Don Peyote, a very personal film cowritten, codirected by and starring Dan Fogler is now in theaters. Fogler plays Warren, a man planning his wedding in the year 2012 when there were all the end of the world prophecies. Warren begins with pot and ends up on a vision quest with ayahuasca and peyote with tons of celebrity cameos. We got to speak with Fogler about his film and the legacy of Fanboys and Good Luck Chuck.
CraveOnline: How long has this been in you waiting to get out?
Dan Fogler: [Laughs] That sounds like Alien. Wow, I guess it started back around like three years ago probably.
It seemed very personal.
Oh yeah, before 2012 I was getting married and I was getting stressed out about the future. I think a lot of people were so I wanted to capture that energy that was going on in the city, in New York, here. Everywhere a lot of people were on the edge of their seat trying to figure out what’s coming. I thought let’s document this, so that’s where this crazy hybrid Don Peyote came from.
Were you planning to finish before 12/21/2012?
I was. That was the plan when I first started out, but that was ambitious for the budget. Then I learned over the course of it that it wasn’t about the date, that it was more about actually what was coming afterwards and that’s what the movie was about. The movie movie kind of made itself. It knew what it wanted to be and I couldn’t force it to be made any faster. The beautiful thing is that it was just a lot of friends coming together helping to make it. The universe saw that I thought and really, there were so many ridiculous synchronicities that happened on this movie that you have to believe that there’s some kind of force out there that really helps you along if you’re on the right path.
Did you shoot the Josh Duhamel scenes while you were making Scenic Route?
Right afterward. I had shot half the movie, Don Peyote, at that point. I went to Scenic Route and I met Josh. We became buddies over that film and I said, “Dude, we have to use this mohawk. You look amazing. You’re a fantastic actor. I want to put you in my movie.” And he said yes. It was as simple as that. So much of the time whoever came on board, it was as simple as them saying, “Yeah, I dig your passion. Let’s do it.” They got to be creative and really add to their own characters and improvise. We got a lot of goal that way.
Did any of your celebrity friends turn you down?
No. Everyone I reached out to basically came out and was awesome and did something with a fun cameo in the movie. There was a part of the movie that was this gigantic epic ending that we couldn’t obviously do because we didn’t have the budget for, but I really wanted Jeff Goldblum for that. But we didn’t end up going that way with it, so it was kind of difficult to get him. I guess it wasn’t meant to be but everybody else was really easy to get. Wallace Shawn was super easy to get. Annabelle Sciorra. I think everyone just liked the vibe.
Anne Hathaway?
Yeah, she did me a huge favor. She got to improvise and do stuff that she doesn’t normally get to do. She got to kick my ass and take names. Yeah, man, everybody really came through for me and I owe them, and I think they had a lot of fun.
It was so raw and you could tell you were making it yourself. After a number of years in Hollywood was that something you just had to do?
Yeah, exactly. It came out of being an actor first and saying man, I’d really love to do something, a nice, big juicy role that wasn’t some crazy rated R comedy and some kind of crazy sex romp, or had anything to do with ping pong. I wanted to do something that was personal and that would show more aspects of my ability. I wanted to make people cry. I want to make ‘em laugh. I wanted to sing, I wanted to dance. I just basically put everything I can do into the movie.
As the star of Fanboys, what do you think of the latest Episode VII news?
Yeah, wow. I think it’s great. I love J.J. I think he did a fantastic job with Star Trek and I can’t wait to see them. I hope that I can get myself in front of someone who can get me into maybe the next two. That would be awesome.
Could you imagine you and Sam Huntington reuniting and taking your kids to see Episode VII?
Oh wow, that would be a nice Fanboys sequel concept. You should tell Kyle [Newman]. Yeah, man, I’m psyched to see those. I was a big fan when I was a kid. I’m still a kid. I’ve been watching “Clone Wars.” I eat that stuff up so I’m psyched. I think maybe my character in Fanboys, Hutch, might be a little disgusted with the idea that the director of Star Trek is also directing Star Wars, but maybe that’s another plotline.
Have you and Jason Biggs ever talked about Good Luck Chuck and American Pie? You guys are in a very elite club.
What club is that?
People who have had sex with food on camera.
Oh, people who have had sex with food on camera. Yeah, no shit, man. He did a pie and I did grapefruit. Yeah, that is the benchmark in my career, that’s for sure.
But you’ve never talked with him?
No, I don’t think we’ve ever made that connection. [Laughs] Like, we saw each other at a party, we’re like, “Hey, man, hey, I, we, get, you, you, we had, you had sex with a, and you had sex with a! Aw…” Never had that conversation.
Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline and the man behind Best Episode Ever and The Shelf Space Awards. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.
