Hayden Schlossberg Tagged Articles at Cinematical

First up, there's a whole new buddy comedy on the way from the writers of Harold & Kumar -- Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg. The Hollywood Reporter posts that the duo have whipped up a new pic called 'Til Beth Do Us Part. Like H&K, the film will focus on two twenty-something guys, but instead of focusing on the great high, it's about how a friendship is put to the test once one of them gets engaged. I bet you anything this came from those Amsterdam-set follow-ups on the Guantanamo Bay DVD. We should hear more soon -- the plan is to get this comedy in production by early next year.

But there's also White Dad, according to THR. This spec, which comes from writer Alan Yang, is being kept completely under wraps. It shouldn't be too hard to make some possible guesses. The writer is a Yang, and it's about white dads, so maybe it's about a Chinese kid adopted by a white family? Stay tuned!

And finally, there's Matt Reeves. THR reports the Cloverfield director is going to write and direct a remake of the Swedish horror film Let the Right One In. The premise of this flick would've sent my teen penchant for vampires into overdrive -- "a bullied boy whose desire for revenge becomes intertwined with his growing love for a girl who happens to be a vampire." It won an award for Best Narrative Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival, and Scott loved it, so this should be good stuff. We can see the original next month, when it is appropriately released on October 24.

Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, the sequel to the modern stoner classic Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, hit theaters last Friday. I sat down with the film's writer/directors -- Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg -- a few days after the release of their film. In the interest of journalistic integrity (and shameless name-dropping), I should tell you that the gentlemen are friends of mine, and all around great dudes.

Cinematical: How did the Hurwitz/Schlossberg magic begin?

Jon Hurwitz: Hayden and I became friends on the Randolph High School debate team and connected over a common love of comedy. We were both obsessed with the movies of the Farrelly Brothers and the Zucker Brothers. We loved Howard Stern. We thought it would be amazing if we could actually make movies one day. But it felt like it was the most unrealistic goal of all time for a couple of dudes hanging out in a basement in New Jersey. What changed everything for us was that in high school we were known for coming up with really funny "Would you rather?" scenarios. We came up with a list of 250 that we were going to try to get published.

Cinematical: What was the best one?

JH: "If you had to be sexually abused, would you rather it be by an android or a Muppet?"

Cinematical: Muppet. It's softer.

Hayden Schlossberg: Exactly. Plain and simple. It would hurt less. That is the correct answer.

Austin Film Festival doesn't only show movies, but also includes a screenwriters' conference. This year, the lineup included Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, who wrote Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and have written and directed the upcoming sequel, currently known as Harold and Kumar 2. (First they were going to Amsterdam, then they were escaping from Guantanamo Bay. Maybe next they'll be searching for a crystal skull bong.)

Hurwitz and Schlossberg sat down with moderator Josh Weiner and an audience of conference attendees to discuss both the Harold and Kumar movies, and used clips from the first movie to share various lessons they learned in screenwriting.

The first clip shown was the scene in which Harold (John Cho) encounters Maria (Paula Garces) in the elevator, both in his fantasy world and in reality. Hurwitz said the scene was pivotal to the movie because it introduced Maria as a romantic interest, which provided something for the audience to connect with in a movie that otherwise has a fairly slight storyline. In fact, the impact of the scene ultimately caused the ending to be reshot.