Super Troopers 3, the latest comedy from the Broken Lizard improv troupe, centers on a romance that threatens to destroy the camaraderie that exists between the fictional Vermont state troopers. Farva (Kevin Heffernan) has become engaged to Thorny’s (Jay Chandrasekhar) sister, and Thorny sets out to do what he can to break them up before the Big Day.
The film opens areawide on Thursday.
On tour to promote the film, the entire Broken Lizard gang, which also includes comedic actors Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske) rolled into Music Box Supper Club recently for a sold out fan event. Local comedian and podcast host Bill Squire moderated the discussion.
Before the event began, we squeezed into a booth with the five actors and comedians to discuss the movie and the comedy group’s cult following.
Talk about what it’s been like to stop in different cities to promote the film.
Heffernan: We have a great grassroots fanbase. We crowdfunded our second film, and the fans contributed to a large portion of the budget. It was the only way to get it made. You spend a year working on the movie and six months in a dark room editing it, and finally you can show it to people and say hi to the fans.
Soter: We tend to go on tour for every project and film. We have done standup on the road together. It’s always our favorite part of the process because it’s much more relaxing than shooting a movie. With a movie, there are always fires to put out. We love it. We get more quality as a group than in any other point in the process. It’s fun in that way.
Stolhanske: It’s like being in a band. We get to tour and meet our fans.
What inspired you to want to do a third movie?
Heffernan: We had a story for a different angle. It was this wedding story. You sit around and think about a funny premise. The premise is what if the worse guy you knew was sleeping with your sister. What if they were going to marry your sister? What would you do? Would you stop it? We put the conflict in there. There is a cultural thing too with the Indian stuff. It snowballed from there and shows a different side of the troopers. It grew from there.
When did you start working on the script?
Chandrasekhar: We all write it together. We outline it and then each person does 20 pages for the first three drafts. Someone is the point person who turns the notes into a script.
Soter: There were three or four Frankenstein drafts. Five guys writing 25 pages. It’s all over the place. The point person gets brought in to synthesize and get everything done and write down everything that was thrown out there. It’s a thankless job.
Where did you go to film?
Chandrasekhar: We shot it in Massachusetts near Boston. It’s the same place we shot No. 2. We had a station we already built. We rebuilt it. It was great. We already knew how to light it.
The plot revolves around Farva’s wedding, so that is a twist. But what else did you want to do differently with this film?
Heffernan: It was to get behind-the curtain of these characters and see more of their personal sides of their lives in terms of romance and family. There’s already a fanbase, so it’s fun for the fans to see that and go deeper into that universe, which I think this accomplishes.
Lemme: We’ve had some sexual content, but we get to see the Farva character in action, and he is quite the lover and Lothario.
Soter: [Actress] Hannah [Simone] was so delightful and put all of us at ease. All of a sudden, we were looking at it, and the film was an actual romance. We wanted to see them survive.
Brian Cox has become a superstar since the last Super Troopers film. What was it like working with him again?
Heffernan: Between Super Troopers two and three, he shot Succession, which was an iconic role. He became this crotchety Logan character. It’s a ferocious character. And then, he came to our set and made us all nervous because we had seem him as Logan
Soter: He’s a capital A actor. We are clowns. He always carried more gravitas and legitimacy, which made him more imposing. We tried to take the piss out of him whenever possible. This time around, he was larger than life.
I’ve always like actor Nat Faxon. Talk about what he brings to the film.
Soter: He’s an Oscar winner but not the first Oscar winner we’ve ever had.
Heffernan: He’s an old friend of ours. He was in Club Dread, which was about 20 years ago. He’s been in a bunch of movies since. It was nice to find someone in the same food group as us with the same improvisational skills. [Brian] Cox made a point to us that he is 79 years old. Cops that age still aren’t on duty. We need to figure that out. We went to this guy who can do anything.
Soter: A new captain would still be our age. We realized there were opportunities for comedies in that our new boss is also our contemporary. Our new boss is also our contemporary. It gave us the chance to fuck with someone who went to academy with who is technically our boss.
Broken Lizard has been together for decades. Did you know you had great chemistry from the get-go when you formed in college in 1989?
Chandrasekhar: We met in 1987 when we were 18 before we did anything. The group didn’t form until three years later. We started out as close friends before we had ambitions.
Heffernan: You can see the banter. You stick the knife in and twist it. It’s a lot of grab ass and sarcasm. Then, you put it into a movie.
What was the New York comedy scene like in your early days?
Heffernan: It was cool. There was sketch stuff. There was us and the State, and the Kids in the Hall were rising. At the same exact time there was this independent low budget film moment led by guys like Kevin Smith and Richard Linklater. We went that route.
Soter: We were on the sketch success track. Then, we thought, maybe we can make movies. We looked around and everybody is making low-budget movies. We skipped the line.
Chandrasekhar: There was a bunch of sketch stuff. I think there were also five sketch shows. It was between us and the State. [MTV] saw the State one night and us the next night. They gave [a contract] to the state. We killed it but the State killed more.
Why do you think the other two Super Troopers films became such cult classics?
Chandrasekhar: I think it’s the rhythm of our dialogue. Some people say it’s because we remind them of their friend group. That could be another reason. We are in the footsteps of Jon Landis movies. They play it straight and write good jokes and make good films with good characters. The logic makes sense.
Are you improvising in the films?
Soter: It feels that way because the writing process was improvisation. It was five of us acting out scene, and the improv routines turned into scripts.
Chandrasekhar: It’s funny to me that it feels like improv. It’s very, very structured. We pour over every little bit. We argue over dashes and ellipses.
Soter: The biggest joy is watching two or three guys argue to the death about something I don’t give a shit about.
Any plans for a fourth installment?
Chandrasekhar: If this movie makes enough money. We have fun making them. If they let us, we would even be happy to make five.
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