Jamie Kennedy

Spotlight By: Michael Dance
MichaelDance@TheCinemaSource.com

“We’re bringing sexy back. Sexy never left.”

So says Jamie Kennedy as he break dances his way into the interview room. He’s fully in costume and fully in character for the character he plays in the new movie Kickin’ it Old Skool: Justion Schumacher, a full-grown adult with the mind of a child thanks to the decade-long coma he received from falling on his head during a break dancing competition.

As you can tell, this isn’t exactly highbrow fare. We would expect nothing less from the star of the surprise mini-hit Malibu’s Most Wanted and the 2002-03 television prank series The Jamie Kennedy Experiment.

Already in the room is Kennedy’s costar, Maria Menounos, of Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood. She herself is a budding actress, with a recurring role in One Tree Hill and a bit part in Fantastic Four under her belt.

However, Kennedy is only concerned with what she told the journalists in the room before he got in there. “Did she tell you Jamie Kennedy is probably one of the hottest kisses she’s ever done?” he asks in the tone of a lazy twelve-year-old boy. “On or off screen? It was as if a lightning storm had gone off in her mouth.”

Turns out Menounos fought pretty hard for the part. In the audition process, Kennedy says, she was fairly intimidating. “If I cast someone else, I would’ve gotten a hit put out on me,” he says. His choice never seemed to be tough, though: “Maria came in and I said, ‘Can you speak English? Because if so, you’ve got the part.’ And luckily she could.”

Also populating the film are various stars of that oft-remembered decade the ’80s – the era Kennedy’s character lived in before the coma. Kennedy rattles off a few of the cameos: “Hasselhoff? Amazing. Wears the leather suit out. Eric Estrada?

Eighty-three years old.”

Did Kennedy get involved in any pranks on set, like he’s been known for ever since The Jamie Kennedy Experiment? “I put Pop Rocks in her coke,” he says, pointing to Menounos.

“I don’t remember that,” she says.

“I did. Just go with it.”

Apparently he’s not going to be too upfront while trying to conduct an interview in character about a break dancing comedy. So we’re left with Menounos to give us some dirt on Kennedy and the film. Luckily, she obliges: he smells.

“Jamie has lived in this costume, for like, two months straight, now. And it’s the only one. There’s not, like, five versions of it.”

Kickin’ it Old Skool is in theaters now.