If you ’ve never seen it , managing director Danny Leiner’sHarold & Kumar Go to White Castleis exactly what it sounds like : a road slip movie about a mates of dudes ( John Cho and Kal Penn ) just strain to get toWhite Castle . Of of course , it ’s not that easy and shenanigans result .

Said trickery include ( but are not limited to ) a run - in with a ferocious chetah , cameos by Neil Patrick Harris and Ryan Reynolds , and a bizarre rescue by a boil - confront towage truck driver refer Freakshow . you may clearly see why it ’s become a bit of a cult strike . Not to note , since the original motion picture ’s debut on July 30 , 2004 , the dealership has spawned two sequels and amassed zillion of additional rooter .

1. Krispy Kreme turned down a part in the movie.

Krispy Kremecould have been Harold and Kumar ’s ultimate firm food address , but the famed doughnut company waswaryof being associate with a motion picture that featured drugs .

2. The movie’s producers had to make veggie burgers for Kal Penn.

Because Kal Penn is vegetarian , " The producers actually plump out of their way to … make little soya bean burgers that looked like White Castle beefburger , " Penn toldSpliced Wire . " So I could just focalise on the moment and not have to worry about all that . I probably ate about 30 of them . "

3. Kal Penn had an allergic reaction while filming one scene.

In an consultation withIGN , Penn call up an uncomfortable view in which primer coat walnut were used to create dust coming out of a ventilator prick . The problem ? The doer is deathly sensitised to nuts .

" They were so delicately crunch that I inhaled them , " Penn say . " Now the only matter bad than eat nuts , where it gets processed , is inhaling them like a shot or injecting them . So why somebody decide to do that , I do n’t know . But I had to go out of doors for about two hours , I had to take a clustering of Benadryl , I was drowsy the rest of the mean solar day . And luckily I caught it [ ahead of time ] . Within 10 second of being in that room I was like ' There ’s something in here ' and I left . "

4. Christopher Meloni was always the first choice to play Freakshow.

And Meloni still has no musical theme why . “ [ The writers ] say , ‘ You know we consider of you from the rootage when we were writing this purpose for Freakshow , ’ " Meloni toldMovie vane . " I did n’t know how to take that , I was like ‘ You did , huh ? ’ I still do n’t understand the logical system , but whatever . ”

5. Goldstein and Rosenberg were based on William Shakespeare characters.

According to , Harold and Kumar ’s best ally — Goldstein ( played by David Krumholtz ) and Rosenberg ( portrayed by Eddie Kaye Thomas ) were partially based onHamlet ’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern , as well as writers Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg . '' We just get it on Harold and Kumar had to have Judaic friend , '' Hurwitz said , '' to complete the multiracial roofy we had in shoal . ''

6. At first, Kal Penn didn’t like the way the film’s marketing played on race.

advertizing for the film promoted the actors as “ the Asian guy fromAmerican Pie ” and “ the Indian guy rope fromVan Wilder . ” In response to that , Penn toldSpliced Wire . “ At first … I was like , Man , the movie is so not about that ! Why did they have to bring it back to that ? Then we realized that most hoi polloi that are watching this trailer … recognize us as the Indian cat fromVan Wilderand the Asian guy fromAmerican Pie ! ”

“ The house trailer is funny because it sound out exactly what the great unwashed are cogitate , " Cho added . " It also kind of dissipates — I think there is some unspoken measurement of tension , like this is so unusual visualise Asian - Americans headlining a movie . So we kind of poke play at that right wing off the bat . ”

7. Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg simply wanted to write a movie with characters that looked like their friends.

" The write up is that the writers grew up in New Jersey , and they were really sick of seeing teen movies that were one - dimensional and that had quality which did n’t look like any of their friends , "   Penn toldSpliced Wire . " They were two white guys from Jersey , but they had a pretty diverse group of friends . So they were like , You get it on what ? Let ’s compose a cinema that ’s both a ) bright and funny , and b ) cast two guys that see like our best friends . ” Added Cho : " There is a material Harold Lee . "

In an interview withCinemaBlend , Neil Patrick Harris recalled the moment he heard he had a part in the film . “ I get a call from a protagonist who was try out for this movie and he was so excited that we were going to be working together . And I said , ‘ I have no approximation what you ’re talking about . ’ And he aver , ‘ Neil Patrick Harris is a fictional character in this movie . ' … [ My agentive role ] read it , and then they name my lawyer to find out what was function on , and then I winded up meeting with the [ writers ] , kind of cautiously … Because when you ’re talking about an uttermost translation of yourself , you want to make certain you ’re not painted in a topnotch shitty light … And I agreed to do it so long as any changes they made had to go through me contractually … And they were fine with that and they did n’t make any changes . ”

9. Battlesh*ts was inspired by Hurwitz’s high school football team.

Hurwitz toldAint It Cool Newsabout the moment he first meet the everlasting game . “ When I was in gamey school I was friend with a couple of the guys on the football squad . A match of really adult funny guy . I remember in gymnasium division … Those two Guy , for some understanding , always have to take a sht during gymnasium social class … They started joke around about playing Battleshts , ” Hurwitz said . “ They would joke around about it and I would always let the cat out of the bag to them about that and bulge playing it up with them and saying things like , ‘ You sank my Destroyer . ’ ”

10. Jon Hurwitz’s grandparents used to send him frozen White Castle burgers.

The pursuit and craving for White Castle was apparently not purely made up for the film . “ I lived outside of Pittsburgh for seven yr , " Hurtwitzsaid . " When I was there and my grandparents would come to visit us , they ’d flee out to Pittsburgh and they would bring frozen White Castle Warren Burger before they were in the supermarket . They did n’t have them in the supermarkets , so they would go to the White Castle , they ’d buy like , 120 burgers … frozen … and get them in dry ice on an airplane to Pittsburgh . So , it always kind of just had a extra sort of part in my ticker . ”

This story has been updated for 2019 .

Kal Penn, John Cho, and Malin Akerman in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004).