Stephen Dorff and Allen Covert, co-stars in the porn-themed comedy Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star, took some time to talk about the film while in Austin last week. The film opened this weekend, with Dorff taking a break from more dramatic roles as the porn star Dick Shadow.
Nick Swardson leads the cast in Bucky Larson as a buck-toothed, small-dicked wannabe porn star who leaves his Midwestern home for Hollywood. Dorff’s character is a jealous super star in the world of “nudies” who feels threatened by Bucky’s sudden and inexplicable success.
Adam Sandler co-produced Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star with Covert, under their Happy Madison Productions shingle. Though Covert plays only a small role in the film as a porno shop owner, he worked closely on the production of the film and co-wrote the screenplay with Sandler and Swardson.
We Got This Covered: (to Allen Covert) How was it being on set with all your friends? Was there a lot of improvisation going on?
Allen Covert: Yeah we spend a lot of time in the writing process, so we always make sure we get what we actually wrote, but then a lot of times we’ll just start going…and with guys like this…oh yeah yeah there’s a lot of off the cuff stuff, some of my favorite lines were off the cuff. There’s always stuff that’s like ‘oh that’s going in’. Plus it depends as you get further into shooting, sometimes they feel like…they get more into their characters and stuff comes flying out of them.
WGTC: So tell me about your role?
AC: Ah God, I had just have a small part in this one because I was producing. But I play a guy who works in a porno store. And basically I walked into the store and went ‘ok, I’m a disgusting person’ because it was such a gross place.
WGTC: Do you like the movie?
AC: Oh I love it! Nick’s character is like the sweetest guy in the movie. He doesn’t curse, or anything, and that’s kind of what makes it such a great comedy because he’s in this like world of pornography. It’s very funny.
WGTC: You’ve worked with Adam Sandler before, how was that? Are you always a part of his projects?
AC: Oh yeah forever, me and him and a bunch of us went to college together, and we started Happy Madison. On this one I’m a co-producer, and I produce on all the Happy Madison movies. So we write and produce and do what we need to do. Luckily we get to do it. We’re very lucky.
WGTC: Will you always work in the comedy genre?
AC: I don’t know, I love comedies. I don’t have a problem…I’m not one of these guys that…you know I like making people laugh. I love what I do. I think if I did do something in another genre it would be science fiction, I’m a big sci fi nerd.
WGTC: (to Stephen Dorff) How was it playing a porn star? How did you prepare for the role?
Stephen Dorff: It was fun. I got long hair extensions…I brought in a little Bret Michaels influence, brought a bandana in there…and really just went off their script. They wrote such a good character, Nick and Allen and Adam…I just went with it.
WGTC: How was it doing comedy? You’ve done a lot of dramatic roles…
SD: Yeah, it’s my first kind of comedy, except maybe the John Waters movie I did years ago called Cecil B. DeMented, and that was more John Waters comedy than…this is like my first studio comedy. And I’m friends with Adam and all these different comedians and I never get to do fun stuff, so it was nice to get to come and just jam out and have fun
WGTC: Did you do a lot of hanging out off set?
SD: Not much, I didn’t have much time. I did my part in like two or three weeks because I was starting the Sofia Coppola movie Somewhere and there was a whole thing where I had to check with her if I could do it. And she said ‘yeah you know I want you to do that comedy, that sounds fun‘, but then she was worried about my hair because I had the hair extensions and she didn’t want it to screw up my hair for her movie…
WGTC: So does the audience get to see the goods? And if so, did you use any prosthetics?
SD: No, but they get to see Nick’s small dick. It’s like the size of a skittle, it was really cool. So no prosthetics, but I had a dildo in my pants for the wide shots, when I wanted to have the bulge. When I walked through wide shots I wanted to have a little extra something something. It was funny at lunchtime when I would have to take that out and give it to the prop man…I would say ‘Props! Here ya go, here’s your dick’.
WGTC: So was it a big stretch to play a porn star?
SD: Not really, but it was fun. We had a good time. I love Adam, I love Nick…I’ve become a realy big fan of Nick’s. Adam literally just being a good friend of mine just called me and really wanted me to be a part of this one. And then I met Nick at the table read through and thought he was great…I’ve known Allen for years…I’m was just excited to be a part of it.
WGTC: Would you like to do more comedy?
SD: I do a lot of drama, I’m ready for my next comedy. I mean I’m a character-driven actor, so I tend to do more, you know, like real characters. But at the same time I like mixing it up, you know, like I want to hit all the genres.
That concludes our interview with Allen Covert and Stephen Dorff. We’d like to thank them for their time. You can see Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star now in theaters everywhere.
