Seann William Scott holds back his maturity in his new movie 'Role Models'

Seann William Scott's new movie "Role Models," about two immature hooligans who are sentenced to 150 hours of mandatory community service for a Big Brother program, hits theaters Nov. 7. Best known as Steve Stifler of the "American Pie" series, Scott sat down with the Daily to divulge some details about his upcoming movie, including such life-changing experiences as being slapped by a 12-year-old and abused by a gorilla.

Mitchell Geller: What was it like working with Bobb'e [J. Thompson, Ronnie Shields in the film]? I noticed that you guys had really great chemistry.

Seann William Scott: Well, we liked each other a lot. We became good friends and he's just funny. I mean I was just blown away; he's like a little Eddie Murphy. He really has that energy. But after the first couple days I think he was just able to relax a little more. He's just a good kid, but really funny. And you can tell: People know how to swear well. That's my only talent in comedy: I know how to swear. He's actually better than me and he's only 12 ... It was interesting, too, because, you know, with a kid, he's still learning. He has like that really sharp sense of humor and really, really quick and so ... as much as I want to improvise he may talk over me so we had to figure it out. I actually had to make sure I wasn't laughing because every time he swore it was funny and I would always encourage him to swear … They had to approve the script because he's a kid and whatever. And he had a guardian, a woman who's like his teacher who had to make sure he was treated well, so if we improvised a little bit sometimes we'd go a little bit too far. We had to be careful because I say the weirdest things around kids and she'd come over and say, "Well that wasn't approved." So I'd say to Bobb'e, "Say this." He'd say, "Yeah? I won't get in trouble?" I'm like, "Just say it just happened, like you're an actor. What is she going to tell you, not to act?" So it was great. But actually when he slapped me in the face, he was doing it half-assed and I was like I'm going to get slapped 20 times if he doesn't just rock me. I said, "Bobb'e, just go for it" and he's like, "Really!?" and I'm like, "Don't get excited for it, just get it right." He's like "OK!" and I literally couldn't hear out of my left ear. He slapped me so hard all I could do is make sure I didn't cry. We actually had four different moments in the movie, I don't think they're in there anymore, but he like slapped me like probably 40 times throughout the whole movie. They were like, "it will be so funny if we have like four different times when he slaps you" and I'm like, "You're not even rolling camera or film on this you just want me to get slapped." There were other times when he hit me so hard I was just like, "Dude now you're doing it on purpose." He was like "What? You told me just to go for it." And I was like, "No, don't go for it anymore. Hold back!"

MG: Did you and Paul Rudd hang out a lot before the film to get down the chemistry?

SWS: Not really at all. We met a couple times. Well, we met a few times. It was a really great experience because we really got to kind of develop the movie through a really interesting process and a lot of great writers and when David Wain and Ken Marino came on, they really shaped out the script … and one of the first times I got to shape the character I got to play. But really, the first time we hung out was when we were on set.

MG: In general, do you like doing comedies more than other types of movies? Last year you did "Southland Tales" [2006] and that was a big departure for you…

SWS: I do, only because it seems the comedies are the ones that are actually going to be put out in theaters. Because I liked "The Promotion" [2008] and it was only out in theaters for like two weeks and I was like, "Sheesh! you know it's like you work on a movie for a year and a half?" And then … "Southland Tales" was interesting ... I mean I would love to do dramas but I think that I have a lot of work to do in this genre and I do … Just listening to the screening yesterday it was so rewarding to hear kids laugh. To be part of a movie for two years and it finally comes out and you never know, it could be crap, and all of a sudden it actually seems to be working and it's really rewarding.

MG: What's the worst job you've ever had in real life? Because [your character] Wheeler's Minotaur job obviously isn't so great; he loves it but I don't think any of us would really want to have that job.

SWS: What job ... I've had some really bad jobs. Well, they weren't bad…

MG: Weirdest job maybe?

SWS: Well, there's a time when "American Pie" [1999] was about to come out, I worked at the L.A. Zoo selling churros. It was like two months before the movie came out and I was like "I hope this movie works," and I was like making churros and all that stuff … I actually had this moment with this guy, Enrique. I said, "Enrique, watch the churros for a while. I haven't seen any animals and I've been working here for, you know, two days now." We had an interview for "American Pie" for Rolling Stone; I'm like, "I'm working at the zoo," and like all of the kids are working on other movies. So I'm like, "Enrique I gotta go look at some of the animals." So I walked and, all of a sudden I'm walking by the gorilla and I get rocked in the back of the head and I'm like, "what the…?" And all of a sudden, I look down and there's like a big pinecone. And I look at the gorilla and the gorilla's got a pinecone like throwing it up and I'm like, "Holy sh-t, the gorilla threw a pinecone at me!" And this is a true story. And then all of a sudden he chucked it at me again and I'm like, "No way gorilla." And I literally had a moment … because I was still kind of like … I turned down a couple TV shows because I was like "I don't want to do TV, I want to do movies." Because of the buzz of "American Pie," I got the TV show "Popular," they offered me that. And I was like "I don't want to do TV, you do a TV show every single week; how am I ever going to get anybody to think of me any other way?" And I looked at the gorilla for like a minute and all of a sudden I was like "You're right, gorilla." And I took my little apron off and I walked away, and I got "Final Destination" [2000] the next day. And I think it's all about the gorilla. I think we had a moment. But yeah, that was a weird job.