'21 Jump Street' Directors Take Johnny Depp Series to the Big Screen

Filmmakers Chris Miller and Phil Lord first met in their freshman year of college, when Miller lit Lord's girlfriend's hair on fire. "Naturally, we became fast friends," Miller notes. While it's impossible to get the duo to elaborate further on the story, they insist they're being serious, and a collaboration was born. After cutting their teeth in television, the pair made their feature writing-directing debut with the animated hit "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." Now, they find themselves helming their first live-action film, the hilarious revamp of the 1980s series "21 Jump Street," starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as police officers who go back to high school on an undercover assignment. Look for appearances by some of the original cast members and clever shout-outs to others—pay close attention to what's on the TV in the background—from the show that first introduced a young actor named Johnny Depp.

Back Stage: Were you both fans of the original series?

Chris Miller: We were. I watched the show because the popular girls in my school watched it and I thought we could talk about it in the hallway or something. That didn't happen.

Phil Lord: You got the last laugh, Chris.

Miller: But we have a real fondness for it. Even though we wanted to do the movie in a very different tone and style from the original and make it its own thing, we wanted to make sure we honored the show and put a lot of little details in there for people who were fans of the show. We liked this idea of getting a second chance to go back to high school.

Back Stage: I know the project originated with Jonah, but how much say did you have in the rest of the casting? For example, who had the brilliant idea to cast Ice Cube as the angry captain?

Lord: That was something that Jonah and [screenwriter] Michael Bacall dreamed about before we even came on. It was obvious to all that that was the one and only casting choice. We wrote it for Cube, and he was gracious enough to bless us with his presence.

Miller: Jonah was on board before us, but everybody after that we were very involved with the casting process. We knew we wanted to have a lot of improvisation in it so we were very picky about making sure everybody could think very quickly on their feet. That was true for everybody, including Ice Cube, who was great at it.

Lord: You would think a former rap star could freestyle a little bit!

Miller: We put a lot of these guys through the wringer of bringing them back for chemistry reads with Jonah and Channing. Dave Franco, I think we had him come in six times. Rob Riggle came in four times. And they were all amazing at coming up with great stuff in the moment that feels like part of the story.

Back Stage: Was there any hesitation in casting Dave, as he looks so much like his brother, James Franco?

Lord: Not really, because he was so lovable and once you get to know him, he really distinguishes himself. People haven't seen enough of him yet, he's great.

Miller: The thing about Dave is that, in his chemistry read, you could see he was not only real and in the moment and funny, but what he did to Jonah was so interesting. You could tell Jonah really wanted Dave to think he was cool, which worked great for the character. It was similar with the chemistry between Dax Flame and Channing; Channing had never seen someone as awkward and unique as Dax, and it was so baffling to him it was like he was talking to an alien. And how confused that made him was hilarious. What these guys brought out in Jonah and Channing was almost as important as what they did themselves.

Back Stage: Is it true you took acting lessons to prepare to direct the film?

Lord: We did, we took them from a woman named Maggie Kiley, who is a great actor, now director. Dealing with actors on a daily basis isn't something we've done much of, so we felt we had to beef up our chops a little bit. She designed a course with us that was some private teaching, plus some auditing of her classes for actors. And then we had quite a few sessions where she brought in some actors and she would watch us direct them and then give us notes.

Miller: It was good to think about the scenes from the actors' point of view and think about the goals of the scene. It was helpful from a writing standpoint, as well, to think about how to make a scene good by giving actors something tangible to play off of. Also, making us perform ourselves made us very vulnerable;you have to put yourself out there in a way that as a director you normally don't have to. It made us very sympathetic to the challenges of being an actor.