Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with another interview I conducted recently, this one being a phoner I did with Josh Peck, one of the young stars of MEAN CREEK, a damn good little indie that opened limitedly last week and opens wider this Friday. In the film, Peck plays a very anti-social kid who reverts to bullying whenever his little world is punctured. His isn't the biggest role in the film, but it's arguably the most important.
Anyway, I hope you like the interview! On with the show!
QUINT: Did you audition for the movie? I saw it, by the way, and I liked it a lot.
JOSH PECK: Oh, I'm glad. Thank you. I did audition for the movie. It was sorta funny because the first audition was with the casting director... I went to go meet with him and I was sitting outside of his office because he got locked out of his office. So, about 45 minutes goes by and he's still waiting for these two to come unlock the offices, so he says, "You know what? Why don't I just audition you outside?"
So, I'm literally 5 feet away from my mom who's sitting in a car in the parking lot watching me as I'm doing the audition. So, already my nerves are going 110 miles an hour. I wound up getting a call back, but I hadn't heard anything for about 3 weeks. They wanted me to come in for a sort of mix and match semi-screen test and found out then that I got it.
JOSH PECK: They auditioned me with the rap scene, which was originally very structured and we wound up shooting that, but one day the director, Jacob, was like, "Josh, just do your thing. Just come up with the craziest stuff you can come up with." So, he basically let the camera run and let me just sort of free style with my ghetto white skills for about 5 minutes. That's actually what is stuck in the movie, not the other rap scene, because it was, you know, more free form, more casual, truthful and whatnot.
I also auditioned with the sort of climactic scene where I get wind of their plan to humiliate me and I scream at all of them.
JOSH PECK: Well, it was funny because the day before I was in acting class and it was sort of a scene similar to that in the sense that (my teacher) said, "I just want you to write a script that's about 2 minutes long that's just the climax of the scene. So, if you're screaming at someone and you're sobbing or you're so excited... that's all I want to see."
I think I was the first person to get called on this and was like, "You know what? I just can't do it. I don't have it tonight, I don't feel it." He was like, "That's bullshit. You have to do it. If you're on a movie set and they tell you there's not enough light left or they do this thing at the last second, you're not gonna be ready, but you gotta do it."
So, when I went to the audition the next day, he sort of sprung on me this 10 page scene that I'd never seen before saying, "You should have already gotten this, but you didn't get it, but we really want to see it."
JOSH PECK: Yeah, right! Jesus!
JOSH PECK: I really wanted George to be on totally different ends of the spectrum, but could go from one end to the other end in a second. He truly was this really sort of needy kid who just wanted friends and was actually kinda nice and funny and kinda smart, but didn't really know how to make friends and was really insecure about himself. He used his intimidation factor and his size to keep himself guarded and stop anyone from coming in.
I wanted him to come across as this nice kid and really dying for friends, but the second anyone even traveled close to his emotional barrier, he'd pounce on you in a second and show this really miserable side to him that people were really afraid of.
JOSH PECK: Um... well, we had a week of rehearsal before. I remember the first day that we all sort of met each other, the director took us to go play wiffle ball in the park and then we went to one of those all arcade... like, multi-fun park kinda places with batting cages and trampolines and mini-golf and stuff. We really bonded. Every night we'd go over to Rory's (Culkin) to play X-Box or to jump into the pool. Off the set, we were just buddies hanging out, but it was sort of always in the back of my mind that when we're on-set and in the scene I really just had to learn how to switch it on in a second. If anyone threatens me at all, I'm in survival mode and I pounce on them and not allow anyone to get through.
That's really who George was. The only person he could open up to was his video camera and he wished he had someone else to open up to, but was too afraid. I kind of got that because being somebody who doesn't look like the rest of the crowd and if you deviate from the normal look at all you immediately get teased for it. I sort of used comedy as my skill or what was in my corner so I could make people laugh and sort of like me before they could ever think of making fun of me. George used intimidation, but it all stemmed from the same thing.
The director also gave me his video camera about a week before we shot this movie, so I'd just make stupid movies with action figures in my room or do jumps and stupid tricks into the pool, but I wanted it to be an extension of me because it was an extension of George.
[At this point we go off a wild, Halo-fanboy discussion that really isn't very interesting at all, so imagine about 2 minutes of asking each other what our favorite levels were (mine are Hang 'em High and Blood Gulch) and talking about how excited we are about Halo 2]
JOSH PECK: Yes.
JOSH PECK: It was really cool... You know, it was originally done with someone else's voice and I don't know how it worked where they decided not to use it. I remember I auditioned 3 different times for it. Basically, about 2 months later I got this call that said, "Hey, they want you to come in and do FAMILY GUY," and I was immediately ecstatic. I just thing it's one of the funniest shows and Seth McFarlane is hilarious and I really like Seth Green and what not.
I went in and it was actually ADR (Additional Dialogue Recording) so I was just sort of redoing the kid's voices and I had to match it up to the cartoon, so it wasn't exactly free-flowing, but I had a great time. It was really cool and I have all the DVDs and everything, so it was definitely a dream.
JOSH PECK: Yes, I am. It's not a big part at all, I think I have, like, 2 lines. I play Bijou Phillips' little brother... But I was just dying to work with the director, Barbara Kopple, who has won Oscars for documentaries (AMERICAN DREAM and HARLAN COUNTY, USA). It was just a one day shoot and I got to meet Anne and Bijou and they're all very lovely, nice people and I just though, "Why not? It'll be a fun experience and I can learn what I can from the director." It's definitely sort of new subject matter from what we see in movies these days.
JOSH PECK: Just my show (THE DRAKE AND JOSH SHOW on Nickelodeon) that we start shooting again in October and the new episodes start in the middle of September.
JOSH PECK: Ahhhh! That's a tough one... I have a lot... OK... I think I've got a pretty good one. This grandmother, right... she wants to bake this cake for her three grandkids, so she makes this gorgeous cake with all this beautiful frosting and sprinkles and those silver edible BBs that they put on cakes to make them look really fancy. Her three grandkids come over, see the cake and just totally devoured the whole thing.
About an hour later her granddaughter comes over to her and says, "Grandmother, I was using the bathroom and when I went to pee silver BBs came out. I'm really scared..." And the grandmother said, "No, no... don't even worry about it. They're edible. It's fine... nothing to worry about." So, then the second granddaughter came in and said, "Grandma, I'm really sorry, but I went to pee earlier and these little silver BBs came out... I'm really afraid." The grandmother goes, "There's nothing to be afraid about. They're edible. You're fine."
Then the big, 17 year old grandson comes in and says, "Yo, grandma!" She goes, "I know what you're going to say... you had to pee earlier and silver BBs came out... don't worry about it." He says, "No, grandma. I was in my room jerking off and I shot the dog!"
QUINT: What scene did they audition you with?
QUINT: That must have been a fun one to pull out of context... in a parking lot.
QUINT: See, that's why those acting classes cost so much money!
QUINT: I think you've got the most challenging role in the whole film as you have to be a complete asshole, but you also have to make the audience start pulling for you at some point.
QUINT: I know that a lot of times directors will keep actors apart on the set to try to make it easier for people who hate each other onscreen not have to get around actually being good friends behind the camera. Did Estes do anything like that with you guys?
QUINT: I noticed you worked on one of my favorite shows and did a voice for an episode of FAMILY GUY.
QUINT: What was that like?
QUINT: I hear you're in the infamous Anne Hathaway showin' skin R-rated flick HAVOK...
QUINT: Do you have anything else in the pipe-line?
QUINT: What's your favorite dirty joke?
There you have it, squirts! Once again, leave it to me to ask the headliner of a Nickelodeon show to give me a joke involving penis projectiles. I'm a proud man. hehehe Anyway, MEAN CREEK's a solid little indie flick that I think you'll get a kick out of and it should be hitting a theater near you soon. That's it from me for now. I got a helluva trip coming up... well, two awesome trips, but one sooner than the other. So, keep your eye on the site, squirts... you're bound to find yourself bedazzled by magic and light... I know I will be! 'Til then, this is Quint bidding you all a fond farewell and adieu.
-Quint
