UDVD: The American Pie franchise is huge. What was it like finding out you’d be the next Stifler?

John White: Oh, my God—it was probably one of the best days of my life to date. After reading the script I could totally picture myself doing all of this stuff and I just went bananas. It was unbelievable. I was going to tell my parents, but I decided to hold off on that for a while—knowing what my character was going to be doing in the movie—so I called my brother.

UDVD: So, what did your parents think?

JW: They knew exactly what the franchise was about. I mean, unless you’ve been living on Mars for the past 10 years you know exactly what to expect. And the fact that it’s part 5—you know that it’s just going to go above and beyond and really push that envelope. They just said “Congratulations. Good job,” and didn’t inquire too much about it, which is kind of a good thing.

UDVD: What’s Erik Stifler like?

JW: Well, he’s not the smoothest with the ladies, and I think that’s the honesty that comes through. He doesn’t have game or anything—we both have that in common. Plus, we’re both really hot. No problems there! But seriously, he’s a good guy who stays true to who he is—he’s not the “Stifler” Stifler type, you know?

Daniel Petronijevic: My character’s basically a drunken mess. He’s Dwight Stifler’s right hand man [Erik Stifler’s cousin played by Steve Talley], and is the biggest party animal you can possibly imagine.

UDVD: American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile has a unique Canadian edge. Can you tell us a bit about that?

JW: Well, both Dan and I are from Toronto—a lot of the cast members are from here, including, of course, Eugene Levy. The fact that we were able to shoot a movie like this in our own city with this type of material was a pretty awesome experience.

DP: Yeah, it was great. It’s always nice to travel somewhere, but it’s more comfortable at home, that’s for sure. I think we also felt proud shooting at local places like the U of T, McMaster University in Hamilton, and Queen’s Park, not to mention that it’s pretty cool that this huge American franchise has given some young Canadians an opportunity to show what we’ve got. We’re pretty appreciative of that.

UDVD: Is there anything distinctly Canadian about the movie that we should look out for?

DP: I think we’ve got a weird sense of humour because we’re pretty individual up here, and I think a lot of that stuff ended up onscreen. I also think our liberal attitudes towards nudity will come through. We’re kind of laid back when it comes to things like that—and that’s why we let it all hang out!

UDVD: It sounds like it was a pretty crazy shoot. What was your favourite experience working on the film?

DP: I really liked shooting the football scenes, which were the first scenes we shot, because it was a perfect setting for camaraderie to develop. By the end of it we were getting a little tired of being wet and muddy the whole time, but it was still fun—John and I had a mud fight, which was hilarious. I had such a good time on the set, but it’s hard not to when you’re doing such ridiculous stuff.

JW: Well, I have to say it was just fantastic to work with Eugene [Levy]. He’s probably one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, and he’s very honest about things. He’s funny and he’s really attentive to detail—plus, he knows a lot about the franchise, obviously, because he’s appeared in all of the films. So he came on the set and we had a couple of pages of dialogue and he sort of toyed around with it for a little bit. He really included me in a lot of the stuff, which I found inspiring. In the end we came up with a pretty great scene, I think.

UDVD: Did he give you any advice about your role?

JW: Yeah, he did. We talked about the kind of commitment you need to head up an American Pie film because of the crazy antics and nudity involved. He told me that if you aren’t comfortable with that you won’t pull it off and it will translate to the screen. He said, “You really have to commit to it and put 130% into it from day one.” I totally agreed.

UDVD: One final question for both of you: What’s your favourite kind of pie?

DP: Apple pie, of course!

JW: My favourite pie? Strawberry rhubarb. And blueberry. And apple’s great, too.

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