'30 Minutes' men

Bianca Kajlich and Dilshad Vadsaria Nick Swardson and Aziz Ansari at Columbia Pictures World Premiere of "30 Minutes Or Less" at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.Helmer Ruben Fleischer and Sony's Jeff Blake bring "30 Minutes or Less" to the Chinese. Producer Ben Stiller and Jesse Eisenberg party at the Rolling Stone lounge.Jesse Eisenberg and Aziz Ansari shared differing views on the action genre at Monday's premiere of Columbia's "30 Minutes or Less." "Action is kind of boring. All the scenes that are really fun to watch are really boring to film. You sit in a car and scream and look both ways at a very rapid pace," said Eisenberg, who quickly added that the reason the action scenes work in "30 Minutes" is because "they come from the characters, with these real guys being in this crazy situation." Ansari joked that what he'd really like to do next is "reboot 'The Transporter' series. I want to take it over from Jason Statham!" Director Ruben Fleischer said he's looking forward to doing "more significant action" with his next film "The Gangster Squad," adding that he chose the R-rated "30 Minutes" as his follow-up to Sony's 2009 sleeper hit "Zombieland" because "when I read the script [by Michael Diliberti], it was just so funny and the characters were so well defined. It seemed like a great opportunity to cast the hell out of it and put all my favorite comedians in the film." Fleischer said he was especially proud of the pic's performances. "Every scene was shot as scripted but then I also basically expected everyone to elevate the material. They're all so talented and bring so much to the table that every scene was enhanced because of their performance." His cast seemed equally grateful for the opportunity to improvise. Ansari, who'd never met Eisenberg before production started, credited Fleischer for "encouraging us to try any ideas we had." "Aziz is so clever and endlessly creative," added Eisenberg. "He comes up with what seems like very random bits but they all kind of fit in with the scene and the tone of the movie. I've also idolized [co-star] Nick Swardson since I was 13 years old and used to memorize all of his standup comedy, so he just makes me laugh and is one of those people you always have a reaction to."At one point in the film, Eisenberg's pizza deliveryman refers to himself as "off the grid," a direct nod to "The Social Network." The thesp called it "improvisational, not because of my connection to Facebook or the movie, but because my character would think of himself as somebody who lives off the grid. He thinks of himself as an ascetic when really he's just a guy with no friends." Contact Jeff Sneider at jeff.sneider@variety.com