John Francis Daley has talked to Vulture three weeks into directing the new Vacation reboot, which he co-wrote with screenwriting partner Jonathan Goldstein (Horrible Bosses), and has offered a hint at a possible “Freaks and Geeks” reunion!
Before he was a sought-after screenwriter on films like Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 or a series regular on “Bones,” Daley played the role of awkward High School freshman Sam Weir on Paul Feig and Judd Apatow’s groundbreaking “Freaks and Geeks” for it’s sole 1999-2000 season, and when discussing his own two-line cameo in Vacation he teased the return of the show’s “Geek” faction.
“I don’t think I can even give away what my role is,” said Daley. “I don’t know if anyone even knows this yet, but Samm Levine, and it’s looking like Martin Starr, will also be in the film. I don’t know if they’ve been confirmed yet in the cast, but it’s looking really good. I just wanted a chance to get the three geeks back together, in the same project.”
Daley hopes the shows old fans, as well as younger viewers who have caught the show on Netflix, will appreciate Levine (who played funnyman Neal Schweiber) and Starr’s (uber dork Bill Haverchuck) potential appearance, hopefully as a trio.
The 29-year-old Daley also talked up Vacation, which he sees as a hard-R follow-up to Harold Ramis’ original 1983 comedy classic.
“It is its own movie in the sense that the times have changed,” Daley offered, “and it’s certainly more R-rated than the first one was, but it’s got a lot of allusions to the first, and some of the comedic sensibility is similar. And we didn’t want to remake the movie. This is strictly a reboot/sequel. Ed Helms plays Rusty, Christina Applegate is his wife, and they have two sons now.”
Also starring Chris Hemsworth, Charlie Day, Skyler Gisondo, Steele Stebbins, Keegan-Michael Key, Regina Hall, as well as returning stars Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo, the Vacation sequel/reboot will be released by New Line on October 9, 2015.
