Zack Pearlman on Virginity Hit, Catfish and Blockbuster Filmmaking in the YouTube Era

Zack Pearlman wants you to see Jackass 3D. Now, keep in mind, Zack Pearlman isn't in Jackass 3D -- though, considering that the movie he is actually in, The Virginity Hit, admittedly underperformed at the box office (while sharing much of the current hit's DIY aesthetic), we might as well discuss the current number-one film in the country. Oh, and masturbation -- the completely natural human act that led Pearlman to a chance encounter with Will Ferrell and Adam McKay.

The Virginity Hit, produced by Ferrell and McKay, is the story of four teenage friends who videotape the misadventures of the last member of their group to lose his virginity. It was shot in a documentary style that made it look like the entire film was recorded with a cell phone -- with mostly Zack doing the filming. The marketing strategy of building buzz at college campuses, then releasing the film wide, never paid off -- to date The Virginity Hit has grossed only $556,792. I spoke to Zack about the disappointing box-office and what, if anything, could have been done differently, his scorn toward the marketing of Catfish and the YouTube masturbation video that got the attention of Ferrell and McKay -- and, also, his grandmother.

You first met Will Ferrell And Adam McKay through an Internet video you filmed.

That's right! I had posted a video on YouTube which was the story of my sister walking in on me masturbating when I was 16. But I convinced her to be behind me, under false pretenses, and she had Vietnam flashbacks during the incident while I was talking about it. And I guess I caught some attention from the Funny or Die guys. It was one of those videos you make and you're like, "Well, this is going to do nothing." It was just one of those videos I made because I was bored. I wasn't trying to make my sister look silly, I was just like, "I'm bored."

Though, I think that's a reason a lot of people masturbate.

That's true. I have a feeling when I was editing that video I probably masturbated. I put it on YouTube to show my family. I thought that was a funny joke -- to send it to my whole family [and] basically admit to my whole family that I masturbated in their house for the last four years. I put it on YouTube to send to my parents and then my extended family -- and they had a sh*t storm. My grandmother was pretty upset. That was funny, to just see my grandmother go, "Oh, no" -- the almost utter disappointment.

The Virginity Hit is an interesting concept. What did you think you were making versus how it turned out?

I originally thought it was a really new take on this played-out genre. And then when we started, I remember reading it and being like, "This is so funny, the ideas in here are so funny." And then I remember shooting the first bit, which was a teaser to sell the movie -- it was the ball-shaving bit from the movie, the day I met Matt [Bennett]. To see what the final product is now, I didn't know how much fun it was going to be. I kind of went in thinking that this is a movie and I had to be professional; as professional as I was, it was Crazy Town. It was so much fun. It's an experience that I look back on and I can never see the movie for the movie, just because so much of the movie is just us hanging out. All of the pranks -- that stuff really happened. We were degenerates for three months. We were f*cking around and having fun. There was one review that I really liked. [It] said in a negative light -- and I took it as the highest compliment -- "It's Jackass." I love that.

In your opinion, why did The Virginity Hit fail at the box-office?

I don't think it was shown in the right light. It's a hard thing to do: To show a movie that is so fun and unique and different and just show how it's different -- I think that's almost impossible. I don't know what could have been done, but I think changing how the movie is versus how it's perceived is a hard movie to market. Because it is different and you expect one thing from the trailers and that stuff never happens. It was very real the way we handled situations and very stupid the way we handled situations -- like real teenagers. We kind of went along the route of, "If you're offended, don't have kids," because this is how they act. I think if we were just weirdly real with it, I think it would have at least talked to some people. For a horror movie it's so easy to get people to talk about it: "Oh, did you see that scary part?" With a comedy it's so difficult because if you don't have recognizable faces, as well as comedic one-liners...

Or have sex with a pie.

Yes! Exactly. People won't trust that it's funny. Listen, I'm not going to say that the movie is for everyone. I know for a fact that it's not for everyone.

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