Biggs' Acting Aspirations
In the movie summer of '99, a testosterone-crazed teen came home, spotted his mom's freshly baked apple pie on the kitchen counter and -- well, violated it.
Five thrusts were cut to the two or three in the picture you finally saw, to move American Pie from the commercially poisonous NC- 17, in which no one under 17 is allowed into a film -- even with an adult, to the lucrative R.
That became a bitter joke throughout the movie industry, and it made Jason Biggs, the young actor who took on the pie, a real hero for teen ticket buyers across the country. They, in turn, made American Pie that summer's surprise blockbuster.
Biggs stars in Saving Silverman, a comedy opening Friday that casts him as a young man badly in need of rescuing from a domineering fiancee by his best buddies since fifth grade. The 22-year-old actor hopes the part will upgrade his professional status.
He plays a young man of marriageable age who's equally sweet and vulnerable. It's a big jump ahead from the sex-crazed teen of American Pie.
Yet, Biggs has no regrets at all about the sensational impact of American Pie at the box office -- or on his career.
"On the first reading, I found the script for American Pie absolutely hilarious," Biggs says. "The only time there was any hesitation on my part was the day of filming (the notorious/celebrated pie scene).
"It was, 'OK, am I really gonna do this?' My possible insecurities and paranoia clicked in: Is this gonna effect me and my career negatively?
"But finally, my initial reaction held true: This is just plain funny; it works in the film. And it shows that I'll do anything for a laugh.
"I'm proud of the fact that I was able to just go for it."
A New Jersey lad who now makes his home in Los Angeles, Biggs is relaxed and forthcoming in a day of interviews at a Manhattan hotel to promote the opening of Saving Silverman. He wears jeans, a black crewneck sweater and the attitude -- pleasantly confident, not cocky - - of a young man who knows where he's going.
Told that Saving Silverman director Dennis Dugan, who has a couple of Adam Sandler hits and several blue-chip television shows to his credit, thinks Biggs has a lot in common with Cary Grant, the young actor seems genuinely surprised: "Wow," he says, in a way that convincingly states his case -- and delight.
Dugan has his own take on Biggs' semi-sensational claim to fame.
"You know, people can go a lifetime without getting that (one stunner of a scene). I think that before Jason, the last person was Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct when she, um, showed her American pie."
What are young Biggs' hopes and aspirations as an actor?
"The key word is 'variety,' " he says. "I come from a dramatic background -- Broadway theater, TV, some independent movies that hardly anyone has seen. So I had a lot in my arsenal before American Pie."
