For the latest in the successful coming-of-age franchise American Pie, ‘American Reunion’, everyone’s favorite MILF Guy, John Cho, returns. The performer has gained fame as Harold in the Harold & Kumar films, all written and one directed by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg. “When we saw American Pie, we just immediately fell in love with what John Cho did with the MILF Guy role,” says Schlossberg. “It was so distinct and funny.”

“It’s crazy, because John Cho only has one memorable line in the first movie. He’s just like, ‘Dude! That chick’s a MILF!’” adds Hurwitz. “He’s diving into his career at that moment, and we watched it. That’s all it took for us to fall in love with him. We wrote an entire movie because of that one little line. In Harold & Kumar, he plays the straight man, and he has a lot of big laughs. But in this, John gets to be a little bit weirder and bring out more of his unique comic stylings.”

Cho—who was originally a member of the jazz choir and only asked to do the MILF role later—says that after he filmed ‘American Pie’, he went overseas and was unaware of the phenomenon. “When I returned, people on the streets were like, ‘Hey MILF,’ and it was strange. I didn’t know what they were talking about at first.”

It was Cho who actually told the directors about American Reunion, and they got the call to work on the project shortly. As well, he came up with the storyline for his MILF Guy role in this film. Cho decided that it would be funny to play him as a realtor who planned the reunion and wanted to make a big impression on his former classmates. “We decided that he had a Cadillac, and then from that came the mustache,” says Cho. “From the mustache came the hair and the white jeans, which is a strong move…”

While we have our old favorites, several new characters have been added to the original cast of American Pie. Schlossberg and Hurwitz say they chose to add new players because they didn’t feel it would be realistic that all of the couples in high school would return years later and still be together. In many cases they paired original cast members with their opposites. Jay Harrington plays Oz’s nemesis, Heather’s boyfriend/cardiac surgeon Ron, while Oz is dating model/gold digger Mia, portrayed by 30 Rock’s Katrina Bowden.

Dania Ramirez was brought aboard as Selena, who has a romantic storyline with one of the East Great Falls friends. Schlossberg says: “We figured you always go back to your hometown and see that one girl or guy who’s just, ‘Wow. They look a lot better than they did in high school!’ That’s why we set up one of the characters with Selena.”

Ali Cobrin plays Kara, who is completely infatuated with the sexually frustrated Jim (and who is also responsible for quite a risqué set piece in the film). Jim comes home to find the girl next door is now a gorgeous 18-year-old. Cobrin jokes that she wore nothing but a thong for two months.

It certainly took guts to bare all in the back of a MINI Cooper. In the scene, Jim rescues the drunk Kara, and is determined to drive her home. “There were stunts, car crashes, swerving,” she recalls. “I felt like I was in every position in that car except for sitting upright with the seat belt on.”

New England Patriots wide receiver (and former Cincinnati Bengal) Chad Ochocinco didn’t have to stretch too far to find his character. He appears as himself. “As a Browns’ fan, I root against him,” Schlossberg dryly notes, “but as an actor, he’s funny. Having Ocho complaining to Chris was a fun scene to shoot.”

Ochocinco sympathized with Klein when the actor had to perform a big dance number in front of the crowd, as the player was a featured performer on Dancing With the Stars. He says he was quite excited to meet the cast. “I was like a little groupie,” he laughs. Discussing his work as Oz’s co-hosting sportscaster, he notes: “Saying ‘Play on player!’ at the end of the sports segment is funny. I had to give Chris a look like, ‘Are you serious?’ That’s what you’re going to say after a sportscast?”

Image Courtesy of   Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com

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About the author

Claudia Sondergaard
Specialised in American foreign policy media discourse, I have a real passion for media and writing and feel comfortable in subjects such as human rights, politics, environment, social issues, movies, TV and books. Reporting from Denmark. Follow me @swirlgirlversus