Eugene Levy's cameo in 'Josie and the Pussycats' happened because nobody else wanted to do it

• The "Josie and the Pussycats" codirector explained how actor Eugene Levy ended up in the film.
• An executive asked Levy to do the cameo as a favor since people "didn't want" to be in the movie.
• According to the codirector, Levy agreed to the gig because he thought his children would enjoy it.

Eugene Levy, a Canadian actor best known for his work on the Emmy Award-winning show "Schitt's Creek," has emerged as one of the biggest names in scripted comedy.

But that wasn't exactly the case when he filmed a brief cameo in the 2001 musical comedy "Josie and the Pussycats."

The film's creators tapped on the actor, who was coming off of roles in comedies like "American Pie" and "Best In Show," to appear in the live-action remake of the Archie Comics series after numerous other celebrities turned down the opportunity.

"People didn't want to be in the 'Josie and the Pussycats' movie," Harry Elfont, the film's cowriter and codirector, told Insider.

In the film, Eugene plays himself in a short educational video that explains a record label's operation to hide subaural, pro-consumerism messages in rock music. These covert advertisements brainwash listeners into purchasing the latest products on the market.

He reasons that teenagers working minimum-wage jobs have sizable spending power, telling the audience that they make "wads of cash as thick as, well, my body of work."

Before booking Eugene for the part, Elfont said he and his creative partner, Deborah Kaplan, had reached out to several other stars about the cameo.

"We were like, 'Who can we get?' We had written some other celebrities in it. At one point, it was Chris Rock. Then at another point, it was somebody more music-connected," Elfont said. "We were having a hard time."

Eugene wasn't in the picture until an executive on "Josie and the Pussycats" asked the actor to star in the video "as a favor," since she was also working with him on "American Pie 2." He said yes.

After production on "Josie and the Pussycats" wrapped, the crew lugged their equipment to the "American Pie 2" set to film the segment.

According to Elfont, the actor agreed to appear in the film because he thought his children, Daniel Levy and Sarah Levy, would get a kick out of it.

"He said he did it because he thought his kids would find it funny, which now is funny because he must've been talking about Dan," Elfont said. Both Daniel and Sarah had roles on "Schitt's Creek" as David Rose and Twyla Sands, respectively, alongside their father.

Over 20 years later, Elfont described his experience with Eugene as "lovely" and said the actor brought his own unique touches of humor to the part.

"It was quick, and he was lovely. And now it seems like we were really ahead of the time," he said. "He made everything funnier. It's not like it was a really super funny part."

Elfont added, "It's just so weird because now it's the coolest cameo ever, because he's now Eugene Levy from 'Schitt's Creek.' But at the time, it was the best we could do."