MTV visits the set of "Date movie" With pictures!
http://www.mtv.com/shared/movies/featur ... it_050901/
— by Larry Carroll
It's 4 a.m. in downtown Los Angeles, the silence of the streets only occasionally broken by the distant wailing of police sirens or the rumbling of indigents' unseen shopping-carts trundling through the murk. In a small park secluded by trees, Adam Campbell is enjoying his twentieth orgasm of the evening. Alyson Hannigan — while evidently having trouble staying awake — nevertheless remains gamely eager to please,
"Oh, God!" Campbell screams, rubbing his nipples. "Oh, yeah!"
Convulsing, giggling, twitching, even going so far as to break a wine glass over his head in a moment of rapture, Campbell finally composes himself, opens the menu before him and looks up at the waitress. He'll have the pork chops, thanks.
Photos from the set of "Date Movie"
The couple's moment of intimacy has been shared by a restaurant full of onlookers — onlookers who are, in turn, surrounded by dozens of silent members of a film crew, who are themselves surrounded by caterers, security guards, and the darkness of the L.A. morning. Hannigan (best-known, perhaps, as the quirky flutist from "American Pie," or as Willow from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") and Campbell (a classically-trained Shakespearean actor, making his film debut) are nearing the end of a night shoot for "Date Movie," a romantic comedy-skewering flick from Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg, the fun-loving scribes behind the original "Scary Movie."
"It's their first date, when they finally get together," Seltzer says of tonight's scene. "It's a spoof of 'When Harry Met Sally,' the orgasm scene."
"And, of course, she inadvertently lights a waitress on fire, who flails around in the background," adds Friedberg. "But they're so in love that they're oblivious to that."
"Right," Seltzer responds. "So this is, like, our average day."
In take after take, his hunger for The Other White Meat turns Campbell into a rabid Meg Ryan-wannabe, while the actress/stuntwoman/waitress races around in circles, engulfed in flames and Hannigan does her straight-faced best to pretend it's all perfectly normal.
Directors Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg on using 50 Cent's "Candy Shop"
"My character is sort of every romantic lead character in all of the romantic comedies out there," says Hannigan, whose trademark scarlet locks have been enhanced by some well-placed extensions. "Sort of Julia Roberts-meets-Reese Witherspoon-meets-Sandra Bullock.
"His orgasm is startling, really," she continues, apparently unable to get the image of what just transpired out of her mind. "It's scary. I'm glad I didn't see that before I did the play in London. [Hannigan once had the role of Sally in a play based on the Billy Crystal-Meg Ryan film.] If I'd tried to do any of that, they'd probably kick me out of the country. At one point he looked like a St. Bernard; drool was just flying everywhere. I'm afraid for his future. I don't think he'll ever get a girlfriend again after this movie."
Judging by his charisma, his classic leading-man good looks and the fact that he's been cast as a variation on Hugh Grant's customary bumbling Brit charmer, Campbell has nothing to worry about.
"I think Hugh Grant's a bit posher than I am," he insists. "He's got a more upper-class accent than I."
"Well," chimes in his leading lady, "he's got the blue eyes."
"Does that make him better?"
"Yeah," she responds, deadpan. "That sets him one step above you in posh-land."
Alyson Hannigan on working with Lil Jon
Coincidentally enough, Hannigan recently encountered the real Grant on a studio lot while she was getting ready to film a "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" gag for "Date Movie" — a gag that required the make-up team to provide her with an enormous zit.
"It was the size of my thumb, a hideous, hideous zit that I wake up with on my wedding day, and I squeeze it and it sends me through a wall. Very funny," she giggles. "Kinda gross. Of course, the first person I see when I have the zit on my chin is Mr. Hugh Grant. Looking dashing, I might add. Just spectacularly hot, and I had a zit on my chin."
While the dashing, hot Grant will not be appearing in front of the "Date Movie" cameras, cameos have already been filmed with Carmen Electra, Lil Jon and Kimberly Stewart, as well as Jennifer Coolidge and Fred Willard playing the heads of the Barbra-and-Dustin-skewering Fockyourdaughter family. In addition to "Harry," "Greek," and "Meet the Fockers," the film will also mock "My Best Friend's Wedding," "Pretty Woman," "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," "Wedding Crashers" (a Luke Wilson look-a-like has been brought in) and even non-romantic fare like Tarantino's "Kill Bill" movies.
"We're filming a spoof of 'King Kong,' which comes out in six months, and our movie comes out three weeks after," the boyish-looking Seltzer beams while discussing the movie's immediacy. "We also did a spoof of Paris Hilton's Carl's Jr. ad with our actress, Sophie Monk, on top of a Bentley."
Another of the film's strengths is powerfully written, soul-baring dialogue, such as this gem delivered from the lips of the leading man: "My father was a proctologist, and my grandfather was a proctologist. Initially, I really loved a--. But it left a bad taste in my mouth."
Once it's time to resume shooting, Hannigan and Campbell walk back over to the restaurant setting and sit down, placing napkins in their laps while gazing lovingly into each other's eyes.
"Tell me more about you," Hannigan asks once the cameras begin rolling. "Like, what's your favorite love song?"
"It's kind of corny," he sheepishly replies, before she talks him into it.
"'I'll take you to the candy shop ...'" Campbell begins, bringing 50's lyrics to life with an English accent.
Hannigan lovingly whispers the next line: "I'll let you lick the lollypop."
"Go ahead girl, don't you stop."
"Keep going 'til you hit the spot."
A few moments later, Hannigan is reciting the couplet: "Are you gonna back that thing up, or should I push up on it?" to which Campbell sweetly replies: "In the hotel, or the back of the rental?"
"Date Movie" will arrive in theaters this January, and if the film is half as funny as the scenes being filmed on this particular night, Campbell won't be the only one howling with pleasure.