s a testament to how beloved they have become that all of our actors returned to revisit these career-defining roles. I’m as excited as the rest of the audience to see them back together again.”
Once the American Pie family started to fall in place, the next thing the studio had to do was to secure a writing/directing team willing to take on a sequel in an already established franchise. “The issue with making a third sequel,” says Moore, “is that it’s hard to get people who want to come to do it, because the characters have already been created.”
Fortunately for the producers and Pie fans across the globe, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg were more than up for the challenges. In fact, they were adamant about getting the job. The writers of all three films in the Harold & Kumar series (and directors of the second one), Hurwitz and Schlossberg were chomping at the bit to re-create the world of American Pie while bringing their trademark stamp to it. Both admit that they have been die-hard fans of the series since their first viewings. They have lost count of how many times they saw the first film when it came out in 1999.
“There were a lot of youth comedies then, but they were all PG-13,” Schlossberg explains. “Jon and I always liked more outrageous comedy, and American Pie was the first movie of our generation that had young people acting and talking like young people in a real, risqué sex comedy. That was totally up our alley, and we loved it.”
Schlossberg and Hurwitz have been close friends since high school and have a shared sense of humor. Offers Hurwitz: “We went to high school in a similar time as these characters. For a lot of people our age, we feel like this was our high school. What we loved about American Pie is the ensemble. It felt like you knew each and every single one of these people, and we were able to connect with each character in a different way.”
The filmmaking partners believe that the secret to the series’ success is the balance of big, outrageous comedy with relatable moments, all experienced by real characters. Adds Schlossberg: “The first film had a bunch of really dirty things, and yet, while that’s happening, Chris’ and Mena’s characters have a love story. Tara’s character was consumed with her ‘first time’ and waiting until her boyfriend says, ‘I love you.’ That’s what high school is. You have guys obsessed with sex, but then everyone is consumed with relationships and love.”
“I get people who will say, ‘I’m the Jim in my group of friends’ or ‘I’m the Stifler’ or ‘I’m like Oz,'” adds Moore. “American Pie defined this coming-of-age in 1999, and that coming-of-age was much more emotional than just hijinks.”
It was only a couple of hours after the producers and Universal execs met with Schlossberg and Hurwitz that they decided to hire the two to write and direct the ultimate installment in the franchise. The producers felt that the partners were a perfect fit for American Reunion.
“I’ve known Jon and Hayden since they were in college,” remarks Perry. “In fact, they submitted their first screenplay to me by cold calling the first assistant director on American Pie and asking him to pass it along! I hired them to rewrite another project of mine a few years after they moved to Hollywood. So having them write and direct this latest installment of the Pie franchise is something akin to destiny. Their love and passion for these movies has come full circle.”
“They play off of each other,” explains Moore. “You don’t have that normal thing where the writer or the director goes away by themselves and comes back with ideas. They actually worked any issue out through the filter of the other. Whoever had an idea pitched it to the other one to get a read on it.
“We loved the Harold & Kumar movies, and luckily for us, Jon and Hayden were big fans of American Pie,” he continues. “It was a great marriage of two paths. We needed some new blood who were fans, understood the characters and really wanted to work on the movie. They understand situational comedy, and they trust each other. They can also separate, so you can shoot more because you have two people at different places working.”
The two men agreed with the producers that it was vital to the premise to get all of the main cast members and as many of the supporting players back as possible. They appreciated being given a template while also being allowed to bring new characters into the mix. Reflects Hurwitz: “Universal saw that we were legitimate, huge fans of American Pie, and so putting us at the helm was basically like putting the fans in charge.”
“You don’t see this usually,” adds Schlossberg, “especially when it’s been over 10 years since the first movie came out. You’ll sometimes see that on a television show where they have a big reunion episode, but in movies you rarely do. They’ll recast characters. To see the original actors playing those characters again is just a complete trip. It’s like you’re literally going to a high-school reunion.”
It was a bit surreal for the directors to see the cast together again for the read through. Although many of the performers had kept in touch over the years, they hadn’t been all together since American Pie 2. “This is their 13th reunion,” Schlossberg laughs. “Had they called us three years earlier, it would’ve been a nice, clean number. All of these characters who were in high school are now in their thirties. In the first movie, it was all teenage issues; this is a completely new world for these characters.”
As the writers crafted the story, they were challenged to find out who the characters were more than a decade later, and to give new arcs to their stories. “Last time we saw Jim and Michelle, they got married,” explains Hurwitz. “Now we see they have a child and are dealing with the issues that brings about-whether it’s a lack of closeness or, in their case, a lack of sex. Stifler peaked in high school. Back in the day, he was throwing the parties. Now, he’s a temp and getting yelled at by the guy he would’ve picked on in high school. He’s no longer in touch with the friends and is a bit lonely.
“Oz has become a big success,” Hurwitz continues. “He’s a sportscaster and has been on Celebrity Dance-Off. He has a beautiful-but-crazy girlfriend, but he’s missing the comforts of home. Kevin is happily married, but his life is neutered. He feels like a housewife who watches The Real Housewives and The Bachelorette. He needs excitement, and this reunion weekend brings that. Finch, well we all have that one friend from high school who falls off the grid and you don’t know if he’s going to show up to the reunion. Finch was one of our favorites. He was unique and could have had any fate.”
“He could have been the Unabomber or an Internet millionaire,” laughs Schlossberg. “We liked the idea of keeping the mystery of what happened to him-that he is this world traveler who has been out of the country for a period of time. Or at least that’s what our guys think, and that’s how he makes it out to be…”
Both men admit that the set was filled with unexpected requests. “I can’t tell you how many times we had to pick out women’s underwear,” laughs Hurwitz. “It all becomes old news, like figuring out the lid to the pot that covers Jason’s penis. We went to Jason’s trailer and saw a ‘puppetry of the penis,’ where he was putting his penis in different directions and smashing it, and we had to decide the right angles for the film.”
Related Link: View the Full Production Notes for American Reunoion
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