Shannon Elizabeth has said that while “American Pie” was very much of its time, it would be problematic if it was released today. The actress, who played Nadia in the hit 1999 comedy, felt lucky to appear in the teen flick. However, in hindsight, one scene in particular was questionable, to say the least.
The “American Pie” scene Shannon Elizabeth is referring to is one in which Nadia is filmed by the male characters as she gets changed in the bedroom. However, the video also happens to catch her masturbating, and the clip gets played to her entire school. As a result, Nadia gets sent home to the Czech Republic and nothing at all happens to the boys.
Elizabeth, like many people, takes issue with the horrific message this sends. She likes to think it would be different today. “If this had come out after the #MeToo movement, there would definitely be a problem. I think that it would have gone down differently,” she told Page Six.
Shannon Elizabeth’s “American Pie” experience was a bit awkward
Universal Pictures
She added that even filming the scene was “weird” since she was new to acting. “It was a closed set. And it was just me in this room and the boom guy above me,” she recalled.
“I was like, ‘This is so weird.’ It was a square room they had built in the middle of a warehouse. And we made everyone that didn’t need to be there leave set. That’s the main thing I remember. Just me and the boom guy, and trying to make jokes with the directors and make light of it because if I wasn’t nervous, maybe they wouldn’t be so nervous … I just tried to make it no big deal.”
Shannon Elizabeth also took issue with the accent she was asked to use in “American Pie.” She struggled to impersonate a Czech accent and felt she’d done a really bad job. She even asked her friends not to see it as a result.
“I told all my friends, ‘This movie’s gonna suck’ ’cause they messed with my accent so much! I was like, ‘No, they’re ruining it, don’t watch it,'” she admitted. “A lot of people did say my accent was terrible and I’m like, ‘Yeah, ‘cause they messed with it – they didn’t let me do what I wanted to do.'”
Featured image credit: Universal Pictures
