Recently, I was whisked away by 20th Century Fox to spend a night at the Four Seasons in Santa Barbara and engage in a two-day Alvin and the Chipmunks hootenanny. At first, I figured that going all out like this was a turd-polishing effort, because the trailer for this film made it look like a fart-joke festival of sadness and woe. There is actually only one fart in the film, and one poop gag (literally), and the rest is generally a smiling happy kids show, with some distressingly catchy music. The remix of the classic hit "Witch Doctor" is particularly ear-wormy. By the time the credits rolled, I'd remembered watching their little cartoon when I was a kid, and I had officially overcome most of the negative effects generated by the promotional materials enough to say "Hey, that was cute."
The press junket the next day was held on the tennis courts of the ridiculously huge mansion of Ross Bagdasarian Jr. and his wife Janice Karman, both producers on the film. The late Ross Bagdasarian Sr., of course, was the creator of the Chipmunk phenomenon, and it has quite obviously paid off well. Here's an excerpt of the Q&A with My Name Is Earl star Jason Lee, who plays Dave Seville, the live-action foil to the animated Chipmunk rabble-rousers.
Q: Are you specifically focused on making family films?
Jason Lee: It's just a coincidence. It's not for my son, but it's a bonus that I have a son who's very excited about movies like this. He's quoting the Chipmunks just from the preview that we've seen a couple times. The Incredibles, he knows it's my voice and Underdog, but seeing me on the screen with the Chipmunks, I think that's a step above. I think he thinks Dad is pretty cool.
Q: Is it a coincidence Chipmunk Song was in Almost Famous?
Jason Lee: I think it's great. It just goes to show how iconic and a part of our lives it is. It's so great, the opening title sequence of Almost Famous with the song in it. I mean, everybody knows it.
Q: Was it hard working with animated co-stars?
Jason Lee: At first, it was really tedious and frustrating because I didn't have anything to work with. I had stuffed animals if the Chipmunks were off camera, or tape marks. Most of the time, I had nothing, and I'd have to place my eyeline always in three different places. It was kinda tough, but no complaints. I had a great time. In the kitchen, going through the cupboards – any of the following or moving stuff was the hardest. The stuffed animals – we'd always to a stuffie pass, so Rhythm and Hues, the effects company, saw the overall action of the scene. It looked totally real, I was absolutely blown away. I was a little bit surprised and just very pleased. It really looked like they were there.
Q: Are you signed on for sequels?
Jason Lee: I don't think I'm signed, but I would do another one, though.
Q: How was it working with David Cross?
He's great. He's sharp, really sharp. Professional, sharp, funny. You know, a good old-fashioned smartass.
Q: How did they do the physical scenes, like when you got that big jar shattered over your head?
Jason Lee: They really dropped it – sugar glass. I love it. I always tell Greg Garcia on My Name Is Earl, as much physical stuff as you can give me, always write it in. I love getting hit by cars and falling. I love it. It's just another side of comedy. The greats were Sellers and Chevy Chase, and I think that's a great part of comedy. Peter Sellers is one of my favorites.
Q: Any trouble working with an animation crew for this film?
Jason Lee: Luckily, it was smooth. These days, it's second nature how well these guys can read a scene and know where the Chipmunks are gonna be. They'll tell you right away “that's not gonna work, maybe try this angle.” So it was a team, constantly dissecting every scene for the just as actors might dissect a scene for performance. So it was really the director being with the actors, then having to go to the effects guys, bouncing back and forth between the two worlds, and then dealing with the cinematographer right in the middle. Tim Hill is a very low-key guy, in between takes he'd be playing his guitar. He was a really mellow dude, and he handled it really well. If I were directing something like that... I don't think I would in the first place.
Q: How crucial was nailing that ALVIN! yell?
Jason Lee: I had Ross Jr. there coaching me on it. “No, no, you need to draw it out. Make it louder and more intense, and do that one shorter.” He directed me, and that's really the only time he'd ever say anything, because he wanted the yell to be authentic. I guess they're doing pretty well [waving to mansion surroundings with a laugh]. “Oh, we'll just have the press junket at our mansion in Santa Barbara, overlooking the ocean, not a problem.” I guess they've sold 45 million records. That's like Beatles territory isn't it? I live in a small house in Silverlake, I'm as non-fancy as it gets. This is pretty overwhelming. I don't know how they keep all the furniture clean.
Q: Why just a small house in Silverlake?
Jason Lee: I occupy myself, I'm very busy doing things. That's just not ever been much of an interest. I like to do other things with my time and money than buy fancy things and spend too much money on real estate. When I'm not acting, I'm photographing and traveling, so I buy film and cameras.
Q: You have another project coming up that involves you being a musician, don't you?
Jason Lee: A friend of mine wrote this fantastic late-70s/early-80s rock comedy, and we're still trying to get it made. It's over at Warner Bros., but we haven't locked down a director yet. Sometimes these things take a long time, and now with the strike... hopefully we'll get around to it. It's kind of an Almost Famous, but more of a direct comedy. It's not a parody, it's between Walk Hard and Almost Famous.
Q: Any plans to work with Kevin Smith again?
Jason Lee: We've talked about him directing an episode of Earl or coming on and doing a role, and he's always into it, but it's just never really happened. I guess now he's in Philly making that movie about the couple that make a porn movie? [Zack & Miri Make a Porno] I don't talk to Kevin as much as I should and the bastard hardly calls me, so we'll see. I haven't heard anything about me being in this movie at all, maybe a cameo, nothing. The guy hasn't e-mailed me.
Q: Do you still do any skateboarding?
Jason Lee: I mess around a bit, within boundaries for not wanting to get injuries. My son is doing it now. He's starting to skateboard a little bit. I started when I was five, and he's four, so he has an edge over me.
Q: Do you have plans to put out some books of your photography?
Jason Lee: Yeah, I've got many plans. There's always different things that I'm working on at any given time, my off time – weekends, days that I don't work. A few series I'm working on simultaneously. So it keeps me occupied. It's my passion. Portraits, people, I shoot for Anthem Magazine pretty well exclusively. Actors, artists, musicians I shoot. It's not really commercial stuff. The magazine gives me free rein to take a band that I really like and photograph them and do a piece on them. It's really cool, that kind of relationship. Then I work on a lot of personal stuff – it's the one thing that I do when I'm not acting. My photography website that I've been working on for about three months is finally going to be up in a few weeks or so, and my 30-minute short film we shot on 35 with Giovanni Ribisi is going to be on the website, it's called The White Door. I was gonna do the whole DVD thing and try to distribute it independently, but you know what, why not just have it on my website, streaming, full-screen? The way things are going with websites these days, I think everything's gonna be on everybody's computer pretty soon.
