Back in 2001 a little film called WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER hit the big screen on only 12 screens and only made $295,000 US at the Box Office on a $1.8million dollar budget, so you would think “ahh who cares” well this movie has become somewhat of a cult hit and Netflix care’s so much its reviving the movie into an 8 episode mini-series which has just started shooting.
Now for those who haven’t seen the movie you might be quite blown away by the cast list…
Janeane Garofalo (Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion)
David Hyde Pierce (TV’s Frasier)
Marguerite Moreau (TV’s Grey’s Anatomy)
Michael Ian Black (TV’s ED & Burning Love)
Zac Orth (TV’s Revolution, Romeo & Juliet)
Paul Rudd (I Love You, Man)
Christopher Meloni (TV’s Law & Order)
Molly Shannon (TV’s Saturday Night Live)
Amy Poehler (TV’s Parks and Recreation)
Joe Lo Truglio (Superbad, Pineapple Express)
Ken Marino (TV’s Eastbound & Down)
Judah Friedlander (TV’s 30 Rock)
Elizabeth Banks (The Hunger Games)
Kevin Sussman (TV’s The Big Bang Theory)
Bradley Cooper (American Sniper, American Hustle)
Now WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER was made before half of these actors about were even on a radar, Bradley Cooper had been only on a TV show I have never heard of and filmed an episode of Sex and the City same goes with Elizabeth Banks.
The synopsis from the movie
On August 18, 1981, Camp Firewood, a summer camp located near Waterville, Maine, is preparing for its last day of summer camp, which means counselors have one last chance to have a romantic encounter with another person at Camp Firewood. The summer ultimately culminates in a talent show.
Beth (Janeane Garofalo), the camp director, struggles to keep her counselors in order—and her campers alive—while falling in love with Henry (David Hyde Pierce), an astrophysics associate professor at the local college (actually Colby College). Henry has to devise a plan to save the camp from a piece of NASA’s Skylab, which is falling to Earth.
Coop (Michael Showalter) has a crush on Katie (Marguerite Moreau), his fellow counselor, but has to pry her away from her rebellious, obnoxious, and obviously unfaithful boyfriend, Andy (Paul Rudd). Only Gene (Christopher Meloni), the shell-shocked Vietnam war veteran and camp chef, can help Coop win Katie—with some help from a talking can of vegetables (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin).
All the while, Gary (A.D. Miles), Gene’s unfortunately chosen apprentice, and J.J. (Zak Orth) attempt to figure out why McKinley (Michael Ian Black) hasn’t been with a woman; and Susie (Amy Poehler) and Ben (Bradley Cooper) attempt to produce and choreograph the greatest talent show Camp Firewood has ever seen.
Netflix has gone all out with this series getting pretty much ALL of the original cast back again plus even the original writers of the movie. I am intrigued to see how they end up shooting it because most of the actors above are rather busy these days shooting either TV shows or movies, maybe they will film it the same way they did with the last season of Arrest Development, where 90% of the time the other person in the scene wasn’t actually in the room and it was just “creatively edited” to look like they were. BUT I am hopeful they will get them all back together fully and maybe we will even get to see some on the set pictures soon. Netflix did release this video ‘teaser’ for the new series.
Creator/Writer David Wain has said the TV series will be a prequel and will start at the beginning of Camp which should be interesting considering the actors are nearly 15 years older then what they were when the film came out.
I honestly can’t wait to see this show, I’ve seen the movie around 20 times so I just hope it brings back the fun and weird of the original including the talking can of vegetables.
