Becoming an instant box office smash when it was theatrically released in March, I Love You, Man — still one of the most original and smartest comedies released this year — arguably turned costars Paul Rudd and Jason Segel into the hottest new comedy team in motion pictures. If, for some crazy reason, you missed I Love You, Man when it was playing at your neighborhood multiplex, here is your opportunity to experience the bromance of the century in the privacy of your own home. In March, Paul Rudd and Jason Segel sat down for an exclusive chat with Earl Dittman to discuss the film (read it here).
With the release of the I Love You, Man on Blu-ray and DVD, may we now present our own extended version of the interview, containing questions deleted from the original chat. Consider it DRIVEN’s own Bonus Feature. Plus: this week in home video, after the jump.
Are the two of you buddies now, since making I Love You, Man?
JASON: “Paul lives in New York and I live in L.A. So, it’s tough, but whenever we visit one of the cities, we see each other.”
Is it hard to make friends in this industry as opposed to just acquaintances?
PAUL: “Just in these last few years I can say ‘Yes.’ Seth (Rogen) and I are friends now, too, because we’ve worked together now, it seems like over and over. It’s been a few times. So, it doesn’t end after one.”
JASON: “Seth and I met when Seth was 16 and I was 18 [on Freaks and Geeks], and Jonah [Hill] and I grew up in the same town, one year apart, so we have known each other for a while. Yeah, I think there is a sort of the luxury of our group.”
PAUL: “We really enjoy working together and, as a result, you get to know each other really well. And, we found that we really enjoy hanging out together, but I also do live in New York, and those guys are in L.A. I’m married, and they’re not. So, it makes it a little weird to go, ‘See ya honey. I’ve got to go meet Jason and Seth Rogen in L.A.’”
Did the two of you do a lot of improvisation for I Love You, Man?
PAUL: “We did a pretty fair amount, but we didn’t really want to, most of the time, because the script seemed so air tight. Which is all [director/writer] John[Hamburg]. But he did encourage some of that. And now that we have worked together several times, and we have in the past, it’s become something that we just sort of do. The director wants us to do it. Then, there were also other times, other scenes, that were never even written, such as when we go to get fish tacos. It says in the script that we are just getting to know each other. But all the stuff that we talked about, and everything, was all just on the spot. So, we just set up cameras and filmed it.”
JASON: “Our big problem with that scene, actually, is that John told us that it looked like we liked each other too much already. It looked like we had known each other for ten years, so we had to tone that down a bit. But Paul and I make each other laugh, usually. So, you could tell we knew each other’s personalities already, so we cut that out.”
The talk between the female characters in the film is almost like guys in a locker room. Some male moviegoers seemed shocked by it.
JASON: “That’s a shame they didn’t know already, because this thing about the locker room, the locker room talk between men is a total myth. Or at least the kind of guys Paul and I are, and thusly the kind of guys we hang out with. It’s not like that. There’s a lot of silence when we’re hanging out, there’s just joking around, there’s some watching TV, there’s some drinking beers, it’s the women who are super, super dirty and explicit with their friends. And I know this, because whenever I run into friends of an ex-girlfriend, they are always like, ‘I know about you!’”
Did any of it jolt any bad memories?
JASON: “No, not really, because I’m pretty good at it. I always get positive feedback from ex-girlfriends.” [Laughs]
Did you base your characters on anybody in particular? Paul, in the beginning, you think that your character might be gay, but you start to realize that he’s just a big dork like Tom Cruise.
PAUL: “I didn’t base my character on anybody. But I didn’t feel that different from my character. And, actually, there are a lot of qualities that John Hamburg has that I see in the character that I’m playing. Instead, it’s kind of like heightening those awkward moments that I feel in life and just kind of playing into that a little bit.”
Jaime Pressly said that it was a very cool, relaxed set with a lot of laughing and giggling going on.
PAUL: “There was a lot of that.”
JASON: “I don’t think that giggling is even the right term. Sometimes you would laugh yourself into tears.”
PAUL: “Actually, there is a whole mag [magazine] of film, a whole reel which lasts about 12 to 15 minutes — an entire mag wasted because I couldn’t even get one line out from laughing so much. And, John wouldn’t cut, and I couldn’t stop and I’m crying, and I’m really trying to collect myself. But it is impossible once you get the case of the giggles. He just kept filming and now there’s an entire mag of it. Nothing was accomplished.”
Have you ever seen the reality series Bromance, and do you think it started some new, crazy trend?
PAUL: “I’ve never seen it.”
JASON: “I’ve never seen it, either, but we are kind of annoyed that the show came along and brought that word into the cultural zeitgeist.”
PAUL: “When we were working on the film, we never heard that term.”
JASON: “I think it’s kind of a gross term.” [Laughs]
PAUL: “I thought it was kind of funny. Like anything, I thought, ‘That’s kind of an apt title, there’s something somewhat clever about it.”
JASON: “I think we had said, ‘Bromantic comedy’ at some point and thought we were so clever.”
PAUL: “But things like ‘mandate,’ you feel like you need to put a label on it or some kind of phraseology that makes it funny. And then it just gets annoying.”
I Love You, Man Blu-ray + DVD – Bonus Features: Deleted scenes; extended scenes; gag reel; The Making of I Love You, Man featurette and commentary with Rudd, Segel and Hamburg.
THIS WEEK ON HOME VIDEO
The Class
Taking home the Cannes Film Festival’s prestigious Palme d’Or in 2008 and scoring an Academy Award-nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, The Class — directed by Laurent Cantet and starring François Bégaudeau (co-writer of the screenplay with Cantet) is a sensational docu-drama based on the real-life experiences François went through while teaching high school in one of Paris’ toughest, multi-ethnic, inner city middle schools. Chronicling a year in the life of the French schoolteacher, The Class focuses on the cultural, racial and class differences among his students and how François creates an atmosphere of respect and diligence for them to learn in. Poignant, charming and phenomenally entertaining, The Class is in a league all its own, making all other classroom dramas appear silly and predictable in comparison. Bonus Features: “Making of” featurette and audio commentary on select scenes. Also on Blu-ray: Actors’ Workshop – Rehearsal Sessions and Actors’ Self-Portraits – The actors self-interview themselves.
The Tiger’s Tail
Written and directed by five-time Academy Award nominee John Boorman (Excalibur, Deliverance, Hope & Glory), The Tiger’s Tail is the legendary filmmaker’s shocking new thriller, featuring a stunning performances from an ensemble cast that includes Brendan Gleeson, Kim Cattrall, Ciaran Hinds, Sinéad Cusack and Seán McGinley. Filled with numerous twists and turns, The Tiger’s Tale DVD is a compelling tale of a wealthy, successful Dublin businessmen (Gleeson) being stalked by a menacing look-alike who is determined to rob the Irish real estate capitalist of his wife, his job and very possibly his life. As he fights to save his precious world, he must reveal a dark secret from his past. It is such a shocking revelation that it could destroy him before his vengeful double does.
NFL Philadelphia Eagles 10 Greatest Games
The quintessential DVD collection for the ultimate Eagles fan! By the time you get to the last disc of the 10-disc DVD set, you could very well be chanting the Philadelphia Eagles fight song in the middle of your media room. Faithful followers of the Eagles can now own the original network broadcasts of the ten most unforgettable, greatest and legendary games in Philly football history. From Terrell Owens’ infamous return to Philadelphia in 2005 to the 2004 NFC Championship Game during the Eagles run to Super Bowl XXXIX to the game in which Herman Edwards returned a fumble 26 yards for an unforgettable touchdown known as “The Miracle at the Meadowlands,” all the most miracles Eagles moment are captured in groundbreaking DVD package. Watch the Eagles defeat the Dallas Cowboys 1980, Randall Cunningham garnering a club record with 447 passing yards, to the Eagles beating the heck out of the Detroit Lions, Steelers, Green Bay Packers, Atlanta Falcons and Dallas Cowboys and get ready for a football party you’ll never forget.
90210: The First Season
When it was first announced that the ‘80s primetime hit series was being updated for the 21st century, hardcore Beverly Hills 90210 followers were furious that the iconic Aaron Spelling nighttime drama was even being tampered with. But once the new, updated, deluxe version of 90210 (being touted as a spin-off) hit the airwaves, it was immediately apparent to both aficionados and newcomers to the show that the idea to resurrect the affluent zip code, West Beverly High and its student body was a smart g one. In addition to a young, sexy cast made up of pretty people like Shenae Grimes, Tristan Wilds, AnnaLynne McCord, familiar faces from the original series and Melrose Place, including Rob Estes, Shannen Doherty, Jennie Garth, Tori Spelling, Ian Ziering, have stopped by many of the episodes to revisit many of their old haunts and to offer up wisdom about how to survive in the land on BMWs, gorgeous babes and platinum Amex cards. Bonus Features: Cast commentaries on selected episodes, two cast-hosted featurettes, set tours of West Beverly High, the Mansion and Peach Pit, featurettes on 90210’s music and fashion, a mini-documentary explaining the origin of the new series and audio commentary from cast and crew members on selected episodes.
Super Friends: The Lost Episodes
Fans of DC Comics and the crime-fighting super heroes can rejoice over the Super Friends: The Lost Episodes Deluxe Two-Disc Collector’s Edition DVD, which features DC Comics’ favorite heroes — Batman, Robin, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Wonder Twins — and villains — Brainiac, Mr. Mxyzptlk and El Dorado in 24 action-packed “Lost Episodes.” Produced after the hit Super Friends animated series had finished its series run, these treasures were “lost” (unseen anywhere on television or cable) for well over a decade until they were finally shown as part of The Superman-Batman Adventures series. More than simple Saturday morning cartoons, Super Friends features exciting animation and clever, action-filled storylines — if it’s for children, then it is for the big kid in all of us. Bonus Features: Downloadable content including a vintage Super Friends comic book cover and two Super Friends comic book adventures from the DC Vault “The Mindless Immortal” and “Wendy and Marvin Meet the JLA” (rarely seen since their original publication).
NOW ON BLU-RAY
17 Again
A new take on the parent/child body reversal plot, 17 Again stars Friends veteran Matthew Perry as the dad who gets magical zapped into the body of his basketball-playing, teenaged son (played by High School Musical lead guy and pop culture icon Zac Efron) and is allowed a second change to recapture what were probably the best years of his life. Bonus Features: “Breakin’ Character Outakes”; two behind-the-scenes featurettes; 13 deleted scenes; tell-all trivia track; the BD Live! — Commentary from Zac Efron and Thomas Lennon; commentary with director Burr Steers and two feaurettes.
The Ninth Gate
A terrifying, supernatural, psychological thriller featuring Johnny Depp’s critically-acclaimed collaboration with legendary director Roman Polanski, The Ninth Gate pits a rare book dealer (Depp) against Satan himself to locate the final copies of a demonic manuscript. Bonus Features: Exclusive audio commentary with Roman Polanski; “Dissecting The Ninth Gate” featurette; a gallery of satanic drawings; storyboard selections and theatrical trailers.
Replicant
A fascinating and fantastic sci-fi thriller — complete with a cloned serial killer hunting down the original mad, blood-thirsty serial killer. Starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as the butt-kicking doppelganger(s), Replicant is an original, fight-filled futuristic adventure for fans of JCVD and exciting science fiction actioners. Bonus Features: Audio commentary with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Michael Rooker; storyboards and deleted scenes.
Cutthroat Island
Considered to be an over-indulgent box office blunder from director Renny Harlin when it was first released in 1995, Cutthroat Island may have simply been ahead of its time. Geena Davis and Matthew Modine played hig- seas swashbucklers fighting pirates and looking for buried treasure long before Pirates of the Caribbean (all three) and both National Treasure flicks dominated the box office, and Harlin had a sense of the excitement a tale of bold pirates and hidden booty could bring to the screen. Bonus Features: Audio commentary with Renny Harlin; archival featurette with cast and crew interviews and the original theatrical trailer.
