Video:Steve Carr and Nick Bakay Interviews - Paul Blart: Mall Cop
with Rebecca MurrayDirector Steve Carr and writer Nick Bakay hit the red carpet at the premiere of the comedy movie with a heart, 'Paul Blart: Mall Cop,' and had only great things to say about the film's star, Kevin James, who also co-wrote the script.
Transcript:Steve Carr and Nick Bakay Interviews - Paul Blart: Mall Cop
Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the World Premiere of Paul Blart: Mall Cop.
Steve Carr – Director of Paul Blart: Mall Cop
So tell me about working with Kevin James. He's the writer and you're directing him, how tough is that?Steve Carr: "Well you know normally it would be really tough but with Kevin it was amazingly easy. You always hear, 'He's a great guy. He's a great guy.' He really is. I mean it's scary. He wasn't tied to the script. As a matter of fact he was the first to talk about improvising new dialogue and writing it right on set, so it was amazing. It's amazing to have a guy who could come up with something that's really funny and then also deliver the line powerfully, and it was great. It made my job so easy. Basically between 'Action' and 'Cut,' I was playing Brick Breaker."
So how much fun was it filming him zooming around on one of those Segways?
Steve Carr: "Oh, it was really fun."
Did you?
Steve Carr: "I got on it all the time. I ate it a couple of times. Nobody was as good as Kevin though. Kevin really, he could tricks, run around… It was amazing. It was like he'd been doing it for years."
Was this always meant to be PG?
Steve Carr: "Yeah, in our mind it was always about making sure that it was family accessible because it's an underdog story about a sweet guy who's trying to live up to his potential. So it was always a family film – PG, PG-13. It felt organically it fell right where it should."
Which one are you going to do next? Are you doing Sherman's March?
Steve Carr: "Well we're developing it now and we're writing it now. We're also doing, we're also writing a movie called…"
Love…
Steve Carr: "Love on a Bet. Now you're as associate producer. That actually makes you a producer. In Hollywood you're now a producer. I think Love on a Bet will come up first."
Your IMDB page still says you're listed for Iron Fist. What's happening with that?
Steve Carr: "I don't know. I love the idea of doing a superhero film but I got a feeling with all these superhero films being made, Iron Fist being a little bit less than the stellar A-list, that he's somewhere waiting online like looking for his, you know, 'When is it my turn?' What it is I'd like to make the movie. I think it's a great noir piece."
You would still want to direct it?
Steve Carr: "I certainly would, yeah. Unless I find out somebody else is doing it in which case I'm… I was attached to it since I wasn't even gray when I first got attached to it."
So just last year?
Steve Carr: "Exactly. Since the beginning of this movie."
Nick Bakay – Co-writer of Paul Blart: Mall Cop
What's it like collaborating with Kevin James?Nick Bakay: "You know what? It's the most fun I have. I actually worked with him, I wrote with him on King of Queens. I was there for about seven years and so we have a really great relationship and trust. We were hanging out and talking and this whole idea just kind of grew out of both of us making each other laugh. It couldn't be more exciting that it's actually real."
And did you have run-ins with a mall cop that left an impression on you?
Nick Bakay: "I actually worked as a security guard back in Buffalo, New York a long, long time ago one summer during college, and it made a strong impression on me. I didn't work malls but the brethren and the guys I worked with were all…one was weirder than the next. And the job, it's an interesting, strange job so I always had this kind of funny fascination with the guys who took it seriously – really seriously. And so a little bit of that came into the mix here for sure."
How strange is it that Kevin James writes a role for himself where he does a lot of physical comedy? He's not used to that.
Nick Bakay: "What's that all about? I know. I told him, 'I don't know – it's a stretch.' But it worked out pretty well."
How closely did they stick to your script?
Nick Bakay: "Very close. Obviously there are things that just sort of change in the moment and they'll improvise in little takes. But you know it is really close to the shoot script. So I must say when I saw the first cut I wasn't like shocked. I was a little disturbed they stuck to it that closely."
Was it always meant to be PG?
Nick Bakay: "Yeah. That was something actually that we thought was a good idea, but it was also something that Adam Sandler stressed. It was a very good idea. And it was funny because going in we thought we might have a little bit of a hamstrung feeling with that, but Paul Blart is such a sincere character and he's a sweet guy so it made writing it PG completely organic so it was not a problem."