Todd Phillips on Due Date, Mel Gibson and Why He Hates Snarky Blog Headlines

Where did all of the Two and a Half Men stuff come from? Why that show out of all shows?

Again, I just think it's to illustrate just how completely ridiculous... Listen, the show is great. It's a fine show... well, it's a good show.

That's a good way to describe it. It's very popular.

It is. But I would doubt that anybody has been inspired to become an actor because of that show. So we just thought what a ridiculous concept that it is [Ethan's] frame of reference. That it's the reason he wanted to become an actor. And even if that does exist, even if someone is like that, they would never say that's why they wanted to become an actor.

When there's an actual Two and a Half Men scene in he film, did you direct that or did the regular director of the show?

They directed it. I was there that day and I walked Zach through what he had to do, but we wanted it to feel and look exactly like the show. I didn't want to step on any toes.

The car chase scene with the Mexican police comes out of nowhere compared to the rest of the movie. Where did that come from?

It's hard to say where ideas originate or come from. We're thinking of it more as when we're thinking of a complete story. To be quite honest, I don't like to hear that it comes out of nowhere, but I know what you mean as far as suddenly there's this big action scene in the middle of a comedy.

I didn't necessarily mean it in a bad way.

I understand, I think we just got started off on the wrong foot. (Laughs) That was my fault, but I do understand it. You know, I smoke a lot of pot when I'm conceiving of or writing these movies and making these movies. It's hard to always justify everything. You know, it's really tough.

I felt it took the film to a different level.

We try to make it real but with absurd situations. And even in The Hangover and my other films, it's sort of what I try to do. The characters, we try to make them living in the real world but put them through absurd situations.

Was it satisfying that The Hangover was such a huge hit considering that you walked away from Borat, which also became a huge hit?

Well, I could have done both. I have good feelings about Borat. I was still involved in Borat; I was nominated for an Academy Award for writing with Borat. And I love the movie and I'm proud of my involvement in Borat. So they're separate things for me and it's not as if one happened the other wouldn't happen or vice versa. To me it's all part of a body of work.

Is it tough coming back for a sequel to The Hangover? I mean, these guys wind up in this impossible situation in the first one. Is it hard to find a way for something else crazy to happen to these four guys or does it just flow like it did the first time?

Well, it's been flowing for us and it's not necessarily going to follow the same idea. We're in the middle of making that movie, but I think people are going to be surprised with how much of a... How do I put this without getting some f*cking snarky feedback in the headline?

You've already pretty much sealed your fate, the headline's going to be "Todd Phillips Doesn't Want Your Snarky Headline." It's already a done deal so anything you say now is not going to change that.

(Laughing) No... I think people are going to be surprised at how much this holds up to the first one. That's all. Honestly, I don't feel pressure, It's kind of the opposite. I feel pressure when we're standing outside some strip club at five in the morning in Las Vegas, shooting a scene, and I'm looking at my camera guy going, "This is really funny but is anybody ever going to see this movie?" That's a different pressure and that's real pressure. In a weird way the expectations make it liberating. It's like, "All right, I know I'm making a movie that people are at least going to show up and see." That's a big part of the battle. So, in a weird way, it's the opposite of pressure.

I swear I wasn't going to ask anything more about Mel Gibson situation...

Oh boy, here we go.

Do you think it's true that any press is good press?

No, I don't! I don't subscribe to that at all. Particularly in comedy filmmaking where so much of what we do relies on surprise. So, no, I don't believe any press is good press. And I don't mean that I'm talking about from a PR stand, like this is bad for the image of The Hangover. I'm talking more about comedy just works better when you're taking people by surprise, not talking about it on a blog six months before we even shoot a scene. You know what I mean?

Well I also have to imagine it's frustrating for you because you have a new movie coming out this weekend and you want to talk about that.

It's not that part that's frustrating. It's really not. I'm sure if people had heard we were doing a cameo with Mike Tyson in The Hangover, it would have been the same sort of nonsense. I just feel like, hey, let's just do our thing and let's talk about it after. Disagree with it or agree with it after, but to pick things apart before they're even done and people make assumptions about how it's going to be done or what the spirit of it is being done, that's the frustrating part. Certainly not answering questions about it.

Anything you regret about one of your films? Something you wish you could go back and change?

There's so many. I think any filmmaker looks back and thinks, "Boy, if we only had four hours more on that day when the sun was going down," or, "If we only spent more time and went back."

Some directors balk at a question like that.

They balk at it?

Well, someone like James Cameron who says that he refuses to look back.

Well, yeah, but I'm kind of balking at it, too, by not giving you one in particular. I do think that there is stuff, particularly in comedy, you can always push things further. You can always do it another way. I agree with him, there's nothing I would look back on Avatar, either, and do differently. I think he did it beautifully. I'm sure when I re-watch Old School there are things where I go, "God, if I just had more time that day or if we would have just pushed this scene even further."

Speaking of Avatar, Hangover 2 is not going to be in 3-D, is it?

No.

OK, good.

You don't like 3-D?

I like it in moderation.

Let's pretend I said "yes" -- which I'm telling you that it's not -- every movie comes out and you have a choice to see it in 3-D or not, right? I'm actually asking, you can go see Jackass not in 3D, correct?

I'm not sure 100 percent, but I believe so.

It's got to be because there are not enough theaters to even have done the business that Jackass did, I would think.

What's funny about Jackass, that's actually a movie that was fun in 3-D because they actually filmed it with 3-D cameras as opposed to the upconvert.

Oh, right. We wouldn't be upconverting The Hangover. I don't even know what that means, "upconvert." It gives me a headache just thinking about it. Why is it called "upconverting"?

I wouldn't want to be the person who coined that phrase, it does kind of make me angry.

Everything makes me angry today; everything is going to make me crazy today.

I know! As soon as I started talking to you, you were angry.

I know, I know. I apologize. I just feel, tonally speaking, how movies have a certain tone or comedies have a certain tone, I feel like websites do have a tone. And the tone of the Movieline website seems very high school to me. Does that make sense? I'm not telling you to agree or not, I'm just saying that's where that is coming from.

I understand what you're trying to say.

I'm making it worse.

No, you're not. I enjoyed this. I hope it wasn't too bad for you.

No, this was a pleasure. For real. I liked that when you remembered something in the movie you started laughing like a stoner -- that's how I am.

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