5 Secrets from the Set of ’22 Jump Street’

Forget everything you know or want to know about "22 Jump Street," it's time to manage expectations. Don't think about whether the upcoming sequel to 2012's hit comedy will be as good or better than the first. Don't think about which A-list actors may or may not make cameos. Don't think about whether Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill's bromance will be better than ever, etc. Why are we telling you this? We've been instructed to do so.

"We are here to lower expectations," co-director Phil Lord revealed when we visited the New Orleans set last fall. "You need to go back and write all about how you're not really sure, you think it may not be that good."

Co-director Chris Miller agreed and added that their secret to success is to set themselves up for failure.

"All of everything we've ever done has been riding on low expectations," said Miller. "'Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs?' A terrible idea. Doing '21 Jump Street' as a movie is a terrible idea. 'The Lego Movie' sounds like a terrible idea. If people think this is a good idea, we're screwed."

So here we are, trying to help these struggling artists out (never mind Lord and Miller's string of very funny and very successful hits). Therefore, we will not make a big deal of the fact that on the day we visited the set -- the day of fictional MC State's annual football tryouts -- we laughed out loud through the entirety of filming just one scene.

Here's a list of the rest of the things we'd like you to know, but probably shouldn't oversell, from our visit to "22 Jump Street."

1. The Bromance Has Evolved

"A lot of the movie is about our relationship and kinda going to college with your hometown honey and then the world opening up to you once you get to this new place," Hill said.

And with that world opening up, Jenko and Schmidt's relationship is put to the test.

"We finally got to a place that made it about the sequel to their relationship and that got interesting," said Miller. "The first one [looks at] how can you express yourself to somebody, to another man? And this is more about being deeply entrenched in a relationship with another man."

Tatum and Hill will likely just go on acting like a married couple.

"We're still in like a girl-boy relationship in the movie," Tatum said. "I don't know who's the girl."

"Well, Schmidt is probably," Hill offered. "I dunno, [he's] more feminine."

2. There's a New Man Crush in Town

His name is Benji and he is played by newcomer Wyatt Russell (Yes that Russell, son of Kurt and Goldie Hawn). Benji and Jenko have a very literal meet-cute during tryouts for the football team. In one of the scenes we watched, Benji is eating a roast beef and cheese sandwich between plays and drops it on the ground. At the same time Jenko drops the Q-tip he was using to clean his ear and they both bend down to pick up their lost objects. A meat-cute. Sound absurd? It is. Absurdly funny.

"This is when Channing and I meet each other and realize that we might be long lost brothers or something like that," Russell said. So does this make Russell's Benji the other woman?

"I think I would be," he laughed. "I'm not ashamed to say it."

[Related: Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum Get Gold Gats in the '22 Jump Street' Poster Reveal]

3. How "22 Jump Street" Is Like "Bad Boys 2"

Hill and Tatum said that the general idea behind the sequel is to take cues from the evolution of "Bad Boys" to "Bad Boys II." In a ridiculous way, of course.

"The initial thought when I first was starting to write the first movie was 'Bad Boys' meets a John Hughes movie," Hill said. "And then the only way to make fun of ourselves in this movie properly is that sequels are more expensive and s--tier than the first ones and the idea is that, and what I think [Lord and Miller] have really been pulling off is that it really does feel like a big, giant movie, but with really stupid jokes in it. You know? Which is kinda great and super-entertaining, hopefully."

Tatum even has his own big action movie moment.

"I straight-up got to ride on a semi-truck at like 90 miles-per-hour on top of it," he said proudly. "It was crazy."

"It looks like a Michael Bay movie," Hill added. "It's pretty awesome."

4. Everyone Famous Wanted In On The Movie But ...

"Pretty much everyone" they knew asked Tatum and Hill to be a part of the sequel.

"Even people that aren't in the industry, the acting industry, but in other industries that are well-known," Tatum said. "They're just like, "Man. S--t's awesome, we want in." But we don't want to have every single person. It kinda takes you out of the movie. But there might be some people."

When asked how they might top the magic of Johnny Depp reprising the role that made him and the original "Jump Street" famous, a look of genuine excitement passed between Lord and Miller.

"I have to say that the craziest one, the craziest person who wanted to be in the movie is going to be in the movie," Lord said. "So I'll leave it at that."

Ooh.

5. Remember, Sequels Are Always Bad Idea

Back to where we started with Lord and Miller about lowering expectations, the directors admit they try to cover their bases by making fun of the idea of a sequel throughout the movie.

"One of the bits is that the management wants the guys to do the exact same thing they did last time because that's what was so successful," Miller said.

Lord added that their twist on the idea is to treat the management like Hollywood studio execs.

"So we're playing the department as like the studio and they're saying things like, 'You guys are messing up! What you need to do is exactly the same thing as before."

And as humble and nonplussed as both talented gentleman want to appear about this whole situation, every once in awhile we see a crack in their armor, revealing their total delight and satisfaction with this magical movie sandbox they're playing in. Of course, they don't want us to tell you that.

"We're in deep trouble," said Lord.

Miller quickly jumps in trying to "save" us from writing anything too positive. "Yeah because guys, we all know that sequels are terrible, right?"

"22 Jump Street" opens everywhere June 13.