Tucker Max gives off-beat words of advice to college kids

     If you are a college student and you do not know who Tucker Max is by now, let us introduce you to the life of a narcissistic playboy. Five years ago, Tucker collected 27 of what he considers to be his best personal life stories into one book and published it as "I Hope they Serve Beer in Hell."              

     The book is a hilarious account of his outlandish adventures throughout college and law school. Tucker, along with friend and co-producer Nils Parker, recently made the New York Times bestselling novel into a movie by the same name and released it one week ago.

  The movie, starring Matt Czuchry as Tucker Max is about a road trip to the ultimate strip club. The entire story line of the movie is based on actual events that Tucker lived and experienced. But how does the book compare to the film and also separate itself from the plethora of comedies today?

The Vista: How did the book develop into a movie?

Tucker Max: After the website blew up in 2002-2003, we knew we had something big. We went the TV route for four or five years, but we did not want these Hollywood douche bag's to f**** this s*** up. So that is when me and Nils decided to write a script and it became one of those big things in Hollywood. Eventually, the guys who made "Donnie Darko" financed it. 

V: How does this movie differ from "The Hangover":

TM: Our movie has edgy, raw humor. Being shocking and being edgy are different things. "The Hangover" is funny but it is not believable. Tigers in taxicabs doesn't happen, chickens in a Vegas hotel doesn't happen. I have spent a lot of time in Vegas and you do not pull anything on a Vegas hotel. There is no way Mike Tyson is going to have some f****ing weirdos in his house. Everything in our movie could and did happen. I did the two most preposterous things in the movie, one f*** a midget and two; the s*** scene. 

V: So, you wanted this movie to be as real as possible?

TM: Exactly. I wanted it to be raw and authentic, but still funny. I want people at USD to say, "Dude that totally happened to us." Nobody says "remember when we threw that Asian guy in our trunk?"

V: How hard was it to pick and choose which stories to use?

TM: Dude, it's like picking which kid to take to Disneyland. But I made this film not for the established fan. I made this movie for people who have no idea who Tucker Max is. I want people to walk in with no concept of who I am but take everything away from my story. 

V: Why did you decide to take the more universal approach?

TM: I saw the movie "Watchmen," which was based off a book and had a following like my book. The movie was beautifully made but I hated it because I did not understand it. The movie was made for all the "Watchmen" fan-boys. If you have to read a book to make sense of a movie, you're doing it wrong. Me and Nils took the opposite approach. 

V: How hard was it to be true to your fans but attract that universal viewer?

TM: It is not that I do not love my fans but lots of people do not know about me. So I had to make a movie that is true to the book but understands that most people who see [me] do not know who I am. 

     While most people probably take a superficial look at his work, Tucker Max sees it as something completely different. Yes, the book and film are mostly a collection of stories about drinking and debauchery, but there is much more to it. Throughout our entire interview with Max he kept harping on one fundamental question that all of us must answer: What are you going to do with your life?

V: My professor called you an a** h**** and people generally think you are a jerk, but what is the deeper message of your film, book and life in general?