On Friday, Netflix released Bad Trip — a brand new hidden camera comedy movie that stars Eric Andre, Lil Rel Howery, and Tiffany Haddish pulling some very elaborate pranks on unsuspecting bystanders. The comedy also features a hilarious musical number in the middle of a mall, but Andre revealed that the song and dance number wasn’t even the hardest part of filming the scene. Speaking exclusively to PopCulture.com, Andre revealed it was actually the moment before when he’s getting some sage advice from a wise older man that actually was much more difficult to capture.
“We executed it in multiple parts,” Andre explained of the sequence in our series, PopCulture @Home. “So, we first filmed it in a mall in Atlanta and little bits and pieces of that you’ll see in the musical. But the majority of it, we filmed at a mall in LA, and the outdoor piece was different.”
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The 37-year-old goes on to share what it took to get that musical intro just right. “The outdoor bits where I’m talking to the guy and I kicked off the musical, I talked to 10 guys before I got it right with that guy,” he revealed. “He gave my character the proper advice,” Andre said, adding how they “never fake a single reaction” in the film. “We always only use genuine reactions out of people. So I had to really fish for that. I needed somebody who talking to would be like, ‘Yeah, go for it, man. Try if you’re in love, you got to bet on love.’”
Andre said it took him “talking to strangers for four hours” before he was able to “get that guy to say those three sentences needed to push the narrative forward.” He continued how it took a turn when he started singing the song. “I jumped on the car and went inside and we filmed in another part of the prank inside,” he said. However, when it comes to the scene’s full execution, Andre said that it wasn’t necessarily easier or harder than “any of the other” pranks.
In Bad Trip, Andre plays Chris Carey, a down-on-his-luck guy who suddenly finds an opportunity to reconnect with his high school crush. Howery plays his best friend, Bud Malone, who’s mostly just making it in life, with no real excitement. The pair go on an outlandish road trip, which is kicked off when they steal Bud’s sister’s car. Haddish plays said sister, Trina, who discovers her car missing after breaking out of jail.
Not content with letting the guys get away with taking off in her beloved car, Trina starts tracking them down, intending to get even once she finds them. Along the way, all three actors pull off some hilarious pranks on real people that will have audiences literally dropping their jaws and laughing on the floor. Bad Trip is directed by Kitao Sakurai and produced by Jackass franchise co-creator Jeff Tremaine and now streaming on Netflix.
