Speaking with Collider, director Todd Phillips has discussed the much anticipated sequel to last year’s hit “The Hangover” which ended up the highest grossing R-film of all time.
“I don’t know,” Phillips admits regarding the previously rumored Thailand setting. “There’s a lot of rumors. There was rumor also that it was going to Mexico or something and neither are true.”
Phillips goes on to talk about the prospects of the upcoming film and the pressures and expectations after the immense success of the original.
“[“The Hangover”] just kept going because people kept going back. That tells me that they love those characters and that tells me, not that the movie’s going to financially do better, but just that there’s love out there for these four guys. We can now put them through a whole new set of paces and people will want to see it. So for me, it’s really exciting. As big as ‘The Hangover’ was, it again alleviates the pressure for ‘Hangover 2’ in a weird way but maybe I’m just looking at it wrong.”
The studio, however, has total faith in the director and why wouldn’t they? After drawing in $467 million dollars at the worldwide box office, the film has made an out and out star of Bradley Cooper who was already a pretty big name but can probably now do less rom-coms and more of whatever he wants (“The A-Team,” “Dark Fields” with Robert De Niro and Abbie Cornish, “The Grey,”) while Ed Helms is now deemed fit enough to topline studio comedies like “Central Intelligence” and is finding himself scoring lead roles alongside Will Ferrell (“Daddy’s Home”) and Jason Segel (Duplass Brothers’ “Jeff Who Lives At Home”).
The biggest breakout star out of them all though is, without doubt, Zach Galifianakis who has gone from cult comic on the comedy scene to a cult Hollywood star. His upcoming slate includes the includes the likes of a reunion with Phillips on “Due Date” alongside Robert Downey Jr., Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s “It’s Kind Of A Funny Story,” John Carney‘s “Town House” and “Miracle Workers.” He’s also got a role on the excellent HBO comedy “Bored To Death” with Jason Schwartzman and Ted Danson, and his very funny online chat show “Between Two Ferns” (you can see his most recent interview with Ben Stiller below).
All this success puts Phillips and co. in good stead though to do whatever they want in the ‘Hangover’ sequel. As Phillips explains, “we delivered what we said we would deliver [on the first film], so I think they know I’m not looking to fuck up the ‘Hangover 2,’ I want to make it funny, too. You know what I mean? I think basically my point is we’re all trying to do the same thing. Make a real funny movie that works, so I think that they trust that certainly with that title I can do that.”
A November 1st start is being eyed for the sequel though that is dependent on “Ed Helm’s ‘Office’ schedule and Bradley Cooper’s other movies.” The film will hit theaters Memorial Day 2011 in what will surely be one of the year’s biggest releases.