Stifler From "American Pie" Was Inspired by Fort Lauderdale Man Now Charged in Fishtales Murder
Categories: Crime
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| Krebs, left, provided inspiration for Stifler. |
Stifler, the oversexed and foul-mouthed jock from the American Pie movies, was partly based on the man police say stabbed to death a local drummer during a bar fight at Fishtales. Update: here's Krebs' booking photo.
Brian Krebs, who is in jail awaiting charges on first-degree murder and four counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, went to high school in Michigan with American Pie's screenwriter, Adam Herz.
Herz spoke to New Times on the phone today from his home in Beverly Hills. He wouldn't confirm the Stifler-Krebs connection, but two people familiar with the screenplay confirmed that Krebs provided some of the inspiration for the Stifler character.
Herz said he had heard about Krebs' murder charge from an email chain going around friends from East Grand Rapids High School, from which Herz and Krebs graduated in 1991. "It's terrible that somebody I knew murdered someone. It's disgusting," Herz said. "Was he a violent person then? No. But was he a bit unusual? Yeah."
The Steve Stifler character appeared in the first American Pie movie in 1999. Played by Seann William Scott, Stifler was the hard-drinking lacrosse player for the fictional East Great Falls High. Stifler showed up again in American Pie 2 in 2001 and again in American Wedding in 2003. Since then, Stifler has become a cultural reference for dumb, skirt-chasing jocks.
Police say the April 17 altercation at Fishtales started when Krebs got into an argument about his bar tab. He returned later with a steak knife and allegedly stabbed popular local drummer Jimmy Pagano in the neck. Pagano fell to the floor bleeding to death, and Krebs is accused of stabbing five others before being tackled. Customers and employees then beat Krebs badly enough that he spent two nights in the hospital before he could be booked on the charges he now faces.
When asked about the connection between Stifler and Krebs, Herz initially said he didn't want to answer the question. Later in the phone call, he said the character was a composite based on several people he knew in high school. But two people familiar with the original script say otherwise. When asked about that discrepancy, Herz said, "It's not something I feel comfortable talking about."
Herz said he hasn't seen Krebs since high school and hasn't kept track of what his old classmate was up to (but they are friends on Facebook). "I keep asking myself, 'Somebody in my high school class murdered someone?' That's a hard thing to take."
Follow County Grind on Twitter: @CleanPlateBPB. Follow Eric Barton on Twitter: @ericbarton.
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