Please Give's Thomas Ian Nicholas on Short Actors and American Pie 4

In Nicole Holofcener's new film Please Give, there's always a catch. Catherine Keener's character is empathetic and intelligent, but she's the vintage furniture store equivalent of an ambulance chaser, while Oliver Platt plays a dad who's soft and accommodating, but he's also carrying on an affair. As Rebecca Hall's boyfriend, Thomas Ian Nicholas comes with his own catch -- he's adorable, but his lack of height is constantly harped upon by Hall's grandmother -- yet Nicholas so sunny that he's like a life preserver in a sea of neuroses.

As reports circulate that about the revival of the American Pie franchise that Nicholas hails from, the actor called up Movieline to discuss Holfocener, height, and whether he'd be willing to return for more Pie.

So, Please Give takes a few jabs at your height, but what the film fails to mention is that Rebecca Hall might be an actual giantess.

[Laughs] That would just take away from all the comedic aspects of our relationship.

How tall is she?

I'm not sure. I know that I wasn't necessarily short enough, or as short as Nicole Holofcener wanted the character to be. I'm, like, 5'7", but Nicole said that when she found guys who were shorter, they had weird arms. [Laughs] So she didn't choose them.

Had you ever felt like your height got in the way when you went up for roles?

I never felt that way, only because some of my favorite actors are my height or shorter. Dustin Hoffman is a perfect example of that. I think it takes a certain sense of confidence to allow my height to be made fun of without developing a Napoleon complex, and my character has that confidence and I think I have it a little bit.

Your character is one of the few in the film that doesn't seem to be hiding any terrible personality traits.

I know! I had told Nicole during the filming that my character represented hope in the film, which was a nice thing to play. I think it came across in the final edit.

Was Nicole easy to work with?

It's almost hard to explain how cool she is. The first time I got to see the film was at Sundance, and I told her that it felt like the most honest performance I'd ever given. I think it stems from how much I trusted her as an actor, and I think that trust came from her more unassuming qualities. I was so excited to work with her from the first time on set, and it was like we had already been friends for a while -- that was just the vibe she instantly gave. I'd love to work with her again.

Well, when you say it's your most honest performance, that's interesting. You started acting as a kid. Did you ever get to a place where you had to unlearn some of your early technique to become more honest?

Yeah. Gosh, that's a loaded question! I mean, I studied technique for ten years, from age 7 to 17. I guess you could say I went more on the Stanislavski side than the Meisner side -- there's always that wide divide among actors when it comes to technique. For instance, Joseph Gordon-Levitt was in those classes with me as well, and he had a completely different style and approach to "getting there." Still, he used a lot of the same aspects of acting. I don't necessarily know why it's the most honest performance, but like I said, I think it stems from Nicole's personality. This is a job I was insanely looking forward to, so much so that I worked in New York as a local hire. And then when I got on set, it's almost like the favor was returned, and there was no discussion about it. You don't often find that with someone you're working for -- usually, you find that with friends. She's really confident and knows what she wants, but at the same time, she acts like she doesn't know what she wants.

I've heard she solicits a lot of collaboration from the actors.

Absolutely, but that's the dichotomy of Nicole. She's confident and also acts not that confident...she encompasses everything. As far as it being an honest performance, I think all the characters she writes have a lot of layers, and you just don't find that in most films. Usually, people write the characters into a box, and that's just not true to life. Nicole's characters give the actors an opportunity to be more honest as people.

There's been a lot of buzz about Universal reviving the American Pie franchise on the bigscreen. What have you heard about it?

I pretty much know the same things that you probably now. I was on my Twitter account and someone sent me a tweet about it, some LA Times article, and I was like, "Really? Interesting." I know that at one point, I had briefly spoken to Adam Herz, the writer of the first few films. He frequents this sushi spot I go to -- this was a couple of years ago -- and he was like, "What do you think about this? Would you even consider it?" I said, "Yeah, it would be fun." I think it'd be a blast to get back together with everyone. I know that we've all been busy since that time, and I see everyone once in a while, but we haven't all been back together since. It would be "the reunion," which I think should be the setting. I didn't go, but don't high schools have 10-year reunions?

They do.

See? That would be the perfect place to get us all back together.

And then you actually would get to go to a high school reunion.

And the first film was 10 years ago. It'd actually be the 10-year reunion!

[Photo Credit: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images]