Both Jason Biggs and Shannon Elizabeth have said that they are interested in a reboot of American Pie. The actors are famous for the cult crass comedy, and apparently they would do it all over again. Whether a studio can make it happen is a different question.
Biggs and Elizabeth were reunited on Monday night at a screening of Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. The movie offers a fresh take on Kevin Smith’s 2001 Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and Biggs and Elizabeth both reprised their roles in it. Having them together naturally led journalists to ask about American Pie.
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“I am always down,” Biggs told The Hollywood Reporter. “You will never hear from me any reluctance, but I haven’t heard anything for a little while.”
“Look, I think reboots are great because you can get a new generation, a young cast, that is doing the film, but you make it modern and it works for this day and age,” Elizabeth added. “So, I never think that is a bad thing.”
In American Pie, Biggs played Jim Levenstein — an awkward nerd fixated on sex. Elizabeth played Nadia, an exchange student from Czechoslovakia with whom Jim has an awkward sexual encounter. The movie is heavily driven by the ensemble cast, and Biggs said that for that that reason alone he would love to work on a reboot.
“It is the most fun I have ever had working on anything,” Biggs said. “I love that cast, and I love that role. A lot of things have to come together for it to happen, but fingers crossed it will.”
American Pie has already spawned a number of sequels since its release in 1999. American Pie 2 followed in 2001, and American Wedding came two years after that. In 2012, the series got the closest it has come to a “reboot” or “revival” with American Reunion.
Biggs had a central role in all four of these films, while Elizabeth was missing from American Wedding. Her character fell to the outskirts a bit, but it sounds like she is open to returning to the franchise if there is a place for her.
The American Pie franchise has already been criticized for its explicit humor, and accused of misrepresenting sexual misconduct as light-hearted fun. However, that could make it perfect for revisitation in some ways, to reconcile its message with modern sensibilities.
In the meantime, Biggs and Elizabeth are promoting their reprisal of other roles in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. The actors were hot off the success of American Pie when they appeared in Smith’s Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and now they are back for his new, more reflective installment.
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is playing in select theaters now.
