Topher Grace and Demetri Martin attend Ann Arbor screening of "Take Me Home Tonight"

Dan Fogler and Topher Grace in "Take Me Home Tonight"
University of Michigan students were treated to a special screening of “Take Me Home Tonight” at the Michigan Theater on February 8th, with stars Topher Grace and Demetri Martin in attendance for Q&A. Grace had previously filmed in Ann Arbor, shooting “The Double” here and in Detroit, and he gave that as his reason for wanting to show the movie on campus. The movie revolves around Grace’s character, Matt Franklin, who has just graduated from college but is unsure of what he wants to do in life. When he finds out his high school crush is back in town, and she invites him to a party going on that night, he gleefully accepts, and he ends up having a very wild night, a la “The Hangover.”

Demetri Martin and Topher Grace at the Q&A
Demetri Martin has an extended cameo in the movie, and actually is not even listed on IMDB as being in the film. He says that “Topher produced this movie, worked really hard on it, and I’m proud to be a part of it. I’m kind of a guest in the whole thing but we’ve become friends in the process.”

He touched on the filming in Phoenix, which took about two and half months, although he was only there for a few days. Because the majority of the film is about a party which takes place at night, the cast members would shoot all night and then be done working around 6 or 7 A.M.

“[The cast and crew] were like vampires – you just work all night, and then go to sleep, and Phoenix is one of the sunniest places I’ve been to,” Martin commented.

Grace explained that they wanted to make a movie about the ‘80s, but one that wasn’t a spoof film. The soundtrack in the movie, then, was chosen appropriately.

“We wanted to have a strong ensemble cast and we loved John Hughes movies, so we kinda wanted to put it all together … before we hired writers, we made sort of a ‘ultimate mix’ and I would say 90% of that mix is actually in the film. We wanted it to be really kickass music and be ‘of’ what the characters are going through,” Grace said.

Martin talked further about movies made in the ‘80s:

“[Take Me Home Tonight] takes place in the ‘80s and I remember seeing ‘80s movies where, it’s such a funny ethic – you look at a lot of ‘80s movies and the goal to be, like, the richest f---ing guy in the world. And that’s the hero, and you want to root for this guy because, like, he wants to be the richest guy! That’s such a good thing to want – go for it! Where now, it seems like people have more of a conscience.”

Topher Grace addresses the audience after the movie
Both Grace and Martin also touched on issues that are prominent in the film, and to kids who are just now graduating from college.

“It was really important to us when we made this movie that Matt Franklin [Topher’s character] is a beautiful swan in the ‘90s but sadly in the ‘80s he’s like a really ugly duckling. Graduating, we thought, was always like a second puberty, and like the first puberty, you feel like everyone else has it figured out but you,” Grace said.

The screening in Ann Arbor will definitely generate buzz for the film – as of last night, even, there were already a few tweets online about the screening. In fact, Martin encouraged the audience to talk about the movie; he jokingly exclaimed, “if you love it, Twitter the hell out of it!”

“Take Me Home Tonight” doesn’t hit theaters until March 4th, but you can bet that this writer and the other Ann Arbor screening attendees will indeed be buzzing about it until then.

Topher Grace and Teresa Palmer in "Take Me Home Tonight"

Popular Posts

Review: Polar Pizza at Baskin-Robbins

Upcoming and GIVEAWAY: Mamma Mia! at the Fisher Theatre, Detroit, April 23-28 {ends Dec. 12}

REVIEW and GIVEAWAY: Allegiant Nonstop game center (Warren, MI) is fun for the whole family