A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas picks up six years after their trip to white castle and escape from Guantanamo Bay. Harold’s cut Kumar out of his life because he just keeps getting them into trouble. It’s nice to see Kal Penn as Kumar again, albeit a little bit heavier Kumar after living the political lifestyle for two years, but what was really comforting was the way he explained the inside story of how President Obama handled his administration’s most frustrating political conflicts.
By the third one, are you kind of like, “I’ve got this. I know how to play Kumar?”
Well, you know who the character is very intimately. What was very cool as an acting exercise was I don’t know what happened to him in the six years since we’ve last seen him. So having to sit down with Jon and Hayden, the guys that created the characters, and learning from them – Why did Vanessa leave him? How much weed has he actually smoked if he’s grown this beard and hasn’t left his apartment in weeks? What is his mental state? How did he get this bad? Did he actually finish med school? What’s his relationship with his dad like? Has he rectified it? How’s his brother? All of this stuff that you have to account for between the [movies] are questions that had to be answered before we dove back into it.
Did you grow the beard?
I did grow the beard and then I was told to shave the beard, because if we had to do reshoots, I wouldn’t be able to grow the beard fast enough and it would have to match whatever we originally shot. So we ended up having to go with the fake beard.
Does that beard look like your real beard?
It does, thankfully.
Is Harold kind of right, that if someone attracts disaster like Kumar does you should really stay away from them?
If that were true it would be right, but it is not entirely true. In this movie it’s the Christmas tree burning. Yes, it’s because Kumar lit a joint, but it’s because Harold freaked out and tossed it out the window that the Christmas tree ends up igniting. What I love about that is that Kumar doesn’t think it’s him, Harold doesn’t think it’s him and in reality it’s both of them. It’s the dynamic of how they interact with each other.
I did think lighting a joint on a plane could only go badly.
I think what’s interesting is that any time these characters are high, only bad things happen.
Was the line about your weight your idea or something they forced you to address in the script?
Oh, it was mine. Because, you know, I’d taken a two year sabbatical and the two worlds are completely different. The greatest difference is that in my life in L.A. as an actor, you get up in the morning, you go the gym, you eat breakfast, you start your day. That’s like six days a week you do that. Your life in D.C., you get up in the morning, you go to work, you sit at a desk, you eat breakfast, you do your work, you eat lunch, you do your work, you eat your dinner, you do your work and then you go home. You’re literally sitting at a desk eating horrible food every day and I’m like, “I’ve gained a couple pounds here that I’ve got to lose quickly. I’m not going to lose this before the movie. I’m going to embrace it.” It just seemed like it was funny, especially because John was working on the Star Trek movie in between so he looks younger than he did in the second movie in my opinion. I thought it would be funny if I just tackle this head on.
Did you miss the bag of weed, who doesn’t appear in this sequel?
Yeah, he was one of several characters, or she, sorry. She, Weedy, was one of several characters who was missing.
I’m a little frustrated with the spin against Obama’s policies, even from Democrats. Having worked on the inside, are you happy with his policies?
I am very happy with his policies. I think that he has done a phenomenal job. I think that a lot of what he has done, for many reasons, has not been on the cable news cycle. Cable news is more titillating to talk about who’s up and who’s down and all that nonsense as opposed to what’s actually done. Look, I’ve had the chance to see him fight very hard for things like increases in Pell grants and financial aid for young people, climate change and pushing for immigration reform and saving the economy from complete collapse and managing a team of dudes that took care of Osama bin Laden and bringing our friends home from Iraq. If you actually add up the things that he’s done, I think it’s been phenomenal. I’m also politically independent so I’m not a fan of either the Democrats in Congress or the Republicans in Congress. They don’t seem to be doing much. The president’s trying to push this jobs bill through and miraculously Congress is continuing to drag its feet. It’s frustrating to see Congress drag its feet but I’m very happy with what the president’s been doing.
It really got me during the debt ceiling talks. One side just said, “We don’t want to work with this guy. We’ll wait ‘til the next president.” You still have to run the country! You don’t get to wait until someone you like is your boss.
Yeah, I agree. What was really nuts was folks came in to meet with the president when they were talking about the budget or talking about the debt ceiling. I remember one of the first things that the Republicans put on the table was they said, “Well, can we all agree that we’re going to get rid of the American Opportunity Tax Credit?” That’s something that gives every person who wants to go to college $2,500. And the president was like, “No, of course we’re not getting rid of it. This is what these kids are relying on to go to college. How are you getting rid of this? This is not one of those programs that you can cut because in a time of economic crisis, young people need to go to school. You can’t cut that.” The debt ceiling debate, people would come in and just not say anything in a negotiation. The members of Congress were kind of acting like children in a way. It only reinforced my appreciation for how strong the president is in those settings and how he keeps fighting for the right thing despite obstructions from Congress.
I was impressed that he sent troops into Africa, and only 100, but that was completely downplayed.
There are a couple of things. We don’t often credit the role that young people played in bringing about stability in Darfur and Sudan but really for 15 years young people drove this movement of peace in Sudan. We learned our lessons from Rwanda, we’re learning our lessons from Sudan. I think the president was very brave in doing the right thing and partnering with NATO in Libya so that you prevent a genocide there, you prevent a disaster there. Same thing in Uganda, being able to actually stand up for our friends and say, “No, we won’t tolerate another genocide or another series of mass killings.” I agree, I wish that had gotten more attention rather than political spin.
Are you bringing the truth on How I Met Your Mother? Kevin’s got the group’s number.
Kevin brings the truth on How I Met Your Mother. I think that’s what oftentimes gets him in trouble but that’s an awesome show to work on. Obviously great being back with Neil again but Cobie Smulders is beautiful and funny, hilarious. The whole cast was super welcoming. Pam Fryman who directs all the episodes is such an awesome director. It’s been a treat for the last few episodes.
What’s coming up in the rest of your batch?
I don’t know, I still have three or four episodes left and we don’t see the scripts in advance. I’m sure it’ll be a bit tumultuous in a good way and it’s a treat to work on.
