Freddy Got Fingered is already being dubbed as the ‘gross-out movie of the year.’ Were you intending for the film to be a gross-out comedy, or do you feel that majority of the public still doesn’t fully understand your sense of humor?
I don’t like to think Freddy Got Fingered as a gross out comedy. It puts a weird label on the film. Gross out comedies usually only appeal to kids– we have a story behind our film and a message. Sure some scenes may be a bit bloody, there’s a few liquids in the film that may be quite gross, but there is no poo or pee in the movie, which I am proud to announce.”
If you aren’t trying to appeal to kids, who is your target audience? After all, your show mainly attracted the MTV generation of kids 15 and under.
I think of “Freddy”‘s main audience is young, college-aged people. I don’t think it is a teen comedy, though maybe it is. I think when you say ‘teen comedy’ though you would think parents wouldn’t like it. But if you aren’t an extremely conservative parent and you like “Monty Python” and stuff like that, I think you would like Freddy Got Fingered. Granted some people in the older demographics may feel isolated, but there are forty and fifty year olds who find jacking off a horse humorous.”
Besides casting the film, writing it, directing it and starring in it, I heard you worked closely to create the soundtrack you envisioned from the start. Is this true?
Yeah, I didn’t want the soundtrack to be a compilation of “Total Request Live” tunes in the sense that ‘okay, here’s a teen comedy, so here are the latest hits.’ I wanted the music to feel like the tone of the film. My character, like me, is a skate-boarder and the type of music used in the film is the type of music I listened to in high school. Iggy Pop actually recorded a song for the soundtrack, which I thought was pretty cool because I got to talk to him.
Has writing/directing/starring in your own film scarred you for life?
Right now I am co-staring with Jason Lee in a new film called “Say Uncle,” but after shooting that I would like to write another script. I enjoyed working on a project as closely as I did with Freddy Got Fingered.
Now that you are known all over the world, married to Drew Barrymore and have a few films under your belt as well as your hit MTV show, are your parents finally supporting you and your decision to be a comedian?
They were always supportive in whatever I did, but I still don’t think they are convinced this is a real job. They were a bit relieved to find out that I am not doing my reality-based show anymore though. For the past year I was working on other projects, so they knew that I wasn’t gonna barge down their door. I am still doing some specials for MTV though, so they are prepared just in case.
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