Eugene Levy Remembers His Early Career + Why He Almost Turned Down ‘American Pie’

Eugene Levy is nothing less than a master of his craft. A sketch and improv comedy legend who first cut his teeth out of Toronto’s Second City chapter, later rising to onscreen prominence with “SCTV” through the late ’70s and early ’80s, Levy went on to pop up in memorable supporting and bit roles in cult favorite indies and tentpole studio comedies alike. (His longform sketch work with Christopher Guest in films like “Waiting for Guffman,” “Best in Show,” and “A Mighty Wind” just about defines the genre and is a lesson for any actor in the craft.) Now, he’s Emmy-nominated for co-creating and starring on Pop TV’s “Schitt’s Creek” with his son, Dan Levy, and longtime collaborator Catherine O’Hara. The same week he was honored with Newport Beach Film Festival’s lifetime achievement award, Levy talked through his career with Backstage, including why he almost didn’t take one of his best-known roles as the cringey but supportive Mr. Levenstein in the “American Pie” franchise. 

How did you first get your SAG-AFTRA card?
I think it was a movie called “Going Berserk” that I did with John Candy and Joe Flaherty. I did a film in 1979 with Michael Douglas, a film called “Running,” but that was shot in Canada. I don’t know whether I needed a SAG card for that, even though there were some scenes shot in New York.

Is it true that you almost didn’t do “American Pie”? 
Oh, my God, I didn’t want to do it when I read the script. It read really raunchy to me, and I said, “No, no, no.” My manager at the time, I’ve always given him credit for this, he said, “We’ll just go in and take a meeting,” and I said, “Why would I? Why would I want to be in a movie that I would never go and see?” “Well, just go and do it. You’re the only adult in the movie, it could do wonders. Just meet the guys.” I didn’t like the script, not only because it was raunchy, but I didn’t like the character as it was written. I didn’t like the kind of nudge-nudge, wink-wink aspect that this father had with his kid. It was kind of like he wanted to be friends with his son, and I didn’t like that. 

So I had a meeting with Paul and Chris Weitz—two brilliant kids at the time, I was so impressed with how smart they were and what a great handle they had on comedy. And meeting them, I kind of looked at this project as: This could turn out to be a little brighter than I thought by reading the script with these guys. And they said, “What don’t you like about the character?” I said, “Everything. I don’t like anything about it. I’d change everything!” And they said, “OK, we’re shooting in two weeks. Why don’t you come in next Saturday, you’ll meet with Jason Biggs, who plays your son, and we’ll go through and maybe improvise what you want to do.” And I said, “OK, that sounds good.” And so we did! We got together and started with what the first scene was, and we just started improvising, and it started feeling good and funny and there were laughs and it felt real and I loved Jason. Then they said, “Well, what do you think?” And I said, “This is fun to me now. I see it now. Sure, let’s do it.”

What’s one screen performance every actor should see and why?
Phew! Oh, man, it’s hard to pinpoint one. Maybe “The Godfather,” because of just the great character work in that movie. Not only the movie was spectacular on a number of levels, but just from an acting standpoint, I’d say “The Godfather.”

What’s one piece of advice you would give your younger self?
Focus a little more. I never really took anything as seriously as I should have. I don’t think I ever really put in the work. I think that’s probably what I would say: Take it seriously.

What’s your worst audition horror story?
[There are] too many to mention. I never loved auditioning. I was never really good at it, primarily for the reason that I would go in as myself, and that was not a good thing for me when I was starting. I almost lost “Splash” because I didn’t want to audition for it. I was in “SCTV” at the time with John Candy, and I think because I knew I was not really good at auditioning, I kind of used that as an excuse. I said I would go in for a meeting with Ron Howard, but I didn’t want to audition. So they said, “Fine, you’ll go in and take a meeting.” And I went in, and we were having a great meeting with Ron, and every now and then he would say, “Yeah, boy, it’d sure be great to hear what that voice sounds like of Walter Kornbluth. I would really love to—” “Yeah, yeah, I know, but I’m not auditioning.” “Oh, no, no, no, yeah, I know, and that’s fine! That’s fine. But just to hear it would be so good because your voice, I know I can hear your voice in my head and it just makes me laugh, I just wanna—” “OK, fine! I’ll read.” And I went in and read the scene and got the movie. I guess that’s not a horrible experience, but the fact is I came that close to not getting it because I think if I had not actually done the reading for him, he would’ve moved on.