Monday, August 3, 1998
Dudes bring unique humor to big screen
FILM: ‘BASEketball’ stars find Hollywood success on big screen,
television
By Lonnie Harris
Daily Bruin Staff
Through all the media accounts surrounding their meteoric rise
to fame, the so-called "South Park Guys," Trey Parker and Matt
Stone, haven’t changed much since their formative years. They still
have the same friends they did in college, they still drink beer
during any occasional spare time, and they still use phrases like
"this sucks ass."
The one thing that has changed about the duo since the days when
they flunked drama and film classes together in Colorado is that
now all of America is in on the joke. On top of the huge success of
their first television creation, the twosome also star in David
Zucker’s outrageous sports comedy "BASEketball," stepping in front
of the camera for the first time in a major studio picture.
Not bad for two guys who spent their first year in Los Angeles
sleeping on the floor of a studio apartment directly under the 405
Freeway. Speaking with the two young men, it seems that their
stardom surprises no one more than them. They retain the enthusiasm
and motivation of those new to the Hollywood scene, without the
jaded cynicism which so commonly strikes newcomers to the harsh
business of filmmaking.
In fact, the story of Parker and Stone’s leap into the realm of
superstardom borders on the lunacy of their animated creations.
The duo met at Colorado State University, Boulder where both
majored in film studies. Parker, the more vocal and, at least on
the surface, more sincere of the two never actually graduated, but
this sort of detail is incidental. Diplomas were far less a concern
for Parker and Stone than the creation of actual projects, which
culminated their senior year with the film "Cannibal: The
Musical."
Then, it was off to Hollywood to pursue fortune and fame. What
they found instead was a lot of brick walls, and a particularly
nasty fungus which afflicted both comedians after being transmitted
through a less-than-clean apartment floor.
Soon, however, the guys successfully pitched "South Park" to
Comedy Central and won a 6-episode deal. Little did they know that
"South Park" would go on to become a mega-hit for the cable
channel.
"We never really aimed that high," Stone says. "We just wanted
to make dumb little things that our friends would think are funny,
and maybe get paid enough to do it. That’s really all we ever
expected to do, really. And not get fungus. We had no idea how big
it would be."
Even before the development of "South Park," however, some
within the industry took notice of their comic talent. Director
David Zucker, in particular, observed their early creations with
curiosity. Much like Zucker’s own early works (such as "Airplane!"
and "Top Secret"), Parker and Stone collaborate on each individual
joke, focusing on how to make the specifics of every scene
work.
"They’re really great comic actors," Zucker says. "Also, they
come up with material. There were five guys on the set coming up
with gags, instead of one or two."
After a long and complicated casting mix-up which even the key
players don’t seem to understand, Zucker was inspired to cast the
unknown comic duo as the leads in his new film.
The rest is history as the twosome completed both "BASEketball"
and a second crop of "South Park" episodes simultaneously, a task
which inflicted a great deal of stress (and satisfaction) on the
longtime friends.
"It was the most difficult time of my life," Stone says. "Eleven
weeks of pure hell, but (it was) a lot of fun. Doing ‘BASEketball’
was a lot of fun, but the sheer hours that you’re there – like 14
hours a day – and then (we had) to go do ‘South Park’ and be funny
for another 6 hours more."
Rarely do the two get an opportunity to just "hang out and grab
a beer," as they like to say. Most of the time is spent working on
some project or another, such as the upcoming "South Park" movie
for Paramount or the possible "Dumb and Dumber" prequel which is
still being negotiated.
For the time being, however, Parker and Stone are content to
work on new "South Park" episodes and talk about "BASEketball," a
film they have tremendous confidence in.
"BASEketball" follows Coop and Remer, played by Parker and
Stone, as they create and find support for a new game called, what
else, but BASEketball.
Fortunately for the two, who can’t help but try to insert their
own brand of humor into everything they do (especially casual
conversation), David Zucker allowed for heavy improvisation and
script-alteration on the set.
"(Zucker) got used to doing films the way we did," Parker says.
"The script changed a lot from what was on the page. The script is
just a blueprint of what we’re actually going to do."
This experience on a studio film will no doubt prove useful as
they try to create their own big-budget features. For the time
being, however, they have committed to keeping up the high standard
they have set for "South Park," despite pressure from all sides to
keep working faster and quicker.
"We were these two guys, and we came to Hollywood sleeping in
cars and on people’s floors," Parker says. "So, to go from that to
everything we’ve been through in the last year, we remained
friends. If we had one-tenth of the audience that we have now, and
we were just some guys on a small cable station, I think we’d be
really stoked."
Photo courtesy of Universal City Studios Productions, Inc.
Trey Parker (left) and Matt Stone, best friends and the creators
of "South Park," star in the feature film "BASEketball."