'Year One' Preview: Michael Cera and Jack Black Get Primitive
Look what happens when you crash the set of Year One: caveman orgies, apple juice is the new urine ... Jack Black and Michael Cera tell all. The movie opens nationwide on June 19.
Of the many comedies hitting theaters this summer, few have more going for it than Year One. In addition to being produced by reigning comedy kingpin Judd Apatow, it boasts a legendary writer/director (Ramis, whose credits include Caddyshack and Groundhog Day) and two of its brightest young actors (School of Rock’s Jack Black and Juno’s Michael Cera). And if that isn’t enough, it’s got guys wearing animal skins and crazy wigs to boot! Seriously, if that doesn’t get you at least a little excited, then you clearly have no soul.
We recently stopped by the Shreveport set of Year One to chat with stars Jack Black and Michael Cera. Leading off first was Black, who mused about caveman orgies, pre-historic toilets and maple syrup sandwiches:
Harold Ramis told us he’s been thinking about this movie for about 30 years. When you met him back in the Orange County days, did he mention it to you?
Jack Black: He kept it hidden from me, a secret. Maybe he planned on doing it with someone else and finally he realized that I was going to be the guy. I just found out about this — I don’t remember when he told me. It wasn’t that long ago. He told me about it, and I was into it, and I read the script and we were making it … I’m trying to only make people’s dream movies. The ones they’ve been thinking about for 30 years.
How do you like the caveman get-up?
JB: This get-up is very comfortable. These shoes won’t stay laced, which is a huge pain in the ass. You’ve gotta go zip. This is how they did it back in the olden days. Back in primitive times, they didn’t have good lacing technology. This is the slave gear when my character is going through tough times in the movie. Strangely, the lower the class, the more comfortable the clothes.
Is the hair consistent throughout the movie or is this your “slave” cut?
JB: This hairdo remains a constant. Always long caveman hair with a caveman beard. Grizzly Adams. I do get finely coifed, though, for my royal orgy scene.
An orgy?!? But isn’t this a PG-13 movie?
JB: Yeah. Can't really show pumpin'. Strictly insinuated. People feeding each other grapes. There are some make-outs and some meaningful eye contact, though.
What's your reaction when you see an orgy scene in a script? Is it something you look forward to?
JB: No, it just kind of sprang up and surprised me. I just woke up one day, and I was like, “I'm in an orgy. Whoa! Hel-lo!” Just another day in the life of biblical times.
Do you think there are other good Biblical stories that need a good comedic retelling?
JB: Yeah, there are a lot of theatrical parts of the Bible. It'd be pretty fun to do some of the Moses stuff that we're not doing in this one because Harold thought it was just too much to break off. 'Cause he could have a movie of his own. And Mel Brooks did some Moses in his History of the World. He had a bit with the 10 Commandments. I always thought it was funny when Moses went up on the hill and came down with some stones that were carved into it and said, "These are from the Lord!" And no one said, "Well, yeah, but who else was there when you saw him?" And he'd just say, "No! It was just me and the Lord!" Seems kind of convenient and funny that no one ever questioned that. It'd be fun to do Noah's Ark, too. But he was recently featured in Evan Almighty.
They often put you in with a straight man in your films. How does Michael Cera compare to others you've worked with?
JB: Michael is ... a very special young man. He's very advanced, and there's very little effort on his part. Which is strange and foreign to me. Mr. Effort, Mr. Squeezie, Mr. Sweat — I think we do make a very delicious sandwich. I provide the salty sweat, he provides the sweet Maple syrup.
That sounds like a terrible sandwich!
JB: OK, let me change it. I provide the delicious salty peanut butter. And he provides the jam. You've never tried a salty, sweaty, maple syrup sandwich, obviously. Try ‘em before you s--t on them like that, Mr. Fancy Sandwich.
Your pal Kyle Gass from Tenacious D is in the movie, right?
JB: He's in the movie too, yeah. He plays the palace eunuch. And it was my idea that we should get him to play the character with no balls just to get back at him for all the asshole-y things he's done to me.
Do you appear in a scene together?
JB: Just for a moment as I pass him by, but it is mostly him and Michael.
What is it like working with Harold Ramis after playing him in Be Kind Rewind?
JB: It is not that weird. It should be weirder. He gave us permission to use Ghostbusters, which was very kind of him. There is a contest going on to do your own Sweded film, and you give the tape to the movie theater or something and you win prizes or something. Me and Harold should remake one of his or my old movies together and send it in and try to win these prizes. It could be a really big prize. Groundhog Day with Jack Black. School of Rock starring Harold Ramis.
Is there room for a Year Two?
JB: We would have to skip to like the year 2000. That would be lame. You can’t skip to 2000. The Year Two? Not enough happened in year two. But Year One: Part Two? Yeah, we'd barely scratched the surface of the Biblical source material.
Have you improv’d lines that you realized you couldn't say because they referenced something that didn’t exist back then?
JB: Oh God, every day. Yesterday, what did I say? We're forbidden, while we're here in Sodom, to go into this room. It's called the "Holiest of Holies," where the gods are in the room, supposedly, and if you go in there, you'll be totally vaporized unless you're the High Priest. He's the only one allowed to go in there and talk to the gods. And I went in there, and the King and the Queen were there, and I was busted, and I said, "Oh, I was just looking, for the crapper." But you're not allowed to say crapper, because the crapper doesn’t exist. Of course, the crapper is based on Sir Thomas Crapper, inventor of the first toilet. So we changed it to, "I was looking for the grunt hole." Sometimes it is OK, when you set up the rule … I mean, English wasn’t invented back then, so every word you say is breaking the rule — but [you] try to keep it back in that time period. Once in awhile, you zing in a new thing, and it’s extra funny so it’s about picking the places you get modern. Grunt holes are not modern. Grunt holes they’ve had since the beginning of time.
We know you're a gamer. What've you been playing lately?
JB: I’m against video games. I don’t think they are good for the brains of our youth, but sometimes I will go ahead and experiment with them just to see what needs to be destroyed. Lately, I've been playing a lot of “Guitar Hero III.” I'm so mad at “Guitar Hero III” right now because I made it all the way to Tom Morello before you can go on to other famous guitar players. Tom Morello on HARD level. Which is f--king impossible. It's infuriating, because I've played it like 30 times in a row. You get sick of the song, and you just want to get to the rest of the Hard level, and you can't do it until you pass Tom Morello. So then I got sick of it, and I brought in Michael — who is a wunderkind, don't know if you knew. He's like a savant. He hits every note, and he’s lightening fast, but even he couldn't get past him. With me in his ear yelling "NOW use the weapon!" The two of us together, he did it five times in a row and he fought valiantly. Tom Morello on hard — he’s unstoppable.
KEEP READING: Cera's apple-juice-as-urine regrets!
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