Best Film: The Social Network
Nick Swardson tells MTV News his and McBride’s schemers are ‘simple dudes.’
Late last August, I fled the humid concrete confines of Times Square and arrived in the dusty heat of a junkyard in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Next to a giant tangle of rusted-out cars, Danny McBride and Nick Swardson were busy blowing up watermelons and shouting expletives far too dirty to reprint.
It was a strange and hilarious sight to behold, but it all made sense: I was on the set of "30 Minutes or Less," and what I was witnessing was the unlikely glamour of major studio moviemaking. McBride and Swardson play low-life criminals with a simple plan: strap a bomb to a pizza delivery boy and force him to rob a bank in less than nine hours, lest the kid become an unwitting suicide bomber.
"They’re kind of simple dudes. They’re not very learned," Swardson said during a break in the action. "But they’re not robots. At the core, they are actually very nice people."
Added McBride, "They just want to be loved, whether it takes a bomb or a bank robbery to get there."
What happens after they hatch their scheme, test their explosives on watermelons and then strap them to Jesse Eisenberg’s pizza boy forms the bulk of the action and the comedy in "30 Minutes," which hits theaters on August 12. With Eisenberg in trouble, he enlists the help of his best friend (played by Aziz Ansari), even though they’ve had an earlier falling-out resulting from Eisenberg’s sexual conquest with his friend’s sister. But there’s nothing like a life-threatening situation to bring two pals together.
On set, both guys were having a blast. During some downtime, Ansari cracked that he and Eisenberg were making plans to reboot the "Fast and Furious" franchise and take over the roles of Vin Diesel and Paul Walker. Eisenberg, for his part, was having a blast being a madman behind the wheel during stunt-driving exercises.
"I live in New York City and ride a bicycle, so I never drive ever, so I’ve been given the opportunity and a cool car," he said with a sly smile. "Every time I drive, I get yelled at by the crew, but the stunt drivers always wink at me and say, ‘Nah, that was good, man. Keep doing it.’ I’ve been subtly and subversively encouraged to be very dangerous in the car."
Jul
/ May 5, 2011I just can’t process the fast and furious reboot bit.
urgh. sounds like a really messed up comedy but it might actually be more interesting than the vin diesel version?… or something?
Mei
/ May 5, 2011@Jul Uhh, it’s a joke?
Jul
/ May 5, 2011@ Mei: oops… you’re right! XD thank goodness.
sorry for the mistake. it’s just that the tone Jesse used here sounded so serious… http://www.mtv.com/videos/movies/646419/jesse-eisenberg-and-aziz-ansari-talk-stunt-driving.jhtml
… he got me. again.
(weeps with frustration… I so totally fail as a Eisenberg fan)
Jul
/ May 5, 2011… though in my (weak) defense, I’m not remotely near the inner circle of the English world. lol I suspect I usually miss 80% of his jokes….
selma
/ May 6, 2011@Jul but you write so well. I would’ve never guessed you ‘weren’t in the english inner circle’
Jul
/ May 6, 2011@selma haha thanks, my livelihood depends on it…
i’m located somewhere between the outer and the expanding circles
cecille
/ May 6, 2011Not my type of film but it really seems like Jesse has good chemistry with Aziz here, I am tempted to watch it. But with barely known stars outside of the US, I doubt this will even reach our shores
Jul
/ May 6, 2011@ cecille well it’s a comedy XD the international audience likes hollywood comedies, no matter how stupid… (at least we over here seem to be)
speaking for myself, even if this movie gave a mediocre performance at the US box office, as long as the reception isn’t stone cold, it will quite likely blow by here (my city) during the summer
case would be completely different for other genres say documentry or history drama. (shudders)
(and they’ll make it summer because August is when people who’re inclined to watch silly English comedies – namely teenagers and fashionistas – still roam the streets)
cecille
/ May 7, 2011JuL, sadly that’s not the case here.
With no big name stars, something of this type will never be considered being distributed here. I do wish it would be a big box office in the US so at least our local distributor will think of releasing it here. I don’t think a movie like “The Hangover” would be released around here if it wasn’t such a monster hit in the US. But of course we got that movie a month after and by that time some have already downloaded torrents of it LOL! And something like “Due Date,” I don’t think that would ever made it here had it not been for Robert Downey Jr.
Jul
/ May 7, 2011cecille:
sad for you. Actually I might be over-optimistic about the situation over here too…. anyway, let’s hope the movie’ll do well in any case.
the trailer doesn’t encourage me but it’s just a trailer. I didn’t think much of the Zombieland trailer when it came out LOL
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btw: I’m sure most people already heard, but just to be sure…
Jesse sighting yesterday in NYC with Andrew Garfield near McNally Jackson bookstore. I heard there’s an actual pap video online but the source is being protected. am rather hoping for some clearer pap shoots. perhaps later.
http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lkt1ietmUK1qapfqco1_500.jpg
selma
/ May 7, 2011@Jul no I didn’t know about that. thanks for the info and link
It’s nice that they’re still keeping in touch.
also, after I read what you wrote I went over on tumblr and read that they might have gone to a broadway that day together too
Jul
/ May 7, 2011@ selma yeah, tumblr was going crazy last night… (at least the jewnicorn community was and I think they’re pretty big on tumblr?)
so far I’ve read rumours about their attendance at the broadway show together last night. coming out of a motel together. shopping together and on the Spiderman set together today. (the last two come from a tweet on twitter, no idea if there’s any legitimacy)
There is only the one picture for the moment as far as I know.
as a fan of both Andrew and Jesse, I’m just really happy this friendship is lasting.
Jul
/ May 7, 2011btw – was just ploughing through tumblr again to pick up on anything I might have missed;
http://www.slashfilm.com/roberto-benigni-confirmed-woody-allens/
italian actor confirmed for Woody Allen’s Rome movie. It says here quoting him that the supposedly leaked title was not legit.
Jul
/ May 7, 2011but IMDB had the title on it?
heavens I should stop spamming in the comments or we should start a msn group for swapping info/chatting/messaging or something….
sorry for the sheer amount of spamming, I keep going back and trying to add on bits of new thoughts, then realizing the editing function is not present…
cecille
/ May 7, 2011JuL, crossing my fingers the film will do well there. That’s our only chance.
Indiewire reported that the title was “The Wrong Picture” — and the site’s usually reliable. Oh well. It was the wrong title LOL
Anyways, Roberto Benigni is a respected actor in Italy and he won the Best Actor Oscar in ’98 or ’99, I think, for “Life is Beautiful” which I loved. He had a couple of duds after that, most notably “Pinocchio” which was an epic fail. He lied low after that. Glad to see him join the film.
So the entire cast now have been previous Oscar winners/nominees. Just wow.
Jul
/ May 7, 2011wow cecille thanks! I didn’t look up on Benigni and my knowledge of past movies (outisde 5 years) is virtually zero.
About the title, it could still be correct though. there’re quite a lot reliable sources quoting that. maybe Woody Allen didn’t bother to correct them. Or hey, maybe Woody intentionally started the rumour as a smokescreen for whatever he was doing! (insert stupid giggle)
(not that I feel much regret if it turns out to be unreal. the “the” sounds so un-Woody Allen)
cecille
/ May 8, 2011JuL, aaww, you make me feel old now LOL!
Hmm I never noticed Woody Allen films do not use “the” in their titles… Proves I’m not that knowledgeable with his films. I should get my Woody Allen fill before this comes out. Still plenty of time to go through what close to what 40 movies? Whew!
Jul
/ May 8, 2011cecille: no no we’re probably the same age… XD just that I don’t really pay attention to movie history. most movies I’ve watched float off my mind after a while. I only really got interested in Hollywood and all concerning in the recent two years…
I like the sound of midnight in Paris, it looks quite passable… that one I’m planning to watch
this “The” business in titling a lot of the movies coming out these days is frustrating me XD The Help, The Beaver, The Ward, The Conspirator, not to mention The King’s Speech, The Social Network and The Fighter…. what else?
I’d like to see Woody Allen refraining from the “the”. To quote Sean Parker, it really would be cleaner.
Stace
/ May 8, 2011I’m really looking forward to his new movies. Love him!
On a side note: Vote for Jesse for Best Male Performance for the MTV Movie Awards!
http://www.mtv.com/ontv/movieawards/2011/best-male-performance/
He really deserves some more recognition.