Amidst the craziness and protests of the Raleigh, N.C. premiere of the Tucker Max-penned I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, recess’ Charlie McSpadden had the chance to exchange a few words with the blogger, author and general offender of common decency. But in the calmer aftermath, McSpadden spoke to Max about his new movie, his alma mater and persona, fratty Duke bro to former Duke bro.
What was it like seeing someone else interpret you and then instructing him to be more like you?
[Max portrayor] Matt [Czuchry] is complete opposite from me in real life. He is empathetic, compassionate and literally the nicest dude I’ve ever met. Getting him to the point where he could accurately play me was definitely interesting.
Other than comedy, is there anything else you want your audience to take from the movie?
The movie is about Tucker’s narcissism, and it’s about how his narcissism impacts his life and his friends’ lives. Tucker’s friends dump him because he’s such a narcissistic prick… but no one can go from a narcissist to not a narcissist, so Tucker learns how to model the appropriate behavior, he learns how to act the appropriate way.
What do you make of the NC State protestors’ claims that your movie promotes rape culture?
The idea that I promote rape culture is just ridiculous, it’s actually offensive. It’s so wrong and so preposterous and so politically motivated, it’s offensive. Not just to me, but to women.
You’ve said in the past that the best thing about Duke is its proximity to UNC-Chapel Hill and its female population. Do you still hold that opinion of Duke?
The only thing I liked about law school was that I had great friends. And to be totally honest, none of us liked Duke as a university. We liked hanging out with each other and going to Franklin St. and partying. We went to grad school, which was definitely different from going to undergrad there. I think undergrads have a better experience. I mean, Durham is just a s—hole.
Do you still use your education in what you do now?
Not really, man. To be honest, I didn’t go to class a lot in law school, and I didn’t do a lot of the reading because it was stupid and boring. They say law school teaches you how to think, but I already learned how to do that s— in undergrad.
Do you think that the organic nature of your original stories has disappeared as you become better known?
It’s not just my stories that have changed necessarily. My style has changed, and my life has definitely changed. About 95 percent of the girls I hook up with now meet me to hook up with me. As long as I make sure my art and my voice change with my life, then everything will be OK. If I try to hold on to something that is gone, then it’ll get kind of lame.
Is there anyone that inspired your antics or career?
From a personal standpoint, Eminem. From a business standpoint, Tyler Perry. From a writing standpoint, Chuck Palahniuk and John Kennedy Toole.
Whom do you see as your peers?
No one. I am so far ahead of everyone in terms of what it is I’m doing in my field, there’s no one even in my field I can think of or speak.
You came in the right place and at the right time, at the beginning of blogging and you took it and ran with it.
It is so much easier to do now what I did. The idea that a blog could even become a book at all was laughable in 2002. My book is the second book to ever go from blog to bestseller. The first one was Julie & Julia.
You’ve become very good at self-branding. Do you think you can take your model and help other people out?
That’s exactly what I want to do. My model for my career is hopefully going to be like Dr. Dre’s. He helped invent a genre the way I did and was one of the pioneers, one of the best in his day. But better people came along. What I can do is help the next Tucker Max. Dude, I invented this genre, I started it and I’m f—ing great at it. But I’m telling you, right now, unequivocally, that someone can do it a lot better than me. The Eminems and the Biggies of this genre have not come along yet. But when they do, they are going to need a Dre to help them. And I’ll be there to be that Dre.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.