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Josh Peck wants to be more than the funny friend, and with THE WACKNESS, proves that he can go with the best of them. Peck gained fame for several years as Josh from Nickelodeon's DRAKE & JOSH, playing the overweight friend to Drake. Now an adult and shedding many pounds, Peck has his first starring role as a recently graduated 18 year old drug dealer looking for love and friendship in the summer of 1994 and finds love in the form of beautiful Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby) and friendship in her stepfather Dr. Squires (Sir Ben Kingsley). Being no stranger to film, having already starred in MEAN CREEK and DRILLBIT TAYLOR earlier this year, Peck is on the road to stardom. To promote THE WACKNESS, Peck sat down with the Crypt to talk about this role, the transition from DRAKE & JOSH to leading man, Nickelodeon's reaction to this film, and many more in this Colonel's Crypt exclusive.
COLONEL’S CRYPT: How are you? JOSH PECK: I’m excellent, thank you. CC: So what was it about THE WACKNESS that made you want to do it? JP: It’s a movie that I would like to see and I think if you’re reading the script it’s all you can hope for. You’re only as good as your material and I knew that there was something really special about the words on the page and I could bring some truth and honesty on who this kid Luke was. I felt that he was beginning the time of his life that I was sort of at the tail end of, me being 20 and he being 18. It’s so rare where New York is a location for so many movies but in this case it’s a character. I feel like it was very alive and had a pulse in the movie. That along with Sir Ben Kingsley was a home run. CC: What did you think about the makeout scene between Kingsley and Mary Kate Olsen being their age difference? JP: It was hot (laughs). I think it was very tastefully done in the context of the movie and it makes a lot of sense. I think Sir Ben was gracious as always in allowing Mary Kate to choreograph it and she went at it full force. I think it categorizes her entire performance. She was very committed and professional, and making out with Sir Ben is the ultimate commitment. CC: You spent a lot of time with Sir Ben. How was it working with such a prestigious actor who was playing a role of that of a lonely, desperate man? JP: It’s interesting in our relationship in the movie, we’re these odd, kindred spirits yet he is regressing in the way that I am progressing. It’s interesting that he comes to this juxtaposition in his life where he can no longer live the way that he has been living as the character is taking an inventory of what’s left in his life whereas Luke is taking in this inventory to what happens when he becomes an adult and lose any semblance of what he holds so dear now. The only people in Luke’s life are these adults who are people that he doesn’t want to be. I think you can find solace in the people that are underachieving and they sometimes are the catalysts to make you better than you thought he could be. Luke is so true to who he is. He loves hip hop music and is OK with what he does. He doesn’t have any qualms about it the way he carries himself. He just doesn’t like this situation that he’s been thrust into and he doesn’t want to conform to the ways. He says in the movie “Why does it have to be so fucking sad like that? Why does it have to be one big, dreary outlook? Why can’t it be the way I thought about life a year ago,” you know? CC: Are you a fan of the hip hop music in that era? JP: Yeah, I love hip hop music. It’s the music of my generation. It’s poetry set to a beat. It used to be Sugarhill Gang and Run DMC and then all of a sudden Biggie came around in 1994 and it was this introduction to music that was talking about the everyday struggle and people who were getting out of ghetto and making some money. I don’t get into the generic, stereotype rap music talking about pimps and hos and bling and what not. If you’re not a fan of this era of music, than you aren’t a fan of hip hop at all. CC: How was it shooting the sex scene with Olivia in the beach house? JP: It was petrifying. I was freaking the fuck out. Olivia and I didn’t talk at all the first half of the day because we shot the scene when the sun was setting around 5 o’clock. I didn’t eat that day because I didn’t want to look bloated. I did some push ups in my room and I went on the set, dropped my robe and went with God and hope for the best. Thank God Olivia wasn’t like a pro yet. It was her first time as well on camera. She was as covered up as she could be but for all intended purposes it was more than most co-workers will ever see of each other. CC: I have to say being 17 years old in 1994, you captured it authentically. JP: Thanks man. CC: What was your preparation into Luke. Did you find there was a big difference in the years? JP: Yes, I mean I think there’s a universal thread in the movie which is existence as a teenager and how much there is to life and death in those situations. Things seem so huge at that time in your life and it’s so easy to be so emotional. My god, your first break up, I didn’t know whether I was going to live or die. I can breathe and I ate Rice Krispies Treats, I slept on my mom’s couch. I think that is universal and will stand the test of time. CC: How did you lose all your weight from DRAKE & JOSH? JP: Crystal meth (laughs). It took me about two years. I was 17 at the time I had done a movie called MEAN CREEK. It was a part I was very proud of and very much in the same vein of THE WACKNESS, it was not your stereotypical heavyset character. It was someone who had a lot of validity and emotional depth and had a journey over the movie, a huge arc and he inevitably perished. I did that and my love and passion is to do deep, good work that I am proud of. I felt like I was subject to always being the funny fat kid or the funny fat friend. I didn’t want to wait ten years for the next part. I really just wanted to get healthy because I knew it would make me happy. I have a lot of friends who are large and rock it well. They don’t mind having the extra weight. For me, I just found it necessary to get in shape and it just put me in a better headspace. Before I used to believe I could do it, I got the chops but as soon as I lose the weight, I was booking everything. The truth of the matter is when I was heavy, I wasn’t even in the ballpark but now that I’m thin, I feel that I have to hit a home run. It’s all a beautiful balance. CC: How would you compare yourself in high school with Luke? JP: I was really ostracized in high school which sucked because I went to home school. Luke sums it up best when he said he was the most popular of the unpopular. I went to Performing Arts High School right here on 48th Street and this part for me was a tribute to the everyman. The cat that wasn’t a nerd or geek in school, but didn’t peak and was cool in high school either, and there was so much more left to being an adult and the maturation process after high school and you’re trying on so many looks in high school trying to deal and get through things. You get thrust into situations that are mind boggling. I feel like anybody who gets through high school with their shirt on their back has done great things. CC: We’ve seen things getting oversensitized with the Miley Cyrus photos being she’s a Nickelodeon star. Being a Nick star yourself, what kind of say have they had in your career and what has the response been being you’ve gone from your own words the funny friend to a pot dealer? JP: I gotta be honest, they’ve been very, very supportive of my choices as an actor. I grew up with Nickelodeon and I’m forever in their debt. The audience has made me the actor and person I am today. They’re the reason why I’m able to get in the room and audition whereas under other circumstances perhaps I wouldn’t have the privilege. I appreciate it and I’m granted one of the greatest gifts which is the ability to make kids laugh on a daily basis and clog up your TIVOs. They’ve been really supportive. I was 15 when I did DRAKE & JOSH and that was my taste then, and since then my tastes have matured but then again, this isn’t a movie for kids. When I was 15, the audiences were 12 or 13. Now that I’m 21 and they’re 18 so this is right in their wheelhouse. If they are too young, I think it’s up to their parents’ discrection and they’ll see it in a year on DVD hopefully or rip it off the internet illegally for free. CC: What would you consider an ideal project? JP: Me, Pacino, De Niro, Ralph Fiennes (laughs). Man, I really want to write a movie and play Beethoven, not the lovable dog, the composer. Gary Oldman played him in IMMORTAL BELOVED but there hasn’t been a new take on it. I think there’s a brilliant character there. I think it’d be beautiful to play Bobby Fischer even though that’s been done as well. I really want to play a lowlife, just someone that you really hate. That’d be kind of cool too. CC: Jonathan’s first film was a horror film, would you consider going into that genre? JP: If it was good, yeah. I’m not really snobby about genres. If it’s scary as fuck, yeah, but I think I’ll try to abstain from doing anything too cheesy. The cheeseball in me is projected for kids 8-12 every Saturday at 8:30 and the DRAKE & JOSH TV movie coming out this Christmas. It’s good to have an outlet for your corniness. CC: Your character on DRAKE & JOSH was a loser and now you’re playing a cool guy on THE WACKNESS. JP: Nah, I didn’t think of Josh as a loser. To me I think of it more in medium terms. He may have been a loser but he loved magic. I don’t think of it as black and white. I think of it as I grew into it more. I became more comfortable in who I was and gained confidence in who I was which I think other people pick off of you. It gains a little more respect and attention but not having it super easy and having been ridiculed sometimes. Having grown up on screen as someone who is not the norm has given me some humility. Nevertheless, I feel very grounded in that. The outer changes but I’m merely working on the inner. Inside I’m probably like Josh circa 2003 so I’m slowly catching up with myself. CC: What’s coming up for you? JP: I did another movie with Olivia called SAFETY GLASS, which is about the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger crash. Steve Coogan is in it and Hillary Duff. It’s in the same sense as THE WACKNESS as it’s a departure from DRAKE & JOSH and just trying to continue to break out of any sort of stereotype in figuring out what I’m comfortable doing. I just want to be able to be a chameleon and figure out what fits me. I haven’t seen the movie yet. Who knows, it might suck. I’m also reprising my role as Eddie the possum, Queen Latifah’s little brother in ICE AGE 3. CC: Thanks for your time Josh and best of luck with THE WACKNESS. JP: It’s been a pleasure. THE WACKNESS opens in theaters July 3rd (Special thanks to Caitlin Speed at Falco Ink) |
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