I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell

This is an interview I did for the press packet that is distributed to every media outlet doing a story on us. I thought I’d go ahead and post it here too, for the fans:

Sample Media Questions for Tucker Max w/answers

1. At the age of 33, are you able to look back at the events the movie portrays with some degree of distance and humor? How does present day Tucker differ from law school Tucker?

Well, I am a lot more boring than I used to be, that’s for sure. At 25 years old, I was an unguided missile of drinking, partying and womanizing, just an awesome, hot mess of debauchery. Now, not as much; I’m more of a smart bomb of debauchery. Granted, I still like to go out and get combatively drunk every now and then, but instead of doing it five times a week, it’s like once a week. Most of my life focuses around my dog Murph and my work.

But even though I have calmed down to some extent, I’m still the last of my original group of law school friends left without a wife, and one of the last without a kid. Some of my friends have THREE kids now. I can barely take care of my dog, I can’t imagine having a child and a wife. Of course, it’s always taken me a little longer than most to reach my proper maturity, so I’m sure I’ll get there at some point.

2. What qualities were you looking for in an actor to play you?  What was your first response upon meeting Matt?

The absolute most important thing, the thing that Matt nailed that really no other actor had, was his likability and redeemability. You just can’t help but love the dude. Matt has this smile and this energy that is so positive and refreshing, this sort of impish charm, that no matter what he says–even mean stuff–you smile with him when he says it. There was no anger in him, no malice, no meanness, which is important, because that’s not what the character is about.

So many actors took this character as an asshole in the most literal sense and played it as this sort of aggressive, macho doofus, which is totally wrong. Matt got that the character was not like that at all, that he was ultimately a good guy who is just a narcissist; he does outlandish and crazy things only because he is fun-loving and always looking to create entertainment. To Tucker, it’s always about the story or about the joke, not about hurting other people. He’s a narcissist–other people only exist to him as objects, not as people, so he doesn’t even consider if they will be hurt or not, only if hes being entertained. And that’s what the movie is about, Tucker understanding how his narcissism affects his friends.

3. Talk about what makes this film both similar and completely different from the current wave of broad comedies like “The Hangover”.

I know I am the most biased person possible to ask this question to, so please take my answer with a grain of salt, but I don’t think this film is anything like any comedy Hollywood has done for 10 or 15 years, at least. I have a hard time thinking of any comedy like ours.

Think about it: Most Hollywood comedies rely heavily on slapstick, hijinks, and suspension of disbelief for humor, right? This movie has none of that. Not one single second requires even the smallest suspension of disbelief. Most Hollywood comedies are much funnier at the beginning, and then die on the vine once they have to resolve the story, right? This movie is actually FUNNIEST at the resolution. Most Hollywood comedies are stacked with cliches–whether they be the characters, the situations, or the humor. This movie has all the potential to do that, but turns every cliche on its head, and in a natural way.

4. For someone that’s not familiar with Tucker’s blog or book, what can one expect from this film?

The most important thing you can expect is to laugh. A lot. This is a comedy first and foremost, and we made it as funny as possible in as many different ways as possible. Also, you don’t need to know anything at all about me or the backstory of the book to get the movie. It is a self-contained entity. You can also expect a movie that doesn’t look or feel like any other broad comedy you’ve seen–and in a good way. It’s a smart, hilarious, raunchy R-rated comedy about three normal, cool guys who know how to have a good time and get in trouble because of it, but there is a real story that is actually meaningful. And I know I said this already, but it’s fucking hilarious and, in my opinion, has what will go down as one of the greatest scenes of physical humor in the history of film comedy. But I’m biased.

5. Obviously, while names and places have been changed to “protect the innocent” – this is based on your real-life friends, what percentage of the events in the film are true?  And have the real “Drew” and “Dan” seen the film?

Pretty much everything in the movie happened in one form or another to me or to Nils at some point in our lives. Ironically enough, the most outlandish scene–pooping the hotel lobby–is the least fictional. From the point where he gets off the elevator to the point where he goes back upstairs, that scene is essentially exactly what happened to me in real life.

“Drew” is based off of one specific person, I refer to him as “SlingBlade” in the book. He has not seen the movie yet because he lives far away, but he did visit set and hang out with Jesse. It was funny because those two got along like two peas in a pod. Bitter, disgruntled nerds, both of them.

Dan is originally based on three different friends of mine (they are PWJ, GoldenBoy and El Bingeroso in the book), and yes, they have all seen the movie. It was funny watching them watch the movie–they almost couldn’t process what it was like to see a real movie that portrayed, well, them. But it’s funny–the Dan character started out that way, but is now more of a combination of Nils and the actor who played it, Geoff Stults. He was so much like his character in real life he didn’t even bother to remember his lines, he just said what came natural in the situation. Normally, that would drive me nuts, but for him, it worked great.

6. While both Drew and Dan in the film find romantic partners, the Tucker of IHTSBIH realizes that the closest thing to having someone “complete him” is his friends, Dan and Drew. Has this been your experience in real-life as well?

I would be lying to say that I don’t have much better friendships than I do romantic relationships. The most important people in my life are my best friends, whereas I think the most important people in the lives of some of my friends are their wives, as it should be, so the movie definitely reflects reality in that regard.

But the conflict in this movie is not about romance per se–its about how Tucker’s narcissism affects his relationships with his friends. That what Tucker has to realize, is that by abandoning his friends just to sleep with a midget, his actions hurt them, and that pain matters. He has to understand that his friends aren’t just objects, they are people. Just like any narcissist.

7. I feel what sets the Tucker character apart from similar “scoundrels” as played by Vince Vaughn and Bradley Cooper – is that at no point does he wink at the audience as if to say “I don’t really believe these things, I’m just saying them to be outrageous.”  What is your response to that? How do you expect the audience to respond?

I think some people will absolutely love it, and respond very positively, just like they did with the book. But I definitely think that some other people will be very threatened by it. That always annoyed me about those comedies, that Hollywood made the protagonist “safe” for audiences to like. Yeah, he was a scoundrel, but he was not a bad guy, and nothing bad ever happened to anyone. Bullshit. Sometimes, bad shit happens–literally–and that should be reflected in art.

But here’s the thing: Tucker is ultimately a good guy, and he does redeem himself, but he doesn’t apologize for being who he is. He may redeem certain actions he did that he realizes were wrong, but the characters your describe always seem to ask forgiveness for their very eistence. Tucker does not do this, and that I think will bother a lot of people.

Another thing to remember is that to him, nothing Tucker does should ever hurt anyone because he doesn’t even think about their emotions–that’s what narcissists do. In his mind, the mean things he says and does aren’t mean–they are funny, and he just assumes everyone else is in on the joke. And if they aren’t, that just makes it funnier, because he can’t understand why they are so mad. Like when people go apolectic after reading my book or seeing the movie. THAT is funny, because the issue is theirs, yet they project it onto me, and watching people flip out for no reason is awesome.

8. If there were a sequel to IHTSBIH – what chapter of your life would that cover?

If this movie does what we think it is going to do, we absolutely intend on doing a sequel. Several. In fact, Nils and I have already figured out the basic story lines for parts two, three, and four, and have already plotted out part two. We just need to do the dialogue now and we have a script.

But I am not going to disclose any of that; we need to release this movie and see how it does first. Crawl first, then run.

9.  Can you talk about your core audience – your internet fanbase – and how you expect them to spread the word on behalf of the film?

I expect them to do what they normally do when they see something they enjoy: Tell their friends. There is no marketing on earth stronger than word of mouth, and everything we are doing marketing-wise is an attempt to feed into that, because we believe we have a great movie. When you have something special, the best thing you can do is put it in front of people and then let them talk about it to other people.

The world has changed so much over the past five years in terms of the tools people now have to talk to each other–MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, SMS, IM, the list goes on and on and on. All we need to do is engage my fans and then get out of the way. Good material sells itself.

10.  There is an emotional core at this movie which may surprise some. How do you expect both your existing and new audiences to react to that?

I expect that the vast majority of my fans will be surprised, but in a good way. The best parts of the book and the stuff they expect is all there; it is really funny, outlandish and raw, so in that regard, I think it meets expectations. But I think the emotional core of the movie sneaks up on you–you don’t realize that there is a meaningful story to the movie until you get to the end, and many of my fans won’t expect that. I know thus far in all the screenings we’ve done, that is the thing they have commented on repeatedly, that the movie is so much more than just a raunchy comedy–it actually means something.

People who are new to my material are different, but are responding BETTER than fans! I think this is because they don’t have any expectations about what the movie should be, they just enjoy it for what it is. Fans aren’t always like that. As with any set of established fans, when you move from one medium to another, there will be people who don’t like the new thing. You essentially have nowhere to go but down with them, which is why I think in many ways, this movie will reverberate more with new audiences than with old fans–they have no expectations of what the movie should or shouldn’t be, they just want a good movie. That’s the way it worked when I went from website to book–I lost a small portion of my old fans who didn’t like my new stuff, but gained a huge new crowd of people who discovered me via the book.

11. The movie is very funny, but the humor in this movie is hard to categorize. There are fart and video game jokes, right next to references to obscure historical figures and economics jokes. Would you call it high brow or low brow comedy?

I think it’s both. There is this idea in some parts of American culture that something has to be either smart or base–but can’t be both. Yet, the humor that is revered is often both; The Simpsons, South Park and Family Guy are all both crude and brilliant. Nils and I grew up on those shows, and I think this movie is very much a result of those influences–why can’t you have poop and tit jokes right next to economics and history jokes? Both are really funny in their own way, and just because someone is smart doesn’t mean they don’t enjoy a good fart joke.

12.  Do you have any particular anecdotes or specific experiences about the film that you wish to share?

This is not a bad question, but to answer it properly would require a new book. Seriously, that is exactly what Nils and I are doing–writing a book about making this movie. It was nothing but stories. It was one big story. You wouldn’t believe the impossibly long and difficult journey it took to get this movie made.

13. You have sold nearly a million books and were nominated to the Time 100 Most Influential People list this year along with people like the Pope, Obama, and Prince. First of all, how does that feel? Second, you said you don’t think you really belong there. Why not you?

It feels…I don’t know if ‘ironic’ is an emotion, but if it were, that’s how it would feel to me. Neither Time nor most of the mainstream media has paid much attention to me despite my success, yet somehow I deserve to be nominated one of the 100 Most Influential People this year? Make up your mind–either I’m worth coverage or I’m not.

Honestly, I don’t think I belong there right now. I have done great, and my book seems like its everywhere, but I am still a only “cult” celebrity, and my cultural impact has not come close to what it will be eventually. As of today, I don’t think its intellectually honest to put me in the Top 100. But if this movie does really well, then I think maybe we can revisit the discussion.