Bert Kreischer's Movie The Machine Was A Total Accident - Exclusive
In the new comedy "The Machine," stand-up comic Bert Kreischer plays a version of himself — a middle-aged, successful comedian who nevertheless can't seem to mature a bit and slow down his wild lifestyle, leading to relationship issues with his wife, kids, and father (Mark Hamill). All of that takes a backseat when Bert and his dad are kidnapped by members of the Russian mafia, who take the father and son back to Moscow thanks to an incident that happened nearly a quarter-century earlier.
It seems that while on a college trip to Russia, Bert inadvertently helped some Russian gangsters stage a robbery of every passenger on a train. One item went missing, and now the mob wants Bert to help them track it down.
The story of the college trip turned train robbery did, according to Kreischer, happen, and his telling of the tale has become an integral part of his stand-up act. As Kreischer tells Looper in an exclusive interview, making a movie based on his popular yarn almost came about unintentionally.
"It was an accident, to be honest with you," Kreischer says. "I was pitching two other movies, and they were really good movies too. This guy over at Legendary [Entertainment], Cale Boyter, was like, 'I'll do it.' I was like, 'What do you mean?'"
Kreischer didn't pitch The Machine as a movie because he feared for his life
With five Netflix specials, sold-out national tours, three podcasts, and a string of other TV appearances to his name, Bert Kreischer has been overdue to make the jump to the big screen. Sure enough, the way Kreischer tells it, Legendary Entertainment's Cale Boyter was ready to get into business with the comedian no matter what he pitched.
"He goes, 'I'll make a movie with you. I want to make a movie with you. I think it'll be fun,'" Kreischer said. "'Which one do you want to make?' I was like, 'If you're telling me I can make a movie, I want to make 'The Machine.' He was like, 'Why didn't you pitch that?' I go, 'Because I don't know what the story is, and what if it's really successful, and I get kidnapped by the Russian mafia?'"
In fact, Kreischer did have a story for "The Machine," but instead of just putting his chaotic college trip onscreen, Kreischer envisioned a movie in which his actions of the past come back to haunt his present-day self.
"He goes, 'Sold,'" Kreischer said about Cale Boyter's response to the pitch. "I was like, 'What?' He goes, 'That's our movie. That's your movie. It's 'Godfather II' meets 'The Hangover.' I love it. Flashbacks to younger Bert, and that's the train story, but you're getting kidnapped. I love it.' So I sold it. I left Legendary, not knowing what I sold, but man, next thing you know, we got a script in. The script's awesome. Made one change, and we're off to the races."
"The Machine" is out in theaters this Friday (May 26).