Kids often get up to the darndest things in family comedies, but the grown-ups aren’t that much better behaved in The War With Grandpa. The film, which arrives in theaters on October 9, follows widower Ed (Robert De Niro) as he wages a battle against his grandson for the right to his bedroom.
When the stakes get too high to handle alone, he must rely on a little help from his friends – including Jane Seymour and Cheech Marin. The veteran actors spoke to Screen Rant about what it was like to reconnect with their inner children and just what they thought of the already infamous dodgeball scene.
Can you talk to me a little bit about your characters and how they fit into the some of the shenanigans that go on?
Jane Seymour: Diane is working at a sort a store where De Niro’s character comes in, and he’s used to being able to talk to someone and buy whatever he wants to buy. But now he’s told he’s got to do it automatically, and he just can’t keep up with the times. He’s very frustrated by it and befriends Diane.
Then when he realizes that he’s now got to go and live with his own daughter’s family and turfed out the grandson from his room, and he realizes he needs friends and he doesn’t have very many friends, he turns to Diane and just says, “Hey, will you come and help me? I’m at war with my grandson.” And she goes, “Hell yes. I’ll join in.” And then you know, they become this wonderful crew, his two male friends and me. We all get together and get up to no good.
Cheech, you want to tell me about Danny?
Cheech Marin: Oh, I can’t. It’s against the law. No, he’s a guy they call up. “Hey, you want to go visit our friend?” That’s pretty much his motivation.
No better motivation than that. Your comedic timing completely shines through. Can you talk to me about the different skills you have to use for comedy?
Cheech Marin: Comedy is timing. I mean, everything is timing, but comedy particularly is timing and it involves listening. If you listen for the right time, you get in there. That’s really what it is, and it’s a thing that shouldn’t be there. That’s what comedy is; the incongruity of things.
Jane, can you talk to me about some of the mischievous things that Diane gets involved with?
Jane Seymour: Diane knows that occasionally a hip flask might come in handy. She’s got the bits that are needed, and I think she likes Robert De Niro’s character rather a lot. So, she’s quite happy to help him out. But it’s fun. I think she gets to be one of the guys, and a lot of women like the idea of being one of the gang.
Cheech, the dodgeball scene is one of the highlights in the film. However, it looked exhausting to shoot. What were some of your favorite memories that didn’t maybe make it onto the camera for that sequence?
Cheech Marin: When they said, “Cut! Okay, that’s a wrap for the day,” that didn’t make it. I liked that one. I was terrified during that same, because I had a bad knee and I thought I was going to come down to it and then be shipped back home. It really hurt, so I was very careful in that scene. Because I used to be a professional dodgeball player on the European circuit.
Jane Seymour: Ridiculous. I mean, I have never seen or participated in dodgeball – certainly not trampoline dodgeball. I’m going, “We’re walk? We’re going to jump up and down, and throw balls at one another’s faces? What are the Americans thinking of? Isn’t life dangerous enough. Why would we want our children to do this, let alone our grandparents?” Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Cheech Marin: They called us in – the guys; me and Robert and Chris – a week early to come down to this place. To the trampoline place to see, actually, how decrepit we were. So, we get out there and me and De Niro are next to each other. “Okay. Yeah, we got this. We’re cool,” as the guys are doing backflips off the walls.
Key Release Dates
The War With Grandpa
Release Date:2020-10-09
