Comedian Bert Kreischer transitions to the big screen with The Machine, a film inspired by the legendary stand-up routine recounting his brief involvement with Russian gangsters. For those unaware, the extremely short version of the story is that, while on a college field trip with his Russian language class, young Bert partied with a gaggle of Russian thugs. Events culminated in them forcing him to help rob an entire train, including his own class.
While promoting the release of The Machine, Bert Kreischer spoke to Screen Rant about his work on the film, from the difficulty of playing himself to his joy at getting Mark Hamill to play his father. He also shared how he had to begin a workout regimen to pull off the film's numerous action scenes, even though he wasn't allowed to look skinny for the sake of his true-to-life character.
Screen Rant: I started listening to her because, after I got this job, I was like, "I should figure out how to do it." Screen Rant: That was my intro to you and Tom, and now you have your own show, and I was like, sweet. Anyway, this is such a perfect premise to a movie. A sequel to a stand... It feels reductive to call it a stand-up routine, because you're a storyteller, that's a distinction I like to make with you.
Bert Kreischer: That would be great! When I watched it, I started... The opening scene, where they go into the casino and you meet the gangster, I started bawling, crying! I was like, "I could watch this! If I ever get paralyzed, play this on a loop, it's all I want to see!" Screen Rant: I imagine there's a fire under your ass at all times, where, if you don't knock it out the park, Tom's never gonna let you hear the end of it.
Bert Kreischer: No, we got on a Zoom, a casting Zoom, and Mary Parent just leaned into the camera, while we were talking about who's going to play the dad, and Mary Parent leans in and goes, "Your dad is going to be played by Mark Hamill. I set up a Zoom for tomorrow at 3:00 PM, I hope you guys enjoy each other." And I was like, "How the fu*k did you get Mark Hamill? How the...