Ashton Kutcher, Rob Corddry Interview, What Happens in Vegas

For charismatic party guy Jack Fuller (Ashton Kutcher) and buttoned-up commodities trader Joy McNally (Cameron Diaz), a rowdy weekend shared in Las Vegas should have, by all rights, ended up being little more than a random blur. That is, if these two vacationing New Yorkers didn't have a signed marriage license staring them in the face to shockingly remind them of the giant misstep they took while feeling no pain, Vegas-style. Stacking the deck, not only did Jack and Joy tie the knot after tying one on, but later scored a mind-blowing three million bucks in a slot machine bonanza that Jack won it with Joy's quarter.

Therein lies the weird hand dealt this bickering duo who take their predicament back to Manhattan only to be sentenced by the intractable Judge Whopper (Dennis Miller) to "six months hard marriage." Despite the hapless protests of Jack's best friend and legal counsel Steve "Hater" Hader (Rob Corddry), Whopper refuses to grant Jack and Joy an annulment, freezes the prize booty, and forces the irresponsible couple to prove they have done everything humanly possible to make their impromptu marriage work.
 
Ashton Kutcher has become one of the most in-demand leading men on the big screen. It all started on the small-screen, though, when he was cast in the hit Fox TV series That '70s Show as the dim-witted, but sexy, Michael Kelso. Kutcher appeared in 183 episodes of the sitcom from its debut in 1998 through 2006. At the same time, he acted in numerous features including Dude, Where's My Car; Just Married; Cheaper By the Dozen; The Butterfly Effect; Guess Who; A Lot Like Love; and Bobby, establishing himself as a reliable presence in both broad comedies and romantic comedies, as well as in dramas. Most recently, Kutcher co-starred with Kevin Costner in The Guardian and voiced the role of the fast-talking mule deer Elliot in the animated hit Open Season.

Kutcher, through his production company Katalyst Films, has also enjoyed a successful television-producing career, starting with MTV's popular hidden camera reality series Punk'd, which he hosted as well. Kutcher went on to executive produce a succession of other reality shows including the CW's Beauty and the Geek, which is currently entering its fifth season; NBC's The Real Wedding Crashers; and, for MTV, Room 401 and Adventures in Hollywood, featuring rap group Three 6 Mafia. He also produced the recent ABC sitcom Miss/Guided and has several game shows airing soon including Game Show in my Head for CBS and Opportunity Knocks for ABC. Kutcher will be seen later this year opposite Michelle Pfeiffer and Kathy Bates in the feature drama Personal Effects, and in Spread, co-starring Anne Heche, produced by Kutcher and his Katalyst films.

Rob Corddry first gained attention through his appearances on Comedy Central's sketch comedy series Upright Citizens' Brigade and, later, as a longtime "correspondent" for the network's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Comic roles in films like Old School and Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story and such TV series as Arrested Development, Cartoon Network's Sunday Pants, and Curb Your Enthusiasm followed for the Boston native. Corddry went on to act in the features Failure to Launch, The Pleasure of Your Company, and Unaccompanied Minors, and lent his voice to the animated Arthur and the Invisibles.

Last year, in addition to starring in the short-lived Fox TV series The Winner, he appeared in the indie farce The Ten, along with such major studio comedies as Blades of Glory, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, and the remake of The Heartbreak Kid. Corddry, who was most recently seen in the Will Ferrell comedy Semi-Pro, will also appear in the upcoming Patriotville, starring Justin Long; Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, with Kal Penn and John Cho; and Lower Learning, with Jason Biggs and Eva Longoria Parker.

Ashton Kutcher and Rob Corddry are fabulous guys and we really appreciated their time. Here’s what they had to tell us at the press conference for their new movie, What Happens in Vegas:

[joking about the microphones]
 
ROB CORDDRY: This is like a Radio Shack, except you people are nice I assume. Better than Radio Shack.
 
ASHTON KUTCHER: You have an issue with the people at Radio Shack?
 
ROB CORDDRY: Yeah, yeah.
 
ASHTON KUTCHER: I've never had a problem there.
 
ROB CORDDRY: Really?
 
MoviesOnline: Why do opposites attract?
 
ASHTON KUTCHER: Hold on, I'm chewing ice so I can't hear. You ever do that? I think that's why they have straws in the cups at movies. If you actually chewed the ice, you wouldn't be able to hear the movie.
 
MoviesOnline: So why do opposites attract?
 
ASHTON KUTCHER: I don't think opposites attract. I think like attracts like. So I don't think that they do attract opposites. Only when you're talking about magnetic poles.
 
ROB CORDDRY: I agree. Whoever said that anyway? Who started that? That's a factoid. Meaning not necessarily a fact.
 
ASHTON KUTCHER: I think Paula Abdul started it.
 
ROB CORDDRY: If it's wrong, she started it.
 
ASHTON KUTCHER: I think so. No, I think in order to create affinity with something, you have to be like it. There's actually a whole lot of neurolinguistic programming stuff that has actually proved that as well, so I would say that that's the key.
 
MoviesOnline: How was it working with Cameron?
 
ASHTON KUTCHER: Horrible. I mean, to show up to work and have to look at a good looking woman who's funny and happy to be alive and joyous and nice to people, that's a nightmare. We had to deal with it every single day. You know, I don't think that there's anybody like her. I think she's maybe the only, I would say, true comedic leading lady in our business right now that has really honed that craft. And she's worked with Jim Carrey, she's worked with Adam Sandler, she's worked with Mike Myers. She's worked with every great comedic actor I can think of, so she's got a one up on all of us.
 
ROB CORDDRY: I can't answer that question because I'm not allowed within 50 feet of Cameron Diaz.
 
MoviesOnline: What was your preparation for the drunken spiral?
 
ASHTON KUTCHER: I got drunk and spiraled. I've had my entire '20s, my early '20s to really prepare for that scene. I have a lot of life experience to draw on for that kind of wild night.
 
MoviesOnline: Was it all plotted out or did you come up with things?
 
ASHTON KUTCHER: You know, the first act of the script and the first act of the movie as it turned out are really close to one another. Most of it was actually directly scripted events of this takes place, then this takes place, then this takes place. I'd say the moments in between are kind of organic or original, but really from roll the dice to talk at the dance floor, to the dialogue that it was, the fire and fall off the bar, make out, in bed, wake up. The only thing they cut out was there was a three way with a maid that got cut out of the film, but that was in the script.
 
ROB CORDDRY: It was written like that, but I have to give credit to the editor on that scene too. That scene is edited, in this kind of movie I've never seen editing like that. Really innovative and cool to watch. You're shot like a rocket into that movie.
 
ASHTON KUTCHER: When you watch it, you start to feel like you're drunk in that moment, the way that it's cut. I second that. I like the editing.
 
ROB CORDDRY: I like you.
 
MoviesOnline: Were there any injuries in the chase across town?
 
ASHTON KUTCHER: There were no permanent injuries. You know what I was shocked about is Cameron's the fastest woman on planet earth. I trained for two months before this movie because I didn't want my leading lady to be in better shape than I was, and she still was. Like she's Superwoman. So all of the fighting stuff, she's so strong and kind of gung ho to go for it. I really could have been injured but whenever I was about to fall and hurt myself, Cameron would save me. She was literally my little savior person.
 
MoviesOnline: Your character fears marriage. Do you?
 
ASHTON KUTCHER: Is that a loaded question?
 
ROB CORDDRY: Are you married?
 
ASHTON KUTCHER: Yeah.
 
ROB CORDDRY: That should be interesting.
 
ASHTON KUTCHER: Yeah, I never thought in my life, I never really thought I would get married. I watched my parents go through a divorce and I thought like this is just not something people are supposed to do. On top of that, I sort of thought, "Why am I going to put a legal document on top of a really great relationship? It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense." I don't do legal documents with my friends. I don't go out and do a contract, "Let's go down to the courthouse, Rob, because now that we're friends, we need to verify our friendship."
 
ROB CORDDRY: I would sign that in front of a notary.
 
ASHTON KUTCHER: "Now we need to verify it and we need to get a license to watch the game together from here on out." So I never really understood the whole idea of marriage until I met my wife and just knew that that was going to be the person I was going to be with for the rest of my life. I knew that I had that desire and kind of took the time to understand a little bit more of what it was about and what it meant. I love it. I might be the most happilyest married -- I don't know, is happilyest a word? I just made up a word. I am the happilyest married guy on the planet.
 
ROB CORDDRY: I'm the second happilyest.
 
ASHTON KUTCHER: We're a couple of monogamous sons of guns.
 
ROB CORDDRY: We're really happily.
 
MoviesOnline: Could you relate to your character?
 
ASHTON KUTCHER: Yeah, definitely. For one, I'm a very competitive person and I think that's sort of part of the core of the movie and the core of the character. And I understand his sort of desired escapability, not wanting to be under the thumb of somebody else. I think his sort of recklessness relates to my life.
 
MoviesOnline: How competitive do you get?
 
ASHTON KUTCHER: I hate losing anything ever. No, no, no, I hate losing anything ever.
 
MoviesOnline: How does it manifest when you lose?
 
ROB CORDDRY: Challenge him to something.
 
ASHTON KUTCHER: I get really upset. Not upset with somebody else, I get really upset with myself and then I become sort of obsessively geared towards never letting that happen again.
 
MoviesOnline: What’s the most money you've ever won in Vegas?
 
ROB CORDDRY: Oh, I won like $400 on a horse once. It was my first time in a sportsbook and I just put 20 bucks down on a long shot and won 400. And I've done that ever since, it was like 10 years ago, and I've lost way more than I ever won.
 
MoviesOnline: What’s the worst thing you've done in Vegas?
 
ROB CORDDRY: I killed someone. It's a long story.
 
ASHTON KUTCHER: Gambling is probably the worst thing I've ever done in Vegas. I've had some really, really wild fun nights in Vegas. I ended up on stage once with this band, The Digital Underground, doing the Humpty Dance. My job was to do the "Oh do me baby" part of the Humpty Dance. I was next to Ron Jeremy and rapping to a sea of porn stars. Wild night. They have this thing called the Digital Video Software Dealership Awards and they do it the exact same time as the AVN. I was there for not the AVN, the other, Digital Video Software Dealership Awards. It just turned into a wild night, but I didn't get married, so.
 
MoviesOnline: What were your real weddings like?
 
ASHTON KUTCHER: Mine was very private. We had to set up my whole wedding under the cloak of darkness and very secretively because I didn't want a lot of photographers there hanging out.
 
ROB CORDDRY: Same with me. I was really sick of the photographers and the helicopters too. We had jets circling. No, we had a small marriage in New York City and my hangover the next day felt like cancer.
 
ASHTON KUTCHER: It was like 45 people and we told everyone it was a housewarming party, so literally people didn't even know. Some people, I think my mom included, didn't know they were coming to a wedding. Actually, a funny story, I told my mom, "Mom, it's a really special housewarming, like really, really special housewarming." I was on jury duty the week of my wedding and my mom showed up while I was on jury duty and she walked in when Demi was trying on her dress. Demi puts on the veil and my mom walked in, she's like, "We don't wear dresses like that to housewarming parties where I come from." Demi almost didn't marry me. She was so upset with me. I thought that I'd really gotten the hint across but apparently I didn't.
 
MoviesOnline: Were there any secrets you guys left in Vegas?

ASHTON KUTCHER: Secrets…we left in Vegas..

ROB CORDDRY: No…I don’t believe in secrets.

ASHTON KUTCHER: I had a steam shower that fit 9 people.

MoviesOnline: And how many did it end up fitting?

ASHTON KUTCHER: One….(laughter) I don’t know, what happened in Vegas?

ROB CORDDRY: We shot the movie. We worked at night.

ASHTON KUTCHER: Yea, we started shooting at like 3. So really, we woke up…

ROB CORDDRY: Oh man, but I went nuts in that mall!

ASHTON KUTCHER: We had coffee….

ROB CORDDRY: Went to a bookstore! (laughter)

MoviesOnline: What is the secret to a happy marriage?

ASHTON KUTCHER: (laughter) My friend actually just wrote a book called The Spiritual Rules of Engagement, that is coming out really soon. It sorta lays out, as far as I am concerned, the secrets to a happy marriage. I think at the core of it, it’s about working on it. I think guys grow up and they sorta like from a very young age, are taught the apex of a relationship is sex. So guys are like, from a very young age are like, “Some day, I’m gonna have sex!” And like that’s the goal, right? And I think that women from a very young age are socially conditioned to say, “Some day, I’m gonna get married”. Right? And it’s all about the wedding and the gown. And they are socially conditioned to find those 2 goals. And I think neither sex is socially conditioned to have the desire to be married. So it’s to get married, to have sex—but everybody’s missing what happens after that. Because the goal of being married is a lot of work. If people start with the desire to work on their relationship, and set that as the goal, we’d be a lot better off.

Like, if you got a new job, right, and you got hired at the new job, and you showed up and you didn’t work, you’d probably get fired pretty quickly. I think people think that once they get married, alright the work’s done, when really you just got the job.

MoviesOnline: Who is the author?

ASHTON KUTCHER: Yehuda Berg

MoviesOnline: With your new show, Pop Fiction, every time a news item breaks with a celeb, everyone is questioning it now.

ASHTON KUTCHER: That’s why I did the show.

MoviesOnline: Can you talk about that reaction?

ASHTON KUTCHER: Yeah. My whole desire to do the show was that I felt a lot of the tabloid magazines and shows were just making stuff up for their own commercial gain. They would put headlines that had question marks behind them because they didn’t know whether or not it was true, but then report it as if it was news. And I felt that sort of false journalism that is predicated on questions as opposed to answers was really nothing more than a soap opera that was being played out by the magazines for commercial success and commercial gain. And so I figured that I couldn’t beat it, right, because they call themselves press, and stand behind the amendment of freedom of the press and say that what they are actually doing is proper journalism and so I figured if you can’t beat them, throw a wrench in their works. And so the show is designed to create the question as to the validity of the stories because a lot of this stuff isn’t true. And it has succeeded in doing that.

MoviesOnline: What’s been your favorite prank?

ASHTON KUTCHER: I don’t like doing it so I don’t have a favorite. I’m really doing it to prove a point.

MoviesOnline: This reminded me of one of those 1940’s movies films. Do you have a favorite from that time?

ASHTON KUTCHER: That’s really tough, because I like them a lot. This reminded me most of Bringing Up Baby, that sort of battle between 2 people that are really only battling to be together.

MoviesOnline: Do you have any annoying bathroom habits that your wife doesn’t like?

ASHTON KUTCHER: Bathroom habits? None that she doesn’t like. I have this—when I wake in the morning, the first thing I do is take my dogs out so they don’t pee on my floor. And so when I took my dogs out, I take them outside, I sometimes go to the bathroom with them. (laughter) They are going outside, so I just go outside. It’s sorta like gotta pee in the woods kinda thing. It makes me feel really manly like I’m camping.

MoviesOnline: Do you lift your leg with them too?

ASHTON KUTCHER: I can actually pull it off with both feet on the ground, believe it or not! I worked many years to be able to piss with 2 feet on the ground! That’s my skill!

MoviesOnline: What was it like shooting in Las Vegas?

ASHTON KUTCHER: Well, we drew some crowds. Like in front of the Bellagio, there was a pretty big crowd. There was a guy with a parrot on his shoulder. He hung out. I don’t know where I am going with that, but he was just there.

ROB CORDDRY: There’s a guy with a parrot on his shoulder like every other block in Vegas. And like a white boa constrictor and a fucking monkey or something.

ASHTON KUTCHER: Why the parrot? Like why…?

ROB CORDDRY: Wasn’t he charging people to take a picture with the parrot?

ASHTON KUTCHER: Yeah, he ‘s like “Do you want to take a picture?” and you take a picture with the guy, and then he charges you.

ROB CORDDRY: I spent a thousand dollars on that. I was like ok, it’s Vegas, I’m in the mood! Yeah, keep taking pictures! What do I win?!

MoviesOnline: Rob, your character refers to Lake’s character as a stripper. Do you think he means that as a compliment? Also, what was it like working with her?

ROB CORDDRY: No and good. He definitely doesn’t think it’s a compliment. And Lake Bell is a pleasure wrapped up in a joy, sealed with good times.

MoviesOnline: Ashton, your character is inspired to complete the things he is building with the wood. Can you build anything?

ASHTON KUTCHER: My dad was a carpenter. And my step dad was a carpenter. And I started working construction when I was 12. And my step dad and I built a house that my step dad and my mother currently live in. I have a construction company with my dad and we flip houses in Los Angeles. And so I’ve built some stuff.

MoviesOnline: What did you build at home? Did you make anything for your house?

ASHTON KUTCHER: No, I brought in professionals to do that!

MoviesOnline: What are you doing next?

ASHTON KUTCHER: I have a couple of movies. A movie called Personal Effects that I do with Michelle Pfeiffer and Kathy Bates, sort of a dark film about 2 people that find solace in each other on the steps of the courthouse.

ROB CORDDRY: Another legal drama?

ASHTON KUTCHER: That’s how I do it. I like to roll with the players. And then I have a film that I finished that will come out after that called Spread about a guy, kind of a climber who sleeps with wealthy women for their money. And then after that I have a couple of TV shows that are going to be coming out that I am producing, which I can’t actually announce yet because it hasn’t been officially announced. That’s it for now. I’ll find something to do.

”What Happens in Vegas” opens in theaters on May 9th.