IPOD
RADIO
Jamie Kennedy
By Daniel Robert Epstein
Apr 23, 2007
Jamie Kennedy has played everything from a nerdy high schooler obsessed with movies to a nerdy tech obsessed NSA agent to a nerdy wannabe rap star…well maybe he hasn’t played everything. But usually whatever Kennedy does is very funny and that seems to be the case with Kickin' It Old Skool where he plays a, 11 year old breakdancer who falls into a coma and wakes up at age 30 and tries to put his life back together through the power of dance.
Check out the official website for Kickin' It Old Skool
Daniel Robert Epstein: So did you get to drive KITT?
Jamie Kennedy: Yes, I sat in the KITT car. I got double excitement wood because I got wood by driving the car and I got wood by kissing Maria [Menounos] in the car [laughs]. But I’m not supposed to say that.
DRE:
How long have you been breakdancing, maybe as long as Miguel Núñez has been doing movies?
JK:
[laughs] Miguel was in the original Breakin'. I have been breakdancing since I was 12 years old. But I can only do the worm which is hard. But I think a lot of problems in life could be solved by doing the worm. If a guy cuts you in line at Starbucks, do the worm. A girlfriend breaks up with you because she catches a better guy, do the worm. Taxman coming? Do the worm then pay your taxes.
DRE:
I love Bobby Lee. Did you meet him through standup?
JK:
Bobby Lee is ridiculously funny guy. He came in and did a very bad read. I said, “If you want to get this part, don’t read it, just do what you do.” Then he came back and did a hilarious, just crazy Bobby Lee thing. The studio was like, “He’s not a name. Get me John Cho.” I said, “I love John Cho but John Cho thinks he is the Asian Tom Cruise. He does not want to do this movie. Please give me Bobby Lee.” They took a chance and Bobby Lee is now the highest testing character in the movie. He is a funny, crazy guy.
DRE:
I liked the movie he was in last year about Carlos Mencia.
JK:
He’s freaked out that he’s in that.
DRE:
Could breakdancing become as popular as it once was?
JK:
I think so. There is a whole b-boy culture going on right now that not a lot of people know about.
DRE:
There is a lot of stuff underground but it is not like it was.
JK:
Right, it is not like it was in the 80’s and that’s b-boying. I think breaking can come back because it is a fantastical dance style and it is amazing to watch. I think it could definitely make a resurgence. I think you need some news moves. I think guys should get a boner then spin on that.
DRE:
Ouch!
So would a person be surprised if they saw Scream, went into a coma, woke up and saw Kickin’ it Old School?
JK:
Ooo, [laughs] that is good. Well, if they saw Scream it wouldn’t be weird that I was alive. But if they saw Scream 2 when I died then I came back as a breakdancer then it would be weird. A lot of people actually thought I was dead. A couple of people said, “Aren’t you dead?” I mean, Brandon Routh can’t fly.
DRE:
That is what happens when a movie is really popular, it reaches the people who don’t understand that they aren’t real.
JK:
Yeah. You become a character.
DRE:
What made you cast Michael Rosenbaum?
JK:
Rosie is a really funny guy and he is very funny but no one knows that. He’s like a young Vince Vaughn. He’s directed a few episodes of Smallville.
DRE:
He was funny in that silly movie he did.
JK:
Yeah Sorority Boys. He’s funny and has good timing. Like Maria is a good reporter but she wants to be an actress so she was really hungry and ended up doing a great job.
DRE:
I know Malibu's Most Wanted did well especially for the budget you guys made it for.
JK:
Yeah we made it for $12 million.
DRE:
And it made like $40 million.
JK:
Like $36 million [laughs].
DRE:
I know [the distributor] Yari does some good stuff but it’s not Warner Bros or anything like that.
JK:
The reason this movie got made is because of Malibu's. A lot of the older critics didn’t get Malibu's and they shit all over it. But a lot of younger kids and bloggers love Malibu's. A lot of people always ask for a sequel. The studio was Warner Bros who I love because they gave me my start. But they are doing Troy, 300, huge movies. They don’t do little movies. So to do Malibu's 2 with them would be too hard. I wanted to do a movie in the same genre and Bob Yari’s kid and all his friends love Malibu's. So Bob and I talked and he said “I could make this movie for a price.” The movie was going to be small and independent just like the original Breakin’. Then as we finished it, it started testing really well. So Bob decided that he wanted to break this out. Bob isn’t New Line or Warner Bros, he is making the movies for guys like me. There are guys like me who have big fan bases like Seth Green, Jason Lee that the studios won’t put in certain roles. But we can make a movie for a price and still be profitable. So that’s what Bob is doing.
DRE:
Where did you grow up again?
JK:
I grew up in Philly.
DRE:
Is that how you got introduced to the things you do movies about?
JK:
I grew up in the suburbs right on the outskirts of the city. So I would go into the city for the day and play with all of the urban elements of the city. I’d leave before it got dangerous and then go back to my safehaven in the suburbs. Then I would go “I’m down” and then eat a jelly doughnut and play with my Cabbage Patch Kids.
DRE:
Malibu’s came out of the white hip-hop kid character you did on The Jamie Kennedy Experiment. Was that before Sacha Baron Cohen started doing Ali G?
JK:
No, I think he was doing his stuff in England before. Then he did the Ali G movie then I did Malibu’s. Now that he’s done Borat people tell me that he bit off me then other people say I bit off him. It’s just a genre. He does his stuff where people know they’re on camera and we’re doing hidden camera. I got mad respect for Sacha. Then there is Ashton with Punk’d. But the grandfather of us all is Allen Funt.
DRE:
Are you going to keep doing stuff with that urban element?
JK:
This might be my coup de grâce to the urban world. I did Malibu’s, my rap album and now this movie. So that’s a good three piecer. Now I’m going to probably do something different. There is probably still some more Jamie Kennedy Experiment stuff coming.
DRE:
So now you’re going from David Hasselhoff to Lee Majors [for the new series Me & Lee].
JK:
Yes, it sounds like a cool idea, right?
DRE:
It’s sounds like the craziest idea.
JK:
It’s the craziest idea ever.
DRE:
Was it your idea?
JK:
No, that was Matt Salsberg. He’s amazing. He’s a great writer and he came up with the idea. I said I wasn’t going to do any TV this year down and concentrate on movies. But that was the one script that was amazing but so bizarre. First they said I wasn’t Jewish enough and I’m like “I’m not Jewish at all.” I said “if you want a Jew, call up Adam Goldberg. Call up Krumholtz or Seth Green.” But they kept coming back to me and finally I tested and I got it.
DRE:
What do they think? It must be bizarre.
JK:
They’re editing it right now. It’s for Fox and they are the craziest network. I had a great time filming it. I know I did some crazy stunts and it’s basically me as the next Bionic Man but I’m doing it unwillingly. I’m Lee Majors’ guinea pig.
DRE:
So Lee is the bad guy or something?
JK:
It’s Lee Majors gone mad. He is the guy that played The Six Million Dollar Man but he always believed in the technology and though it could really work. He has somehow put the technology together and is putting it in me. He thinks I’m going to do his bidding.
DRE:
I did read that your personal life is a bit of a mess. That you can’t keep a girlfriend for more than a week?
JK:
It’s hard for me to be with one girl for too long. I travel a lot. It’s hard to be in a relationship and travel and plus I play videogames. A girl doesn’t like a guy that sits in front of his computer playing God of War for 12 hours straight.
DRE:
But you’re also not poor.
JK:
I do alright.
DRE:
And you’re famous.
JK:
I have some fame. But I don’t think that has anything to do with it. I think I meet girls because of my personality. I don’t think girls know I’m famous.
DRE:
So what happens after a week?
JK:
They go “Your personality sucks. You’re really not that fun to hang out with.” Then I go into Second Life and I go buy some land.
DRE:
Are you a workaholic?
JK:
I work all the time. I don’t do drugs, contrary to popular belief. I am not really a drinker so I have a mind that goes 24/7. It’s not like I’m working and not having fun. But if I’m not doing a movie then I’m on the road doing standing up. I just love entertainment. I am also a businessman so I know a lot of creative people. The world is too great a place right now and you can do things cheaply now.
DRE:
David Arquette just directed a horror film and of course the two of you starred together in the first two Scream films. Would you want to make a horror movie?
JK:
I have another horror movie in me that I have a script for. I can’t really talk about it. It is in the vein of Scream because it is really funny but it’s played straight. All my movies are comments on society. Scream was comment on that genre. Malibu’s was a comment on white kids that think they are black. Kickin’ is a comment on how great the 80’s were and how things were simpler then. The next movie will be a horror about shame. In the 50’s shame was very popular and 60’s came out of that era because everyone had too much shame. But now everyone is talking about everything so we could use a little dose of shame. We know too much and everyone shares too much.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
Jamie Kennedy has played everything from a nerdy high schooler obsessed with movies to a nerdy tech obsessed NSA agent to a nerdy wannabe rap star…well maybe he hasn’t played everything. But usually whatever Kennedy does is very funny and that seems to be the case with Kickin' It Old Skool where he plays a, 11 year old breakdancer who falls into a coma and wakes up at age 30 and tries to put his life back together through the power of dance.
Check out the official website for Kickin' It Old Skool
Daniel Robert Epstein: So did you get to drive KITT?
Jamie Kennedy: Yes, I sat in the KITT car. I got double excitement wood because I got wood by driving the car and I got wood by kissing Maria [Menounos] in the car [laughs]. But I’m not supposed to say that.
DRE:
How long have you been breakdancing, maybe as long as Miguel Núñez has been doing movies?
JK:
[laughs] Miguel was in the original Breakin'. I have been breakdancing since I was 12 years old. But I can only do the worm which is hard. But I think a lot of problems in life could be solved by doing the worm. If a guy cuts you in line at Starbucks, do the worm. A girlfriend breaks up with you because she catches a better guy, do the worm. Taxman coming? Do the worm then pay your taxes.
DRE:
I love Bobby Lee. Did you meet him through standup?
JK:
Bobby Lee is ridiculously funny guy. He came in and did a very bad read. I said, “If you want to get this part, don’t read it, just do what you do.” Then he came back and did a hilarious, just crazy Bobby Lee thing. The studio was like, “He’s not a name. Get me John Cho.” I said, “I love John Cho but John Cho thinks he is the Asian Tom Cruise. He does not want to do this movie. Please give me Bobby Lee.” They took a chance and Bobby Lee is now the highest testing character in the movie. He is a funny, crazy guy.
DRE:
I liked the movie he was in last year about Carlos Mencia.
JK:
He’s freaked out that he’s in that.
DRE:
Could breakdancing become as popular as it once was?
JK:
I think so. There is a whole b-boy culture going on right now that not a lot of people know about.
DRE:
There is a lot of stuff underground but it is not like it was.
JK:
Right, it is not like it was in the 80’s and that’s b-boying. I think breaking can come back because it is a fantastical dance style and it is amazing to watch. I think it could definitely make a resurgence. I think you need some news moves. I think guys should get a boner then spin on that.
DRE:
Ouch!
So would a person be surprised if they saw Scream, went into a coma, woke up and saw Kickin’ it Old School?
So would a person be surprised if they saw Scream, went into a coma, woke up and saw Kickin’ it Old School?
JK:
Ooo, [laughs] that is good. Well, if they saw Scream it wouldn’t be weird that I was alive. But if they saw Scream 2 when I died then I came back as a breakdancer then it would be weird. A lot of people actually thought I was dead. A couple of people said, “Aren’t you dead?” I mean, Brandon Routh can’t fly.
DRE:
That is what happens when a movie is really popular, it reaches the people who don’t understand that they aren’t real.
JK:
Yeah. You become a character.
DRE:
What made you cast Michael Rosenbaum?
JK:
Rosie is a really funny guy and he is very funny but no one knows that. He’s like a young Vince Vaughn. He’s directed a few episodes of Smallville.
DRE:
He was funny in that silly movie he did.
JK:
Yeah Sorority Boys. He’s funny and has good timing. Like Maria is a good reporter but she wants to be an actress so she was really hungry and ended up doing a great job.
DRE:
I know Malibu's Most Wanted did well especially for the budget you guys made it for.
JK:
Yeah we made it for $12 million.
DRE:
And it made like $40 million.
JK:
Like $36 million [laughs].
DRE:
I know [the distributor] Yari does some good stuff but it’s not Warner Bros or anything like that.
JK:
The reason this movie got made is because of Malibu's. A lot of the older critics didn’t get Malibu's and they shit all over it. But a lot of younger kids and bloggers love Malibu's. A lot of people always ask for a sequel. The studio was Warner Bros who I love because they gave me my start. But they are doing Troy, 300, huge movies. They don’t do little movies. So to do Malibu's 2 with them would be too hard. I wanted to do a movie in the same genre and Bob Yari’s kid and all his friends love Malibu's. So Bob and I talked and he said “I could make this movie for a price.” The movie was going to be small and independent just like the original Breakin’. Then as we finished it, it started testing really well. So Bob decided that he wanted to break this out. Bob isn’t New Line or Warner Bros, he is making the movies for guys like me. There are guys like me who have big fan bases like Seth Green, Jason Lee that the studios won’t put in certain roles. But we can make a movie for a price and still be profitable. So that’s what Bob is doing.
DRE:
Where did you grow up again?
JK:
I grew up in Philly.
DRE:
Is that how you got introduced to the things you do movies about?
JK:
I grew up in the suburbs right on the outskirts of the city. So I would go into the city for the day and play with all of the urban elements of the city. I’d leave before it got dangerous and then go back to my safehaven in the suburbs. Then I would go “I’m down” and then eat a jelly doughnut and play with my Cabbage Patch Kids.
DRE:
Malibu’s came out of the white hip-hop kid character you did on The Jamie Kennedy Experiment. Was that before Sacha Baron Cohen started doing Ali G?
JK:
No, I think he was doing his stuff in England before. Then he did the Ali G movie then I did Malibu’s. Now that he’s done Borat people tell me that he bit off me then other people say I bit off him. It’s just a genre. He does his stuff where people know they’re on camera and we’re doing hidden camera. I got mad respect for Sacha. Then there is Ashton with Punk’d. But the grandfather of us all is Allen Funt.
DRE:
Are you going to keep doing stuff with that urban element?
JK:
This might be my coup de grâce to the urban world. I did Malibu’s, my rap album and now this movie. So that’s a good three piecer. Now I’m going to probably do something different. There is probably still some more Jamie Kennedy Experiment stuff coming.
DRE:
So now you’re going from David Hasselhoff to Lee Majors [for the new series Me & Lee].
JK:
Yes, it sounds like a cool idea, right?
DRE:
It’s sounds like the craziest idea.
JK:
It’s the craziest idea ever.
DRE:
Was it your idea?
JK:
No, that was Matt Salsberg. He’s amazing. He’s a great writer and he came up with the idea. I said I wasn’t going to do any TV this year down and concentrate on movies. But that was the one script that was amazing but so bizarre. First they said I wasn’t Jewish enough and I’m like “I’m not Jewish at all.” I said “if you want a Jew, call up Adam Goldberg. Call up Krumholtz or Seth Green.” But they kept coming back to me and finally I tested and I got it.
DRE:
What do they think? It must be bizarre.
JK:
They’re editing it right now. It’s for Fox and they are the craziest network. I had a great time filming it. I know I did some crazy stunts and it’s basically me as the next Bionic Man but I’m doing it unwillingly. I’m Lee Majors’ guinea pig.
DRE:
So Lee is the bad guy or something?
JK:
It’s Lee Majors gone mad. He is the guy that played The Six Million Dollar Man but he always believed in the technology and though it could really work. He has somehow put the technology together and is putting it in me. He thinks I’m going to do his bidding.
DRE:
I did read that your personal life is a bit of a mess. That you can’t keep a girlfriend for more than a week?
JK:
It’s hard for me to be with one girl for too long. I travel a lot. It’s hard to be in a relationship and travel and plus I play videogames. A girl doesn’t like a guy that sits in front of his computer playing God of War for 12 hours straight.
DRE:
But you’re also not poor.
JK:
I do alright.
DRE:
And you’re famous.
JK:
I have some fame. But I don’t think that has anything to do with it. I think I meet girls because of my personality. I don’t think girls know I’m famous.
DRE:
So what happens after a week?
JK:
They go “Your personality sucks. You’re really not that fun to hang out with.” Then I go into Second Life and I go buy some land.
DRE:
Are you a workaholic?
JK:
I work all the time. I don’t do drugs, contrary to popular belief. I am not really a drinker so I have a mind that goes 24/7. It’s not like I’m working and not having fun. But if I’m not doing a movie then I’m on the road doing standing up. I just love entertainment. I am also a businessman so I know a lot of creative people. The world is too great a place right now and you can do things cheaply now.
DRE:
David Arquette just directed a horror film and of course the two of you starred together in the first two Scream films. Would you want to make a horror movie?
JK:
I have another horror movie in me that I have a script for. I can’t really talk about it. It is in the vein of Scream because it is really funny but it’s played straight. All my movies are comments on society. Scream was comment on that genre. Malibu’s was a comment on white kids that think they are black. Kickin’ is a comment on how great the 80’s were and how things were simpler then. The next movie will be a horror about shame. In the 50’s shame was very popular and 60’s came out of that era because everyone had too much shame. But now everyone is talking about everything so we could use a little dose of shame. We know too much and everyone shares too much.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
by Daniel Robert Epstein
