I’m proud to say that American Pie was the first R-rated movie I ever snuck into a movie theater to see. More than 20 years later, it remains one of the most defining comedic films of the ’90s.
In order to help celebrate this incredible feat, I’ve managed to compile these 10+ American Pie behind-the-scenes secrets that fans didn’t know. Let’s dig in!
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Believe it or not, while *American Pie* may be a cult classic film now, once upon a time, companies didn’t have faith in it.
The movie, however, ended up performing beyond what people expected, and now people love to look back and remember the laughs they got from the movie.
However, just because people love to look back and laugh at it, that doesn’t mean they know everything about it!
Thankfully, that’s why we are here!
Let’s get into all these fun and interesting secrets behind the making of the film!
1. It was Seann William Scott’s first film role!
How is that even possible? Sean embodied the character of Steve Stifler so well, you would swear he’d already been doing it for years.
What’s even more astounding is how much, or rather how little, Sean was paid.
Sean took home a meager $8000 for all his hard work.
The first American Pie film alone grossed more than $235 million — and that was in 1999!
Without a doubt, Sean is one of the biggest contributing factors to the film’s success. His pay out was criminal.
2. Eugene Levy threatened to walk off the set.
Jim’s dad was originally written to be a bit of a creep, a fact that didn’t sit well with Eugene.
He expressed his feelings and suggested that perhaps the film wasn’t right for him.
So, in the end, they came up with a plan that ended up sitting well with Eugene Levy.
The Weitz brothers opted instead to have Eugene ad-lib all of his lines as he saw fit, which allowed him the creative freedom he needed to feel good about the film.
3. *American Pie* is inspired by the “great” comedies of old.
Adam Herz grew up watching films like Porky’s and Bachelor Party . He’s said that what he enjoys most isn’t that the films are raunchy but that they’re unapologetic .
If nothing else, American Pie is certainly that.
4. Alyson Hannigan had a hard time breaking character.
After you utter the phrase “One time, at band camp…” for the thousandth time, it sticks with you. That’s what Alyson found to be true while she was filming her scenes.
She would often catch herself muttering the phrase in between takes and even at home!
5. No, *American Pie* didn’t invent the term MILF.
I don’t think this acronym needs explaining, so I’m not going to bother. The first documented use of the term MILF took place between the years 1987 and 1995.
There really are stats for everything nowadays.
6. *American Pie* was Adam Herz’ first screenplay.
Adam was only 26 years old and a complete unknown in the industry.
He began shopping the script around Hollywood under the working title “Unfitted Teenage Sex Comedy Which Can Be Made for Under $10 Million That Studio Readers Will Most Likely Hate but I Think You Will Love.”
7. *American Pie* created an all-out bidding war.
When the dust settled, Universal Studios was the winner. They paid an impressive $650,000 upfront as well as another $100,000 once production had begun.
Adam Herz went from being unable to pay his bills to a Hollywood success literally over night.
8. It was originally rated NC-17!
If a movie has an R-rating, anyone who is under the age of 17 has to be accompanied by an adult.
However, if a movie is NC-17 , that means that you have to be at least 17 years old to see the movie — even if you have adult supervision.
9. The studio had only one caveat to Adam’s vision.
The studio was on board with every single raunchy, borderline disgusting idea that came out of Adam Herz’ head.
Their only stipulation along the way was that no matter what, the film had to test well with women .
10. One scene in particular upset censors.
You’ll probably be shocked to learn that the MPAA had some issues with Jason Biggs making love to a pie. After some heated back-and-forth, the film got its R-rating after they reduced the number of thrusts in the scene.
I wish I was joking, but I’m not.
11. Eugene Levy wasn’t the only cast member who ad-libbed a memorable moment.
During the sex scene that takes place between Jim and Michelle, there was no written dialogue.
It was Alyson Hannigan who came up with the idea to yell “Say my name [expletive]!”
Speaking of that most memorable sex scene, that was all Jason Biggs!
Jason’s body double was fired for apparently showing up to work with a giant 8-inch long scar across his torso.
So Jason, being the professional that he is, opted to do the scene himself!
12. Stifler’s pale ale scene was done with a mixture of beer and white eggs.
Sean has said that while he was filming the scene, he had to fight the thoughts in his mind that kept trying to remind him of what the cup was actually supposed to be.
13. Blink-182 makes a cameo appearance!
During the scene where Jim is live-streaming his bedroom to the world, Blink-182 is the band practicing in the background!
What’s borderline insulting is that in the credits, the band’s former drummer, Scott William Raynor Jr., is listed, and not Travis Barker .
14. Chris Klein and Seann William Scott had to practice lacrosse a lot before they filmed.
In fact, they had to practice for three weeks to get prepared, and in the end, doubles ended up filming the scenes anyway!
15. John Cho was 26 during the time of filming.
So that would definitely have made him the oldest person playing a high schooler.
He was actually out of the country during filming, and when he came back, he was surprised by how famous it had gotten.
“The first time I really remember it is I had shot *American Pie*, it was just a little bit role, I didn’t think anyone would know what the movie was – I was out of the country, shooting another movie, and had missed the release of *American Pie*, and was unaware it was a really big hit.”
“So I came back to America, and kids were chanting ‘MILF! MILF!’ at me on the street. And I was really confused, and it took me a while to understand what was happening actually,” he told Cinema Blend.
16. Universal Pictures didn’t think the movie would do well.
In fact, they sold the foreign rights so that they had some kind of security in case the movie had failed.
However, as we now know, the movie ended up doing fantastic and is now a cult classic.
Do you know any more behind-the-scenes facts about *American Pie*?
Or were you pleasantly surprised by all of the facts we presented you with?
Either way, let us know down below in the comment section! We would love to hear from you!
