Topher Grace on Take Me Home Tonight and Almost Dying Inside of a Gigantic Metal Ball

Back in 2006, Topher Grace wrapped production on That '70s Show and transitioned seamlessly into the '80s. That is, the Connecticut-raised actor starred in (and executive produced) an '80s romantic comedy opposite Teresa Palmer, Anna Faris and Dan Fogler called Take Me Home Tonight. And this weekend, after a few years and a few distribution switch-ups, the film is finally being released.

In anticipation of the long-awaited release, Movieline met up with the actor last month to discuss his near-death experience in a metal ball, why his new movie is reminiscent of Dazed and Confused, and who he thinks is the next Bill Murray.

So you actually came up with the story for Take Me Home Tonight. Were there certain '80s elements that you knew from the very beginning you wanted to include?

No. We actually built it from the outside in -- in that we made an '80s mix and thought of things we wanted to do first. Like, we knew we wanted a dance-off and a threesome. When [my character] Matt sees Tori [Teresa Palmer] for the first time at the party, we wanted "Bette Davis Eyes" to be playing.

How did you develop the story from there?

We started by asking ourselves, "What would it be like if you took a modern-day protagonist and put him in the '80s?" Which is really what this movie is about. Matt Franklin might be a beautiful swan if this story was taking place today. All of these movies like Dazed and Confused and American Graffiti have a modern-day protagonists in a different time.

Even though this movie takes place over the course of one night, Matt Franklin is forced to make and really own some big decisions.

Yeah, my character has done something almost chauvinist where he's put [his high school crush] on a pedestal in kind of a positive way. Not just him though -- we wanted his sister Wendy [Anna Faris] to really own a moment. I can't tell you how many women I've been platonic friends with -- guys too -- where everyone in their life is saying, "This isn't the person for you." That is what Wendy dealt with and she was forced to make a decision. [pause] <span

class="pullquote right">I guess this interview isn't going to read as, "This is a bad ass party that happens in one night!" You got to write that part down too. We do drugs and there are titties and stuff.

Consider it done. How did you go about casting Angie Everhart for the threesome scene?

This was my first time auditioning people. Angie -- you know, it helped that she was a supermodel. What we really wanted in that scene was the humor of Dan Fogler looking over and seeing the most beautiful woman ever topless and then looking in the other direction and seeing the grossest, creepiest dude of all time. Angie's beautiful but she's already really funny. She got the joke. That's a real highlight of the movie.

Well that and Demetri Martin's cameo as a wheelchair-bound finance mogul.

That guy is a genius and part of the reason why I wanted to do this movie. If you look at Dazed and Confused and American Graffiti, they have these casts full of people that were unknown at the time -- like Harrison Ford, Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck -- they're all in these movies. Demetri is the same way. We got like five $20 million stars from the year 2019. If you watch this movie then, you'll see it. Like, I know it. I know it firsthand.

What was it like working with him?

I love working with older people who are masters but also, there's something great about being on set and watching Demetri come up with half of his lines. People were inspiring other people comically. At the end of the day, we'd go to an IHOP because it was six in the morning because we shot all night. At the IHOP, it's like Anna [Faris] is doing a bit with Demetri and Fogler joins in. I was thinking, "This is what it felt like to be sitting at some table in 1974 and thinking, 'This Bill Murray guy is funny. And this Belushi guy is funny. Gilda Radner is hilarious.'" It's so great to be there when everybody is in bloom.

Why did you decide to cast Anna Faris as your twin sister?

It's impossible not to have great chemistry with Anna. It was kind of an ego-move to cast her as my twin. She's certainly better at a lot of things as me. She definitely brought my gene pool up a notch. I think we do share a similar kind of dry humor. Anna's another example of an actress that just happens to be really good at being funny.

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