Josh Duhamel on Filming Buddy Games Sequel at a Real Spring Break

How are you doing? How are you doing?

Hey, how are you? How are you guys?

We're good. Oh, we're good. We're in a we're in a brewery. We're in a uh uh uh Boomtown brewery in downtown Los Angeles with actual beer at a press junket.

Yeah. I mean. It could be worse. Like, are you guys in a bar right now during press? It could be worse. It could be a lot worse. Here's to you. Ping pong and darts and pool and pinball in between interviews, so it's been great.

Have you got have you gotten a break yet to actually do anything fun?

Yes, all of that. We've done all the things you just mentioned. Yes. Best press ever.

Yeah. Okay, so you had Buddy Games, now we have Buddy Games Spring Awakening. So in between filming do you guys have a group chat? Did you hang out? Or did you like rekindle, you know, your friendship when you got on set?

It's funny you say group chat cause we do have a group chat. And and we've always kind of we've since the first one, we used it during the first one and we've kept it alive throughout. And we would still periodically, you know, have someone would add something and everyone would chime in. It's kind of kind of kept us together. So this came along. I was going to say James Rondey would like kind of rub the sticks together and get the flames going and then Nick would throw some gasoline on the fire and then that then everyone and that chat group would start up again.

I love it. Okay, now since it is spring break themed, what is one spring break do and don't that you learned from filming?

Do hydrate. Don't lick the toad. Don't lick the toad. I don't know. Do lick the toad. I would say do lick the toad. That's for you. I'm not careful. I mean, I'm a sick dude. I mean, a lot of this came from actual experiences at spring break as, you know, as as a young man in the early or mid nineties. Uh and I just loved the idea just the visual of guys our age who accidentally end up in the middle of spring break. And and we have I I I went and shot actual and have my dad goes to Havasu every winter. And I took a little mini crew with me and we went and shot a bunch of B-roll at an actual spring break and you'll see some craziness and that's all real. And we were able to sort of seamlessly mesh it into what we shot on, you know, during production. And if if I hadn't done that, we never could have afforded to to get all those extras and do all that stuff. So I just sort of went rogue guerrilla style and went and shot a bunch of hardcore spring break stuff. And uh it it was reminiscent of my days back in the nineties. I'll I'll put it that way.

That's cool though that you actually like filming all the B-roll like was actual spring break. You guys didn't stage that.

Oh yeah. Yeah. No, we had to go we had to go with a with a pile of releases. Every person that was on, they signed off on it. And they just went nuts.

Wow. It's crazy. This is like the ultimate spring break. You're going to be in a movie.

Yeah. I've never been to spring break. I was deprived. I don't know how that girl's going to feel that like that did that dude was taking a shot out of her butt crack. I don't know if you remember that.

Hey, have you seen the movie yet?

I did. I watched it last night. Do you remember that moment?

Yeah. That actually happened. I thought it was so

That that actually happened. I thought

Okay. I thought that was us. No, I figured I knew that was not staged. They were like wild ass spring breakers and he's like watch this. I was like. You got this. I should have come out for that one. Wait, so back to I'm sure you've gotten this question all day. But does it relate to your guys's spring break back when you in your days?

I didn't have one. I didn't have one. I was I was making movies. I was already working. I dropped I dropped out of high school. To make movies. We I did. I did I did live that life for several uh spring breaks back in college. Yes. Yeah. You probably did a couple after you're at a school too. You can't go back I guess.

Okay and for the scenes where the lake and the floaties. I don't know what you call them. Like the obstacle course kind of. Yeah. Did you actually get to do that?

That was me. Yeah. So, we went and scouted. We wanted a place that would match the stuff that we shot in Havasu. Uh and we found this place called Lake Harrison or Harrison Lake, uh north of Vancouver an hour and a half or so. And they had this giant inflatable obstacle course there. I was like we got to put this in the movie.

Mhm.

And I went out there, I took my son out there. We spent a couple hours running around in that thing and I just sort of figured out how we could shoot it. Um and, you know, for the low low price of I think $25,000 for two hours. Oh yeah. They charged a lot. I remember that. They charged us so much money to use it but to me and and my uh producing partner, it was like it was worth it because the production value you couldn't we we we would never have been able to afford afford putting that up. Uh so we wanted to have it part of the movie and make it part of the actual game.

Yeah. Well it looked so fun. Like I just like there's a place called Dutch Springs in New Jersey that it has it. I've done it before and I was like oh my God. Like the movie just looks so fun to shoot.

Yeah. Because it's really. I grew up in Action Park, New Jersey. I don't know if you've ever know you guys know what that place is like. I mean, people die every year.

Really?

Yeah. It's the best. Yeah. I mean, it's like it's like a right of passage to go to Action Park. But you might get killed.

Yeah. You very well could get killed. Warning, disclaimer. Three words that come to mind when you uh explain the movie.

I'm going to go with uh funny. I'm going to go with heart. It's got a lot of heart. And uh trippy. We'll go with this trippy. It's a trippy movie. Yeah. I mean I I really am proud of how it all came together. I think it is uh it is it is funny. Um it is uh socially um controversial. Oh it could be. Uh and uh beautiful.

Hmm. I I would say my three words are sometimes friends die.

Okay. We're going to put that on the poster. That's for marks. Sometimes Not not kind of, sometimes friends die.

Okay. Well well okay. So

Sometimes it's one word. Sometimes it's one word. I'll allow it. But I learned that word on Spring Break. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, bye bye. See you later.