Video:The Virginity Hit Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland Interview
with Rebecca MurrayWriter/directors Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland opted out of directing 'The Last Exorcism' (which they wrote) to direct 'The Virginity Hit' (which they also wrote). At the film's premiere in LA, the pair talked about making this reality-based comedy.
Transcript:The Virginity Hit Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland Interview
Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the LA Special Screening of Columbia Pictures' The Virginity Hit.
The Virginity Hit Writer/Directors Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland
The guys are going down the carpet and what they've been telling me is that 90% of the movie is ad-libbed.Huck Botko: "Well, the dialogue. We let the say what they want to say in their voice. We have a story to tell and that's important, so they have to be going in the right direction of the story that we kind of laid out in our script. But the dialogue - we want them to be themselves and we want them to speak in a way that's real to them, because we aren't kids anymore. If we try to write it, it would sound like we wrote it. We want it to sound authentic."
So basically the premise is there and they get to build off of it.
Huck Botko: "Yeah, they build off of it. Absolutely. Andrew Gurland: "That said, the finished film looks just like the script."
How tough was it find these young guys who are brand new?
Huck Botko: "That's the most fun part for us. We spent a lot of time with casting agents from around the country. There are four guys - California, Long Island, Michigan, Nebraska - and we brought them together and put them in a house and said, 'Please be friends.'"
Please!
Huck Botko: "Yes. And thankfully we got lucky in this and they became really good friends. I think that chemistry is there. I think you feel like they are good friends. I mean we get asked a lot from people who see the movie, 'Did you guys grow up together?' And that's a compliment for us and for them, too."
What do you guys think about the billboard campaign and the little bit of controversy swirling around that?
Andrew Gurland: "There's a controversy?"
Some people weren't sure it's about a movie.
Andrew Gurland: "You know, we think that the billboards are fun."
Huck Botko: "Listen, the movie's funny and we want people to enjoy it. We think that people that see the billboards, when it puts a smile on their faces - the billboards - that's great. We don't think it's supposed to be this really serious thing. The movie's dumb, it's silly, it's juvenile, and if the billboards kind of convey that that's great."
Andrew Gurland: "The other thing I'll say about the billboards is they're consistent with the message of the movie which is don't take losing your virginity so seriously. You know, like the more pressure you put on it, the harder it's going to be. Just have a sense of humor about it."
Huck Botko: "It's a pretty common thing for most people to lose their virginity."
Were you guys kind of sad about the fact that you didn't get to direct The Last Exorcism and that you went and did this instead? I know you wanted to do both. Was it tough?
Huck Botko: "You know, it was tough. We would have loved to do both, however really love the guys that produced Last Exorcism and Daniel Stamm did a great job with Last Exorcism. The proof is in the pudding. It's a great movie. And so how much worse would it have been if the results were not that?"
Andrew Gurland: "I like to think it would have been a lot worse."
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