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Ghost Canyon

Preston Jones   ('Road Trip: Beer Pong') Preston Jones ('Road Trip: Beer Pong')

'Ready, Aim ... Lob!'

Three college roommates are in for the ride of their lives in the most awesome road trip ever when 'ROAD TRIP - BEER PONG' is served on DVD August 11, 2009 from Paramount Famous Productions, Montecito Picture Company and DreamWorks.

The over-the-top follow up to the smash hit comedy Road Trip, 'ROAD TRIP - BEER PONG' is the hilarious story of friends with a thirst for competition who are determined to win the National Collegiate Beer Pong Championship.

But their path to glory is filled with unplanned pit stops including a family of frisky strippers, a hitchhiking, gun toting beauty and a bus load of Chastity Until Marriage girls.

An insanely irreverent ode to everyone’s favorite drinking game, 'ROAD TRIP - BEER PONG' has it all: hot girls, hysterical comedy, wild parties and random incriminating acts. The unrated version is even crazier, sexier and more jaw-dropping as the outrageous adventure gets even raunchier.

The film stars DJ Qualls (Road Trip), Preston Jones (Superbad), Michael Trotter (The House Bunny), Nestor Aaron Absera (Van Wilder: Freshman Year), Danny Pudi (“Greek”), Julianna Guill (Fired Up, Friday the 13th) and Julia Levy-Boeken (“Entourage”).

I recently had the opportunity to speak with star Preston Jones about the new movie 'Road Trip: Beer Pong' ... and, well, about penguins!

Firstly, many thanx for doing this interview with us today [Jones] "You're very welcome!"

No worries, my friend ... so, taking it from the top and your very first TV appearance was in 1984 as 'Christopher' on 'He's Not Your Son.' But then you disappeared from our screens until 2004! Knowing, of course, that you were indeed only 1 at the time, it's safe to say that you weren't bitten by the acting back too early in life! So, why come back into the business some 20 years later? "The "He's Not Your Son" movie was a complete fluke. There was an ad in the Dallas Morning Newspaper looking for a baby to play the role of Christopher. My Aunt spotted it and sent in my twin brother and I's pictures, and they called us. We stood in a line full of other babies in a huge casting call, had a brief interview with the producers and director, and got the phone call that we got cast in it. But after that film, it was just too hard for my parents to drive back and forth to Dallas for auditions (it was about two hours away from where we were living at the time...a small town, Hico, TX. population 1200)."

"So we put the film biz away and I never thought about it again really until I was a senior in high school. Then all of a sudden, I got hit hard with the acting bug. I was playing competitive tennis at the time, and completely quit the sport to audition for all the plays at my high school that year. I ended up being in all 4 plays that year, and was encouraged by my high school acting teachers to keep pursuing it in college. In college, I acted in a dozen plays and a few TV pilots, and became so passionate about my craft and pursuing acting for a living, that I moved to L.A.!"

"I have to tell you this story though because it's funny how life goes in a complete circle. So when I first moved to L.A., I got a job at The Actors Fund, which is an organization that raises money to help actors with healthcare, etc. They were putting up a staged reading of Casablanca at the time, and I realized that the two actors who played my parents in "He's Not Your Son" in 1984 were going to be there (Donna Mills and Ken Howard)!"

"Ken Howard was performing and Donna Mills was going to be in the audience! So over 20 years later, I got to go up to them and say, "do you remember the baby that you held for that entire movie, 'He's Not Your Son?' Well, that was me!!!" Donna Mills screamed and Ken Howard kissed me on the forehead. I'll always remember that!"

Cool, very cool. OK, so you studied Theatre and Radio Television Film at The University of Texas at Austin (wow, that's a mouthful!), so what was one of the most important lessons you took away from all that Uni time? "I'd say that the most important thing I gained from college was to always keep learning, and never quit being spontaneous. College is all about learning new things and trying everything! I covered SO MUCH ground in college. I switched majors three times, took a class on Lying and Deception (which I refer to a lot), was a Video Jockey on a campus TV show, went to China and Scotland, went skydiving...I think I even went to a foam party!"

"See, unless you go to college you would never know what that is. In fact if you are reading this and don't know what a foam party is, chances are you didn't go to college:) But some of my best memories were from pulling all-nighters to study for tests and the crazy things that happen at 4am with your friends, making horrific (I mean HORRIFIC) student films that we took way too seriously, and of course, BUFFETS. There has been no other time in my life that I could eat that much food so easily. I think I gained 40 pounds my freshman year. Don't even try to find the pictures....they are no where to be found:)"

Please tell us more about your latest role, that of Andy in 'Road Trip: Beer Pong' and what we can expect to see from him on screen? "I play Andy, who is the down to earth, everyday college guy who has had the same girlfriend for 5 years. I always hang with my college buddies, Jake (major stoner dude) and Korkin (a womanizer who always tries to get me to hook up with other women). The three of us are unstoppable in beer pong and go on a road trip to compete in a national beer pong championship and also to find out whether or not I should stay in the relationship with my hometown girlfriend of 5 years, or dump her for a HOT French beer pong model."

"En route to the tournament, we of course run across some obstacles...we get detained and tortured by the CIA, steal a taxi that gets stolen from us at gunpoint by a crazy hitchhiker, almost get beat down at a grandmother-mother-daughter stripclub, and end up on a bus with some lovely ladies with Chastity Until Marriage (don't look at the acronym there). Oh, yeah, and I sing and play the guitar naked."

In real life, whether it be in someone's back yard or in their basement, how good are you at Beer Pong? Myself, I'm an ex steel tip darts player and so found my aim at these drunken parties to be very, very good! So, if you're good too I'd like to challenge you one day for charity :-) "I had never actually played prior to filming, but in between takes we had nothing else better to do than to play, so I have gotten pretty good. Michael Trotter (who plays Korkin) and I played at the wrap party and must have beat out 10 different teams in a row. We were undefeated that night and played for about 3 hours."

"Maybe we were a little lucky, but I'll call it pure skill. And since Paramount gave us our own Beer Pong Tables as a gift after filming, I play quite often. It's kinda addicting. And I will ABSOLUTELY CHALLENGE you in beer pong for charity. Are you kidding me?! That would be awesome! I'm waiting for your call."

As best as you can, please reveal a behind-the-scenes (fun) secret about the filming of 'Road Trip: Beer Pong' that hasn't been revealed (by you, at least) in any interviews thus far! "When we were shooting the last scene in the film, where we are competing in the beer pong championship, it is written in the script for Andy to throw the ping pong ball over the beer pong table and into the opponents cup that he is HOLDING IN HIS HAND. If a player can make that shot, it's called the Death Cup, which ends the game. Well, the producers and director had planned on creating this shot through special effects because they didn't have the time on set to wait for me to actually make it. But they also didn't want to pay for the CGI."

"SO on set in front of the cast, crew, and probably 75 extras, they gave me a challenge. If I could make this shot, the producer and director would each give me $100 bucks. So the camera went rolling, and I fired away at the cup, banked it off my opponents chest, and sunk it in the cup!!!! I made an extra $200 that day.....although I did take the cast to dinner that night:)"

"Another story is that it was down to me and one other guy for the role of Andy. A week had gone by since the last producer and director session so I was wondering what the hold up was. Well Paramount called my agent and asked them if I could sing and play the guitar. I told them I could do both very well (apparently that Lying and Deception class in college did pay off). Well, I have never played the guitar in my life! I couldn't even play one chord! Nor have I had any singing experience whatsoever."

"So when I got the call that I booked it, I'm not gonna lie, I freaked out a little....got into a guitar class and singing class the next day. Fortunately I didn't have to shoot the scene where I play the guitar and sing until the last week of shooting. So I ended up having 4-5 weeks to practice. But lets just say that I have a whole new respect for guitar playing!"

You currently have 2 movies in post-production, '(818)' and 'Detention' - but what can you tell us about your work on the latter with the late, great David Carradine as Principle Hoskins? "Detention is a horror/thriller movie about a group of teenage high school students that get sent to DETENTION, and find themselves locked in class after their detention teacher disappears. The teens get frantic as ghosts appear and the storm outside gets worse. I play the role of Paul, who starts off in the film just trying to get the nerve to ask out his best friend, Lisa."

"But after being sent to Detention by Principal Hoskins (David Carradine), strange things begin to happen and Paul steps up to lead his peers and love interest out of the Detention room and out of harms way. I get to save the day! It was very fun to work on."

"It was a joy to work with David. He is such a likeable guy, and never held back conversing with the cast and crew. I feel fortunate to have worked with him."

Are you currently working on/filming anything else we haven't discussed, perhaps? "I just did a few episodes of True Blood. I play Dirk who goes off to the anti-vampire Christian leadership camp with Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten). I do have another project that I want people to keep an eye out for called Spring Break 83 with John Goodman. I play the role of Chip who is a jock that is out to make all the nerds lives a living hell."

"It's an over the top hilarious comedy about jocks vs. the nerds. It's very Revenge of the Nerds-esque. This was a different role for me than Road Trip Beer Pong and Detention, which was a blast to play. They are planning a theatrical release, but I don't know what date yet, but stay on the look out."

You have a twin brother - so, is he also following in your acting footsteps? "Hahaha....He tried acting with me in high school, but then quickly realized he was doing it because I was doing it. I was a lot more talented and got bigger roles. j/k We did Romeo and Juliet together, where I played Romeo and he played Paris...so I got to kill him. Lots of fun!!! I actually called him the other day because there was a big studio film looking for identical twins, and I asked him if he'd be interested in auditioning, and his first question was, "Do I have to act?" So there's your answer."

"I am actually very very close with my brother. We talk pretty much every day, and definitely have a special bond being identical twins. He lives in Texas and owns a tailor made suit business called djones tailored collections. I don't think I would ever be the type of person to promote his business while promoting my latest films...but if I were to be someone who'd do that I'd tell you to check out" www.djonestailoredcollection.com.

Knowing that there was also a Playwright named Preston Jones who is best remembered for 'A Texas Trilogy,' are you related to him in any way, perhaps? "What's funny is that I get asked this question probably more than any other question. And I just can't believe that so many people remember my grandfather's three plays so well. He used to sit down with me at a young age and tell me stories about.....okay fine jokes over...no relation to him whatsoever!"

Lastly, and throwing you a journalistic curve ball, Exclusive Magazine loves Penguins ... do you?! "Ha! I'm pretty positive that if Exclusive Magazine were a human, we'd be best friends. I love penguins. In fact given the choice between having children or penguins, I might choose penguins!"

Interviewed by: Russell A. Trunk

www.myspace.com/prestonleejones

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