Clark Duke is going to be "Michael Cera's best friend" no more. Of course, the two stars of the internet sensation Clark and Michael are still buddies, but Duke is about to develop his own fan base with his movie-stealing turn in the teen comedy Sex Drive. Playing against traditional casting, Duke plays the suave player of the film, the guy who is so confident that he can get any chick he wants. He joins his buddies, Ian and Felicia on a crazy road trip that includes a sarcastic Amish guy played by Seth Green, a vile encounter with a hitchhiker, and a gun-wielding donut. It's hard to explain. Just see it. Duke sat down with us in Chicago at Angels & Kings, a club owned by Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy, who happen to be featured in the film itself. Duke is a laid-back, confident, and funny guy who gives the impression that Sex Drive is just the beginning of a long road. He may not be a household name yet, but he almost certainly will be by this time next year with Sex Drive and two other very exciting projects about to be released. He spoke about all of it and The Deadbolt was there to listen.

THE DEADBOLT: Have you gotten a chance to see it with an audience yet?

CLARK DUKE: Yeah, yeah. We've been doing a lot of these screenings. I really can't watch it any more. (Laughs.) I've seen it like eight times. I can quote the whole thing.

THE DEADBOLT: Are there any surprises seeing it with an audience?

DUKE: Oh yeah. It's weird. Like when we're in the jail and I back the guy down and turn to the camera and give this face, that gets applause usually. But that was the set-up. The joke was where Josh punches the guy. That was just supposed to be set-up and it gets this huge laugh which is weird.

THE DEADBOLT: Anything that you LOVE that audiences don't really respond to?

DUKE: There was this line. You know Dave Koechner? He plays the hitchhiker. It was my favorite line in the script. She goes "Hey, we need you to pee in the radiator." And he originally goes "Why?" And she says "We just do." And there was a line where he would pause and say, "Well, I could sh*t in it." And that was the funniest f*cking line. It just killed me that it was his logic. "I don't have to pee but I could sh*t in it." Four screenings in a row - crickets. No one. I was like "AHHH!" and no one else laughed. And they cut it out of the movie because it doesn't get a laugh. I couldn't believe it. That was my favorite line in the whole script. "I don't have to pee but I could sh*t in it."

THE DEADBOLT: What does Halloween smell like?

DUKE: I don't know, man. I was just yelling things. Everyone seems to really like that line. They seem to really dig that. I think it's very specific though. A lot of people know what it means. (Laughs.)

THE DEADBOLT: What was your favorite teen comedy?

DUKE: All the John Hughes stuff in the '80s.

THE DEADBOLT: Was that an intentional inspiration for Sex Drive?

DUKE: I think this has a real '80s vibe. It has a lot of heart in addition to all of the raunchy stuff.

THE DEADBOLT: What's your favorite Hughes flick?

DUKE: Pretty in Pink.

THE DEADBOLT: Why?

DUKE: It's just Ducky and James Spader. James Spader is so f*cking amazing. I like Risky Business a lot too. They both have really cool cars. And Spader had that Porsche in Pretty in Pink.

THE DEADBOLT: Marsden reminded me of Chet in Weird Science.

DUKE: Totally. Marsden IS Chet. He's so good. My favorite line of his is "cockspert."

THE DEADBOLT: How much of his stuff or the script in general is improvised?

DUKE: He was all improv, I think. All of it. I mean the script is really funny but they were really open to us improvising. We do a couple on-book and then go off with it. I think me, Jimmy, and Seth [Green] did it more than anyone else, I think.

THE DEADBOLT: Why is that?

DUKE: It's just the stuff I enjoy doing. Some of Jimmy's funniest stuff is stuff he made up. He just went for it. He seems like he's having fun in this. It was extremely fun to make. It's been the most fun thing I've worked on, by far. And they left in a lot of the natural improv stuff that happened, which I was really happy about.

THE DEADBOLT: Anything in particular that you like to take credit for?

DUKE: There's a lot of stuff that gets laughs like the stuff in the car. The Steve McQueen line. The Trapper Keeper. In the jail when I said I got raped. 'Cause that was just in the wide shot and I did it in the wide shot, dicking around. There's no coverage of that, if you watch it, and they left that in. I was real surprised that they left that in. That always gets a laugh.

THE DEADBOLT: Going way back, you've had success in TV and online, why make this your first film? Teen comedies can be a risky genre, a lot of them don't work, what appealed to you about this one?

DUKE: We still don't know if it will work. (Laughs.)

THE DEADBOLT: It's coming out in over 1,000 theaters. That's a success for the genre.

DUKE: Yeah, yeah. I just thought the script was funny. And we kind of clicked with the director and co-writers. I really loved those guys.

THE DEADBOLT: Was anyone else attached when you signed on?

DUKE: No. I think I was the first attached.

THE DEADBOLT: I think one of the interesting things about the movie is trying to keep characters believable in ridiculous situations like gun-wielding donuts.

DUKE: Totally. The stuff is so broad, like the set-pieces and scenarios, that you try to keep the dialogue as natural as possible, just so it's grounded.

THE DEADBOLT: I felt like there was an honest attempt to do that.

DUKE: I was trying to. And I thought Josh did a nice job of anchoring it, playing it straight.

THE DEADBOLT: Are you more like Lance or Ian?

DUKE: Lance.

THE DEADBOLT: What can people learn from Lance?

DUKE: Believe in yourself. You just got to be comfortable in your own skin. I think that's the message of the film - that Ian is trying to be something he's not. He's trying to be Lance. At the end, he gets happy when he's just being himself.

THE DEADBOLT: What was the toughest part of the shoot?

DUKE: All the stuff in the car was pretty exhausting. You're just sitting in the car all day. It gets really old.

THE DEADBOLT: Not running through a corn field naked?

DUKE: That was pretty sh*tty too. Two days of being naked. Running through corn. (Laughs.)

THE DEADBOLT: If Sex Drive makes American Pie money, do you come back for a sequel?

DUKE: I don't know if this movie needs a sequel. Me and the guys that wrote and directed it are talking about doing another movie, but not a sequel. I don't think this one needs a sequel.

THE DEADBOLT: But if it makes $200 million, they're gonna come and ask you.

DUKE: I don't know. We'll see what I'm legally obligated to do, I guess. (Laughs.)

THE DEADBOLT: That's true. It might be out of your control.

DUKE: I don't think anybody has any intent of making a sequel though.

THE DEADBOLT: You've done a lot of work writing and directing. Are you more comfortable in front of or behind the camera?

DUKE: Both. Anything you get to make is really rewarding. Long term, I think I'll do more behind the camera stuff. Yeah. I'd say so. Not solo. We'll see what happens.

THE DEADBOLT: Do you plan out your career or are you just taking it as it comes?

DUKE: Man, I don't know where I'll be in like ten days. (Laughs.)

THE DEADBOLT: Is there anyone you look at and go "That's the career trajectory I want"?

DUKE: Yeah. Somebody like Jon Favreau. I like the career he's had and continues to have.

THE DEADBOLT: Very diverse. You can direct Iron Man 3.

DUKE: (Laughs.) Yeah. Sure. Obviously. It might be much more conversational and there wouldn't be a lot of action. It would be weird.

THE DEADBOLT: You've worked with Seth Green a few times now in this and some Robot Chicken.

DUKE: Yeah, I'm gonna do some more I think.

THE DEADBOLT: What's his acting style like? I imagine he's real laid-back.

DUKE: Oh, totally. Seth is a cool customer. I couldn't imagine anyone else playing that part now.

THE DEADBOLT: Being in the home of Fall Out Boy, what music do you like?

DUKE: I listen to everything, man. My all time favorites are like Big Star, Bowie, T. Rex. T. Rex is my all-time favorite.

THE DEADBOLT: What do you listen to now?

DUKE: I really like that Midnight Juggernauts album. I listen to more dancy stuff.

THE DEADBOLT: Do you get fanboy over anything?

DUKE: Oh, totally. I thought Iron Man was really good. I actually liked The Incredible Hulk too just because I'm such an Edward Norton fan. There's directors I get excited about. David Fincher. Any Scorsese movie. I haven't seen the new Woody Allen but I want to see that.

THE DEADBOLT: Let's talk a little about Matthew Vaughn and Kick-Ass, the movie you just shot with him.

DUKE: I love Matthew. Layer Cake is like one of my favorite movies. Kick-Ass is based on a Mark Millar comic, the guy who wrote Wanted. I'm not a huge part. Just supporting. I just wanted to be in it because I'm a huge fan of Matthew and the comic. And I think it's gonna be really awesome. I watched them shoot some of the costume stuff and it's insane. It's not slick. It's very real. I just play the best friend of Kick-Ass but I don't know he's Kick-Ass.

THE DEADBOLT: What's Matthew's style like?

DUKE: Matthew is just so cool. He's like one of the coolest dudes I've met. His wife is a supermodel. He's total baller status. He's really funny. Darkly funny.

THE DEADBOLT: He allows a lot of improv too?

DUKE: So far.

THE DEADBOLT: What if you were in like a David Mamet or Woody Allen movie, people who don't allow for a lot of improv? Would you be comfortable?

DUKE: If it was like Mamet where the dialogue is so solid. The rhythm of the dialogue is part of his style. Kevin Smith too. So, it's kind of like you know what you're signing on for. But, by and large, I find it hard to do anything word for word. It seems kind of limiting to me. And it's not about disrespect for the written stuff. It's more about making it natural for me to say.

THE DEADBOLT: Let's talk about A Thousand Words a little bit.

DUKE: It's Eddie Murphy, which was pretty bizarre and unbelievable to work with. Eddie plays this blase, loud-mouth literary agent who is just kind of full of sh*t in general. And he gets this curse put on him where he only has a thousand words left to say before he dies. All of a sudden he can't talk, the one thing he's good at. I play his assistant who he's just kind of abusive too. I'm scared to death of him.

THE DEADBOLT: Big part?

DUKE: Yeah, yeah. I'm excited. I saw a couple of scenes yesterday doing ADR. It's totally surreal seeing yourself with Eddie.

THE DEADBOLT: Someone who's been around that long, you hear all kinds of stories, good and bad. What was your experience with Eddie like?

DUKE: Mine was a total pleasure. He couldn't have been nicer. Really supportive and great. Fun to work with. It's a little bit of a departure from him from recent stuff. He only plays one character and it's got some dramatic elements to it to. It's not broad comedy. There's the physical stuff he does so well but it's got drama too.

THE DEADBOLT: So, you do Sex Drive, Kick-Ass, A Thousand Words. You've been all over promoting this. Do you worry about getting exhausted?

DUKE: I'm exhausted right now. (Laughs.) As soon as these are done, I'm gonna collapse on the plane.

THE DEADBOLT: How does a kid from Arkansas make it to where you're at?

DUKE: It's kind of what I always wanted to do. I just always was drawn to performance and creative stuff. It's always where my interests have lied since I was little.

THE DEADBOLT: What's your advice to someone who has the same interests?

DUKE: I have no idea, man. Everyone takes such a different path. I know people who are classically trained who can't work. I have no idea.

THE DEADBOLT: Did you do any acting school?

DUKE: None. I went to film school at Loyola Marymount but no acting.

THE DEADBOLT: Do you recommend that?

DUKE: I recommend it if you want to be in production. I wouldn't have been able to shoot Clark and Michael. Film school is good because that's where you can make your mistakes. Plus, I got a lot of value out of the more physical production oriented classes like cinematography or editing and you can work on people's shorts. I think you learn a lot from that.

THE DEADBOLT: Do you worry about critical response in general?

DUKE: You go into making a sex comedy and a broad comedy not really expecting the critics to hail it as a masterpiece. Our only concern was to make a funny movie, which I think we did.

Sex Drive opens this Friday, October 17th.