John Cho and Kal Penn, the now-legendary buddy-stoners, chat about Neil Patrick Harris, John’s junk and why Kermit the Frog is a great role model.
BY: LIZ HAQ
How would you fare if the roles were reversed? If you [Cho] played a Kumar and you [Penn] played a Harold?
Penn: I would have been bored because in real life I’m much more of a Harold. So I love playing Kumar because he’s so different from me.
Cho: Yeah you know what, I had played a more Kumar-like character and probably would have been more comfortable but I don’t think I would have fared well. It was a challenge to play the straight man and now I’m really grateful that it worked out that way. It was just a new challenge to try and figure that out. He’s [Penn] clearly born to play the role.
Penn: Jeez.
Cho: You were birthed specifically to play the role of Kumar.
Penn: I really think my mom would disagree.
Cho: Your mother can think what she wishes. I will allow your mother to think what she wishes.
Penn: I’ll let you take it up with her. I feel like you guys got along until you said that.
Getting Neil Patrick Harris in there, how much of that is him doing improv and putting a lot of himself into it?
Penn: Mostly not. I think for all the characters. Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg are the two guys that wrote all 3 films and they’re such amazing writers and are so vivid in their grounding of all the characters. We’ve adlibbed here and there but it’s not like a lot of these big budget comedy movies where they can do take after take of just playing around with it.
Cho: The process, particularly with Neil, was I think the writers discuss a concept with him and pitch something and then it’s a thumbs up and then it’s go read the scripts. Most of our discussion is before we start shooting. It’s a low budget movie compared to most comedies so we just don’t have time to do a lot of improv. We have to get in there and not waste money.
In regards to the scene where we see your [Cho’s] happy stick on-screen: every movie seems to have yet another bodily function or body part displayed. What will the next frontier be?
Cho: An Amish comedy?
Penn: I think they’re just gonna start showing organs. Cause first it was you show an arm or a leg and it was scandalous and then it was genitals. So now all you can do is go inside.
Cho: I don’t know what the next frontier is but I know that good comedy should put its toes in taboo waters. You have to transgress a little bit. And that area shifts with culture and with the year. And there’s so much full frontal male nudity now, it’s going to become de rigueur.
Penn: I think if we did a G-rated comedy…
Cho: I cannot believe you didn’t make fun of me for using a French phrase.
Penn: I will later.
What is it about these characters that keeps you coming back?
Cho: Contracts.
Penn: We do have contracts.
Cho: The law. Lawyers.
Penn: In addition to lawyers, we like the characters. I have such a great time playing Kumar. He’s so different form me like I said, it’s a real treat to be able to play someone like that.
Cho: It’s a relief to come back to comedy. I like to flip flop but coming back. Making it your day’s work to find a laugh is a really good way to spend a day. I appreciate it even more when I go away and then come back to it. It’s a relief and it’s like a class reunion, you’re with all your friends again. It’s just a treat to go away to summer camp and work on something goofy. It’s not real summer camp. That’s just a metaphor.
Penn: We understand.
Cho: There are no canoes.
To what extent is your own maturity as actors and as people reflected in the new storyline and the development of these two characters?
Penn: That’s one of the things I enjoyed most about this one. The first two movies happen within a minute of one another and this one occurs six years later.
Cho: I went to the White House.
Penn: I did Star Trek. So since 2003 quite a bit has happened. I love that the audience has also aged with the characters. The ones that enjoyed it in ‘03 and ‘04. Hopefully there’s something in the new one for them.
Cho: It’s been a while. I didn’t know whether I wanted to do another movie that was within a minute of the second one. It was sort of like we’ve aged. I mean, he looks decrepit.
Penn: He’s still beautiful after all those surgeries.
Cho: [Manic laughter] I didn’t think it was feasible. We had to age the characters. I was glad when they went in that direction. Additionally, things had happened between the second and third one. Neil came out of the closet, Kal went to work at the White House. It felt like we couldn’t do that age anymore and so our hand was forced a bit by real life. I’m glad of it. It’s more interesting. The stakes are a little higher, the circumstances are different. And it’s a really unique thing to start a Harold and Kumar movie where Harold and Kumar are estranged.
How was working with the new actors, namely Tom Lennon and Amir Blumenfeld?
Penn: It was cool and weird. I’m so used to playing Kumar with Harold next to me. Specifically to my right. And so that was really strange sitting in the passenger seat of a car that was not Harold’s Cam(e)ry.
Cho: Did you just say Cam(e)ry?
Penn: I said Cam(e)ry.
Cho: You just made it a three syllable word.
Penn: It’s a Cam(e)ry.
Cho: No. It’s Camry.
CINSSU: Where’s the E?
Penn: I inserted it there. And I am sticking to it. Because I can’t go back now. So I’m gonna say it again. Cam(e)ry. Hey, I chose to ignore the French word.
Cho: Oh, yeah.
Penn: No, that’s fine. So his Cam(e)ry felt so different. And I think that those two new characters are the epitome of what both Harold and Kumar would be if they continued down the path they’re on. For Kumar, just obnoxious. Amir’s character doesn’t have the heart that Kumar’s has, and Tom Lennon’s character doesn’t either.
Cho: They’re kind of ghosts of Christmas future for each character. Tom Lennon plays the guy that Harold will be if he doesn’t stop being a dickhead. And same for Amir’s character. To answer your question, they were terrific to work with. Again, it was weird. Tom Lennon is fantastic, Amir is super funny. It was new blood.
Do you find comedic roles or dramatic roles more challenging?
Penn: I think they’re both the same, it really depends on the project.
Cho: I would say that comedy is a little more complicated. Because you’re trying to be in the moment and act while keeping in mind what the joke is. So two scenes in a drama and a comedy, they’re both at a dinner table, but with the comedy you have to remember that such and such has to happen because people need to laugh here. You have to arrange everything around a joke. It’s a little bit more complicated. But we can do it all.
Growing up and rarely seeing any people that looked just like you in the movies, did you have any of your own unconventional heroes that you looked up to?
Cho: For me it was George Takei. He was the guy that we would look up to. When you saw an Asian on television you’d yell across the house and everybody would run to the TV and George is sort of the beacon. That’s a metaphor also. I don’t mean a literal beacon. He’s not a light, shining. He’s a person.
Penn: I don’t mean to be funny when I say this. Kermit the Frog. And I think part of the reason was…
Cho: So stupid.
Penn: I hate you so much. Growing up we had Apu from The Simpsons, which was a white guy doing a brown face voice. And that didn’t appeal to me. It’s not funny. Kermit the Frog have this element of what they struggled through, being the underdog. And they always achieved something beyond that. Subconsciously I think that’s why I enjoyed Kermit and the Muppets.
Is there a certain resistance in the fact that everyone knows you as Harold and Kumar, or does that just come with the territory?
Penn: I think the joy of being an actor is the magic that comes with being able to make somebody laugh or cry or be suspended in an emotion. It’s flattering to know that people enjoyed the Harold and Kumar movies. My experience has been that it’s opened doors in many unexpected ways. Having a chance to have a little arc on 24 or auditioning for Superman Returns, seems like the really smart writers and producers are willing to take that risk and see if you can play something different rather than it being a real hindrance. And the story with The Namesake is that I lobbied really hard to get in a room with Mira Nair and the reason she didn’t want me to audition at first was because of Harold and Kumar, but her sixteen year old son kept lobbying, unbeknownst to me, every night before bed saying “Mom, you gotta let Kal Penn audition.” And I wrote her a letter at the same time that he son was beating her over the head with it.
Cho: Not literally beat her over the head. There wasn’t any bludgeoning associated with that movie. I’m sure that it has probably closed some doors but the big story is that it has opened many more.
Neil Patrick Harris alludes to a fourth installment. If you could create your own adventure for them in the fourth movie, where would they go/what would they do?
Penn: I’ve always wanted to play an astronaut. I’ve always wanted to go to outer space. He’s [Cho] already been there since he did Star Trek.
Cho: It wasn’t a big deal. Doesn’t even matter. I’m gonna go for Harold and Kumar invent a time machine. Wait no, that’s Bill and Ted. Okay well, Harold and Kumar Get a Mani-Pedi.
This entry was posted
on Monday, October 24th, 2011 at 11:43 pm and is filed under CINSSU, News.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
