“Todd and Jan face tremendous humiliation in Germany, but they are the last hope for redemption of their aging great-grandmother’s good name. So they put together the best beer-drinking team they can, and then they train, Rocky-style, and try to beat the best team in the world—the Germans,” says Chandrasekhar.
Production on Beerfest began during the onset of the 2006 Winter Olympics, so feelings of national pride further inspired the group. “It’s good to see America compete in an event that is beer-related because, more often than not, American beer gets the shaft at the international level,” states Heffernan. “The Germans, the Dutch, the Jamaicans—they all think their beer is so great. But America is overlooked. So it was up to us to carry the mantle of America in the beer-drinking world.”
The Wolfhouse brothers struggle to assemble a team that can carry “the mantle of America.” This pool of cracker-jack talent consists of Barry Badrinath, a once-skilled beer games hustler who has hit rock bottom in a variety of ways, played by Chandrasekhar; Phil Krundle AKA “Landfill,” the broadly gifted one-man chugging machine who redefines the meaning of super-sized consumption, played by Heffernan; and Charlie “Fink” Finklestein, a research laboratory genius with more than a few tricks under his yarmulke, played by Lemme.
The German team is coached by Prochnow’s Baron Wolfgang Von Wolfhausen and includes his lederhosen-wearing, trash-talking grandsons: Otto, an eager-beaver Yankee-hater, played by Will Forte; Gunter, the wisecracking loudmouth, played by Eric Christian Olsen; Rolf, the tightly wound instigator, played by Nat Faxon; and Hammacher and Schlemmer, the muscle-bound, vein-popping, keg-lifting duo, played by former Mr. Universe bodybuilders Ralf Moeller and Gunter Schlierkamp, respectively.
Gerber notes, “We definitely wanted authenticity on the German side, so that’s where Ralf and Gunter come in. They represent the brute force of the Germans. And for the Baron, we wanted a very dangerous heavy, and Juergen was at the top of the list.” Prochnow, who brought his stoic strength to the screen as the Baron, adds, “The Baron owns one of the most spectacular breweries in Munich, so he is a very wealthy and traditional guy. I’ve lived in Munich for many years and I’m very familiar with the topic of this movie and with Oktoberfest...I’ve seen it all!”
Having natives of Germany on-set proved useful in creating ad-lib banter between the cousins. Interestingly, the most demanding part of acting German was speaking English with caricaturized German accents. Ralf Moeller points out the irony of a native German parodying a stereotypical German accent. “The problem is that Jay didn’t think I sounded German enough. When you hear me speak English, do you hear any accent at all? I’ve lived in LA since 1993!”
Cloris Leachman adds, “The first time I ever used a German accent was in Young Frankenstein. For Beerfest, I felt a bit rusty during rehearsal, but I’ve had fun relearning. You really have to master relaxing the muscles in your throat,” she says, slyly referencing a particular gag in the film.
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