Broken Lizard co-founder Jay Chandrasekhar makes a cameo in Freeloaders and produced the comedy that came from the mind of all people, Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz. Yet, Chandrasekhar lived a part of the story. As previewed in this hilarious Freeloaders trailer, the film is about a group of six roommates who have been living in Duritz’s Beverly Hills mansion for years and are faced with an uncertain future when the rock star decides to sell his home.
“When I moved to Los Angeles I became friends with this guy Henry Griffin who was from New Orleans, but was living in Beverly Hills. He invited me to this party,” Chandrasekhar recalled in our exclusive interview.
“We were driving through Beverly Hills and we saw this monstrous mansion miles away. We drove for a while and realized that’s where we’re going! We pull up to this place and wonder ‘What the (expletive) is Henry doing living in a mansion?’ There’s a huge party there, and before we find Henry… we find six platinum records for the Counting Crows."
He wondered if his friend had bought them, but then saw a slew of personal photographs featuring the Counting Crows lead singer. “We find Henry and he’s like, ‘Oh yeah this is Adam Duritz’s house!’ We were like, ‘OK, where is he?’ And he said, ‘He’s in Japan or somewhere.’ He didn’t even know,” Chandrasekhar said and laughed.
Seems that Duritz is a swell guy who meets people on the road and when they mention wanting to go to L.A., he offers them a room in his house that he barely ever visits. “So, there were five or six people living there and they became friends. Adam knew them all… they just hung out. I went to five or six parties there and never met Duritz!”
Four years ago, as we first reported, Chandrasekhar and Broken Lizard were at their Warner Bros. offices and the Counting Crows leader booked a meeting. “He comes in with Dan Rosen, who wrote a script about the six freeloaders who lived in Adam’s house. I was like, ‘I’ve been to your house so many times,'” he added and chuckled. It was official, Broken Lizard teams up with Adam Duritz!
Duritz and his partner had the money to make Freeloaders, but wanted someone with Chandrasekhar’s experience to help see it through. Although it’s not technically a Broken Lizard movie, the guys produced it and many have cameos, including Chandrasekhar.
“The writing was sharp. We thought it fit in with our fan base, you know grass smoking people who like to have fun,” he said. “If I’m being honest!”
Broken Lizard scored with their cult smash Super Troopers. The guys who first met at Colgate University, Chandrasekhar exclusively told Movie Fanatic, wanted to capture a Monty Python comedy troupe vibe. So, how did they arrive with that moniker? “The truth of that name we spent three days in a room with a bong trying to come up with a name. We were at one point the Chocolate Speedy Team. We were Four Whiteys and an Indian… then I just went to the poster guy myself and I said, ‘(Expletive) it. I don’t like any of those.’ I just changed to Broken Lizard,” Chandrasekhar said.
“I wanted people to think about Monty Python. Another reptile in the mix… kinda thought by casual word association, people might get the idea that is what we were doing.”
When it comes to the rumors out there that we'll get more Super Trooper quotes with a Super Troopers 2, Chandrasekhar told Movie Fanatic, “There is!”
There is a legal issue between Fox and Broken Lizard as to figuring out exactly how much money the first movie made. “We’re in a discussion with Fox and going to settle it for good. Once that’s done, we will move on to the conversation about the second one,” Chandrasekhar said.
Chandrasekhar admitted that it could still not happen, but he told us he’s optimistic Super Troopers 2 will get made.
“It’s up to them (Fox). They can stop us from doing it. But, I’m friends with them over there and I think once we get that legal issue out of the way, we’re going to have a quick talk and we’ll let you know if it’s going to happen again,” he said.
From the sounds of it, as soon as a green light is given, Chandrasekhar and his Broken Lizard comics will be back in their law enforcement uniforms. “We’re written 12 drafts of the thing! It’s not like once a decision is made, we will be just starting. We will go at really quickly.”