'ANIMAL' INSTINCTS IN THEIR WILDER DAYS.Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Writer ``National Lampoon's Van Wilder'' is the latest in a long string of teen-age comedies, going all the way back to the Lampoon's first film, ``Animal House.'' But are there indeed new ways to gross out the younger crowd? How much sex is too much? Ah, the questions are endless. We look at how the ``Van Wilder'' crew handled the risky business of teen comedies from three different angles: the writers, the actors, the icon. WHEN David Wagner
``We knew of each other,'' Goldberg, 28, says. ``But we were in different cliques. David was David Was (born David Weiss, 26 October 1952, Detroit) is, with his stage-brother Don Was, the founder of the influential 1980s pop group, Was (Not Was). Reviewed by The New York Times on the thespian side and I was a jock. He harbors this delusion delusion, false belief based upon a misinterpretation of reality. It is not, like a hallucination, a false sensory perception, or like an illusion, a distorted perception. that I beat him up.'' Explains the 29-year-old Wagner: ``It was a shortened day, and we were at McDonald's. I was with a few friends and you were with your basketball team ruffians. And I remember someone threw a couple of packets of ketchup at us and we had a few words, and you spilled my Coke.'' ``I would never do that to a perfectly good soda,'' replies Goldberg indignantly. These days, Goldberg and Wagner are on better terms and have plenty of extra cash to cover any spilled soft drinks. The two El Camino alums have become a successful Hollywood writing team since a mutual friend reintroduced them a few years ago. Their latest movie to reach theaters is ``National Lampoon's Van Wilder,'' and although it's being marketed as a gross-out college comedy, the writers believe there's more to it than bodily fluids and babes. Citing John Hughes
``You've got to have characters that are redeemable,'' says Wagner, who's married and lives about a block from El Camino. ``If you look at 'There's Something About Mary' or 'American Pie,' which were the good ones in the gross-out genre, you had people you rooted for.'' Adds Goldberg: ``Not to talk trash about other movies, but when I see a movie like 'Tomcats' or 'Slackers' or 'Sorority Boys,' and it just doesn't have any heart, there's nothing holding it together. I don't think the jokes are funny, even if they are.'' Like many screenwriters This is a list of screenwriters: A–F
ambiguous genitalia . ``Ryan's Privates'' led to meetings with nearly every studio, save Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks. (``We heard he liked it, but can't say that he did,'' Goldberg says of the ``Saving Private Ryan'' director.) Their first screenplay was an Olsen twins movie that went straight to video. Then came ``Van Wilder.'' Next in the pipeline is ``The Girl Next Door,'' about a high school loser who falls in love with the title character, who, naturally, is an ex-porn star. ``It's 'Risky Business' meets 'Pretty Woman,' '' Wagner explains. Believe it or not, what these guys really want to do is write a family movie. Miramax just bought a pitch for one, and it's on the top of their projects list. It will come after another salacious sa·la·cious adj. 1. Appealing to or stimulating sexual desire; lascivious. 2. Lustful; bawdy. [From Latin sal comedy called ``My Baby's Mama.'' ``Obviously, we're not against gross-out humor,'' Goldberg says. ``You've got to have some to get the attention of the kids. We just want to make sure that once you've got a captive audience, you throw a story in there, too.'' Everyone nose Booger Imagine walking down the street and someone recognizing you and screaming ``Booger!'' It happens to Curtis Armstrong Curtis Armstrong (born November 27, 1953) is an American actor. Biography Early life Curtis Armstrong was born in Detroit, Michigan to Norma E. and Robert Leroy Armstrong. nearly every day of his life. Armstrong has appeared in two generations' worth of teen movies, beginning in 1982 with ``Risky Business,'' running through four ``Revenge of the Nerds'' flicks and continuing to this day with ``National Lampoon's Van Wilder.'' Through it all, Armstrong, 48, has made a living as an actor, while becoming embedded as a minor pop-culture icon. ``I don't want to come off as boasting, but to have one role as an actor that you're remembered for is a gift, an incredible gift, and you should be incredibly thankful for it,'' Armstrong says. ``Most actors don't get any recognition at all.'' That role is ``Booger'' Dawson, one of the geeks in the Tri-Lam fraternity in the 1984 comedy ``Revenge of the Nerds.'' ``Nerds'' had three sequels (two of them TV movies) and launched the careers of Anthony Edwards This article is about the American actor. For the British academic see A.W.F. Edwards. Anthony Edwards is also a footballer for Macclesfield Town Anthony Charles Planck Edwards[1] (born July 19, 1962) is an Emmy Award-winning American actor and director. and Timothy Busfield Timothy Busfield (born June 12, 1957, in Lansing, Michigan), is an American actor and director best known for his Emmy-winning role as Eliot Weston on the television series thirtysomething and his recurring role as Danny Concannon on the television series . And it gave Armstrong a weird sort of name identification that he enjoys (and hides from) to this day. ``It's embarrassing to be out and somebody screams 'Booger!,' particularly if I'm with my 6-year-old daughter,'' Armstrong says. ``The weird thing is how these movies are still so popular. When we were making the first one, we figured it'd receive its premiere on an international airline flight.'' ``Nerds'' wasn't Armstrong's big break. That came a year earlier in ``Risky Business,'' playing Tom Cruise's best friend, Miles, who advises that ``sometimes you've got to say what the ----.'' (At least, that's the version the plays on network TV.) That led to ``Nerds,'' a recurring role on the TV series ``Moonlighting,'' more ``Nerds'' and a career that has now lasted 26 years. Armstrong believes the ``Nerds'' movies remain popular for the same reason he likes ``Van Wilder'' - the mixture of outrageousness and humanity. ``The nerds were completely tolerant and completely accepting because they were all outcasts The Outcasts are a fictional criminal organization from the Digital Anvil/Microsoft game Freelancer. Based on the planet Malta, the Outcasts are the descendants of colonists from the sleeper ship Hispania. ,'' Armstrong says. ``They would accept anyone into their group without question. That's why kids who are outsiders and lonely relate to it. I can't tell you the tons of mail I've had from people who felt like this is one group they could belong to if it ever existed.'' And if ``Nerds'' forever typecast Armstrong, he has no complaints. ``People always asked me if doing the four 'Nerds' movies destroyed my career,'' he says. ``But that first movie was so significant, I was typecast from the first moment. I have no regrets. Those movies are why I'm here now. I have no illusions about it. And I'm still here. I'm still kicking. And that counts for something.'' A guy, a comedy and a career break Ryan reynolds Ryan Rodney Reynolds (born October 23 1976) is a Canadian actor. He came to prominence in the television sitcom Two Guys and a Girl (1998–2001), before establishing a career as a Hollywood motion picture actor, starring in both comedic and dramatic roles. grew up watching all the ``National Lampoon'' movies (``They were the proverbial tit from which I was weaned wean tr.v. weaned, wean·ing, weans 1. To accustom (the young of a mammal) to take nourishment other than by suckling. 2. ,'' he says). So when the opportunity came along to star in the latest one, ``Van Wilder,'' he couldn't pass it up. That doesn't mean that the 25-year-old actor, best- known for his starring role on the ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. comedy ``Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place,'' didn't harbor a few reservations. ``About 90 percent of the movie is character-driven,'' Reynolds says. ``The rest is gross-out outrageousness. And to be honest, I still go back and forth over one particular scene, the one with the eclairs.'' We'll explain that scene in a moment. (You might want to set aside any food you're eating, though.) First, we should note that ``Van Wilder'' is about a congenial college student named, curiously enough, Van Wilder, who doesn't want to graduate. He's having too much fun organizing Naked Mile Runs, running a topless tutorial service and getting revenge on frat boys by filling pastry with the bodily fluids of a faithful bulldog bulldog, breed of thick-set nonsporting dog developed in the British Isles many centuries ago. It stands from 13 to 15 in. (33–38.1 cm) high at the shoulder and weighs from 40 to 50 lb (18.1–22.7 kg). . (Don't say we didn't warn you.) ``Well, we're not making 'National Lampoon's The Piano' here,'' the good-natured Reynolds explains. ``That's the great thing about National Lampoon movies. You can't go in saying, 'I was expecting ``Sense and Sensibility'' here.' '' Still, Reynolds seems the kind of polite Canadian who'd rather see ``Sense and Sensibility'' (or actually read it, for that matter) than something like ``Van Wilder.'' ``He's a very nice young man,'' director Walter Becker
Walter Becker (born Walter Carl Becker, 20 February 1950, in Queens, New York) is the guitarist (and sometimes bassist) half of the duo at the core of the jazz-rock confirms. Becker directed Reynolds two years ago in another youth-oriented comedy, ``Buying the Cow,'' which has been in limbo since Destination Films went belly-up. Becker says the charismatic Van Wilder character immediately made him think of Reynolds. Artisan Pictures wasn't exactly convinced to go with a relative unknown (they wanted Ryan Phillippe Ryan Phillippe (IPA pronunciation: [ˈfɪlɪpi]) (born September 10, 1974) is an American actor. After appearing on the soap opera One Life to Live ), but when co-star co·star also co-star n. A starring actor or actress given equal status with another or others in a play or film. tr. & intr.v. co·starred, co·star·ring, co·stars To act or present as a costar. Tara Reid signed on, Becker got the go-ahead to cast his first choice. It's the latest break for Reynolds, who nearly quit acting five years ago after he couldn't parlay An open programming interface (API) to a service provider's network (the network operator), developed by the Parlay Group (www.parlay.org). By enabling the customer's application to talk directly to the network, it allows the end user to have greater access to network information as well his first television series (Nickelodeon's ``Fifteen'') into a steady career. A buddy talked Reynolds into moving to Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. to give acting one last shot. On his first night in town, Reynolds found that his jeep had rolled down a hill and been stripped of its doors. Reynolds drove it that way for four months; meanwhile, his career perseverance paid off when he landed the role on ``Two Guys,'' a series that lasted four seasons. Now Reynolds, whose mannerisms bear a strong resemblance to Chevy Chase Chevy Chase (chĕv`ē), town (1990 pop. 8,559), Montgomery co., W central Md., a residential suburb of Washington, D.C.; founded as a village, inc. 1914. (``they share a certain comic shtick shtick also schtick or shtik n. Slang 1. A characteristic attribute, talent, or trait that is helpful in securing recognition or attention: ,'' director Becker notes), is hoping ``Van Wilder'' becomes his version of Chase's ``Vacation'' series. ``They are talking about a sequel,'' Reynolds says. ``I'm not sure what you'd call it though. 'Van Wilderer?' '' CAPTION(S): 5 photos Photo: (1 -- cover -- color) TWO WRITERS, AN ACTRO AND A MOVIE FRANCHISE Ryan Reynolds plus a couple of Valley guys apply to National Lampoon for a new dealership (2 -- cover -- color) ``Van Wilder'' screenwriters David Wagner, left, and Brent Goldberg (3) El Camino Real high school grads Brent Goldberg, left, and David Wagner (who lives a block away from the school) wrote the upcoming film ``National Lampoon's Van Wilder.'' David Sprague/Staff Photographer (4) no caption (Curtis Armstrong) (5) no caption (Ryan Reynolds) |
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