|
|
|
|
...continue
|
The role of the principal fell into the hands of Grammy Award winning rap
star Coolio. Coolio has sold over 17 million records worldwide and his
acting career has been just as successful. His credits include "Batman &
Robin," "Dear God," and the television shows "All That," "Sabrina, The
Teenage Witch" and "Early Edition." "The part of the ‘administrator
formerly known as Prince’ was a trip for me to play since my character
was made to look like Prince. I had the dimple and all," said Coolio.
"Anyway, I figured how hard could it be, as many times as I have been
in the principal’s office. It didn’t take much acting to figure out how
my character should respond. Though I must admit, this high school was
outright loony, even for me."
But with all of the star talent in the world, it was evident to Nemeth
that his most formidable task would be to find a director who could bring
the script and the talent to life. "I looked at hundreds of tapes trying
to find that one person who could sell the comedy aspect. After all,
this is a spoof," he said. He had to look no further than in the envelope
sent by John Blanchard. "Once I looked at his demo reel, I knew he was
the one. It was by far the funniest. He was our only choice."
Blanchard, who is an icon in the world of comedy from his days with
"MAD TV," "SCTV" and "Kids in the Hall," fell in love with the script
immediately. "From the first time I picked it up, I knew how funny this
movie could be. It is one of those scripts that has so many funny
moments that you just know audiences will stay laughing throughout,
like ‘Airplane’ or the ‘Naked Gun’ series of films. Audiences will
definitely not relate to these kids. Nor will they relate to the school."
For Thiessen, she looked forward to working with Blanchard.
"I have always been a big fan of John’s work. When I found out he was
directing, I couldn’t wait to start filming" she said.
Blanchard worked very closely with production designer Brian McCabe to
produce the madcap sets that would be needed for the various shops and
clubs throughout the school. University High School in Santa Monica was
used for all of the exteriors shots while Reseda High School was utilized
for most of the interior school scenes. "Since this is a spoof, we worked
on creating as many zany rooms as we could. The most prominent visually
was the principal’s office," said McCabe.
PREVIOUS
NEXT
|
|
|
