THE RETROCRUSH INTERVIEW WITH THE HAROLD AND KUMAR CREW

JOHN CHO, JON HURWITZ, AND HAYDEN SCHLOSSBURG

I had a great time sitting with the guys behind the eagerly anticipated second Harold and Kumar film. Kal "Kumar" Penn was unavailable, but John "Harold" Cho and writer/directors Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossburg gave us a fun and informative sneak peak into the process of making the film, and throwing bottomless parties. And hats off to all three of them for tolerating way too many questions to John Cho about his role of Hikaru Sulu in the upcoming Star Trek film. This is the transcript of a roundtable interview I was a part of with writers from The Sci-Fi Channel, Starlog, and some other pop culture publications at San Francisco's Wonder Con on February 24th. We should have the audio for this to share with you shortly on our podcast.

You guys are part of a great tradition of drug comedies. Cheech and Chong come to mind. Is that your intention?

JOHN CHO: I thought it was more, and the writers and directors here can corroborate this, but I thought they were making less of a stoner comedy than they were an Odd Couple/buddy comedy.

More like an Abbott and Costello or Laurel and Hardy type of thing.

JON HORWITZ: Yeah, obviously with the Cheech and Chong thing, we're honored when people compare it, in any sort of way. But one of the things we enjoyed about creating Harold and Kumar was these are guys who are just everyday kind of guys. They happen to be Asian and Indian Americans. They happen to be stoners. Both of those traits play a large role in the films. We just feel like they're everymen.

HAYDEN: One thing that was interesting, that we didn't know about Cheech and Chong until after we made this movie, was that they were really popular before their movies came out. They had a comedy albums and they knew each other. Harold and Kumar was our brainchild and John Cho and Kal Penn didn't know each other until we made the first movie. The sequel is really the first time that you have that built in fan base, whereas the first movie didn't have that fan base that the original Cheech and Chong had.

How amused was White Castle when you guys went through that?

JON HORWITZ: They were thrilled. The funny thing is that when we were filming it we wanted it to be a movie that took place in the real world. And McDonald's and places like that, you could find one on every street corner. So when we picked White Castle, we weren't aware that they were a family owned business, so they didn't have to go through a lot of red tape. All of the White Castles on the east coast are owned by one family, so it was really just a public relations guy who reads the script and he was like "this is a goldmine for us." They were thrilled and they jumped on board. And have been supportive ever since.

JOHN CHO: We're in the White Castle Hall of Fame. And I'd like to point out that none of you are.

I wanted to ask about the new opportunities that this film presented for all three of you.

JOHN CHO: Yeah, you mean in terms of what it was like to make this second one? The primary thing about the first one is that Kal and I didn't know each other, we worked on getting to know each other as soon as possible. This one, we had the advantage of being friends. It was just really easy, and I felt that we could focus on making the funniest movie possible.

Speaking of other opportunities, I know we're here to talk about (Harold and Kumar) but can you talk about Star Trek a little bit? I'm sure you're sick of those questions, but that's kind of an iconic character and an iconic actor playing that character. You have to make it your own, so how do you approach that?

JOHN CHO: Well...I think the trick is to...and what everyone involved in the movie is trying to do, what I'm trying to do, is to pay homage to my predecessor and to create something new at the same time. I won't bore you with the particulars, nor can I speak about them (laughs), for fear of legal indemnity, but hopefully we're succeeding.

You're stepping in the shoes of someone who was a role model for Asian American actors. That's a lot of responsibility.

JOHN CHO: Yeah, although I always thought that Leonard Nimoy was the real Asian on the show (laughs). But those are big shoes. I had lunch with George before we started filming. I wrote him a letter and we met, he gave me what amounted to a blessing. In his typically classy way, and I told him I was nervous and he said, "Relax, pretty soon people are going to me as the guy who played the old version of John Cho!"

Was it weird being in the outfit and the boots and all that?

JOHN CHO: Ummm...it feels unbelievable. I can't tell you how cool it feels to put on the outfit, look at yourself in the mirror, and go "Holy Shit!" And then take yourself in your outfit and go to the Enterprise. You're looking around and you're on the bridge of The Enterprise. It's crazy. It's really insane.

Were you a fan of the original series?

JOHN CHO: Yeah, I was a casual fan. It was already old by the time I came to The United States. Star Wars was the thing that came out when I was here. I was a big fan of that, but as I got older and started watching it on the tube, I was a fan. It was different from anything anyone was doing. It seemed to be such a true sci-fi show in that it dealt with present day issues using sci-fi. It was so literary, you know?

Is that what this film (Harold and Kumar) is like?

EVERYONE LAUGHS

retroCRUSH: There's so many comedy sequels that you feel have just been crammed down your throat, and the audiences really don't want them. You know these Part 2, 3, and 4's that just go direct to DVD, you know these series, without naming names.

JOHN CHO: American Pie (EVERYONE LAUGHS)

retroCRUSH: But Harold and Kumar, that was such a well received movie. And it seems, like from talking to my friends even, they're like, "Wow I can't wait to see the new one!" What's it like going to the sequel knowing that there's actually a rabid demand for it, as opposed to just "Well the studio made us."

JON HURWITZ: Well, it feels really good. It was one of those thing where, when we made the first movie, and we tested the first movie, and I remember we were sitting in the audience, and 2-3 minutes in we were looking at each other like, "Wow, people are reacting the way we did to comedies that we loved." There were all these expectations and people thought we'd do a sequel right away. In fact, they commissioned us to write a sequel before the first movie came out, because they thought it was going to be this huge breakout hit. Unfortunately, it was a moderate success at the box office, but not something that made sense to them to immediately do a sequel. So it was really depressing, frankly, at first. We were all really pumped up. We thought that we had made something that was connecting with people and everyone's like "No, you can't do a sequel now." We were there the whole time saying "Trust us! We just got out of college and everyone buys DVDs. You're gonna see. You guys don't know what you're talking about. You're going to come back to us."

And they came back to us a year later and said, "Ok, we'll make a straight to DVD sequel!" And we're like, "No, cause that's not what the fans want to see. They want to see them back on the big screen." So as more time went on, and the studio made more money, and the fans really showed their support for the film, the studio came back to us and said "We'll do it!" We felt like we were winning the lottery. It was like an opportunity to right a past wrong.

HAYDEN: It's great, because it's definitely a movie to see on DVD to watch over and over again, but it's a really fun movie to see in the theater because of the audience reaction. It's like going to a Rocky Horror Picture Show. When Neil Patrick Harris shows up, just the crowd reaction, it's priceless. And for us, these guys, Harold and Kumar the characters, are for us like the South Park characters are for Trey Parker and Matt Stone. These are characters that we fell we know how to write and we can have them go to JC Penney, and it'll be funny, you know? So we definitely try to come up with a story that's really interesting and has different levels, but we're up to keep doing it as long as the fans keep showing support.

Regarding using Neil Patrick Harris in the film, the first film came out before Neil Patrick Harris became...

JON HURWITZ: Before he became gay? (laughs) One of the things about the sequel, that was really important to us was to have it take place immediately after the first movie. We loved the movies in the '80s whenever that happened. The end of the first script of Harold and Kumar said "To Be Continued in Harold and Kumar Go To Amsterdam" we already wanted to do a sequel. So it takes place the next day. So it wasn't all of the sudden going to be a different character. But that being said, Neil Patrick Harris isn't playing the real Neil Patrick Harris, he's playing a version of himself in this slight alternate universe. It's fun because he embraces it and we have him do such crazy and ridiculous things. In the first movie he snorts cocaine off a stripper's ass, and in the sequel we had to amp things up and give you some more.

HADYEN: I don't think our Neil would do any gay stuff (laughs). I'm not saying he's homophobic Neil, but that's not his scene. For us, Neil and White Castle were the two leaps of faith that we had. I mean we thought they would do it, what else are they doing, but for Neil...we knew he was a great actor but it would be good for them, and for White Castle, to be immortalized. We felt logically that they would do it, and we wrote the part hoping he'd do it, but we didn't realize how much he'd go for it.

JON HURWITZ: And we were lucky. Neil at the time was getting major critical acclaim on Broadway and we knew what a talented actor he was. Our hope was that he would take the words that we wrote and just elevate it. He went through the roof with the work that he did.

It kind of rejuvenated his career, and he got the TV show right after it.

JON HURWITZ: Yeah and it's well earned, he's the best.

John, what were you talking about in the first one, you and Kal just getting to know each other. Now do you find it difficult, knowing him so well, when you have to yell at him when he pisses you off.

JON HURWITZ: You have to piss each other off, otherwise you're not real friends, you're just acquaintances.

Can you talk about coining the word "MILF"?

JOHN CHO: I thought you were talking about the word "ostentatious". Yeah that was weird. Somebody wrote it, and I said it, and I remember seeing it come through the fax machine, and going, "What?"

JON HURWITZ: He had already got the domain MILFHUNTER.COM, so he went to Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz, and let's just use this word "MILF" and he's extremely wealthy right now.

JOHN CHO: Unfortunately I had bought MILFHUNTER.EDU so I haven't made any money.

Do we get to see new aspects of your character?

JOHN CHO: It's pretty consistent. I think what you'll see is more Harold in distress. Things are really crazy. This one is really more Kumar's movie. It's his love interest, so there's that.

HAYDEN: But you also get to see a little bit of what Harold was like in college. I think that's something that the fans definitely will enjoy.

When you guys created these characters, how much of this is based on experience?

HAYDEN: A lot of these things are things we experienced or things we have joked about. I mean we've never thrown a bottomless party before, but it's something we've talked about doing for decades. So some of it is imagination stuff like that, while other things, like in the first movie, like going to White Castle, that's the type of thing we did when we first moved out to LA. The life of a screenwriter, kind of working all day, but at night you just decide to drive to one of the numerous burger joints that you have on the west coast, and we're just passing all of these other burger places along the way. We're kind of like, this is really an American story.

JOHN CHO: Anyway, the plot of Star Trek is... (says this as the Star Trek question guy is taking the microphone away)

John, I saw earlier this week your film West 32nd.

JOHN CHO: Oh, you did?

I'm curious what drew you to that project?

JOHN CHO: Well, West 32nd is a crime thriller that takes place in Manhattan's Koreatown. And being Korean, I've gotten numerous "Koreatown" scripts, as I like to call them. And I've wanted to do something set there but there was nothing that was right. I liked this one because it was set in New York and...for me Harold and Kumar's racial and social jokes don't play without the jokes. The jokes are primary and that kind of commentary is secondary. The thing about Koreatown in West 32nd is that stuff was secondary to the mystery plot, which appealed to me. There was a second thing that I thought was very interesting about the character, which I wanted to explore, was that this was an Asian guy who fetishizes Asian culture. I thought that was an interesting character trait, so that was something I was attracted to.

Like a Giant Robot kind of thing?

JOHN CHO: I guess, I've met Asian guys, and I can't really pinpoint it, but it seems like there are Asian guys who are kind of Asianophiles. It's really weird.

We live in a politically correct age,. where a 9/11 comedy is kind of taboo. Like the clip we saw with Kumar giving the guy crap at the airport...have you guys caught any flak for that? Like "I can't believe you said this shit in your movie, what's wrong with you?

JON HURWITZ: You know, it's funny. After the first test screening, somebody came up to us and said, "were you guys involved in making this movie, because Guantanamo Bay is a real place and people are being held there."  A lot of the best comedy comes from going to the places that people are afraid to joke about. And those are the things that people joke about with their friends. A lot of the comedies that we love push the envelope like that. You know, South Park and The Chappelle Show. We feel that with Harold and Kumar, everything is coming from a good place. We don't feel it's coming from a mean place, a racist place, a place where we're saying something overly negative about anyone or any particular group. It's more just joking around.

HAYDEN: And you know one that was a theme in the first one, and we'll make fun in this, is that there's a stereotype, but that person is totally different. That guy that Kumar gives shit to at the airport for racial profiling, that guy was just doing his job. But it turns out that Kumar did have drugs (laughs) so we like just messing with stereotypes.

JOHN CHO: It's a tender thing in America, race, it's a good place to start. Why not laugh about it?

JON HURWITZ: We grew up with a lot of Asian American friends, a lot of Arab friends, a lot of black friends, all sorts of different backgrounds. And we all grew up together. And we'd joke around and bust each other's chops about our differences. It wasn't that weird. But it's a little bit weirder for people who are a bit older who are from a different time. And I think it's going to be less weird for people who are going to high school today.

Now, John, that "other" movie that's coming out, it's an action movie. I'm curious what kind of training you had to go through. I know you have a fight scene.

JOHN CHO: I'm not going to confirm or deny anything (laughs) I'm really so scared.

-Robert Berry
rberry@retrocrush.com