Bill Hader reveals his iconic 'Superbad' character is inspired by real cop who once reprimanded him for prank
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Bill Harder has starred in numerous noteworthy films throughout the years, but fans praise him for his depiction of Officer Slater in 'Superbad'. The comedy movie featured Harder and Seth Rogen as police officers. Both did a fantastic job of portraying the characters who cross paths with the main characters.
The actor appeared on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' to promote the fourth and final season of his HBO show 'Barry'. While speaking on the show, the 'SNL' star revealed a funny story behind his character in 'Superbad', a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age film by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Hader and fellow comedian Rogen co-starred as Officers Slater and Michaels in the 2007 comedy. A high school student named Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) convinces the buddy cop team that he is a 40-year-old man named McLovin so they accompany him for a night out.
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Prank went wrong
While speaking on the show, Hader revealed he was arrested by a cop when a prank went wrong. According to him, the idea of pranking was inspired by his father's story, which he shared with the actor. The 'IT: Chapter 2' alum said, "My dad did the classic 'let me tell you something I did, but hey, you guys can't do this,' and we were like, 'Uh-huh."
He went on to explain this story of how his father and his friends would place a fishing wire between two trash cans that were located across the street from one another to get passing cars to plow into the wire and send the cans flying into the cars.0
The 'Barry' actor revealed that he and his friends went ahead with his dad's anecdotes. They used two trash cans and a giant piece of rope to recreate the prank along a four-lane street. He continued, "It's late at night. We're at a park, we're waiting, and here comes a car. I'm like, 'Alright, ready, go!' And we pull it up. The car goes through… It's a cop car. The rope is too long that the trash cans go behind the car and they bang into each other."
The comedian's cool-guy act
Hader laughed as he recalled trying to appear unbothered in front of the tense officer, only to be reprimanded with profanities and then being told to pick up litter. He stated, "Everybody ran, but I was like, 'Aww, I'm gonna be cool. So I went over to my car and was just smoking a cigarette, like, 'Hey, what happened, officer?'"
The former 'SNL' cast member recalled how the policeman who busted him and his colleagues for their joke made him pick up beer cans while shining a torch on him. He attributes the unique experience to giving him the idea for his 'Superbad' character. He said, "I remember when I did that movie… and I go, 'I got messed with by a cop with glasses,' and Seth was like, 'Oh yeah, that's, like, so lame. I can't take a cop with glasses seriously!'"
'Barry' Season 4 premieres on HBO and HBO Max on Sunday, April 16, 2023.