The Feb. 22 premiere of Kevin Smith’s newest film, Cop Out, starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan as a pair of goof-off flatfoots trying to recuperate a stolen Anthony Pafko baseball card worth $50,000, felt a bit like a comic police state. The two leads arrived at AMC Loews Lincoln Square separately and were surrounded by vast entourages.
Jane Krakowski of 30 Rock was the first to show, rushing through a covered tent in a powder-blue, knee-length dress and silver pumps with 4-inch heels, but O.C. star Adam Brody was feeling more chatty. We asked about his police record. “Man, I got busted shoplifting, stupidly, as a teenager,” he said. “So it was the San Diego Police Department. Actually it was the Fry’s Electronics undercover cop.” What did you steal? we asked, expecting to hear something expensive. “A camcorder battery,” he said.
Wearing a red leather tracksuit, Mr. Morgan zoomed past, creating a mass scramble that left his co-star (temporarily) unmolested by cameras and microphones. Mr. Willis was wearing a silver-tinted suit and tie. “I’m good friends with lots of New York cops and you should be, too,” he advised us with an extended finger. “Well, just in a really general way. I play cops, they’re cops …”
Guillermo Diaz, who plays the Mexican gangster Poh Boy in the film, said he had two run-ins with the police but would only talk about being pulled over for a busted taillight when he was 17. “They were cool, they were fine, but I was scared shitless. I mean, I’m Spanish, I got a shaved head, c’mon, man.” And the other incident? “It wasn’t so good,” was all he offered, adding how much he’s enjoyed working with actress Michelle Trachtenberg on NBC’s Mercy.
