Doin’ time with the star of Let’s Go to Prison.
Born and raised in Detroit, Dax Shepard didn’t catch the acting bug until after he moved to Southern California, where he joined L.A.’s famed Groundlings comedy troupe. He got his first big break in Ashton Kutcher’s celebrity prank show, Punk’d, in which he played a variety roles, serving as sort of a prankster jack of all trades.
He used Punk’d as a springboard to major roles in films like Without a Paddle, Employee of the Month, and Mike Judge’s Idiocracy, garnering acclaim for his scene-stealing performances.
Shepard recently sat down with ReelzChannel to talk about his latest project, Let’s Go to Prison, a comedy about life inside a penitentiary and all of the wonderful things that happen there.
“I play a guy who’s been in prison three different times,” says Shepard. “Upon getting out on his third term, he decides to kill the judge who sentenced him so many times, knowing he’ll go back anyways – he might as well kill the judge – only to find out the judge died a couple weeks earlier. So then he decides he’s gonna target the judge’s son.”
The film is actually based on Jim Hogshire’s book “You Are Going to Prison,” a sort of advice manual for the soon-to-be incarcerated.
Shepard’s advice? “I’d just recommend avoiding it altogether,” he says, “Unless you want to get in shape. Great place to go get fit. Look at Robert Downey, Jr. – when he got out of jail that first time, when he was on the cover of Details with his shirt off. He was chiseled. A real specimen.”
Though he sought to realistically portray a three-time felon, Shepard wasn’t about to spend any actual time in the Joint. “Look, I grew my hair long. I lifted weights non-stop for two months prior to filming. I feel like I looked like a prisoner,” says Shepard. “I certainly didn’t go spend any time in jails or anything.”
“I don’t know if I believe in research in the traditional sense that you hear actors talking about it,” he adds. “I do comedy. I’m not Daniel Day-Lewis, gonna go live in the woods for three months for Last of the Mohicans. I don’t think it’s gonna add or subtract anything from my performance.”
Having honed his acting chops in the world of improv comedy, Shepard welcomed the move to filmmaking’s more structured, scripted approach. “I way prefer movies to doing Punk’d,” says Shepard, “With Punk’d, you had one take. It’s not like you could top what you did last time or find something that was funny that you want to capitalize on.”
Let’s Go to Prison also afforded Shepard the opportunity to work with good pal Will Arnett, who plays his nemesis, Nelson Biederman IV. “He is my absolute favorite,” Shepard says of Arnett. “I would do a 100 more movies with him, kind of like Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor – just do one a year together.”
Shepard and Arnett are set to begin shooting another film together, Get ‘Em Wet, sometime next year. Shepard wrote the script based on an idea he and Arnett concocted, about a pair of hot tub salesmen who travel to Japan to sell their wares.
For his next project, Shepard is returning to his improv roots. “I’m making something right now myself,” he says, “a documentary about me leaving comedy to get into martial arts films.”
“What occurred to me is that there isn’t a Caucasoid martial artist working right now. There’s no great white hope martial artist. They’re all Asian right now,” adds Shepard. “Chuck Norris left a void, temporarily filled with Van Damme, who was just a fucking dancer from Denmark, and Steven Seagal, who never did more than move his wrists and hands. Neither of those dudes are Chuck Norris-esque. Who’s gonna be that guy?”
Dax Shepard is gonna be that guy, ladies and gentlemen. Mark my words.
Let’s Go to Prison opens nationwide on November 17th.