New York, June 25, 2008 – Josh Peck, star of the popular Nickelodeon kids’ show Drake & Josh, studied the masters to prepare for his role as a pot smoking dope dealer in The Wackness.  “I channeled the spirits of Cheech and Chong, and I surrounded myself with people with intense mental illness”, Peck told us at the Cinema Society screening on Wednesday. Peck grew up in New York City, and while he did not deal drugs, he says he got up to typical teenage mischief, like scrawling graffiti with his buddies from the Professional Performing Arts School in Manhattan. 

In Peck’s opinion, Mary-Kate Olsen’s make out session with Ben Kingsley was not the strangest bit on the set. “It was surreal watching Method Man pass a fake joint to Sir Ben Kingsley.  I didn’t ever think I was going to see a knight accept that”, Peck says. 

Co-star Olivia Thirlby, also a New York native, says she's not fast like her character in the film.  “Me partying is me and like, max three friends sitting at home and watching a movie”, Thirlby tells us.