Ugly Americans Lead Characters Unveiled
Written by ChrisFaile

"Ugly Americans," a teen comedy to be executive produced by Ivan Reitman and aimed squarely at the teen market, is lurking on the horizon. With the feeling that whilst some of the past year's collaborations in this genre have failed with one or two directors, a grand total of three directors at the helm should do the trick.

"Americans" focuses on Scotty Thomas, an American on the verge of his high school graduation. Trying to get ahead, he uses a German pen pal to help translate his German homework, but breaks off communication when his pen pal Mieke (whom he thinks is an older gentleman) expresses feelings for the teen. Fearing that his pen pal is an Internet predator when the pen pal suggests they meet, he finds out later that "he" is actually a beautiful "she," and that he's unwittingly broken it off with the fraulein of his dreams. To atone for his mistake and to search for his true love, Scotty and with his three best friends venture on a journey to Europe. While there, the foursome battles time, distance and bizarre European customs to have the summer of their lives.

Reitman, who has helped shape "National Lampoon's Animal House," and "Ghostbusters," acts as executive producer on this film through his Montecito Pictures, which is aligned with distributor DreamWorks Pictures. This story comes from the comedy team of Alec Berg, David Mandel and Jeff Schaffer (who will all direct) in an a deal worth more than $3 million -- one of the richest in history, according to a late June report in Variety. The trio, who recently wrote "The Cat in the Hat," aim to make "Americans" next spring, after they have fulfilled their duties on the former film.

Although there have been a number of live action films with more than two credited directors, such as "Casino Royale" and "New York Stories," none have had three directors on set at the same time, working in collaboration with each other. In terms of crediting, this should not be a problem, as DGA bylaw Article 7-208 states "such limitations shall not be construed as precluding assignment of bona fide teams" when giving credit to more than one director.

In a FilmJerk first, we can unveil the central characters for "Ugly Americans" through casting sources. Casting is currently underway for these characters, if you feel you are a good fit for one of these roles, please have your agent contact the production company or the casting director.

Casting is currently underway for these characters:

Lead character Scotty Thomas: Quick-witted, earnest and likeable, the kind of guy you'd love to have as your best friend. Scotty is dumped by his girlfriend Fiona on his graduation day and she informs him that she has been cheating on him the entire time - apparently everybody knew this except Scotty.
Cooper: Scotty's best friend is charming on the verge of cocky; you love him but sometimes you want to kill him. Witty and resourceful, the kind of guy who can talk everyone into trouble and then talk himself out of it. Cooper joins Scotty on his European adventure while managing to convince his boss at the law firm where he's interning that he is, indeed, still at the office. Cooper's one goal for the summer is to partake in some "Crazy European Sex," as he terms it, but is side-tracked from this goal after finally seeing his friend Jenny as not just one of the guys. From what I am reading, this is a character in the vein of Seann William Scott's recent film personas.
Jamie and Jenny: Jamie is overly responsible, particular and a worrier. He and his fraternal twin Jenny are Scotty and Cooper's childhood friends. While Jamie is the polar opposite of the rest of the foursome, he is still very much one of the gang. While spending the summer backpacking around Europe, he and Jenny accidentally run into Scotty and Cooper in Paris and decide to join their friends on their quest to find Scotty's German pen pal. Jenny, on the other hand, is cute, energetic and fun but Scotty and Cooper see her only as one of the guys. Quick-witted and easygoing, it isn't until she dons a bikini that the boys' eyes are opened to her feminine nature and Cooper in particular takes great interest in her.
Mieke: A gorgeous German teenager, Mieke is distraught when Scotty mistakenly believes that she is a male stalker and cuts off all communication with her. She is further disappointed when she tries to contact him again but receives no response. What she doesn't know is that Scotty is on his way to Germany to meet his dream girl. She, of course, speaks with a German accent.
Bert: Scotty's younger brother, he is smart, funny and a bit of a brat - he takes pleasure in Scotty's misfortune. Bert speaks much better German than his older brother and points out to him that Mieke is not the man in the picture Scotty has, but the incredibly cute girl.
This project is very reminiscent to aspects of "American Pie." I can actually see the principals from that film fitting in nicely here in several roles. Given the right casting, and the usual DreamWorks marketing/advertising support, this could be a film to watch for 2004.

The Scorecard
Executive Producers: Ivan Reitman, Tom Pollock
Producers: Dan Goldberg, Joe Medjuck, Jacqueline Josephson
Directors: Alec Berg, Jeff Schaffer, Dave Mandel
Writers: Alec Berg, Jeff Schaffer, Dave Mandel
Casting Directors: Meg Liberman, Cami Patton & Nelia Morago
Location: Prague, Czech Republic
Start Date: Late March or Early April 2003
Distributor: DreamWorks