Left to Right: Trevor Moore, Hugh Hefner, Zach Cregger
What would you do if you woke from a four-year coma to discover that your once-innocent girlfriend has become a Playboy Playmate? That is the predicament presented in Miss March, a road-trip sex comedy opening tomorrow that was written and directed by Zach Cregger and Trevor Moore, a.k.a. two of The Whitest Kids U'Know (Tuesdays, 10 p.m., IFC Channel).
The comic duo, who also star in the movie, took time out to chat with us about their film debut, the inspiration for the "Horsedick.mpeg" character, and the whiteness of Kanye West...
Interview By Reginal Thomas
Complex: What are the five whitest things in the world?
Trevor: ColdPlay are pretty white.
Zach: Kanye West.
Trevor: Kanye West is pretty white.
Zach: Whiter than Coldplay.
Trevor: What else is really white?
Zach: Segway scooters are really white...
Trevor: The TV show Lost is pretty white.
Zach: Crystal meth is pretty white too.
Complex: With a black president in office, is there still room for The Whitest Kids?
Zach: Fuck yeah, man! More so now than ever.
Complex: Who were some of your comedic role models?
Zach: The Simpsons and early Adam Sandler stuff, his first couple albums are just really hysterical. That kind of thing for me was really big.
Trevor: I was really into Monty Python and David Letterman.
Complex: So what was different for you guys when it came to writing a full feature film as compared to a four-minute skit for The Whitest Kids U'Know?
Zach: The main thing that's different is sketch comedy is such a great medium for humor, just because you can jump in there, hit your eight or nine jokes on a subject and get out. But with a movie, we had to put more thought into everything. We had to make sure that the characters were likable because the audience is going to have to spend an hour and half with them. Keep an eye on each character's development so they somehow grow through the movie. You want to make sure every scene is pushing along the story instead of just being an excuse to put gags in.
Complex: What references did you guys use when you pitched the film? Did you use other coma movies?
Zach: Coma movies yeah, we talked a lot about Awakenings and the Harrison Ford movie [Regarding Henry] where he gets shot in the head.
Trevor: Fox had a script for Zach and I. We weren't crazy about doing a road-trip sex comedy, but then Fox said we could do a complete rewrite of the script, and then it became a writing exercise. Let's do something in the genre and sort of tailor it more to our sense of humor, tailor it to be something we would want to watch or something the fans of our show would enjoy.
Complex: So what did you change?
Trevor: The only thing that we kept in was that there was a coma and the guy's girlfriend is a Playboy Playmate. We made it so the Eugene character [Zach] is this kind of a virginal conservative guy who preaches abstinence. We wanted to make the movie about how by putting sex up on a pedestal you can damage your relationship from either side. Eugene is terrified of sex so he won't move to the next level with his girlfriend. Tucker [Trevor] is obsessed with sex even though he has a good girlfriend. He can't accept that and he thinks he still needs to get laid. Basically the two characters have opposite viewpoints on sex, and kinda have the same problem, and need to find the middle ground where they should be. That was the first big change we made to the script.
Complex: Zach has a few memorable shitting-yourself moments in the film. It didn't occur to me that after being in a coma for four years you wouldn't have control over your bowel movements. What kind of meticulous prep went into those scenes?
Zach: Ah man, it was just really getting in the zone. That was pretty easy. They have a hose hooked up to me and they just pushed a button and then blast it all and I just sit there and look like an idiot. That was a fun scene to shoot, I had a really fun time doing that.
Complex: Part of the movie takes place in the Playboy Mansion. What was it like working with Hugh Hefner?
Zach: It was cool man. He's a rad dude. He's really sharp, he's 82 and he's still on the ball and he was really cool about it. He didn't have to do the movie'he's got plenty money and yet he still was willing to come down and give us a day of his life, be directed and poke fun of himself so I give him props, he's cool.
Complex: Who came up with name "Horsedick.mpeg" for Craig Robinson's character?
Trevor: Yeah, that was me. Have you seen that video? The horse almost takes the back of a girl's head off.
Complex: Are those Horsedick.mpeg songs real?
Trevor: No, we wrote those songs and Craig performed it.
Complex: If you woke up from being in a coma for four years, what would you hope would be different?
Zach: I would hope Obama is still in office and I hope that I got a settlement for whatever put me in a coma and I was rich.
Trevor: I would hope that we have hoverboards finally.
Complex: That's what you're planning on?
Trevor: The rumor was those things were going to come out in the year 2000; everybody talked about that like they actually have hoverboards, they're just not releasing them until the year 2000'and I would like my hoverboard.
Watch The "Miss March" Trailer:
