Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence and Tracy Morgan revive 'Death at a Funeral'

Martin Lawrence, Chris Rock and Tracy Morgan surround a captive Peter Dinklage in "Death at a Funeral"

Can there be comedy in death? "Death at a Funeral" explores that concept with an all-star cast. Originally a British movie that was released in 2007, "Death at a Funeral" has been remade into a 2010 American version. The U.S. version of "Death at Funeral" (directed by Neil LaBute) includes stars Chris Rock (also one of the film's producers), Martin Lawrence, Tracy Morgan, Danny Glover, Zoe Saldana, James Marsden, Columbus Short, Luke Wilson and Peter Dinklage.

Like the original movie, the "Death at a Funeral" remake was written by Dean Craig and tells the story of what happens during a wacky funeral for a husband/father of a family with a lot of secrets. Here is what Rock, Lawrence, Morgan, Glover, Saldana, Marsden, Short, Wilson and Dinklage had to say about their experiences making "Death at a Funeral."

Why did you want to do this movie?

Rock: Just to make the American funeral movie. In the sense that "Meet the Parents" is really the American story of meeting the parents. We just wanted the American story of stuff that happens at funerals. This may be a bit much, but it’s very common for "the other woman" to show up at a funeral, or kids just show up at a funeral, or people find out they have siblings at a funeral, or getting served [with lawsuit papers] and finding out a spouse left them in tremendous debt. There’s a lot of scenarios that happen at funerals that just aren’t so smooth.

Tracy Lawrence and Chris Rock in "Death at a Funeral"

What can you say about any of your "Death at a Funeral" co-stars?

Rock: No one has a style like Tracy Morgan. And Martin [Lawrence] is funny. I say funny things. Martin is funny. So I’m more dependent on the line. Martin is not dependent on anything. Martin can get funny out of anything.

Short: I grew up on Martin. I grew up on Chris. I love Tracy. So to work with these comedic greats is the reason why I wanted to do [the movie]. You always want to be surrounded by people at the top of their caliber, whatever lane is, whether it’s drama comedy, action.

Marsden: When you’re the only guy in the middle of a eulogy and you’re standing up and pointing at the coffin and saying it’s moving and someone’s alive in there, and you have to turn the coffin over and out spills a body, you’re sort of on stage with all of these accomplished comedians and actors. It’s hard, but you have to let you. It’s easy to think that someone is judging you and saying, "Hmm, that’s not too funny." But they’re all really encouraging. From the beginning, they said, "You do your thing."

Saldana: It’s surreal. It’s really surreal to be on set with an amazing pack of comedians, because you know you’re going to have a wonderful time. And it’s exactly what I was expecting. Everybody’s kind of improvising on every take and taking it a step further with their characters …

And the good thing is you’re working with a really good director, because Neil [LaBute] has a way of pulling you back and keeping you at a balance, so we’re allowed to play. And whenever we sort f go out of our boundaries, then he’d pull us back in the most amazing playground-teacher way that you don’t even know you were reprimanded. But it’s hard to stay in character when you have Chris Rock there and he’s saying his monologue, and he can’t even keep a straight face. It’s hysterical!

Glover: You’ve got to bring your best stuff. It may not be the Comedy Store, but you’ve still got to bring your best stuff. On the one hand, there’s a banter that goes with that with them. And the more comfortable they get in the space and feel comfortable in the dialogue and comfortable in the scene, and all that comes out. It’s really wonderful, because I don’t consider myself funny, but at the same time, the way everything plays out, a lot of my humor surfaces as well.

Zoe Saldana and James Marsden in "Death at a Funeral"

How would you describe the American version of "Death at a Funeral"?

Rock: It’s the day of [Aaron’s] Dad’s funeral, and everything that can go wrong will go wrong. You wake up and it’s supposed to be the worst day of your life, but it turns out to really be the worst day of your life. In a lot of great comedies, that’s the through line: the worst day of that person’s life.

Morgan: It’s about a family, a secretive family at a funeral. You put those scenarios together, and you’ve got "tick, tick boom." This is not just a funeral, baby. This is a black funeral. And if you don’t act a fool, then you really didn’t care.

Short: Everything that can go wrong at a funeral goes wrong in this two-hour span, from bodies falling out of caskets to the wrong body being delivered, guests tweaking on drugs, family secrets, blackmail. So many things happen in this movie in two hours, it’s almost like, "What is going to happen next?"

Saldana: We are getting away with so many things that would never happen in a funeral. Sometimes even during a take Chris would stop and start laughing. It’s really hard when I’m tending to my boyfriend [in the movie], who’s in his own world. I keep telling Neil that there’s no way this would happen at a funeral.

Marsden: There’s something about the setting of a funeral being a fertile ground for comedy. It’s like getting the church giggles, right? Places where you’re not supposed to laugh, you want to laugh the most. That’s why I say, "Go see the movie." The tone should be one like a funeral, should be taken seriously, but obviously in this movie, we don’t. We go to other places.

Chris Rock and director Neil LaBute on the set of "Death at a Funeral"

What do you think of Neil LaBute?

Saldana: Something really awesome happened on this set. This is the first film that I’ve done where we were able to rehearse on the set, utilizing the set that we were actually going to be shooting in. It gives you that comfort to know your surroundings and know what to do. And it gave James [Marsden] and idea of how he was better going to use the room for his character.

So while he was doing that and rehearsing, I was able to get a lot of things out of my system. I was able to laugh a lot and break character. So much so that by the time we got to shooting, my outbreaks [of laughter] were minimal. They were still there. There were moments where I just needed to time everyone out. I just need to laugh this off a little bit. It’s just really funny.

Luke, can you talk about your "Death at a Funeral" character Derek’s obsession with Elaine, played by Zoe Saldana?

Wilson: Yeah, [Derek] used to date Zoe’s character and then she broke up with [him], and still thinks [he] loves her. [Derek and Elaine] only went out together for only three months, and [Derek’s] … not a stalker, but apparently won’t leave her alone.

Peter Dinklage in 2010's "Death at a Funeral"

Peter, you were in the original "Death at a Funeral." Can you describe your character in the 2010 version of the movie?

Dinklage: He’s a mysterious gentleman who’s not part of the family or a friend of the family, seemingly … And he arrives at the funeral with a clear objective and some truth that he will reveal if he’s not given what he came for.

What did you think of the script when you first read it?

Lawrence: It’s a very funny script. When I first read it, I got an opportunity to watch the European version. I think [they] did a real good job with the script. It was one of those things where I was like, "I’ve got to be part of that."

Glover: I read my scripts in private. I maybe was on the plane. I started laughing on the plane. I think I was on the plane part of the time. And really, I had not seen the British version and still haven’t seen the British version. I want to be as fresh as possible with this version right here, just from the relationships. To me, it just wore me out.

Danny Glover, Martin Lawrence and Tracy Morgan in "Death at a Funeral"

How do you think the different comedy styles of Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence and Tracy Morgan blend in "Death at a Funeral"?

Lawrence: The script allows us to blend, because all of us are different. We have our own style of comedy and deliver things. Tracy has his style, Chris has his, I have my own. That’s what the script calls for. It’s such a good story and the roles are so defined, it allows the comedy to blend.

Wilson: You know, you’ll hear that stand-up [comics] are competitive or something like that, but that’s just not the case on this movie. I think Chris [Rock] came up looking up to Martin [Lawrence], and I think Tracy came up behind those guys, and looks up to both of them, so I think there’s kind of a good relationship in that aspect, in that they all respect each other and at the same time get a kick out of each other. It’s been really funny to see those guys together. You can see how much they like each other.

Dinklage: Comedy-wise, Tracy Morgan, Martin Lawrence and Chris Rock are really skilled at this and very encouraging of us who are less skilled than they are, comedy-wise. You’re really given a freedom to improvise and play around with the script and scenes and stuff with them. Chris as a producer and as an actor as a writer just gives you that freedom, which it’s really nice — not that you have to improvise on the script because it’s really funny, but they will change things if something’s really not working. It’s not set in stone, which is really nice.

Luke Wilson and Tracy Lawrence in "Death at a Funeral"

How much did you improvise in "Death at a Funeral"?

Lawrence: I improvised now and then. There was some physical stuff and things. Any chance I had to do some "Martin"-isms, but not too much. The script was a very funny script. A lot of stuff is on the page. For me anyway, we might change a word here or there, but for the most part, I didn’t really have to improvise much.

Why should people see this version of "Death at a Funeral"?

Morgan: Martin Lawrence, Tracy Morgan, Chris Rock, Loretta Devine, Danny Glover, Keith David, Columbus [Short]. We’ll go see that movie. Let’s go see that movie. It’s going to be hot. This movie is going to be a classic. I didn’t get a piece of "Life," I didn’t get a piece of "Harlem Nights." This is mine.