LOS ANGELES — Television tabloids like “Access Hollywood” and “Extra” would have you believe that Hollywood is full of best friends. The cast of “American Pie” totally kept in touch after graduation, and Tom Cruise still takes Jonathan Lipnicki out for ice cream every Saturday afternoon, right?

Shockingly, movie shoots are quite often replete with the same workaday doldrums and catty squabbles that plague blue-collar Joes everywhere. With “Old School,” however, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

“We kept having this phrase — ‘Let’s shoot this movie ’70s style’ — because we kept getting caught up in how well-behaved we were. Will [Ferrell] referred to a film I made as ‘Legally Bland,'” Luke Wilson said with a smile, referring to the atmosphere on the set.

Wilson plays the film’s pushover protagonist, a stagnant middle-manager who, after finding his wife in a rather incriminating position, moves to the local campus and decides to found a fraternity with a little help from friends, portrayed by Vince Vaughn and Will Ferrell. Bringing together these comic minds for a movie about crazy would-be college kids seems like a no-brainer, but there’s more to “Old School” than just belly-laughs.

“What attracted us (the cast) to the project was there was a little more to it than just going from one funny scene to another. Dramatic points actually set up the comedy even more,” Ferrell said of the guys’ more affected moments.

“Old School,” co-written and directed by Todd Phillips (the creative mind behind “Road Trip” and next year’s “Starsky & Hutch”), is laced with both fish-out-of-water hijinks and real-life conflicts facing 30-somethings who can’t quite let go of their glory days. The story had particular resonance with its three principals and director, all of whom are facing similar situations.

“Just by the cast that Todd picked, I knew what he was going for and what kind of movie it would be. But I still knew it’d be good times,” Vaughn explained. One of the things included in these “good times” was a naked Will Ferrell streaking in front of, among others, Don Magic Juan and Snoop Dogg.

“Being that naked in front of Snoopy, as I like to call him, was more intimidating than anything. Fortunately, I flew in my acting coach from Kentucky, Jim Beam. And I had another buddy of mine, Olde English 800 — he’s a malt-beverage acting coach,” Ferrell jested.

But Ferrell wasn’t the only cast member to have an intimate moment with the Doggfather. Rumored to be included on the forthcoming DVD is a scene in which Snoop and Vaughn share a “cigarette” (“Old School” was filmed pre-sobriety Snoop, mind you) and pontificate on higher education, as it were.

“Vince was speaking in tongues after hanging out in Snoop’s trailer,” Wilson said, barely restraining a knowing grin.

While indulging in a classic college pastime helped Vaughn get into character, Ferrell didn’t need any such help. A former frat boy at USC, his face lights up at the very chance to discuss his shenanigans.

“I would find out what classrooms certain friends were in, dress up as a janitor and just show up in the middle of class. One of the teachers would actually encourage it, so I’d stand outside class with a power drill — stuff like that.” Come on, Will, is that all?

“All right, I embezzled a lot of money — a LOT of money. And we sold arms to the contranistas.”

Ferrell’s background as a featured player on “Saturday Night Live” for seven seasons is easily apparent both in his performance and in person. Simply put, the guy is always on. The cast’s palpable chemistry results in many improvisations throughout the film, spearheaded, not surprisingly, by Ferrell riffing with Vaughn (who began his career doing improv in Chicago).

Wilson, ever the stoic observer, described the duo’s ability to go off-the-cuff: “With a comedy, you’ve always got the clear-cut goal of trying to make a scene funny, so it’s not like a drama where you’re trying to achieve some sort of emotion. You’re just trying to figure out the funniest way to do something, so you often do end up improvising.”

Unlike Ferrell, Wilson was a college journeyman, and attended three schools in four years. When asked if he had any regrets about his days as a vagabond, Wilson replied negatively, saying he didn’t care for any of the hokey sentimentality college graduates often harbor for their alma maters.

Ferrell, his eyes wide after picking up on Wilson’s thinly veiled attack, responded with quintessential self-deprecation. “I wish I’d taken the time in school to learn how to properly read. It makes choosing material very difficult.”

You can tell these two had a blast on the set. Ferrell paused, and slightly contorted his face. If you’ve seen him on “SNL” and if you see him in “Old School,” you know he’s not done yet.

“Oh, and I killed one person.”