Cigar Exclusive: Seann William Scott talks about new movie 'Role Models'

11/6/08 - Not all role models are created equal. Especially if they're court-ordered role models with a few major felonies under their belts. But, hey, sometimes that's what you get in a youth-outreach program run by a former crack-whore. The forthcoming film, "Role Models," out tomorrow, casts Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott as mid-life slackers who, after destroying school property in a bust-up (involving a cop and, among other things,m a truck with giant Minotaur horns) end up having to clock time at Sturdy Wings, a "Big Brothers-Big Sisters" type foundation, so they can stay out of jail.

"Role Models" makes for a funny and oddly heartwarming tale of mandatory community service. It sends the right message because we all know how important it is to keep kids of the streets and teach them the finer points of getting girls, partying hard and (if necessary) joining the Kiss Army for a medieval battle royal.

Seann William Scott, who plays Wheeler in the film, took time out to talk to the Cigar about making the movie, the downsides of wearing a Minotaur costume and the unlikely hazards of selling Churros at the zoo.

With "Role Models," Scott, who made his name as Stiffler (the idiotic idol in that holiest grail of 90s teen comedies, "American Pie"), is finally branching out to reach a broader audience. But never fear "Dude, Where's My Car?" -enthusiasts: he's not straying too far from the lovable screw-ups he's built his career on.

"I would love to do drama, but I think that I have a lot of work to do in this genre," Scott said. "Just listening to the screening yesterday it was really rewarding to hear kids laugh. You're part of a movie for two years and it finally comes out. you never know, it could be crap - and all of a sudden it actually seems to be working, and it's definitely rewarding."

The laughs don't always come easily though. Sometimes, when your job is to be funny, you have to take one for the team, even if that means donning a hilariously bad Minotaur costume.

Wearing the Minotaur suit for Wheeler's job as an energy drink mascot was, according to Scott, "terrible."

"I was like, 'this better be funny,' I saw it from the front and I was like, 'I look like a jackass,'" Scott said. "They actually wanted it for the poster but I didn't want to be all across the country on a poster in a bad Minotaur suit."

Fortunately though, when it came to getting laughs, Scott had a lot of help from the film's supporting cast, especially actress Jane Lynch. She knocks it out of the park with her absurd turn as the ex-crack-whore director of Sturdy Wings.

"When she says 'I used to suck his d**k for drugs' before the judge," Scott said, "my mom, who's a Christian girl, spit out her soda and was laughing for 20 minutes. Me and my Christian mom thought that was the funniest thing."

While Scott hasn't had to do any court-ordered community service himself ("Thank god no. I've been lucky. I really don't want to clean toilets or anything like that. But I've been close.haven't we all.") he has had his share of less-than-stellar gigs while moving up the Hollywood food chain.

"When 'American Pie' was about to come out I worked at the L.A. Zoo selling Churros and I had this moment with this guy, Enrique - I actually hadn't seen any animals, I'd been working there for, you know, two days now, so I go, 'Enrique, I gotta go look at some animals.'"

Fair enough. "So, all of a sudden, I'm walking by the gorilla and I get rocked in the back of the head and it turns out it was a big pinecone. And I look at the gorilla and the gorilla's got a pinecone, throwing it up, and I'm like 'Holy shit, the gorilla threw a pinecone at me.'"

"True story," Scott continued, "he chucked it at me again, and I'm like, 'No way, gorilla.' I looked at the gorilla for like a minute, and all of a sudden I was like, 'You're right, gorilla. I quit.'"

"I took my little apron off and I walked away and I got 'Final Destination' the next day. I think it's all about the gorilla - I think we had a moment. That was a weird job."

So, I guess the lesson here is (despite what you may have heard) sometimes it's okay to take career advice from a hostile gorilla. But even if taking career advice from zoo animals is a little bit unorthodox, judging by Scott's balanced outlook on his work, it's served him well so far: "It was way more fun to play this character than some of the things I've done in the past. I don't really care about being typecast - I just want to make people laugh."

And, if "Role Models" is any indication - well, mission accomplished.

"I hope it has heart," Scott said. "I didn't know if we'd be able to accomplish some kind of message, but if we did that's great. I was just really trying to think of the weirdest thing to say every day.