Crime thrillers that blend action and crime are nothing new, but few offer the sci-fi twist that BenDavid Grabinski’s new movie can boast.
It sometimes comes off as a throwback 1990s thriller comedy, full of pop culture references (a ‘Gilmore Girls’ discussion might be the funniest) and needle drops from the era and beyond.
Written and directed by Grabinski, this has a script that moves at a fair clip, throwing a variety of different characters at us, who all provide various levels of entertainment value. Sometimes it all feels a little Tarantino-lite, but it has its own appeal.
Cinematographer Larry Fong helps give this one some visual panache, and if it occasionally leans too hard on certain styles, the movie certainly delivers in a way that fans of directors such as Edgar Wright will appreciate.
It’s the casting that really helps this one –– Vaughn delivers his trademark witty attitude (with an extra version of his character for good measure thanks to the movie’s time travel twist). Marsden is appealing nervy and if González doesn’t always get as much to do, her Alice is still a solid character.
Around them, there is a deep bench of comedy acting talent, including Stephen Root, Ben Schwartz and Jimmy Tatro, who all steal scenes.
Two gangsters and the woman they love try to survive the most dangerous night of their lives. As if that wasn’t enough, there’s one wild ingredient added to the mix: a time machine.
Who is in the cast of ‘Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice’?
(L to R) Brenda Vaccaro and Lorraine Bracco star in ‘Nonnas’.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Lorraine Bracco and Brenda Vaccaro about their work on ‘Nonnas’, Bracco’s first reaction to the screenplay, working with the all-star cast, the rivalry between Bracco and Vaccaro’s characters, collaborating with director Stephen Chbosky and screenwriter Liz Maccie on set, and Bracco’s experience acting opposite Vince Vaughn.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Bracco and Vaccaro, Joe Manganiello, director Stephen Chbosky, and screenwriter Liz Maccie.
Moviefone: To begin with, Lorraine, what was your first reaction to the screenplay, the true story it is based on, and working with the rest of this incredible cast?
Loraine Bracco: So, when I read the script, I loved it. I cried. I laughed. I wanted to be in the movie. The cast, I mean, it goes without saying. I have admired these women my whole life. They made great movies, great characters, great choices, so it was exciting.
MF: Brenda, can you talk about why Antonella does not like Roberta when they first meet, and what was it fun playing out that rivalry with Loraine?
Brenda Vaccaro: Oh my God, yes, because we never knew where we were going with it. Do you know what I’m saying? You never knew because, I mean, she would insult me, and I’d insult her, and I’d go, “What did we just do? Okay, we’re on that horse, are we?” So, I never knew when she was going to throw something at me, which I loved. It was great to work with her.
MF: Loraine, what was it like working with director Stephen Chbosky on this project?
LB: Stephen never said cut. He was enjoying the two of us go at it. That gave us the freedom to have just as good a time as they did when Liz wrote it and when he said, “Hey honey, we’re going to do this.” Do you know what I mean? It really was a loving family.
MF: Brenda, what was your experience like collaborating with director Stephen Chbosky and his wife, screenwriter Liz Maccie on set?
BV: His wife, Liz, when she would visit the set, she’d say, “It’s great. I love it.” So, they were permissive. They were giving.
MF: Finally, Loraine, can you talk about Roberta’s connection to Joe, and what it was like for you to work with Vince Vaughn?
LB: Well, I was very nervous, to be truthful, because I’d never really made a comedy. I didn’t even know where to start. I would look at Vince and be like, “Oh, God, what am I doing?” He would just tell me to calm down and trust myself. Even during the read-through, I would just turn to him with panic, and he’s like, “Loraine, you’re doing great. Trust me. Just believe. Make your choices and go for it.” He was very giving that way and totally helped me create Roberta. The fact that I was his mom’s best friend made our relationship very loving and caring.
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What is the plot of ‘Nonnas’?
After losing his beloved mother, a man (Vince Vaughn) risks everything to honor her by opening an Italian restaurant with actual nonnas (grandmothers) as the chefs.
For ‘Bad Monkey’, he and a producing/writing/directing team that includes Jeff Ingold, Matt Tarses, Marcos Siega, Liza Katzer and star Vince Vaughn skew more towards the dramatic side of either of his previous works, though given that it adapts the work of satirist and Floridian crime expert Carl Hiaasen, also skews comedic when needed.
(L to R) Vince Vaughn and Natalie Martinez in ‘Bad Monkey,’ premiering August 14, 2024 on Apple TV+.
Bringing Carl Hiaasen’s work to the screen has been a hit-or-miss affair in the past and given that the biggest title spawned from his writing is 1996 Demi Moore-starring drama ‘Striptease’, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s mostly miss.
Still, television feels like a more natural home for his work, and the rambling serio-comic crime caper that is ‘Bad Monkey’ certainly has the time to tell its story, with an Apple TV budget to bring the Floridian visuals to life in all their sun-drenched humidity.
It’s also entertaining to see Vince Vaughn make one of his occasional forays into TV; his last lead role was, let’s not forget, on the benighted second season of ‘True Detective’, and fortunately ‘Bad Monkey’ feels much more suited to his particular comedy stylings.
‘Bad Monkey’ Season 3: Script and Direction
(L to R) Meredith Hagner and Rob Delaney in ‘Bad Monkey,’ premiering August 14, 2024 on Apple TV+.
Lawrence as showrunner here leans into the low-key crime style that Hiaasen’s novels for adults have come to rely on. The new show is full of the oddballs that populate his books, usually up to no good –– and the ones who are on the side of the law are just as weird in their own way.
It takes a while for the whole thing to truly get going, but once it established the storyline, there’s more than enough entertainment value to be found watching Vaughn’s character work his way through the twisty mystery.
Zach Braff in ‘Bad Monkey,’ premiering August 14, 2024 on Apple TV+.
One subplot, featuring his off-again-on-again lover Bonnie Witt (Michelle Monaghan) never quite gels with the rest, though, and there’s an uncomfortably awkward whiff of creepiness about her character, a teacher who slept with a student years ago. It’s one of the few missteps the story makes.
Directors Marcos Siega (who supervises), Colin Bucksey, Erica Dunton, Liz Friedlander and Sam Jones all bring the required flare to the show while also giving the script and actors room to do their thing.
‘Bad Monkey’: Performances
(L to R) Charlotte Lawrence and Meredith Hagner in ‘Bad Monkey,’ premiering August 14, 2024 on Apple TV+.
‘Bad Monkey’ boasts a solid ensemble who bring the various characters to life with an ease and charm that works on different levels.
Vince Vaughn as Andrew Yancy
While it might seem like it takes Vaughn an episode or two to truly hit the right vibe as Yancy –– much as the show itself needs a moment to truly find its groove –– he’s great as the sardonic, witty leading man, a cop on suspension who is making ends meet as a food inspector. His chemistry with the likes of Natalie Martinez in particular is easy and warm, and he can deliver the chewy dialogue without it seeming forced.
Natalie Martinez as Rosa Campesino
Martinez’ Rosa is the Miami pathologist chafing against the depressing ghoulishness of her job who finds herself drawn into Yancy’s investigation and soon sparks a relationship with him that spills into the personal. As a foil for Vaughn and a character in general, Martinez is great in the series, sparky and spiky when needed, dealing with her family and just the right amount of sarcastic to match Vaughn’s energy.
Rob Delaney as Christopher
Rob Delaney tends to crush it in smaller supporting roles, and here he’s handed a character with more to do than usual, and absolutely nails the sort of nervous-yet-over-confident energy that an unexpectedly criminal type such as Christopher needs. He’s both in over his head and nasty when called upon, yet always watchable.
Meredith Hagner as Eve
The dominant force in Christopher’s life and his partner in crime, Meredith Hagner is excellent as the needy, pragmatic and often whiny Eve, who masterminds a scheme to make them both rich. Hagner makes her come alive in a way that is both human and horrific and gives her more life than the seemingly one-note character might suggest.
Michelle Monaghan in ‘Bad Monkey,’ premiering August 14, 2024 on Apple TV+.
Michelle Monaghan as Bonnie Witt
As mentioned above, the Bonnie character gave me real pause, and aside from a few moments, feels like something that could have been taken out of the story without sacrificing all that much. Still, that’s no fault of Monaghan, who does what she can with the role.
Jodie Turner-Smith as the Dragon Queen
Jodie Turner-Smith, a little like Delaney (but in very different roles), has been doing great work with supporting characters of late, especially in ‘The Acolyte’. Here, she has a more rounded role to bring to life, the mysterious and seemingly powerful sorceress who is in reality very complicated She’s fantastic, projecting supreme confidence when needed and utter vulnerability at other times.
Jodie Turner-Smith in ‘Bad Monkey,’ premiering August 14, 2024 on Apple TV+.
Other notable characters
The season is blessed with a solid ensemble, including John Ortiz as Yancy’s former police partner Rogelio and, in true Lawrence fashion, since he loves putting his family in his work, Charlotte Lawrence as Christopher’s daughter (and yes, she avoids the “nepo baby” criticism by being suitably prickly and fun in the role).
‘Bad Monkey’: Final Thoughts
John Ortiz in ‘Bad Monkey,’ premiering August 14, 2024 on Apple TV+.
It might be called ‘Bad Monkey’ (with Crystal from ‘The Hangover’ playing the titular simian), but this show never really lives up to its title, since the creature plays a very small role in the story at all.
Don’t let that put you off though –– this is a twisty, funny, dramatic and chaotic comedy drama and a successful attempt to bring Carl Hiaasen’s work to the screen.
‘Bad Monkey’ receives 8 out of 10 stars.
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What’s the story of ‘Bad Monkey’?
‘Bad Monkey’ is the story of Andrew Yancy (Vince Vaughn), who has been bounced from the Miami Police Department and is now a health inspector in the Keys.
But after stumbling upon a case that begins with a human arm fished up by tourists, he realizes that if he can prove murder, he’ll be back in. He just needs to get past a trove of Floridian oddballs and one bad monkey.
Who else is in ‘Bad Monkey’?
The cast of ‘Bad Monkey’ also includes L. Scott Caldwell, Rob Delaney, Meredith Hagner, Natalie Martinez, Alex Moffat, Michelle Monaghan, Ronald Peet, Jodie Turner-Smith and Charlotte Lawrence.
Ronald Peet in ‘Bad Monkey,’ premiering August 14, 2024 on Apple TV+.
Queenpins – directed by Gita Pullapilly & Aron Gaudet
Kristen Bell & Kirby Howell-Baptiste in ‘Queenpins’
Born in South Bend, Indiana, Gita Pullapilly studied finance at University of Notre Dame and later journalism at the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University. She met her future husband and creative collaborator Aron Gaudet while producing his documentary ‘The Way We Get By’. The two have collaborated on multiple projects and were jointly appointed Guggenheim Fellows in 2015. ‘Queenpins’ is their second narrative feature film together, following their 2013 festival hit ‘Beneath the Harvest Sky.’
Inspired by a true story, ‘Queenpins’ follows two desperate women, Connie (Kristen Bell) and JoJo (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) who go from extreme couponing to running the largest coupon scam in United States history. When their illicit business grows, a grocery store chain loss prevention officer (Paul Walter Hauser) joins forces with a postal inspector (Vince Vaughn) to take the two women down.
‘Queenpins’ is now playing in select Cinemark Theaters nationwide, and will be available streaming on Paramount+ on September 30.
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Pullapilly and Gaudet talked to Moviefone about their new movie.
Moviefone: Can you talk about your collaboration process?
Gita Pullapilly: We’re married, so…
Aron Gaudet: …we wake up in bed together, and everything we do is basically together.
Pullapilly: Yeah.
Gaudet: When we write, it’s not like we send the script back and forth together. We’re right next to each other. Every word is gone over and agreed upon, going into the script.
Pullapilly: Very much, our work is like marriage therapy. We do a lot to try to heal ourselves from our childhood issues, to be able to get down to a spot where we can write together and direct together and really challenge each other in productive ways, so we can get the best version of that movie out there.
Gaudet: When you talk about collaboration, our entire lives together is a collaboration. Whether it’s our marriage, writing together, directing together, going on a walk together. But, then we love the collaboration with our cast and crew. To open that open and be as collaborative as possible and make everybody feel like they have a stake in it. I feel like that comes from being in such a collaborative person relationship as co-directors, co-writers, spouses.
Pullapilly: I think one thing, when we are writing on our laptop, we have to be open to each other’s ideas. Because that is the first time on a story that Aron and I have to have our perspectives melded together. We have to be open to that, and we have to understand whose idea is the journey we want to go down for whatever that scene is or whatever we’re trying to craft. That’s the first step for us: being open to each other’s ideas. Then, once we are on set, we really own that concept because any idea that is going to make that film the best version of the film is going to be an opportunity for us to make that best version of the movie. Whether it’s from a gaffer or anybody else, we are super excited to hear it because it only means that they are that much more invested in the movie, but also that makes for the better movie.
MF: You came across this story on a coupon blog. How did you fall down that rabbit hole?
Pullapilly: So many stories that are told are optioned very quickly in Hollywood, and we aren’t ever in the position where we can option those, or we just weren’t in on the game earlier enough to have access to them. Much of what Aron and I do is taking deep dives on the internet trying to find stories out there that haven’t been told, need to be told, and are so unique and interesting that they resonate with us in some way. I don’t know how I got on the coupon blog, but I saw three sentences that talked about this “counterfeit coupon caper” and “$40 million” and it happened to have the name of the detective from Arizona in the article. I shared it with Aron, and we thought there was something unique and special here, so we reached out to the detective, and he was fascinating, and we drove to Phoenix to spend more time with him and hear more of the story.
MF: How did Kristen Bell come on board?
Gaudet: Early on, once we had a finished script, she was on a very short list of people that we thought would be right for the role of Connie. We knew that Connie in the movie is a definite go-getter. She’s a former Olympian, and she has a lot of ambition and drive, but also she ends up doing bad things. Kristen when we sat down with her, one of the first things she said was that for some reason even if she’s doing things like committing crimes, audiences still love her doing those things. That was exactly what we needed in Connie. Somebody who had this go-getter mentality, who was extremely likeable even if they were committing crimes and breaking laws.
MF: In the real story was she a racewalker?
Gaudet: No. We really don’t know much about the real women. We took the framework of the coupon scam – what happened, how they did it, and what they did when they made all this money – and then we just completely created characters. That’s why it’s more inspired by the story. The characters are complete creations.
Pullapilly: We wanted the two women to represent so much of what we as women are going through in society today, feeling boxed in and trapped and not being able to find the loopholes to break out and succeed. We felt like to do that, we wanted to create our own characters.
MF: Did you also develop the YouTube aspect of JoJo?
Gaudet: Yeah, as we did a deep dive into the world of coupons and the world of extreme couponing, we would watch just tons of YouTube videos of these extreme couponers. We latched onto a couple that we were really interested in. We would just watch their videos over and over. They would talk you through their stockpile room, or how they clip their coupons and organize them. We started basing JoJo off of some of them. We knew she had to have her YouTube channel and her whole brand going.
Pullapilly: The couponing videos are really fantastic. You can go down a big rabbit hole of watching so many of them because they are so interesting and unique, and then you see all the deals they’re getting, and you’re like wow this is incredible.
MF: I read that 96% of Americans use coupons. Do you know what percentage of that are competitive couponers?
Gaudet: It’s probably a small percentage that do extreme couponing, but as far as using coupons in their lives, yeah it’s a lot. What we realized is it’s really the foundation of the U.S. economy, coupons.
Pullapilly: What we realized is there is the question, is it a need or a want? And that really determines if someone is going to buy something or not. But a coupon eradicates that question.
Gaudet: It tips it to a need.
Pullapilly: It tips it to a need, even though it’s most likely a want.
Gaudet: It puts a ticking clock on it. There’s a whole psychology behind coupons and coupon use, and we were fascinated by all of that. There were stories that we would read like the CEO of JCPenney got rid of coupons and just wanted to do everyday low pricing and almost bankrupted the company. They lost $4 billion dollars because he got rid of coupons. There is that feeling that not everyone is an extreme couponer, but they like the idea that they can get a deal.
MF: Can you talk about the various shooting locations given the COVID protocols?
Gaudet: It was very constricted because twenty-two of our thirty shoot days ended up being on this one campus that is an abandoned health facility. A lot of those locations were really just finding areas on this campus where we could create another location. There are a lot of locations, but it was a lot of movie magic to make it the world during the pandemic. We knew we had to keep people safe and create a bubble to work in, while not sacrificing story. We never wanted it to feel like a movie that was made during the pandemic, but it was a challenge every day to pull that off.
MF: Was the location of their coupon warehouse also on that campus?
Gaudet: Yeah, that’s on that campus as well.
Pullapilly: We had Mexico on that campus. We had Montenegro on that campus. We had the coupon facilities on that campus.
Gaudet: We found every small nook and took advantage of it. We were able to do a couple of days at a grocery store and a day at the airplane hangar. But the heart of the movie was all shot on this one campus.
Pullapilly: I don’t think anyone realized how many different looks we pulled off. Our production designer Jennifer Klide did an incredible job of trying to be as creative with such a limited budget to work with to find ways to make everything look different.
MF: Was Vince Vaughn’s postal inspector character part of the real story?
Gaudet: The true story did involve postal inspectors. This detective in Phoenix had teamed up with postal inspectors. It involved a postal inspector S.W.A.T. team. All of those aspects are true to the story. Then it was us taking a deep dive into postal inspectors, talking with a postal inspector. We were going off of this theme where these two women felt very undervalued and discounted like a coupon, but so do both of the male characters that Paul and Vince play. We realized that they felt undervalued. Within law enforcement, postal inspectors are not held in as high regard, or they’re just not known like the FBI or the CIA. But the reality is, the postal inspectors were the very first law enforcement agency in the history of our country.
Pullapilly: And they’re baddasses. You should see some of the videos online of postal inspectors. They’re incredible.
Gaudet: They took down the Unabomber. They are involved in a lot of big cases because so many crimes involve the mail. It was us realizing that these guys are badass, but they’re not viewed that way, and there is comedy to be had there. Vince’s character comes in justice is very much his core value, but everyone else around him is like, wait, what’s a postal inspector?
MF: Can you recommend another film directed or co-directed by a woman for viewers to seek out?
Pullapilly: I think Kimberly Peirce who directed ‘Boys Don’t Cry,’ is an amazing filmmaker. I think what she did with that movie is spectacular because it opened my eyes to a world I didn’t know before. It was so raw and real that it moved me profoundly and inspired me to want to push the limits of storytelling, to be able to make an impact on the lives of other people. I admire her greatly.
Gaudet: I think what is excited to us is to see somebody like Patty Jenkins who goes from smaller films like we’ve started at, to something like ‘Wonder Woman’ but on her own terms. We’re always looking for directors to admire who do that – go from a smaller budget to a bigger budget, but do it on their own terms and still bring their own vision to it. That’s always inspiring.
Boys Don’t Cry – directed by Kimberly Peirce
Hilary Swank & Chloë Sevigny in ‘Boys Don’t Cry’
Inspired by the brutal murder of Brandon Teena, a trans man living in rural Nebraska, Peirce’s breaktrhough drama received critical acclaim and Hilary Swank won the Oscar win for Best Actress. Although its approach and cisgender casting is dated now, the film was a watershed moment for trans representation in cinema upon its release.
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Monster – directed by Patty Jenkins
Charlize Theron in ‘Monster’
Before breaking records with her pair of Wonder Woman films for DC, Jenkins wrote and directed this powerful drama inspired by the real-life story of serial killer Aileen Wuornos. The film was released to wide-spread critical acclaim, and Charlize Theron won the Oscar for Best Actress for her complex portrayal of Wuornos.
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In this exclusive clip for ‘The Opening Act,’ aspiring stand-up Will Chu (Jimmy O. Yang) joins comic star Chris Palmer (Alex Moffat) for an appearance on a morning zoo-style radio show.
The film is written and directed by Steve Byrne, and produced by Vince Vaughn and Peter Billingsly. It also features an impressive amount of comic co-stars including Cedric the Entertainer, Bill Burr, Ken Jeong, Neal Brennan, Debby Ryan, Jermaine Fowler, Whitney Cummings, and Iliza Shlesinger.
Here’s the official synopsis for the film:
Will Chu is stuck in a thankless job while trying to pursue his true passion in life, becoming a stand-up comedian. When he gets the opportunity he’s been waiting for, the emcee slot on the road opening for his hero Billy G., the realities of life on the stage come crashing in. Between relentless hecklers, drunk comedy groupies and hard-to-impress morning radio DJs, things get off to a rough start. Even if he can learn from his idols and overcome the challenges, he’ll have to prove he has what it takes to make his dream a reality.
‘The Opening Act’ will be in theaters, on digital and on demand on October 16.
There’s an untitled Blumhouse thriller on the way that involves a strange, scary tale of body-swapping.
Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton will star in the Chris Landon-directed flick, Deadline reports. Their characters will be the ones who end up swapped. Newton’s, a high school girl, will have the horror of finding out she’s in the body of a deranged serial killer (Vaughn).
The screenplay was co-written by Landon and Michael Kennedy. It will follow the teen as she discovers she only has 24 hours to switch back. After that point, she’ll be stuck in the serial killer’s body.
Newton tweeted after the news broke Thursday that “this is going to be so wild!” That sounds like an accurate description to us. The idea of being in a serial killer’s body is scary enough, and it’s even worse when you realize him being in yours could pose a serious threat to your friends and family. Chilling, right?
Vaughn has played a criminal before. He previously starred in HBO’s “True Detective.” More recently, he starred in “Seberg,” which hits the Venice Film Festival on Aug. 30. He was also in “Fighting With My Family,” which opened earlier this year. Meanwhile, Newton has appeared in two seasons of HBO’s “Big Little Lies” and is one of the stars of the Netflix series “The Society.” She was also in “Detective Pikachu,” which hit theaters in May.
The upcoming thriller will be produced by Jason Blum. So far, no release date has been announced.
It’s been 15 years since “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story” hit theaters are proved that you really can make an underdog sports movie about any sport. Get back in fighting shape (and avoid those wrenches) by learning more about the making of “Dodgeball” and that sequel we may or may not ever see.
2. While most of the wrenches in the iconic wrench-throwing sequence were made of rubber, one of them was actually real. Long was injured when it hit him in the eyebrow.
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3. The filming process was hard on the equipment as well as the actors. Stiller reportedly broke three different cameras filming a single scene.
4.Patton Oswalt provided voiceover work for the film, dubbing over Ben Stiller in one particularly risque scene and voicing the video store clerk at the beginning of the film.
20th Century Fox
5. The movie apparently takes place in 1993. This is revealed thanks to White’s before and after video, which dates his “six years and six hundred pounds ago…” photo as 1987.
6. “Dodgeball” delivers a subtle homage to the G.I. Joe franchise via the team names of the rival gyms, “The Average Joes” and “The Purple Cobras.”
20th Century Fox
7. The “Dodgeball Unrated” DVD contains a bizarre director’s commentary featuring Stiller arguing with his fellow actors for roughly 40 minutes, after which the track is replaced by the commentary to “There’s Something About Mary.”
8. ESPN paid homage to “Dodgeball’ in 2017 by airing a one-day “ESPN 8: The Ocho” marathon covering unusual, off-kilter sporting events.
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9. 20th Century Fox announced a sequel to “Dodgeball” in 2013, though no further updates have been made. However, the cast did reunite in 2017 for a YouTube campaign geared toward a charity dodgeball tournament.
Lionsgate released the film’s trailer on Thursday, showing Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn as a pair of police detectives-turned-criminals. The two cops find themselves suspended from work after a video reveals them using strong-arm tactics, leading them to make questionable choices. To make money, they turn to some very illegal activities.
“We have the skills and the right to acquire proper compensation,” says Gibson’s character, Detective Brett Ridgeman, in the trailer.
And acquire compensation they do, if not in a “proper” way. The trailer shows them donning masks and committing an armed robbery. Watch below.
The actor has done a string of serious films recently, but he’s ready for a more lighthearted role. Vaughn is set to lend his voice to the Netflix series “F Is for Family.” The streamer announced his guest role on Wednesday, Oct. 3 and showed off a video that introduces his new character.
Vaughn will play Colonel Chet Stevenson, a man who moves into the Murphy family’s neighborhood. Netflix describes him as “a legendary Air Force pilot,” as Deadline reports, and he’s apparently only recently returned to the United States after fighting in Vietnam. He and Frank (voiced by Bill Burr) will form a special bond, as you’ll see in the clip.
Watch the video announcement below. Warning: It’s NSFW.
Vaughn was most recently seen in the 2017 action thriller “Brawl in Cell Block 99” and before that, the 2016 war drama “Hacksaw Ridge.” However, he is well-known for his comedy roles, including in film such as “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues,” “The Internship,” and “Wedding Crasher.” His “F Is for Family” role is more in line with what we typically think of when we think of Vaughn, and it should be an entertaining one, however long his character sticks around.
“F Is for Family” is heading into its third season, but Netflix has still not yet announced the premiere date.
“Earmuffs!” Cover your ears if you’re too young, but if you’re of a certain age, you’ll be astonished to hear that it’s been 15 years since “Old School” enrolled at the multiplex.
Released on February 21, 2003, the modern-day answer to “Animal House” made Will Ferrell into a bankable movie star, put future “Hangover” director Todd Phillips on the raunchy-comedy map, helped coin the phrase “Frat Pack” to describe the loose brotherhood of movie comedy stars that included Ferrell and Vince Vaughn, and introduced a variety of bizarre hazing rituals to American college fraternity life.
Like midterm exams, “Old School” keeps reappearing, at least in rotation on cable. Still, as often as you’ve watched it, there’s much you may not know about the college comedy. So read on and study carefully; there may be a pop quiz later. 1. “Old School” was actually Phillips’ third movie about hard-partying college students. The first was his 1997 documentary “Frat House.” Phillips took that movie to the Sundance Film Festival, where he met fabled comedy filmmaker and “Animal House” producer Ivan Reitman. Reitman turned Phillips toward comedy and produced his next two films, campus farce “Road Trip” (2000) and “Old School.”
2. The idea for a movie about three early-middle-aged men trying to return to their irresponsible fraternity days came from Phillips’s friend, ad man Court Crandall. He earned a story credit on the film, though the final screenplay was written by Phillips and his writing partner, Scot Armstrong. 3. Armstrong and Phillips wrote the part of Bernard with Vaughn in mind, having been impressed by his comic performances in movies like “Swingers” and “Made.” But Vaughn had done such a good job of establishing himself as a serious dramatic actor that the studio didn’t want him for “Old School.” “They didn’t think I could do comedy!” Vaughn marveled in 2015. “Todd really had to push for me; I think he even told them to watch me on Letterman, to see that I could be funny.”
4. That’s Phillips, by the way, playing the guy who knocks on Luke Wilson‘s door early on and says, “I’m here for the gangbang.” 5.Patrick Cranshaw had been acting in films for 50 years before “Old School,” but it was his role as lube-wrestling frat brother Blue that finally made him famous at age 84. He died three years later, but not before hearing countless fans greet him with Ferrell’s line, “You’re my boy, Blue!”
6. The three leads (Wilson, Vaughn, and Ferrell) teased each other on set. Wilson recalled Ferrell telling him he was sorry he hadn’t yet seen Wilson’s performance in “Legally Bland.” Wilson shot back with a warning that “you might just want to keep one foot back in TV just in case this whole movie thing falls through.” 7. The house that Wilson’s friends transform into the home of their new fraternity is a real residential house located on Pasadena’s Bushnell Avenue, on a two-block stretch that has been used for locations in several Michael J. Fox movies. The same house appeared in “Back to the Future Part II” (Biff steals a kid’s ball and tosses it onto the house’s balcony), while down the street are George McFly’s 1955 home from the first “Back to the Future” and the house where the 1955 Lorraine lived in that movie — a house that was also where Fox’s character lived in “Teen Wolf.”
8. The college scenes were largely shot in Los Angeles at UCLA and USC. There’s one helicopter shot of the campus, however, that may look familiar. It’s actually flyover footage of Harvard University, which Phillips recycled from “Road Trip,” though no ground scenes in either film were shot at the Cambridge, Massachusetts campus. 9. Who’s the wedding singer who inserts subliminal profanities into the lyrics of Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart”? It’s Dan Finnerty of The Dan Band, an act that became the toast of Hollywood nightclubs by performing a repertoire of songs made popular by female singers. A comic who’s married to Kathy Najimy, Finnerty would perform similarly inappropriate songs in Phillips’s “Starsky & Hutch” and “The Hangover.”
10. Also, the church where Ferrell gets married showed up again two years later in Vaughn and Owen Wilson‘s “Wedding Crashers.” 11. The last day of the shoot was devoted to the Mitch-a-Palooza party, the one that starts with a surprise performance by Snoop Dogg and ends with Ferrell streaking through town. Ferrell had already shot the streaking sequence — and yes, he ran naked for real, apparently horrifying local lookie-loos who had no idea they were going to be treated to full frontal Ferrell — but he needed some liquid courage to drop trou in front of the rap icon. “To actually be in front of Snoop Dogg that close naked,” Ferrell said, “that was more intimidating than anything.”
12. Snoop Dogg so wanted to play Huggy Bear in Phillips’s upcoming adaptation of “Starsky & Hutch,” that the director was able to persuade the rapper to cameo as himself in “Old School” as a condition for landing the role he coveted in Phillips’ next movie. 13. After his scene was complete, Snoop summoned Vaughn to party in his trailer. Wilson was miffed to find out about the revelry later; apparently, no one had invited him.
14. The budget for “Old School” was reportedly $24 million. It made back $76 million in North America and another $11 million abroad. 15. “Old School” not only made Ferrell a breakout star, but it also led to the coining of the term “The Frat Pack” to describe the group of comic actors and frequent collaborators that included Ferrell, Vaughn, Luke and Owen Wilson, Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and others.
16. In 2006, Armstrong wrote a script for a sequel, “Old School Dos,” that would have sent the trio of aging frat boys on spring break. Ferrell and Vaughn nixed the idea as being too much of a retread. Wilson, however, was game, though he said he understood Vaughn and Ferrell’s position. “As funny as those guys are, they are pretty damn thoughtful and would hate to squander the goodwill of the first one with one where it just seemed like the studio was just trying to cash in.”
Indeed, in 2016, Wilson was still game, saying, “I, of course, would do it at the drop of a hat.”
“Earmuffs!” Cover your ears if you’re too young, but if you’re of a certain age, you’ll be astonished to hear that it’s been 15 years since “
1. “Old School” was actually Phillips’ third movie about hard-partying college students. The first was his 1997 documentary “
3. Armstrong and Phillips wrote the part of Bernard with Vaughn in mind, having been impressed by his comic performances in movies like “
5. 
7. The house that Wilson’s friends transform into the home of their new fraternity is a real residential house located on Pasadena’s Bushnell Avenue, on a two-block stretch that has been used for locations in several 
9. Who’s the wedding singer who inserts subliminal profanities into the lyrics of Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart”? It’s Dan Finnerty of The Dan Band, an act that became the toast of Hollywood nightclubs by performing a repertoire of songs made popular by female singers. A comic who’s married to 
11. The last day of the shoot was devoted to the Mitch-a-Palooza party, the one that starts with a surprise performance by 
13. After his scene was complete, Snoop summoned Vaughn to party in his trailer. Wilson was miffed to find out about the revelry later; apparently, no one had invited him.
15. “Old School” not only made Ferrell a breakout star, but it also led to the coining of the term “The Frat Pack” to describe the group of comic actors and frequent collaborators that included Ferrell, Vaughn, Luke and Owen Wilson,