Other Titles • The Best and Brightest (2000) • The Hook-Up (2000) • Hooking Up Ethan (2000) • Scam (2000) • The Undergrads (2000) • Les Complices (2002)
It's 3 a.m. at The University of Redlands outside Los Angeles and 25 co-eds dressed in baby-doll pajamas or tank tops and sweats, hair either in rollers or wrapped in towels, are jammed around a piano in the downstairs living room of a dorm. Bowls of popcorn are passed around and Diet Coke cans are scattered on the table. The party rocks as girls shout their requests to Jason Schwartzman, who is entertaining these extras. They've been waiting all night to fill in the background outside Angela's window for Ethan's original psycho-serenade to the luscious Angela.
"I know what you did and I'm N0T afraid to expel you!" -Ethan
Jason Schwartzman, a talented, inventive musician as well as an actor, has been playing drums since he was 10. He plays in the band Phantom Planet and wrote two of the songs for the film, "Oh Angela" and "Ethan's Song."
"Music has always been the most important thing in my life," says the talented Schwartzman. "I've played drums since I was very young but have just begun playing piano and guitar. Writing songs is something I've always wanted to try and when I read in the script that there were two scenes that included songs, I asked Dewey if I could have a crack at writing them." Nicks agreed, and he and Schwartzman decided to pen the songs together.
They conducted "research" by looking through several COSMO GIRL MAGAZINE articles as inspiration for the lyrics to the wacky 'Kind of Guy.
(LYRICS)
"It's a checklist taken right from the magazine of what girls look for in guys," says Schwartzman.
David H. Steinberg wrote the script over a four-year period while he was a student at Yale University. Erik Feig, who originally bid on it when it was at Artisan Entertainment, lost out to Destination Films and Neil H. Moritz. The two had previously worked together on I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER and I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER and decided to team up again. Screen Gems acquired the project in the summer of 2001.
By all accounts, research was never so much fun. Most of it took place during all night bull sessions in Dewey Nicks' living room or Erik Feig's office while eating pizza, swapping Stories and letting imaginations (and memories) go wild.
Nicks, a print photographer who moved into commercials and videos, makes his feature film debut with the unconventional SLACKERS. "Dewey has an obvious visual flare," says Feig. " Not only do his commercials look great, they are incredibly funny little stories unto themselves." Indeed, Nicks created the cultural icon "Stuart" from his Amenitrade campaign.
The casting for SLACKEPS fell into place with the same ease that followed the entire production. These eccentric, bizarre characters all have a very different point of view. They are each a little 'bent' but work extremely well together as an ensemble.
"Devon Sawa was our first choice for Dave," reveals Nicks. "He reminds me of a young George Peppard in BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S. He has a timeless quality that works well for his character." After Sawa was cast, the production signed Jason Schwartzman, who had displayed in RUSHMORE exactly what the role of Ethan demanded: quirky, compassionate and strange at the same time.
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