“American Reunion,” the fourth film in the “American Pie” franchise, hits theaters on Friday.
It’s a sequel to the profitable film series, and Universal is making sure everyone knows about it via an aggressive marketing campaign including billboards and a college tour featuring some of the film’s stars.
“Reunion” producer Chris Moore is nervous all the same.
Moore’s angst got the better of him recently when he dropped an “F” bomb or two on Facebook in his attempt to use the social media outlet to sell the movie.
“The tone and the implication was that I had somehow gone off the wagon or did something that I didn’t know I was doing,” Moore says, adding he asked the studio to be a voice in the direct marketing of the film. “I was certainly sober and knew what I was doing.”
“Reacting to some of the responses was a mistake,” he adds. “I should have stayed above it all. The people have a right to say what they want to say, and I got as many positive responses for fighting for my movie … they like my passion.”
And it’s that passion, Moore, says, that he hopes will help a project like “American Reunion” break through the pop culture clutter.
Moore, talking via cell to Big Hollywood, ironically passes a billboard for “Reunion” during the interview. He doesn’t dismiss old-school promotions, but notes it’s becoming less effective. It takes more than just the standard media blitz to grab a potential audience’s attention.
“I’m the producer of the movie, and I’m trying to figure out … what could I do to rise above the noise, to make them realize the how fun it is?” asks Moore, whose producing credits include all four “American” movies as well as “Good Will Hunting” and “The Adjustment Bureau.” “If I make something I think is bad-ass I want to make people know it.”
Moore faced another style of pressure by re-starting a franchise that’s been essentially dormant for nearly a decade – several direct-to-DVD “Pie” sequels notwithstanding.
“Everyone thinks we did it for money,” he says of the fourth film. “It came out of a genuine idea. High school reunions are fucking funny, so why not use some characters you guys already know?”
“American Reunion” involves texting, Facebook and other modern crazes Moore and Co. couldn’t imagine 13 years ago when “Pie” became a smash R-rated comedy. But Stifler is still Stifler, the life of the party and the guy you wish would take a break now and again.
“[Seann William Scott] helped created the Stifler character. He was the dick jock, not a character you’d think would survive,” he says. In “Reunion,” Stifler is up to his old tricks, but his character arc also speaks to the fact that the film’s characters are getting older.
“He’s just the sweetest guy,” he says of Scott, whose character uses profanity like a poet uses rhyme. “He works really hard. He cares about the character he’s playing … he thinks comedy comes out of storytelling.”
Looking back at the original “Pie,” Moore says he was nervous about the impact of the now iconic web cam scene featuring Jim (Jason Biggs) and the foreign exchange student (Shannon Elizabeth).
“We were actually worried it would spur on secret camera bullshit. We couldn’t imagine it would grow to people texting naked pictures of their genitalia to each other,” he says.
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