Mall Cop - BEHIND THE SCENES

"Mall Cop"
BEHIND THE SCENES
by Tim Nasson
January 10, 2009

Watch "Mall Cop" Trailer

TO PROTECT AND SERVE… NEW JERSEY’S MALLS

“I just love this guy,” says Kevin James of Paul Blart, the mall cop at the center of Columbia Pictures’ comedy titled, appropriately enough, Paul Blart: Mall Cop. “Nobody believes in him, but he turns everybody’s expectations upside down. It’s easy to root for a character who’s tried big things but came up short every time. I want to see him make it.”

James came up with the idea for the character after a discussion with his fellow comedy superstar and producer, Adam Sandler. Having teamed on the comedy smash I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, Sandler was interested in working with James again, this time in Sandler’s capacity as a producer through his company, Happy Madison. Sandler was intrigued by James’ idea – to play a bungling Jersey mall cop who saves the day. “Because mall cops are purportedly in positions of authority, but without the real power of the police, I thought it would be fun to play that kind of a character,” says James. With his writing partner, Nick Bakay, James created the character of Paul Blart, a bumbler who overcompensates by taking his job way too seriously, and a charming everyman who finally gets the chance to test his mettle when an extreme team takes over the mall.

“This character comes straight from Kevin,” says the director, Steve Carr, who has also helmed such family hits as Daddy Day Care, Dr. Doolittle 2, and Are We Done Yet?. “He has a real knowledge, a real soft spot for the character. Everything he wrote on the page as a screenwriter and every choice he made as an actor during filming rings true because it’s a part of him.”

“The best part is that the funnier Kevin gets, the more I get to take the credit – it works out great!” Carr jokes.

Producer Todd Garner, who has previously collaborated with Adam Sandler on such films as The Waterboy, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, and Anger Management, expands on that point. “Because this character comes from the mind of Kevin James, everything he does, whether it’s his physical mannerisms or his acting style, became the character. It’s the truest manifestation of all his talents.”

“There is nobody better at physical comedy right now than Kevin James,” Garner says. “He’d be throwing himself over the side of a ramp or smashing himself onto a countertop or wiping out a stack of suitcases.”

“He is physical, talented and game for everything,” stunt coordinator Chris O’Hara says. “There is a lot of physical humor in this movie, and Kevin wants to do as much of it as he can; in fact, he came up with so many stunts himself. It’s cool to work with an actor like that.”

To play the part, James did the requisite training – but not the kind you might expect. “I did some polyester pants training,” James confides. “You got to go through polyester pants training because polyester doesn’t breathe. If you don’t do the training and your legs aren’t used to polyester pants, you will break out. It is not pretty.”

For a comedian so willing to put his body on the line, the story would require villains willing to do the same. “Paul is not – let’s face it – the most in-shape guy,” James concedes. “We thought, well, what kind of villain would make a good, funny antagonist for him? We hit on the extreme sports, X-Games athlete, the skateboarders and BMX bikers and free runners, and it seemed like a perfect fit.”

Garner agrees. “Paul is mild-mannered, a bit square, has a kid. The antithesis of that are these daft punk, hip X-Gamer guys. We found two world-class skateboarders, two unbelievable BMX riders, and two free runners, who not only were the perfect people to play the roles, but also worked with the set designers and art and camera departments, to help us figure out how best to show off their skills in set pieces.”

At the helm is director Steve Carr. “I loved that this movie was family accessible but not aimed specifically at a kids audience,” says Carr. “Kevin and I hit it off right away. Our ideas for the movie were perfectly in sync.”

“Steve Carr has got a great eye for comedy,” Garner responds. “He was the perfect fit for this movie, because we knew we wanted it to be funny and we knew we wanted to have great action.”

THE “UNBEWEAVEABLE” SUPPORTING CAST

Surrounding Kevin James is a group of comic actors that bring lively performances to their roles.

Leading the way among them is Jayma Mays as Paul’s crush, Amy. She was sold on the role as soon as she read the script and found that her character sells clip-on hair extensions and barrettes at a mall kiosk called Unbeweaveable. “It’s the most brilliant thing,” says Mays of the pun. “As soon as I read that in the script, I fell in love with the character.”

Mays, who is best-known for her recurring role as Charlie during the second season of “Ugly Betty,” says she relished her opportunity to work alongside Kevin James. “He’s charming, genuine, and very funny,” she says. “He’s very open to new ideas and very imaginative. He is so into character; he’s an actor’s dream.”

At the beginning of the film, Paul Blart is introduced to his new partner. In contrast to the by-the-book Blart, Veck Sims seems lazy, sarcastic, and generally just marking time to earn an easy paycheck… but it is soon revealed that there is more to Veck than meets the eye.

The part is played by Keir O’Donnell, who audiences will remember as the brother, Todd, in the comedy hit Wedding Crashers. “The first time I read through the script, I didn’t know that Veck was a bad guy – and not just that, but the leader of the bad guys!” he says. “I thought that if I could be surprised by that, it would be a cool thing for the audience, too.”

“It’s fun to play a character like this,” says O’Donnell. “You get to go up to a big, tattooed, muscular athlete and say the most condescending, obnoxious things. I really get to lay into them, because my character in the movie is supposed to be ‘the smart one.’ What’s really interesting about those guys is how much they were committed to being good actors. They’d come up to me asking for pointers – whatever they could do to improve their performances, they wanted to do. I’m sure that wasn’t easy for them, to ask for help like that. But they got back at me when I got on a skateboard, and I’m saying, ‘Can you help me out?’ They were just laughing — I was ridiculous.”

Playing Paul’s daughter, Maya Blart, is Raini Rodriguez. The 15-year-old actress relished her opportunity to work with Kevin James. “It’s like getting a master class in comedy,” says Rodriguez. “He is the king. And we had such great chemistry – on the set, it was like we were really father and daughter. He got a little overprotective – ‘don’t walk there, you’ll get hurt.’ It was really funny.”

The cast is rounded out by Stephen Rannazzisi, who plays Stuart, the oily kiosk pen salesman; Bobby Cannavale, who plays Commander Kent, the SWAT team leader, and Shirley Knight, who plays Paul’s mother.

SHOPPING & SHOOTING: THE MALL AS A CHARACTER

Part of the reason Kevin James wanted to write and star in Paul Blart: Mall Cop is that it harks back in a way to his formative years, growing up in the malls of the east coast. “I’d be in Spencer Gifts and Sam Goody, checking out the albums, hanging out and meeting people,” he recalls. “The mall isn’t just about the stores – it’s like a town center, where you hang out and see a girl you like and how long are you going to follow her before you never make a move and go home?” he jokes.

“The mall in this story is like another character in the movie,” says Russ T. Alsobrook, the film’s director of photography. “It has its own personality.”

With such a unique setting, the filmmakers never considered trying to recreate the energy and buzz of a mall on a soundstage. They found their location at the Burlington Mall in Burlington, Massachusetts.

They could have shut down the mall, or closed sections of it, or even shot after-hours, when the mall is closed. Instead, the filmmakers opted to film during business hours, when the mall was teeming with shoppers.

“Because the moviemaking process has an air of mystery about it, you’re going to get an audience anywhere you shoot – and that’s especially true in a place, like a working mall in Massachusetts, that doesn’t see people making movies every day,” explains Todd Garner. “It could have been a challenge, but the people were great and very respectful of what we were trying to do. I think that adds to the atmosphere of the movie.”

“When the mall is in full operation, it gets a little crazy,” Kevin James says with a chuckle. “But it’s great to see the fans – the crowds get excited about the movie.”

“It’s weird, but also cool, performing in front of so many people. It’s like theater in the round,” Mays adds. “And when they don’t need you in a scene, you’re shopping all day.”

Which, as James points out, can have its drawbacks. “My per diem is wiped out for the next five movies,” James kids.

Of course, the mall did need a bit of a Hollywood makeover. The story takes place on Black Friday – the day after Thanksgiving and the biggest shopping day of the year. The art department, headed by production designer Perry Andelin Blake, would be charged with dressing the mall for Christmas in the middle of April.

“When you walked by Gap or J Crew, all the mannequins in the window and all the pictures were of people in bathing suits and short pants. It was a very summery look,” Blake says. “So we had to work with the stores to take out their summer apparel and redress their mannequins in parkas and skis – just to make sure that there weren’t things in the background to throw the audience off balance when watching the movie.”

There were other design elements, too, both subtle and obvious. The filmmakers began with the mall’s holiday decorations. To give the mall feel a Christmastime feeling, Blake arranged with the management, Simon Property Group, to hang their oversize Christmas ornaments and lights.

But there was one, big showpiece that would need to be added. “We wanted to have a Santa’s Village,” Blake admits. “But Santa’s Village always looks like a chalet in Switzerland, and I didn’t want to recreate that kind of typical look. I started looking north, in the direction of the North Pole – Norway, Sweden, Russia, Finland… and we ended up basing the look on the old, wooden Russian Orthodox Churches of St. Petersburg, the ones with the onion domes. It’s dressed up, but still nice and warm, like a little house that you might find out in the middle of the snowy arctic.”

Blake gave the same preparation to the mall’s kiosks, which he felt should represent the characters that operated them. “Amy’s Unbeweaveable kiosk had to be cute, so we used pinks and purples and cute little baubles and beads. It sparkles and expresses her personality. We did the same thing with Leon’s hot sauce kiosk. He is a big guy with a big personality, so we made a sign that said ‘Flames’ on it and we made up all the hot sauces in there. And then our costume designer, Ellen Lutter, put him in a great shirt with flames coming up on it, and it all came together. His personality totally shines through his kiosk.”

Another key set within the mall is Garden State Savings; much of the film’s action takes place in the bank. Built in an empty storefront at one end of the mall, the bank has three major areas – the back room, which serves as one of the hostage staging areas; the front area, where the tellers conduct business and the large vault is visible; and the view of the mall outside the storefront window.

“The bank itself is not the most stimulating thing, so we really wanted to see out into the mall for more depth,” Blake explains. But his team went above and beyond the call to make the bank an interesting set, plotting unusual angles and dressing it in various shades of green. Then the production’s graphic designer, Simon Jones, created a whole marketing campaign for the fictional institution. They took pictures for the large posters, came up with slogans and even made a dummy ATM that fooled more than one mall patron who walked away confused as to why they couldn’t extract any cash.

“We wanted it to feel like a real, normal bank. I guess it worked,” Blake chuckles.

THE EXTREME TEAM OF VILLAINS

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. Or maybe you don’t: in Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Santa’s Reindeer are in fact skateboarders, BMX riders, and free runners – and, not to mention, thieves, orchestrating a scheme to steal consumers’ credit card info on the busiest shopping day of the year.

To play the roles, the filmmakers tapped some of the biggest stars from the world of extreme sports. The team consists of six action sports stars in three distinct fields who are at the top of their game. Mike Vallely (aka Mike V) and Jason Ellis are world renowned skateboarders. Mike Escamilla (aka Rooftop) and Rick Thorne are record-holding BMX bikers. Victor Lopez (a champion in Vienna) and Natascha Hopkins round out the team as free runners.

“It was appropriate casting,” says Mike V, “because I am a badass skateboarder. They got that right.”

Thorne explains how he got the gig. “I just went in and acted like I had a gun, pointed my finger at the director and said, ‘I’m taking over the mall. Give me the role, kid.’”

Although all of the action sports stars tapped as Reindeer for the film had been in other movies, none of them ever had a real role to play, a real character to bring to life. Previously, when any of them appeared on screen, it was to do stunts or in a documentary or a cameo as themselves. So, each of them relished the opportunity to test their chops acting with the big boys.

“This isn’t my first job doing both stunt work and acting, but it is definitely my favorite. This is the most fun I’ve ever had on a set,” says Hopkins, a free runner, gymnast, and stuntwoman specializing in wire work and falls.

Each of the six had a part to play, but each also wanted to be sure that he out-extremed the other five. “You want to do the sickest stuff and go bananas,” Thorne explains, “and you want everyone to know what you can do.”

“It’s all about grinding, jumping, flying through the air,” Escamilla adds. “It’s all real.”

Interestingly, life on the set was challenging for the six sports stars – their friends would change from day to day. “Typically, the actors eat with the actors and the stunt guys hang out with the stunt guys. No one wants to hang out together,” Escamilla states. “The stunt coordinator comes to me and says, ‘Are you a stunt man or a thespian today?’ It was a big joke.”

Most viewers will be familiar with skateboarding and BMX, but the film may be many viewers’ introduction to the sport of free running. “Free running is all about redefining your environment,” Victor Lopez says. “It’s about going as fast as you can, climbing, jumping, flipping – no special equipment.”

“It’s transitioning through your environment with style,” Hopkins clarifies, “with flavor.”

CAPTURING THE STUNTS

“To capture the essence of what these guys do on their skateboards, BMX bikes and free running, we had to martial many cameras,” says Alsobrook. “On every stunt, we shot anywhere from 24 frames per second (fps) to 96fps and even 120fps – the more frames per second, the slower it seems when you play it back at normal speed. So we got the ultra slo-mo footage of these guys jumping from balcony to balcony, riding their bikes full tilt, and careening up walls and over barriers on their skateboards. They are really incredible.”

Of the many stunts in the film, the biggest sequence involving the most complicated action involves a personal transporter (PT) against skateboard chase as Rudolph (aka Mike V) blazes after Blart.

“It’s PT versus skateboard. Only one will survive!” James bellows.

In the scene, Rudolph spots Blart and fires off a couple rounds from his handgun, and the chase ensues. As they split kiosks, wreaking havoc as they go, Blart attempts to make an escape by heading for a glass elevator. While he is frantically hitting the up button, he looks out the window and sees Rudolph launch off an iceberg ramp from a North Pole display – and head straight for the rising lift. He’s in the air for just a few seconds before crashing into and through the glass on the moving elevator.

It was a complicated move to coordinate, made more complicated by Mike V’s approach toward his profession. “I don’t like to rehearse,” says the skateboarder. “I really live in the moment and seize it when it comes.” He nailed it on the first take.

But that’s not the end of the Blart vs. Rudolph grudge match. They find themselves on the roof of the mall. Rudolph jumps a 15-foot gap, sure that Blart won’t follow... only to turn and see Blart coming right for him. The two men fall through a glass skylight… and fall… and fall… and fall… 45 feet into a ball pit. (How many balls does it take to break a 45-foot fall? 64,000, to be exact.)

The filmmakers faced one challenge they hadn’t counted on, though. Kevin James – the very guy who wrote the scene and intended to perform most of his own stunts – was saying that this was one stunt he would not do, because he’s terrified of heights.

“The first conversation I ever had with Kevin was about the fall,” Mike V says. “He told me he wouldn’t do it and when I asked him why, he said, ‘I’m afraid of heights.’ Well, I’m afraid of heights too, but it’s a challenge.”

“I didn’t know Mike V was scared of heights till we were about to rehearse the stunt,” O’Hara continues. “He says, ‘Is it a bad time to tell you I’m afraid of heights?’ And I said, ‘Yea, kinda.’ But he did it – I had one of my stunt guys go up with him and talk him through it. We dropped him the whole way.”

“Kevin says to me, ‘Let’s define fear here,’” Mike V adds, “‘because your fear is not the same as my fear.’ I told him it would make the movie that much better if it was him and not a stunt double. I don’t know how I convinced him, but he agreed.”

“When it actually came time to shoot the stunt,” O’Hara says, “We had to kind of ease Kevin into it. We suited him in the harness, and we raised him up to about 10 feet.”

“‘That’s high enough,’ Kevin said,” Mike V laughs. “I was like, ‘No dude, you can go higher.’ I just grabbed him and said, ‘Come on, man, you can do this,’ and he said, ‘All right. Let’s do it.’”

“We got Kevin up to about 20 feet,” O’Hara says. “And the whole time Mike V is up there doing the same thing my stunt guy did with him – talked him through it. It was so funny to have two guys that are afraid of heights falling 20 feet down into a ball pit, and it came out great!”

“We did it twice,” Mike V. says. “I couldn’t believe Kevin did it again, but he did – it went really well, and he said, “‘You got me through it, Vallely.’

“It was cool. I walked away from that stunt realizing that he really wanted this movie to be the best that it could be. He put himself in an environment that was really uncomfortable for him, and he made it happen.”

RAMPING IT UP: NATE WESSEL BEHIND THE SCENES

For the extreme athletes to show off their skills, they needed the proper architecture for riding and skating. Perhaps not surprisingly, real-life malls lack the kinds of ramps they needed. The production would have to build the ramps, and so they went to the best.

Nate Wessel is the premiere ramp builder working today. “Nate makes all of the parks for the X-Games,” O’Hara says. “He’s had the contract with them for four years.”

O’Hara, Wessel, and Blake teamed to build ramps that would integrate with the look of the mall and the sets without being obvious. It was fairly easy to include ramps in the blueprint of new sets like Santa’s Village and the ball pit, a little more challenging to incorporate them into the public areas of the mall itself. But with the dream design team in place, even the crew was often fooled by what was permanent and what was set.

“We worked pretty hard with Perry Blake to make ramps into the mall and still have it look like a mall,” O’Hara confirms.

“We needed to make opportunities for our BMX guys, our skateboarders and our free runners to be able to interact with the different sets,” Blake adds, “and still have it feel natural.

“So we brought Nate in to make ramps that look organic to the mall. We have planters and benches and even storefronts that didn’t exist. They were all made to look like they lived in the mall, and they gave us the opportunity for our skaters and bikers to really hit them and do all the stuff they do so great.”

“Nate Wessel made it legitimate,” O’Hara points out. “Everybody knows who Nate Wessel is. He is the number one extreme sports ramp builder."