Think again!!!
The event is sold out.
you could read the Camp Firewood reminiscences of Wain, Showalter, and Lo Truglio below.
Lewis Jacobs/NBC
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What was the genesis ofWet Hot American Summer?
Michael Showalter had had a similar experience at Camp Mohawk in the Berkshires.
How did you get the money to make it?
Lewis Jacobs/NBC
Foreign financing companies, independent financiers of all stripes.
So many of them were so chancy and questionable in one way or another.
We met so many characters, had so many weird coffees and drinks with people.
Over and over and over again were told, Yes!
I am doing it!
Were giving you the money!
And the next day these people would disappear.
I remember trying to track someone down to their office in the East Village.
The office turned out to be someones house there was no one there by that name.
But eventually Howard Bernstein was able to put together a package.
What was the casting process like?
For the other actors we had an audition process with a great casting director, Susie Farris.
People like Elizabeth Banks and Bradley Cooper just walked in the door and auditioned.
I thought they were awesome and cast them.
Easily the most touching sequence in the film is the sex scene between Bradley Cooper and Michael Ian Black.
We always thought that conceptually it was funny to have the only actual real sex be between two men.
The only actualrealrelationship in the movie is between two men.
When shooting it, though, it was hard for me to watch it.
So I kind of set up the shot and then had to kind of look away.
Why was it hard for you to watch?
I was just young and shy.
I dont think I had ever been on a feature film set before, much less producing or directing.
So youre ruling out a possible future in gay porn if this whole feature film-directing thing doesnt work out?
Since then Ive gotten farfarmore comfortable.
Was there much in the way of extracurricular shenanigans on set?
After the shooting finished for the day, everyone went to sleep.
I dont believe you.
[Laughs] It was insane.
It was a seven-nights-a-week party.
The line between being at summer camp and making a movie about it was very gray.
The biggest difference was that we were a little older and nobody was going to take our beer away.
You took the film to Sundance but didnt manage to get a distribution deal while you were there.
Was that a big disappointment?
The Sundance experience in general was amazing.
There was so much buzz and so much talk and audiences seemed to go nuts for it.
So of course that was horribly disappointing.
We were like, Okay, well take it!
Its like the little TV room next to the janitors office.
That was our big premiere.
It got got a lot of hostile hateful reviews.
[Laughs] Sorry, I dont know why Im laughing.
On the other hand,our own Owen Gleiberman gave it at A grade.
That was a great review!
We actually printed it out and put it into theatres.
Which did you no good whatsoever.
No, it did nothing.
It ended up opening in maybe 20 cities across the country.
But it never had any theatrical life whatsoever.
Its the litmus test for whether I think someones cool or on my vibe.
Theres an odd list of people who are thanked in the credits.
I believe Liev at one time attached himself to the movie so you can help us get financing.
Then he couldnt do it for one reason or another when we got to shooting.
Stephen Colbert is also thanked.
Is that a similar story?
Marie-Louise Parker and Billy Crudup?
Same story as Liev.
Who on earth wouldtheyhave played?
I dont even remember.
Crudup is an old friend from NYU.
What do you think of the movie now?
Im teased by my friends for being a big fan of my own work.
I love it, I really do.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Was there ever any question of pitchingWet Hot American Summerto a major studio?
MICHAEL SHOWALTER:I dont think so.
I dont think a major studio would have bought it, sensibility-wise.
Just the fact that you guys are writing an article about it 10 years later is mind-boggling.
We took the movie to Sundance and it flopped.
You could have heard a pin drop in the audience when we screened it.
David Wain said the audiences loved it.
I vividly remember the big screening, the one that all the buyers were at.
It was a packed house and my recollection is that there were a lot of awkward silences.
It is an odd movie.
But we were not aware of how weird what we were doing was.
I think we thought we were makingAnimal House.
I dont think we anticipated on any level the backlash.
Obviously the people who love the movie are the only people that really matter.
But there were reviews of the movie that werepassionatelyhateful.
It seems like a weird response to elicit from just a little comedy.
Does it surprise that you so many of the cast gone on to much greater success and fame?
Amy Poehler was one of the funniest women Ive ever seen.
Bradley Cooper immediately caught my attention.
We saw a lot of actors for that role and Bradley stood out.
How does one person stand out above those people?
He really stood out.
He had a certain quality.
Its an X factor.
Its a total X factor.
But someone like Bradley is special.
Elizabeth Banks, same thing.
She was really funny, incredibly beautiful.
But also what they have is an intelligence about them and a depth.
Its just something you see right away.
Elizabeth Banks told me that she wore a wonderbra and the tightest t-shirt she could find to her audition.
I can confirm that she looked very good in her audition.
Did you see that theNew York Timesrecently described Wet Hot as the alt-comedy ur-text.
Its all just so flattering.
But we certainly werent thinking in those terms when we made the film.
I dont want to be totally self-deprecating.
We pushed ourselves to do things that felt fresh and original.
But we certainly were not trying to make any intellectual statements about comedy.
As far as we were concerned, we were just writing stupid jokes.
David Wain told me that you have been discussing a sequel.
Can you say any more about that?
Only that I really hope it happens.
Im really personally excited and have been all along for the idea of a sequel, or a prequel.
Or maybe a prequel-sequel.
The first ever movie that is both a prequel and a sequel.
Although David pointed out that thatsGodfather Part II.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What do you remember about the shoot?
JOE LO TRUGLIO:In every respect of the word, we wereatcamp.
So that did happen.
I remember a lot of mud.
So I remember chewing gum was a no-no.
These are all very small details…
But together they make for a compelling tapestry!
[Laughs] I remember A.D.
Miles improvisational street rap in the infirmary, which is where a few of the cast were staying.
Miles rapping was certainly a highlight.
He is the whitest man on earth.
Was it incredibly disappointing when it bombed at the box office?
We were hoping that kind of alternative sense of humor would catch on in a more mainstream way.
Which it did, but only later.
When did you become aware that a cult was springing up around the film?
I would say maybe two or three years after it came out on DVD.
It appeared to be getting that college audience.
People in their dorms were getting high and watching it.
What do you think about doing a sequel?
Relationships are tough anyway when youre shooting on location.
But for a movie like this, withsomuch debauchery, it would really be put to the test.
But peoplecouldcome out stronger.
Or Mormons, depending.
Did you go to the gallery exhibition ofWet Hot-inspired artwork?
This was an incredibly humbling thing to see.
This was atGallery 1988in Venice.
I had to buy a couple of pieces of myself.
I felt stranger, but I was so flattered someone would do it.
I also bought an alphabet, supposedly for a childs room.
For most of the letters, they had the corresponding characters.
And for D, of course, they had D cream.
I had to grab that in the event we ever have children.
Thatscertainlysomething you want over a crib.
