For Nick Corirossi and Armen Weitzman, making ‘The Napa Boys’ wasn’t just about satire—it was about rediscovering why they fell in love with movies in the first place.
“We took the disrespected genre of straight-to-DVD ‘American Pie Presents’ and elevated them,” says Corirossi.
“It started from an emotional trying to remind ourselves of why we love movies and why it affected us so much,” offers Weitzman.
Filmmakers Nick Corirossi and Armen Weitzman discussed ‘The Napa Boys’ as both a loving homage to movies and a satirical response to Hollywood’s franchise obsession, drawing inspiration from everything from ‘Star Wars’ to straight-to-DVD comedies. They describe the project as an almost accidental, emotionally driven attempt to reconnect with the magic of cinema, balancing tightly scripted formalism over heavy improv while still embracing spontaneity. Shot in just nine days amid real-world challenges like the LA fires, the film became a deeply personal experience for the duo, who emphasized collaboration, ensemble performances, and giving even minor characters lasting impact. They also teased an unconventional DVD release with exclusive footage that reframes the film, while expressing pride in premiering at TIFF and hope that audiences will rediscover the communal joy of watching comedies on the big screen—and immediately want to watch it again.
Though billed as the latest installment of ‘The Napa Boys’ franchise, this debut film is a wild mix of ‘Wet Hot American Summer’ and ‘Sideways.’ A mysterious figure known only as The Sommelier sends a group of friends on a chaotic and comedic road trip through California wine country, blending absurd humor with affectionate nods to beloved pop culture and franchise filmmaking.
Magnolia Pictures released ‘The Napa Boys’ in theaters in Los Angeles on February 27 and in New York City on March 6 and expanding into additional markets.
Awards Focus: It’s so nice to meet you today. How are you doing?
Nick Corirossi: Great. How are you?
AF: I’m doing well. I’ve the hockey game on, figure skating on, so it’s a lot of multitasking right now.
Nick Corirossi: We love the Olympics.
AF: Armen, I was re-reading the press notes this morning. I don’t recall seeing you appear during ‘The Beatles Anthology.’
Armen Weitzman: Yes, well, when we were growing up, we heard that people did silly things like this when they lived their dreams. So I think you are right. It was humor-based. I was not actually playing bass for The Beatles, but in many ways, this movie is fake Beatles that’s come to life or like The Monkees, but all right, you get it.
Nick Corirossi: But we really play the instruments.
AF: Hollywood’s obsession with franchise filmmaking is ripe for spoofing. How did you end up with this particular idea in general?
Nick Corirossi: Well, I think one of the things that was important was obviously IP franchise filmmaking. In order to tackle that, we used a ‘Star Wars’ method where George took a disrespected genre of serials and elevated them. Similarly, we took the disrespected genre of straight-to-DVD ‘American Pie Presents’ and elevated them, infusing—similar to ‘Star Wars’—things like John Ford, Kurosawa, and also used it as a means to make a comment on everyone’s current IP obsession. For instance, yes, there are Stifler Jr. in the ‘American Pie Presents,’ but right now in ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu,’ there’s a Jabba Jr., so these threads are very tightly connected.
Armen Weitzman: I will add that it also was sort of an accident that we scientifically got here because it started from an emotional trying to remind ourselves of why we love movies and why it affected us so much. It was out of love. I just want to make sure.
AF: Yeah. I noticed how you all started with ‘The Napa Boys 4.’ Are we going to see 5 at 6 within the next, say, 3, 6 years, and then some 20 years later, go back and revisit ‘The Napa Boys’ 1, 2, and 3?
Nick Corirossi: There’s a great potential because just like George Lucas, we have mapped out all the other films from 1-6 the way that George did the prequels and the original trilogy. So, yes.
AF: What was the most challenging aspect of the production?
Nick Corirossi: The LA fires happened directly in the middle of the shoot. We shot the film in nine days, partly because of that. That was a very literal challenge
Armen Weitzman: I will say the other challenge was not crying on set because we were living our dreams and watching everybody shine, every actor and everyone. I just was happy that everyone got to have their moment and be free.
AF: With a cast of this nature, how much room was there for improv on set?
Armen Weitzman: Not a ton, of course. It may have gone too far in our society, but of course, we love that. There’s many famous moments or movies that are improv. We wanted to try to remind ourselves of the formalism, right? And the movie nature, the real magical.
Nick Corirossi: Not a lot of room for improv, but it was welcome in certain cases. I agree that in comedy, I think people began to rely more on improv than the film itself and this is also a response to that.
AF: Yeah. I know how the Judd Apatow comedies always have the Line-a-rama inserts on the bonus features.
Nick Corirossi: In fact, I would say that we have a bonus feature coming out in the DVD that was specifically shot only to be a bonus feature on the DVD. That will be hitting Barnes Noble very soon. A very special edition, uncorked, unrated two-disc DVD.
AF: How will that version differ from the theatrical?
Nick Corirossi: Oh, that’s a secret. It’s a secret. There’s a big scene, and it actually changes your whole perspective on the entire film once you see it. It’s a 10-minute long scene that we shot just to be a DVD feature.
Armen Weitzman: And maybe some extra creatures on the road.
Nick Corirossi: Oh, yeah.
Armen Weitzman: And special edition.
AF: I have to ask—were Jay and Silent Bob written into the script from the start or was this something that was added during the casting process?
Nick Corirossi: They were always in the script.
Armen Weitzman: Yeah, that was a dream. Yeah. No spoilers, but yes, that was a dream. They felt like they’ve been underrated, underappreciated. On paper, they are heroes, and they did achieve something from their hearts.
AF: How thrilled were you to premiere the movie in Toronto?
Nick Corirossi: It was wonderful. We love Toronto as a city, and we love TIFF as a film festival. We were so happy that they allowed ‘Napa Boys’ to play at their film festival.
Armen Weitzman: Yeah, I’d say. Yes. It was shocking.
Nick Corirossi: I literally submitted it to Cannes and TIFF, and it worked out.
AF: I saw it at one of the P&I screenings because my days of midnight movies are long over.
Nick Corirossi: How was your screening?
AF: Oh, it was a gazillion months ago, but I thought it was fine.
Nick Corirossi: Great. Good to hear.
Armen Weitzman: This is for the people and sometimes part of this was born from our being in the Hollywood bubble. Sometimes you forget when you were just with your friends and went to see a movie, when everything was far away and magical land and actors were over there.
AF: Yeah. One of my favorite parts is it’s a comedy movie that I got to see on the big screen, which is something that doesn’t feel like it happens often lately.
Nick Corirossi: It’s more rewarding the more times you see it, especially on the big screen with people that have no idea what they’re in for. It’s something that I think hasn’t happened in a while.
Armen Weitzman: It’s like the Wizard of Oz or something in some ways because it is made for the future. It’s subconsciously very wholesome and very loving.
AF: What was it like working with this cast?
Nick Corirossi: Wonderful. We wrote parts for specific people, and then other people magically entered. It was a beautiful thing. Every day was a different, wonderful cast member who also portrayed a character that you could project a lot more backstory on. It’s as if they were from other movies and their character lived outside of the movie and they would just show up for one moment, but had the immense projection of iceberg underneath the water.
Armen Weitzman: Everyone says that, or Paul Thomas Anderson is like, I love actors, and I just mean, I think we really just want everyone to shine. I think there is an element of just every character mattering that happens or used to happen, or you could watch Blazing Saddles or someone’s got four lines and you remember that forever. I just wanted to make sure it was a forever thing, not a disposable.
AF: What was the writing process like?
Nick Corirossi: We wrote it where I live at the Americana in Glendale on the balcony over a series of meetings and now it will be playing at the AMC at the Americana. It’s a complete manifestation of our dreams starting here and ending right here.
AF: How did the script evolve the most between the time you had that first draft completed and the time you all went into production?
Armen Weitzman: It was a little bit longer.
Nick Corirossi: I think it was 120-something pages, and it got down to 78 pages. It was an even more epic and massive scale and then we gold panned it into the necessities of comedy and story, but basically length, the original George Lucas ‘Star Wars’ was nearing, two and a half, three-hour running time.
Armen Weitzman: We wanted to trust the audiences with intelligence. I just mean some of that script may have been trying to explain the movie to the reader, but now, looking back, of course, it’s always been inside all of us.
AF: On that note, how long was the initial edit before getting cut down to the final runtime?
Nick Corirossi: It wasn’t that long, and we briefly even put in that special 10-minute deleted scene into the movie just to see if we needed it for runtime and we did not, luckily. But it was always around 1:30 to 1:40, yeah.
AF: What do you hope people take away from watching the film?
Armen Weitzman: Well, I would dare not say, but I think I would want them to just remember that there is good in the world or that there is a way for us to unite that isn’t just one way or the other, maybe a future way.
Nick Corirossi: And also, to watch it again. That they need to watch it again. I think it’s a rare movie where you can watch it the first time and then immediately play it back and have it be doubly rewarding.
Armen Weitzman: True.