Return of the ‘American Pie’ Girls
There will be nudity. That comforting assurance comes from American Pie 2 director J.B. Rogers, who is proud that the sequel to the 1999 pastry-violating hit also includes “lesbians, tantric sex, a visit to band camp and a kinky accident with Krazy-Glue” as it follows the gang of horny high school grads through the summer after their freshman year in college. The whole cast is back, including Jason Biggs as Jim, the guy who fucks the pie. But Pie 2 would be yesterday’s prune danish without Shannon Elizabeth, Mena Suvari and Tara Reid, the trio of actresses who bring an endearing innocence to even the grossest screen high jinks. “Nothing seems to faze them,” says Rogers. “There’s no squeam factor. Tara is not offended by our crude antics; she adds to them. Shannon is willing to act against her sex-symbol status, always pushing for more comedy. We did this scene where she’s in bed, and she said, ‘What if I’m drooling in my sleep?’ So we shot it that way. And Mena’s overt sweetness is tempered with a wicked sense of humor. We were working on a piece of dialogue that involved referring to somebody’s balls, and she said, ‘Why don’t we make it dirty balls?’ And I said, ‘All right, Mena, dirty balls it is!’ ”
Despite these raucous displays of bawdy consciousness, Suvari, 22, Reid, 25, and Elizabeth, age firmly undisclosed but widely reported as 27, insist that — like their Pie characters — they have matured. Damn. Two years ago, when Rolling Stone asked each actress to talk about her virginity and losing it, the answers ranged from demure details (Mena) to a dissertation on orgasms (Shannon) to the benefits of booty calls (Tara). Today, Mena is married to cinematographer Robert Brinkman, sixteen years her senior, whom the American Beauty star met on the set of the cheerleader comedy Sugar and Spice; Shannon is engaged to actor Joe Reitman (The Perfect Storm); and Tara is a free woman, having broken off her high-profile engagement to Total Request Live host Carson Daly. “Guess what?” Tara announces in that smoky voice of hers. “Carson Daly is not a part of my life anymore. Nor will he ever be. And if you want to quote me on that, go right ahead.”
So there. During a break in a Los Angeles photo shoot that has the Pie girls posing in various states of undress, Mena searches for a yogurt, Shannon attends to Dingo, one of her five dogs, and Tara — all nervous brio — drinks a Diet Coke, smokes a Marlboro Light and checks the messages on her constantly ringing cell phone. She is flying tonight on the red-eye to New York to enjoy time in the Hamptons before heading off to Europe with girlfriends, all newly single. “I have nothing or no one to upset me anymore,” she says. “Now I will be the hot girl.” As we all sit down to talk, Tara proves her point, firing off missives into her Motorola two-way pager.
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What should every man know about women?
Shannon: [Laughing nervously] Do you want to take this one, Tara?
Tara: Treat them with respect. Stop being such a tough guy.
Mena: You should always talk about everything and appreciate each other.
Shannon: If you get in a fight, talk about why — don’t let it build up until you blow up.
What should every woman know about men?
Mena: They’re the opposite sex?
Tara: I guess their limits, ’cause ours are different.