B.L. Big change for you, Jeremy. You play the "established" guy in Old School. Usually we see you in the smart-ass roles.
J.P. Hey, you've got to grow up sometime, right? It was great. Maybe finally people will respect me a little. You put on a sweater vest and a blazer and people have some respect for you. I really wanted to play a guy who I've never played before so it was a blast. I really loved doing it.

B.L. When you read for the film, did you intend to go for that specific part?
J.P I knew that the boys (Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson) had been set. They sent me the script and I read it and I thought that it was so funny and I knew that those guys would be great. It was really written with their voices in mind and I could see them in each part. I knew it would be incredibly funny and all I cared about was being part of a great movie.

B.L. So, did you guys fraternize on set?
J.P. Absolutely and I would have definitely yukked it up more with those guys but I had to step out of it and play a more serious guy who is their arch nemesis. But, with something like this, it's conceived so well you can just trust it. There's no method work for a movie like this, so we had a chance to have fun when we weren't in character.

B.L. Have you had any fraternity experiences of your own?
J.P. I had a really strange one where I was at a fraternity party and I was dancing and I saw these flames flickering and I looked outside and a car had wrapped around this telephone pole. I looked inside and there were these hands pounding at the window. So I tried to kick in the windshield and pull them out but I had these moccasins on and I couldn't break the windshield. Right behind me was this football player who had found a cinder block and smashed in the window and I reached in and I pulled this woman out and I put her down. Moments later an ambulance came to take everyone away and luckily they were fine. A girl came from a sorority and I knew that she was friends with the people in the car, and we told her that what had happened and all she could say was, "Right. Sure that happened." We kept trying to tell her that her friends were in the hospital but she wouldn't believe us. I guess because we were in this strange fraternity, she didn't have any trust in us. But indeed, I pulled her friend out of a flaming car! Not a very funny story - but I swear to god, a true story!

B.L. That's intense. So your frat experience wasn't quite the frivolous...
J.P, don't get me wrong, there was a lot of frivosity going on!

B.L. Frivosity?
J.P. Yeah, look it up. (laughing) I think it's a new flavor for Sprite.

B.L. If you were going to start a fraternity now for the plus 30 set, what features would it have?
J.P. Similar to the one in Old School. Just kind of like all inclusive, come one come all. If you step up, you can join. It wouldn't be one of these kind of elitist type situations. It would be just about fun and anarchy where everyone can join in.

B.L. With girls and music and beer?
J.P. Oh, that's a given. All of that stuff is a must.

B.L. You have had a very full career, given you have done serious drama, stage work, TV, film and some really raucous comedy. Do you have a preference?
J.P. No, it's all good. It all really relates to one another in some weird way, it's all one and the same. I love to do it all and I'm showing that I can still have fun and do it all. It's important to vary yourself around because the last thing you want is to be stuck or typecast in one category.