Set Visit Preview: Observe and Report

A little over a month ago, I jetted off to Albuquerque, NM to visit the set of the new Seth Rogen starring film, OBSERVE AND REPORT. It’s directed by the up and coming Jody Hill, he of the FOOT FIST WAY fame. If you’ve seen Foot Fist, then you already know Jody brings a unique brand of comedy to the scene and he’s continuing that trend with OBSERVE AND REPORT.

OBSERVE AND REPORT follows the story of Ronnie (Seth Rogen) who is the head of security at a local mall. When a flasher starts to terrorize the shoppers, Ronnie and his right hand man, Dennis (Michael Pena) set out to find the culprit. Things take a turn for the worse when a thief starts stealing from the stores and they’re forced to call in Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta), who’d rather be anywhere than at the mall. Anna Faris plays Ronnie’s love interest, Brandi.

This was good prep to be a security guard

Our day started bright and early at 7:30 in the morning when we headed over to an abandoned shopping mall in the middle of the city. The outside of the mall looked just like any other mall, and so did the inside. It wasn’t until you got a little closer that you could tell the store names and signs weren’t real. That, and there weren’t any shoppers in the mall.

We took a quick look around the mall and the set and we immediately noticed some FOOT FIST WAY shout outs. One of the restaurants was called “Captain Olanders” and we saw a few Foot Fist t-shirts hanging in the stores. As we were taking the tour, Jody Hill himself stopped by to welcome us to the set. I have to admit that I didn’t recognize him at first. He looked very tired and was wearing some sweat pants and an old t-shirt. I guess 14 hour a day shoots can wear on you.

After we got our tour, we found out that they wanted us to be extras in one of the scenes they were filming. This was a neat experience and allowed us to take part in the scene, rather than just observing from the sidelines. The scene was pretty funny and you can read more about that in my final set visit report that will be posted at a later date.

After my feature film debut, it was time for the interviews. Seth Rogen, Ray Liotta and everyone else involved with the interviews was as cool as can be. They were all very nice and eager to answer all of our questions. Again, all of the interviews will be posted soon.

Unfortunately, I did not get to meet Ms. Faris

Finally, our “official” set visit was over. Since I had such a late flight out of town, I was able to hang around the set for a few extra hours. As soon as everyone left, a giant mirror-ball fell from the sky, a live band started performing and over a dozen strippers came out. No, not really, but I was trying to make everyone jealous.

I did have a blast towards the end of the shoot. Seth Rogen and Jody Hill came over and started talking to me, which was really cool to see them as regular guys. Seth is obsessed with his iPhone and he noticed I’m a little obsessed with mine, so that prompted a discussion, which led to him pointing out he has JoBlo.com on the home screen of his iPhone. But I have to give a special thanks to Jody Hill for allowing me to hang out on the set long after my official “reporting” was done. It’s not every day a regular schmoe like me gets to hang out on a movie set…at least not legally.