‘Superbad’ Wasn’t Just Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s First Movie
A millennial classic, Superbad quickly went on to become of the best-regarded movies of the 2000s. The coming-of-age story disguised as a raunchy teen sex comedy brought the laughs in ways many of era just couldn’t, all held together by a genuinely heartfelt plot. While the writing was definitely a big part of this, it can’t be overstated how crucial all the actors were. This is made all the more impressive given how out of their depth some of them might have felt at the time — specifically, first-time-actor Christopher Mintz-Plasse.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse made his first movie appearance in ‘Superbad’
The heart of Superbad is undoubtedly the friendship between Seth and Evan. But the biggest laughs came from their friend Fogell, played perfectly by Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Better known by the name on his obviously fake ID, “McLovin” stumbles his way through a night of ever-growing insanity when his attempt to buy alcohol while underage goes awry. Half of the movie follows him as he parties with a pair of cops, drinking, telling jokes, and eventually destroying their car.
Amazingly, this unforgettable performance was Mintz-Plasse’s first acting role. As he says while recounting the film’s production with the rest of the cast and crew for Vanity Fair, he hadn’t even intended to be in the movie. He’d simply heard of open auditions for the film from some drama club buddies. And he read for the part on a whim. However, he was quickly called in for a second, then a third callback, ultimately getting the part.
He’d never even thought he’d land the gig, going so far as to get stars like writer Seth Rogen to sign his copy of the script ahead of time. Despite his lack of confidence (or possibly because of it fitting the character so well), though, he’d signed on shortly after.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse experienced other firsts on set
Superbad wasn’t merely Mintz-Plasse’s first movie. While being in front of a camera and on a professional set were obviously new experiences, many of the things he had to do for the role were unexplored territory for the 17-year-old. For starters, he’d never held a gun before. But one notable scene of the movie had him opening fire on a burning cop car.
“I remember it was the first time I ever shot a gun,” he recounts, adding that they took him to a shooting range to practice before the scene with live ammo. “It was insane. Shooting pistols—but then you’re at the shooting range, so it’s like, ‘Let’s get some bigger guns.’
Aside from the guns, this was also Mintz-Plasse’s first sex scene. Initially, he was pretty excited about it, admitting he’d never even kissed a girl before then. On set, he realized it was a pretty awkward and uncomfortable experience. To make matters worse, his mother had to be on set watching the whole thing given he was underage at the time. Unlike him, though, she reportedly loved it.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse has many fond (and not so fond) memories from after the film debuted
Like many of the people who worked on the film, Mintz-Plasse looks back on the movie with pride. While he wasn’t as involved in the on-set antics as his costars due to doing schoolwork in between takes, he still appreciated the role and what it came to mean (spats with Jonah Hill notwithstanding).
After the film came out, though, not everything was quite so simple. For a while, he remembers, having fans mob him in public was quite a nuisance. He also found it incredibly annoying that people would constantly shout, “McLovin!” at him wherever he went.
