Film Clips: cast members of “Reno 911!: Miami” in character
‘Reno’ officers stay in character
When traveling to promote “Reno 911!: Miami,” three of the performers in the big-screen adaptation of the Comedy Central series, which began as a spoof of the syndicated show “Cops,” preferred to stay in character. The trio – Niecy Nash, Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant as Officer Raineesha Williams, Lt. Jim Dangle and Deputy Travis Junior, respectively – didn’t pull any punches when discussing their outrageous R-rated satire, which has the outlandish characters attempting to attend a law-enforcement convention in Florida.
“This film is a documentary of our brave heroics, but they (the studio chiefs) consider it a comedy,” Lennon said as Dangle. “I’ve been with the sheriff’s department for 13 years, and one of the producers, Danny DeVito, and these other Hollywood types came to us and wanted to document how we’re keeping the streets safe.”
“The audiences watching the film are slapping their knees when they see Raineesha in a thong or me in candy underpants,” Garant said as Junior. “These are events that actually happened in our private lives.”
“I think people are looking for heroes on patrol,” Nash said as Williams. “But thanks to all of the lies that have been spun (by Hollywood power players), who knows what audiences are going to see.”
And is a sequel planned?
“A second movie is not up to us,” Nash said as Williams. “All I know is that when you sign a contract, you sign your life away.”