As a relative newcomer to New Orleans, this last week was my first exposure to Mardi Gras. I discovered the following: finding parking in the French Quarter can cause a brain aneurism, I can still drink like an undergraduate and that I absolutely love the parades. We all have our favorite parades (it’s a tough call but I’m going to go with Thoth), and I’d like to bring up the experience I had in regards to the Krewe of Tucks Saturday, Feb. 13.
Several Loyola University students founded Tucks in 1969, with an “irreverent” sense of humor. As the Maroon’s movie reviewer, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer invited me to interview three cast members of their upcoming film, “Hot Tub Time Machine,” who were participating in the Tucks parade on a float featuring a giant hot tub.
Rob Corddry (former correspondent on “The Daily Show,” “Harold and Kumar 2”), Craig Robinson (Darryl on NBC’s “The Office,” “Pineapple Express”) and Clark Duke (ABC Family’s “Greek,” “Sex Drive”) prepared in various ways the night before the big event.
While Corddry popped an Ambien and got a full eight hours of sleep, Robinson won $350 playing poker at Harrah’s Casino and Duke lost $300, though he wouldn’t say how it happened. Although neither Corrdry nor Duke had visited The Big Easy before, Robinson was excited to be back in town for this promotional event after the “awesome time” he had filming the upcoming movie, “The Father of Invention,” this past summer.
“Hot Tub Time Machine” follows a group of best friends who’ve become bored with their adult lives: Adam (John Cusack) has been dumped by his girlfriend; Lou (Corddry) is a party guy who can’t find the party; Nick’s (Robinson) wife controls his every move; and video game-obsessed Jacob (Duke) won’t leave his basement. After a crazy night of drinking in a ski resort hot tub, the men wake up, heads pounding, in the year 1986. It is their chance to kick some past and change their futures — one will find a new love life, one will learn to stand up for himself with the ladies, one will find his mojo, and one will make sure he still exists.
According to Corddry, shooting the film included a “smorgasbord of 80’s stars,” which also stars Chevy Chase (“Fletch,” “Vacation”), Crispin Glover (George McFly from “Back to the Future,” Billy Zabka (Johnny from “The Karate Kid”) and the film’s star, 80’s teen heartthrob John Cusack (“One Crazy Summer,” “Say Anything”).
Corddry, Robinson and Duke said they loved working on the film. Duke, a graduate of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, called it a “combination of ‘The Hangover’ meets ‘Back to the Future’ crossed with ‘Better Off Dead’ and ‘Snow Dogs.'”
Corddry credits the successful combination of the film’s components to director Steve Pink, a frequent Cusack collaborator and writer of two 80’s inspired comedy classics, “Grosse Point Blank” and “High Fidelity.”
In their post-float bliss, all three actors said they would like to return to New Orleans at their next possible opportunity. In lieu of their venturing back here at a specific occasion, the next possible time we can see all three together is on the big screen, when “Hot Tub Time Machine” opens March 19.
Ari Silber can be reached at [email protected]
