by Diana Crandall
Actor Johnny Knoxville spent the evening of Friday, Oct. 4, entertaining journalists from over 27 universities across the United States to discuss and answer questions pertaining to his newest film, “Bad Grandpa.”
Embodying the same lustrous charm and quick-witted disposition seen in the “Jackass” franchise, Knoxville explained that “Bad Grandpa” has been in the works for several years.
“We’ve been thinking about this movie for a long time, doing a whole movie with the “old man” (from the “Jackass” franchise).
And we just decided to commit to it. I’m glad we did, because I think you guys are really going to like it.”
Committing over a year to the writing process and ten months to shooting the film, Knoxville and his crew brush against their own boundaries.
Advancing to intricate lengths to prank the public, the crew studded purses, secret vans, and breast pockets with cameras in order to capture the hilarity from every possible angle.
In contrast to Knoxville’s previous prank-filled films, “Bad Grandpa” has a dynamic plot that incorporates the candid moments we see in the film’s trailer.
“We have a story and we’re doing pranks on people, but everything has to connect and make sense. So [the storyline] is very unique to this film,” Knoxville said.
Alongside a flowing storyline and over three hours per day in the makeup chair, Knoxville asserts that reactions to pranks are completely authentic.
“If we think someone is on to us pranking them, and they know what’s going on, we won’t use the reaction.
We use real reactions, and we always have a person on the inside,” Knoxville said. He expanded on some of the issues his cast and crew ran into during pranking.
“One of the more difficult ones to figure out was the funeral prank,” Knoxville said.
“It’s a fictitious character – who’s going to come to the funeral? We found these two brothers and they let us use their funeral home to do the prank.
To get an audience, we hired caterers and drivers and a Baptist choir, and when they got there, we said, ‘This is a lonely old man, his wife died. There’s no one here to be at the funeral. Can you just sit in the audience and comfort him?’
Not even the preacher knew. We were pretty proud after we pulled that one off.”
Knoxville is confident that “Bad Grandpa,” hitting theaters Oct. 25, won’t disappoint.
“With what we were able to pull off as a tandem for pranking people, I’m really excited for everyone to see this film. I definitely think it’s as good as anything we’ve ever done.”
dcrandal@capital.edu
