NEW YORK (AP) ā has been responsible for more movies than you think.
Yes, he co-wrote and lent his voice to 2007ās āBee Movie.ā But before that, āSeinfeldā ā where going to the movies, with or without the aid of Moviefone, was nearly as regular a destination as the coffee shop ā gave birth to dozens of (fake) films. āRochelle, Rochelle.ā āPrognosis Negative.ā āSack Lunch.ā
But nearly three decades after Seinfeld was, in one episode, cajoled into bootlegging āDeath Blow,ā he has finally made his first film. Seinfeld directed, co-wrote and stars in a star-studded comedy about the invention of the Pop-Tart premiering May 3 on Netflix.
The film, which co-stars Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan, Hugh Grant and others, is an outlandish, āMad Menā-inspired ā60s-set satire in which Kelloggās and Post Cereal are engaged in a cutthroat race to āupend Americaās breakfast table.ā
āWhen you see any scene of it you go, āWhat is that?ā And I was very happy about that,ā Seinfeld said in a recent interview. āI like that you look at it and go, āI donāt know what this is.āā
For Seinfeld, who has resolutely stuck to stand-up since āSeinfeldā ended in 1998, itās a rare post-sitcom project, joining a short and sporadic list including the short-lived reality series āThe Marriage Refā and the popular streaming show
āU²Ō“Ś°ł“Ē²õ³Ł±š»å,ā though, returns Seinfeld to one of his abiding passions. Remember all those cereal boxes in his apartment on āSeinfeldā? The Pop-Tart is a particular fascination, though. In his 2020 comedy special ā23 Hours to Kill,ā it formed an extended bit beginning with the childhood memory: āWhen they invented the Pop-Tart, the back of my head blew right off.ā
For Seinfeld, the Pop-Tart has an almost mythical quality. A movie about Oreos or Milk Duds or even Junior Mints wouldnāt work, he says. But the Pop-Tart is different.
āA lot of it is the word. Itās a funny word,ā says Seinfeld. āI heard Mattel is trying to do a Hot Wheels movie. That could work. Certain things really got us when we were kids, you know?ā
In a wide-ranging interview, Seinfeld discussed subjects large and small.
AP: āUnfrostedā began with an old stand-up bit of yours. Is it surprising to you that youāve made a movie about it?
SEINFELD: It was all (āSeinfeldā writer) Spike Ferestenās idea. I did not want to do it. I did not think it would work. Whatās a movie about inventing the Pop-Tart? Thatās not funny. And (āSeinfeldā writer) Andy Robin came up with the idea that itās āThe Right Stuff.ā And I went, āOh, thatās funny.ā
AP: You suggested you only say you love Pop-Tarts to make the joke work.
SEINFELD: I probably just said that to make that point. But I do love Pop-Tarts. I had one yesterday. We were doing a social media piece with Jimmy Fallon and Meghan Trainor. I took I bite and I went, āThis is fantastic.ā What I like about it is the man-made quality of it. I love great objects that fit in your hand in a nice way. A pack of cigarettes is one of the greatest things you can put in your hand. It just feels great. Dice feel great. I like a nice spoon. I like things. (Laughs)
AP: Youāve often spoken about your dedication to sharpening and sculpting a joke. Are you still driven by that?
SEINFELD: I started a bit the other night about your kitchen sponge on the sink looking up at you going: āI donāt know how much more you think I have. I was done two months ago.ā Now itās just growing and growing into his monologue of your kitchen sponge telling you, āLet me go! Let me die a rectangle, not in pieces.ā When I lock on to something like that, I just want to see how far I can go with it, how long will they let me talk about this.
AP: Youāre about to turn 70. Is that meaningful to you?
SEINFELD: No.
AP: Some entertainers turn inward when they reach their 70s, like Steven Spielberg did with But maybe this is a very personal movie for you.
SEINFELD: Very much. This is my āFabelmans.ā Because Iām not interested in my life. Iām interested in eating.
AP: Youāve said you want to do stand-up into your 80s and beyond.
SEINFELD: To the end. To the very end.
AP: You still feel that way?
SEINFELD: Yeah. The only hard part of my life is the other things. People do ask me about slowing down and I go, āThe work part of my life is not stand-up. Itās all the other things.ā Stand-up is an incredible, pure experience. Surfing is the great regret of my life that I never really got good at that. I did it for two weeks one time many years ago. But if you were a surfer, you would never stop doing it. Thatās what stand-up is for me. Feeling that energy, that natural life-force energy under you and around you, I never get tired of that.
AP: Are you thinking about another stand-up special?
SEINFELD: No, Iām not. ... I envy, sometimes, these little Italian artisans who donāt really care if anybody knows who they are or what they do. And stand-up can be like that. Any writing work is very lonely work. Stand-up, in a way, is kind of a private, lonely world. Iām going to Dayton, Ohio, on Friday. No oneās going to know what happened there. Iām very attracted to that. Iām more attracted to that than, āHey everyone, I made a movie.ā
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To read an expanded version of this interview, visit:
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
