live entertainment: 'American Reunion': The Final, Final Slice Of 'Pie'?

'Jay-Z retired; he's back,' Eddie Kaye Thomas tells MTV News when asked about 'American Wedding' being billed as the last 'Pie' flick.
By Ryan J. Downey

Thomas Ian Nicholas, Jason Biggs, Seann William Scott, Chris Klein and Eddie Kaye Thomas in "American Reunion"
Photo: Universal Pictures

"American Wedding" was billed as "the thrilling climax" of the "American Pie" franchise back in 2003. But as every fan knows, a handful of "American Pie Presents" direct-to-DVD movies followed, and this weekend, the original cast returns to theaters in the appropriately titled "American Reunion." So what gives?

When MTV News posed this question, Eddie Kaye Thomas (better known to fans of the beloved comedy franchise as Finch) was quick with a killer response. "Jay-Z retired; he's back. Why don't you ask him that question?" he said with a wide smile, to much laughter from co-star Seann William Scott.

In fairness to the entire cast, "Friday the 13th Part IV" was billed as "The Final Chapter" and there have been eight more movies since, including the remake of the original and "Freddy vs. Jason." Speaking of Freddy, "The Final Nightmare" was roughly three movies ago as well. There's nothing new about "final" entries in popular franchises turning out to be anything but, which is great news for the countless people who have loved the "American Pie" series since the first film debuted in 1999.

Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Chris Klein, Thomas and Scott (as the notorious Stifler) are all back for "American Reunion," which tackles the challenges of adulthood with the same balance of raunchy humor and warmhearted sentiment as previous installments. Biggs and Scott have co-executive-producer credit on the film in addition to their co-starring roles, which became a subject of comedy in and of itself when MTV News caught up with the cast in Los Angeles.

"He's my bitch," Scott joked of Thomas, when the "executive producer" topic was introduced.

"I got [Scott and Biggs] their sparkling waters and brought them their breakfast every morning," Thomas deadpanned.

"American Reunion" was written and directed by the "Harold & Kumar" team of Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, who were big fans of the spirit laid down by original writer Adam Herz and "American Pie" director Paul Weitz. Of course, the "Reunion" in the title was as much one for the characters as it was for the people who play them. The movie shot on location in Atlanta, unlike the previous installments which were all shot in Los Angeles. "All of us get along really well," said Tara Reid, who returned as Vicky. "You put everyone back together again, in the same room, and the energy and the magic all comes back."

Thomas Ian Nicholas (Kevin in the series) is also a musician, and that camaraderie and chemistry on location led to his participation in the film's soundtrack. Nicholas has released two albums and contributed an original song, "My Generation," to the soundtrack for "American Reunion." "We hung out so much that — and I've never done this before — I ended up playing the wrap party, which is how Jon and Hayden really saw the music side of me and ended up putting one of my songs on the soundtrack. I think that all kind of happened because we had so much fun on the set."

Part of that fun involved a number of comedic stunts, including a big fight scene that breaks out at a party.

"I have a funny story about that actually," Thomas said. "When we were shooting the fight scene, it had just been written that my sort of fight portion was really easy, so for whatever reason, the stunt coordinator didn't hire me a stunt double. So there was a moment where all the cast — Jason, Seann, Eddie, Chris — were sitting with the directors behind the monitors and all the stunt guys are in and me. So then they look and they're like, 'Does Thomas realize that we're not there?' So I was there fighting with the stunt guys because, you know, they didn't have a stunt guy for me."

Luckily, of course, he wasn't hurt. "At least not that I reported," he said with a grin. "I've done stunts before. We came up with this cool flip thing that I did to the stunt guy and then he kind of gave me some pointers on how to get kick in the gut and land flat on my face without breaking my neck."

"American Reunion" is out now.

Check out everything we've got on "American Reunion."

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