by Eva Dameron
Daily Lobo
Being an Internet celebrity sometimes leads to greater things.
Three friends from Berkeley, Calif., formed a comedy trio in 2001 called the Lonely Island, making short films and posting them on YouTube. The comedy shorts got so popular that Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer had the chance to audition for "Saturday Night Live."
They are now on the cast.
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Last year, things got even better when they made a movie called "Hot Rod" in Vancouver, set to release Aug. 3. Bill Hader, of "SNL," also stars in the film, along with Danny McBride.
"It's a dream come true, without being too cheesy," said Samberg, who plays the lead role as Rod, an aspiring motorcycle stuntman. "I wanted to be on 'SNL' since I was 8. It happened way faster than we were expecting."
The "Hot Rod" script was written for Will Ferrell, but that didn't work out, so the project was handed over to the comedy trio, which had never made a feature-length film.
The comedy is about Rod, a motorcycle stuntman who schemes to raise $50,000 so his abusive stepfather can get a heart transplant. If his father gets the surgery and grows strong, Rod will beat him up and earn his respect.
Schaffer, who writes digital shorts for "SNL", directed the film.
He said comedies are generally clichÇ, but he adds weird twists and details to "Hot Rod."
"Most of the wacky comedies in this kind of a genre of just big comedy do follow a kind of strict format," Schaffer said. "We tried to take every predictable element and call it out or twist it in a new way and change it."
Near the end of the movie, before Rod's big jump over 15 school buses, he and three friends walk down the town's main street in slow-motion, with more and more people joining behind them. It's like a classic triumphant climax, but then a riot breaks out for no apparent reason.
Samberg said the riot scene was the best part of the shoot.
"It was the third day of shooting, and before that, we had only done stuff at the burger joint, and it was all really low-key," he said. "I feel like no one knew who we were, and the crew was sort of figuring out, 'Is this movie gonna suck?' Then, that day, there's huge amounts of extras singing, huge crane shots, cars exploding, being turned over, and it was at that moment where all of a sudden, everyone was like, 'Oh, shit. We're
making a movie.'"
He said that was the moment the crew gelled.
The funniest parts of the film happen during McBride and Hader's joint improv scenes as Rod's friends, a classic goofballish, beer-slugging pair, one with a shaved head and mustache and the other with long greasy locks.
Those were some of Schaffer's favorite parts, as well.
"Anytime Danny and Bill were improvising, we weren't worrying, 'Is this going to make sense?'" he said.
Hader, who had to keep his hair extensions in for most of the movie, said the pair felt like idiots walking around Vancouver.
McBride's costume didn't do him any favors, either.
"I had to get that haircut and grow that mustache out, and it kind of put me in this slump," he said. "I was walking around Vancouver like, 'Holy shit. I really do look like this dude.'"
He said cast members got excited about simple things, like flying first class or having a refrigerator in their hotel suites.
"That was part of the charm of this movie," McBride said. "Everyone hadn't really done anything of this scope before. No one was a snob about it."
