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New York Post
26-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Mena Suvari on if she'd star in another 'American Pie' movie
She's hungry for another slice. Mena Suvari says she's down for a fifth helping of 'American Pie' — telling The Post she'd 'love to' return for another installment of the popular sex-comedy franchise. 'I know that people have been talking about it. I feel like audiences would really appreciate it. I've seen videos that fans have put together as a trailer for it. There's like all kinds of stuff out there,' she said. Advertisement 'I haven't heard anything official, but I'd love to be a part of it.' Suvari, 46, who was signed by the prestigious Wilhelmina modeling agency at 12, landed her breakout role in the series' debut movie — which sparked three more that grossed a total of nearly $1 billion at the box office. 4 Mena Suvari, pictured here with Chris Klein, who plays her love interest in the 'American Pie' franchise, said she would want their characters to stay together. ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection Advertisement After 'American Pie' kicked off in 1999, the Newport, RI native shot to fame, becoming a household name for her portrayal of Heather, a fresh-faced high school choir singer who catches the eye of Oz, played by Chris Klein, a jock on the lacrosse team. Suvari said if there were to be a fifth movie, she'd want them to still be together. 'I think it would be wonderful to still have a relationship with Oz and maybe they have some sort of future together or family,' she said of the characters, who reunite at their high school reunion in 2012's 'American Reunion,' the last film of the franchise. 4 'I've always said that 'American Pie' gave me my high school experience,' Suvari told The Post. ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection Advertisement Suvari, who graduated from Providence High School in Burbank, CA, said her high school experience was 'very, very different' than her on-screen one. 'I was sort of like in survival mode for the most part,' she said. 'I've always said that 'American Pie' gave me my high school experience because I didn't have a boyfriend like that or go to prom or have a loving relationship. It was sort of just do the work, I was ready to graduate, that type of thing.' 4 Suvari, who was signed by Wilhelmina modeling agency at age 12, landed her breakout role in 'American Pie,' which debuted in 1999. Getty Images Advertisement The actress reunited with her 'American Pie' co-stars Jason Biggs and Alyson Hannigan to film a segment for Biggs and his wife Jenny Mollen's 'Dinner and Movie' series on TBS which will air next month — and she even brought some movie memorabilia she had unearthed during a move. 'I found an 'American Pie' script … I had written down the address [on it] for I think it was the rehearsal,' she said. 'And what's my favorite about that is that I had drawn out like the crossing of the streets because back in the day we didn't have Nav [navigation app] … I had even draw out like what streets it was on and where to turn. So it was really cool.' 4 In the new film 'Ick,' the actress plays a teenaged version of herself, alongside her co-star Brandon Routh. Fathom Entertainment Her new film, 'Ick,' a sci-fi horror comedy, out nationwide on Sunday, is also based in high school — and at the start of the movie, she appears as the teen version of herself alongside her co-star Brandon Routh. 'It definitely was surreal. I don't think I ever would have thought that I'd be doing something like that in my career,' said Suvari, who shares a 4-year-old son with her husband Michael Hope, a set designer she met on the 2016 Hallmark movie 'I'll Be Home for Christmas.' 'Being a mom in my 40s and putting on a cheerleading uniform again was just something I didn't think I'd been doing.'
UPI
24-07-2025
- Entertainment
- UPI
'Ick' brought back Mena Suvari, Brandon Routh's early roles
1 of 7 | Mena Suvari, seen at the 2018 premiere of "Book Club" in Los Angeles, stars in "Ick." File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo LOS ANGELES, July 24 (UPI) -- Mena Suvari and Brandon Routh say their new movie Ick, in New York and Los Angeles theaters Thursday, brought them back to their earliest film roles. The pair play Staci and Hank, who were high school sweethearts in the early 2000s but have gone their separate ways. Suvari portrays both her adult and high school self, recalling her early roles as a high school choir girl in American Pie and high school cheerleader in American Beauty. In a recent Zoom interview with UPI, Suvari, 46, said paying homage to her early roles was surreal. De-aging effects, like those used in Marvel movies and Gemini Man, made Suvari and Routh appear as they did in their past films for the high school scenes in Ick. "Wearing a cheerleading uniform again as a mom in my 40s was just all too surreal, something I never thought would happen," Suvari said. Ick director Joseph Kahn said he cast Suvari as Staci because of American Beauty. Hank pines for her even after Staci marries classmate Ted (Peter Wong). "Who is worthy of pining for for 20 years?" Kahn said. "Well, they made a movie about that girl in the 2000s. It was called American Beauty and she's on the poster." The American Beauty poster is intended to represent Suvari's character holding a rose. The midriff on the poster is a body double, however, and the hand belongs to a different model. Christina Hendricks shared on Instagram in 2019 that she posed as the hand model in 1999, something Suvari still wasn't aware of until this interview "What a small world," Suvari said. "That's the perfect example of this business in some way." Routh, 45, said young Hank is closer to his 2006 appearance in Superman Returns. Though the actor appeared on One Life to Live in 2001, Superman Returns was the earliest reference material for his looks in film grade quality. "I was sending them as many photos from college and stuff that I could find, but there wasn't any good quality stuff," Routh said. "The soap opera I was on was recorded on tape. So it was not good for making a [digital] model, I guess." Kahn said Superman Returns gave subtext to the character of Hank. Though Routh has continued to act, including in The CW's DC Arrowverse superhero shows, Kahn thinks the actor deserved more success. "Brandon when you meet him, he's a superhero," Kahn said. "He can make you laugh, can make you cry. He's really that charming. So we as an audience on a certain level have failed him I believe. Someone like this should have a much bigger career." At the film's Screamfest premiere in October, Routh discussed relating to Hank, who had a promising football career until an injury on the field took it all away. As an adult, Hank remains in his hometown of Seabrook as a high school science teacher. Routh previously said the film helped him make peace with unexpected career paths and realize he still had some maturing to do. Now, Routh says he approaches acting with more confidence and collaborative spirit. "I feel much more worthy of being here," Routh said. "I feel like I've earned my stripes to a degree. This is my chosen profession. Instead of just thinking about me, I guess, I'm often thinking about the whole product and everybody involved because that's the fun of it too." On Ick that collaboration extended to editor Chancler Haynes, who helped both actors with some of Kahn's more complicated techniques. The opening montage of Hank and Staci's high school relationship was shot at various points over the course of filming. Often, when at one location, they would film both modern-day scenes and flashbacks to over 20 years ago. Haynes would edit scenes so quickly he could show them what came before and after each scene they were about to film. "I don't think that that would've been as easy or possible if we didn't have such a great resource like someone like Chancler on set," Suvari said. "It was so fast paced." Kahn admitted even he wasn't sure it would work until it was all complete. "That opening sequence was a bit of a jigsaw puzzle to do," Kahn said. "I didn't know what it looked like until the final shot. Then you press play and oh, it worked." Ick is not just a high school love story, however. The title refers to a mysterious substance that grows in Seabrook and has overrun the town after 20 years. The film never explains what Ick is or where it comes from, though many characters offer their own conspiracy theories. Kahn said this was intentional, because in real-life crises like 9/11 or COVID-19, people debate different theories even when an explanation is given. "We don't agree about anything," Kahn said. "So what the Ick actually is is never defined because we don't even define our monsters in real life." Kahn includes a clip of the 1958 film The Blob on a television, and wanted to bring back that sort of classic monster movie. Kahn laments that scary movies have gotten too intense for kids and families, like the graphic Final Destination franchise. "I wanted to make a monster movie, a true monster movie again. and also make one that didn't scar you," Kahn said. "Not too much sex, not too much drugs, not too much alcohol, still relevant and fun that you could safely watch with a 9-year-old to your grandmother. That's the idea." Hank and his student Grace (Malina Weissman), Staci's daughter, believe the Ick is dangerous. They struggle to convince others to do something about Ick before it is too late. Staci is one of the adults who chooses to ignore the Ick; she is more concerned with sending Grace to prom. "I just loved this character," Suvari said. "She was so checked out in so many ways." Hank believes Grace might be his daughter from the time he dated Staci, so he sends away for a DNA test. Whether it is confirmed or not, Routh believes that the Ick crisis has connected Hank and Grace in a positive relationship. "They've already bonded and created a friendship that definitely is different if they're not blood related, but also equally interesting," Routh said. "They have patterns that are similar in how they are dealing with the reality of what's happening, even if they're not related." Ick plays theaters everywhere beginning July 27.
