Seann William Scott: Role Model?

Stifler from the American Pie films a role model? Well, yeah, maybe for horn-dog, beer guzzlin' fratboys. Cute actor Seann William Scott has proven that he can be an action star in The Rundown with Dwayne the Rock Johnson and in Bulletproof Monk and a horror film hottie in Final Destination as well as making us laugh in The Dukes of Hazzard, Road Trip and Old School. But Seann as a role model for kids? Why not? Hey, he's great at playing child-like adults and his 8-year-old nephew just loves him.

We met with Seann at a fancy hotel on the Santa Monica Beach to find out if he's a big kid at heart and hear about his fun working with a potty-mouth kid co-star in the new comedy Role Models in which his character is sentenced to do community service at a Big Brother-style program for kids. In the film, he gets to wear a funny Minotaur costume and dress up like a member of KISS but does Seann have aspirations to do more dramatic, less wacky roles? Picture the sandy-haired actor in casual checked shirt and jeans and get the answer...

TeenHollywood: We saw someone wearing the Minotaur suit upstairs today so how horrible was wearing that? Was it hot as hell?

Seann: It was horrible. I was like 'I guess I'll do anything for a laugh'. I just kept thinking 'guys, is this funny because it sucks?'. They're like 'oh, it's funny. It's funny'. I'm like 'no it's not. I'm a clown'. Then the KISS outfit and then we had a scene where I wear a chipmunk outfit at Chipmunk Charlies and it's not in the movie. So, I'm naked, Chipmunk Charlie, Minotaur and KISS. I'm just a glorified clown in this movie.

TeenHollywood: But darn funny. Which one was the worst?

Seann: The Minotaur was terrible. It was gross and it smelled terrible but it was my own smell too so even more embarrassing, 'wow, this is me. I smell this bad'.

TeenHollywood: (we laugh and sniff.. he smells good today) Could you see where you were going?

Seann: With that mask on, no. Because when they put the mask on I went..[breathy sounds]. I felt like Darth Vader. I was like [more breathy sounds] 'I can't breathe in here. Shoot the film, shoot the film'. Then, at a certain point I was like 'guys, this could be anybody. You can't even tell it's me'. 'Oh, the body language'. 'Oh, really? It's doing this [he indicates sticking his arms and legs out to the side]? People are going to know it's me? Come on'.

TeenHollywood: Okay, serious now. Who did you look up to as a kid? Who was your role model?

Seann: My dad was my role model. He was great. I'm gonna say my dad and my oldest brother who was one of the guys who started "The Onion" newspaper. He was a really great mentor for me. All my brothers too... I don't want my other brothers to read this and be like 'what the? I was your mentor' so we'll just leave it with my dad. It's a safer answer.

TeenHollywood: When you go home for holidays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, is it like everybody is a comedian in your family?

Seann: Well my dad was. My dad was hilarious. My dad was like a Chevy Chase, kind of Bill Murray guy and my brother is like that too. No, it's more crazy, it's more dysfunctional. It's like that movie where everybody is just completely crazy. I can't think of... What is the most dysfunctional family movie you've seen? That's us.

TeenHollywood: Was anyone a bully? Did you get bulled by your older brothers or were they all just as sweet as pie?

Seann: No. I mean most of them were older. I had one brother who was 3 years older than me and he beat me up a couple times until I got ... I was like this size in 7th grade. I'd go to basketball games and football games and they were like "No! That kid's 20 years old!" And then some of the parents would feel bad for me, "Ah, he must be stupid. He must have been held back a few grades." I was like "Shut up! I'm just big." I got big enough where my brother was like "Alright. I'm not going to touch Seann anymore 'cause he's gonna beat me up." Nah, I was good. We were lucky. I had a good family.

TeenHollywood: How many brothers do you have?

Seann: I have 4 [brothers] and 2 sisters. I'm the youngest of 7 but we're all half brothers. We all share a parent so it was the 'Brady Bunch'. I was like Alice the housekeeper, the naughty one.

TeenHollywood: Yeah, right. Do you think you would be a good mentor to a child?

Seann: Yeah. You would probably be surprised with that answer, but yeah. My nephew is like eight and I could totally be his dad I think, although when his dad's away, I'll have him watch American Pie movies and Road Trip and stuff and Old School. I have him watch all the crazy stuff because I feel like it's awesome to see him say 'Uncle Seann!' I'm like 'com'on, you're going to be hearing this in like five years. This is just to get you started now'.

TeenHollywood: Then you must have had a great rapport with little actor Bobb'e (Bobb'e J. Thompson who plays one of the kids he mentors).

Seann: Yeah, well, he's a little bit crazier than my nephew. We had a great rapport. I ended up kind of being his big brother in a way because he's got such a brilliant mind. He's so spontaneous. He's a stand-up comedian. He performed at The Apollo or Children's Apollo or something like that. He reminded me of an Eddie Murphy, The energy he had was kind of light Eddie Murphy in "Delirious". He had that same mouth too. I'm like 'dude, you're making me seem like a saint'. But, after a couple of days, he let his guard down a little bit. He got more comfortable. He showed himself to be this sweet, eleven-year-old kid....who swore all the time. He was terrific. I watch the movie now and he steals the movie. He's so funny. Even if he wasn't as awesome as he is, just hearing a little kid drop F-bombs is fantastic to me. To me, it's the whole reason to see the movie.

TeenHollywood: There are some mock battle scenes in a costumed role-playing game in the film. Did anyone get hurt in the battle sequences with the stick swords

Seann: I don't know. I was only in the end scene and I was like 'what the hell is this? This is so bizarre' which is great for the character, and then I was like 'I want to do this. I really want to rock people'. I would probably add some things in my foam axe to make it hurt a little bit more [laughter]. It's kind of like the batter who adds a little cork in his bat to get a little bit more power. I would not be able to hold back. I remember just walking into this, and these people are serious about it. I don't begrudge them at all because I think it would be kind of great to whack people with foam swords.

TeenHollywood: Where did your co-star/writer Paul [Rudd] get the idea for these events? Did he go to these things?

Seann: I don't know if it was Paul's idea or David's [Wain] idea but they did a really good job looking into it. There is a cool documentary out there about it. I never seen it. I want to say something 'Drakkar' or...something like that.

TeenHollywood: The name of the mythical country.

Seann: Yeah, right. I was like 'Is this going to become a LAIRE movie? There's a lot of this stuff in it'. But, I think that the environment adds a lot of heart. It's not only funny because you get to add all these great comedians in this mixed-up, strange world, but it did add heart to the film. Without that environment, without seeing Christopher Mintz-Plasse (from SuperBad) dealing with his identity and feeling kind of nerdy, it would have just been a movie about swearing and breasts.

TeenHollywood: You really want to see him win and be crowned king of this crazy group of role playing geeks.

Seann: Yeah, it seems like it.

TeenHollywood: Are you a fan of KISS?

Seann: I'm like a Rolling Stones guy but when I learned more about it, I was like 'these guys are awesome'. When I learned the whole theory behind "Love Gun" I was like 'that's fantastic' [laughter]. It's so wrong and awesome.

TeenHollywood: You look cute in your KISS rocker costume. Did you get to pick which KISS person you would get to be?

Seann: Thanks. No. They picked it for us but I kept thinking of Lou Diamond Phillips in Young Guns. I kind of looked like him with that long black hair. I was like 'I could do a Western some day. I could do Young Guns Three.

TeenHollywood: What did Bobb'e think about KISS?

Seann: I'm not sure but I think he was like 'who are these people, KISS'? 'They're a big rock band Bobb'e'. It's not quite Tupac. Not really.

TeenHollywood; How much input did you have when you were talking with Paul Rudd about your character and the dialogue?

Seann: The process was like this. Paul had an idea of what he wanted to do and he wrote his stuff, I wrote my stuff. I think what really worked is I kept thinking we should be best friends like Wedding Crashers which was so great because those guys were best friends and would finish each other's sentences. Paul's idea, which I really think was a really smart one, was that we should be more of an Odd Couple and that forced us to improvise in a different way so it was a really good idea on his part.

TeenHollywood: These two guys just travel around in a novelty car promoting an energy drink. You are in costume and Paul talks to kids at high schools. Is that their whole job?

Seann: [laughs] I guess that was it. I think my character doesn't want to work. I think he loves his job because all he does is put on a bull outfit and he just dances around and then he's done after 4 hours and he can just go party and hook up with girls, and Paul is just angry. But, I think that's their job. They would just to go to like little auditoriums and just try to convince kids to stay off drugs while I'm smoking a joint. They would donate the money to the Stay Off Drugs Foundation buying these energy drinks. I think that was their job.

TeenHollywood: Are you just a big kid at heart because you play guys like that or are you totally grown up and that's just an act?

Seann: I think it's 50/50. I still feel like a kid. I think a lot of guys are probably like Wheeler (his character); just inappropriate guys-guys. There's an element I wanted to add just so he's not a Stifler rip-off. I think the big comparison between those two characters is that he swears all the time, he likes girls, he's a party guy. But he really is pretty optimistic. He doesn't really do anything bad in the movie. He's been thrust into this situation and all he does is kind of leaves this kid to hook up with a girl for 5 minutes. The kid was playing video games. I mean, c'mon. It should've been fine.

TeenHollywood: How are you like Wheeler?

Seann: The element of him always kind of giving off this bizarre, simple wisdom and that you never know, is he just doing this to get a rise out of somebody or does he actually believe it? I do that just to annoy my brothers, just like give them a little wisdom. I think I'm the big kid but, I don't know, unfortunately I've had to grow up in the last couple years. I'd prefer to go back in time where I was much more naïve about the world. It was so much more fun. I didn't stress out nearly as much.

TeenHollywood: What music are you into right now?

Seann: Well I'm always listening to the Rolling Stones. I would say I listen to Ryan Adams pretty much every day or every other day. Radio Head's album, In Rainbow, is fantastic too.

TeenHollywood: Do you know what you're doing next?

Seann: There's a couple things that I really like but I haven't made a decision on it. As much as I would love to do dramas, I just don't think it's right for my career. I don't think people want to see me do that. I would be happy to do another R-rated crazy comedy and try to get some success even if it seems that the characters are similar because it's a business. It doesn't really matter. If the movie makes money you'll get some more opportunities and all of a sudden you end up doing The Green Hornet. Even though I think Seth (Rogen)'s movies are awesome. I actually love his movies and the fact that he writes them is incredible, but you know just having some success, you have a chance to branch off. As much as I'd like to attack a small indie drama, nobody will see it or it'll take 2 years and it'll go right to DVD and you've lost 2 years. I think I'd rather just do comedy.

TeenHollywood: But you've done a lot of physical action stuff too so couldn't you do a funny action guy?

Seann: I'd like to but there's not that many out there. I loved The Rundown. I really had a lot of fun and because I'm a physical guy I'd like to do that, but there's just not a lot of good scripts out there and so whatever good ones are going to the big boys. They're going to Seth and all those guys and they should. Those guys they deserve and own the right to have that first.

TeenHollywood: Hey, don't give up on the drama because I thought you were very good in The Promotion and there were a lot of scenes that were dramatic and I thought 'he's like Jim Carrey. He can do drama as well as be funny'.

Seann: (big grin) Fantastic. I appreciate that. Thank you. That's very encouraging.