Watch Ed Helms Get Quizzed on All the Rusty Griswolds Who Came Before Him
Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo played the Griswold parents over the course of four Vacation movies from 1983-97. But their kids, Rusty and Audrey, were played by new actors with every outrageous family outing.
So with the release of this week’s Vacation, Ed Helms becomes the fifth actor to play Rusty Griswold in five movies. As the now fully grown incarnation of ol’ Russ, Helms takes his family (including his wife, Debbie, played by Christina Applegate, and two sons) on an inevitably disastrous jaunt to one of the brood’s favorite stomping grounds, Walley World. Or at least he tries to.
Given the revolving door that became the role of Russell Griswold, we put Helms to the test to see how well he knows the actors (Anthony Michael Hall in National Lampoon’s Vacation, Jason Lively in European Vacation, Johnny Galecki in Christmas Vacation, and Ethan Embry in Vegas Vacation) who preceded him as Rusty. You can watch it all unfold in the video above.
(Note: We did not include Travis Greer, who played Rusty in the 2010 short film Hotel Hell Vacation. Our apologies, Vacation completists.)
Vacation opens Wednesday. Watch the trailer: