Yesterday Hypable spoke on the phone with The Spectacular Now director James Ponsoldt who went in-depth with us and other sites about creating a loyal and worthy adaptation of Tim Clark’s book.
Question: I wanted to ask you, you directed Smashed, an amazing film – thank you for bringing that to us. It was a story essentially about people in recovery with in it, essentially from alcohol. Sutter deals with a bit of a problem and some of the other people in his life in The Spectacular Now, so I kinda just wanted to see is there something that draws you to this material?
James: That’s a very logical question, isn’t it? Smashed was obviously a love story, a young married couple who are both dealing with alcohol and everything, co-dependent. When The Spectacular Now script came my way, I did have a bit of reservation. One, because it was a script other people had written and I had never done that before. I always directed my own thing. And then the second hesitation was I was aware that alcohol was part of the story. But then when I read the screenplay my fears were put to rest.
And then when I read Tim Clarks novel, even more so. Because to me Spectacular Now is not a story about addiction, it’s not a story about alcoholism. It’s a complicated story about a teenage boy, a teenage love story. Part of the way it’s grey, it’s part of his identity, but it’s not the defining feature of his identity. It was really important to me that we never defined him as an addict or as someone who is grappling with a disease.
Anyways, I really went out of my way to make this a story not about alcoholism because that’s just not how I feel. I think that there are films that we see about teenagers that can be on one of two extremes. I mean on one side there are films about teenagers where they are all on crystal meth and raping each other and robbing banks. And then there is the other extreme where they are in malls and they are sort of wide eyed and judgmental. To me, this is a pretty accurate description of what high school was like for me. It was important to never talk about the drinking much.
That’s a roundabout way of saying you know I am drawn to stories about really complicated people and flawed people and people who have demons but are trying things to get their life in order in one way or another. And for me it doesn’t really matter if they succeed or fail, what’s important to me is that they try. In that effort to try there is some hopefulness and I think that’s important to me and that is what draws me to these kind of stories.
Question: What drew you to Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller? What stood out about them? Did you find one first before the other? How did that all come together, casting those two?
James: I am a huge fan of both of them and was before I made this film. I had seen Shailene in The Descendants as I think most people did, and I was really blown away by her in that film. I hadn’t seen Secret Life of the American Teenager before that, so I really didn’t know who she was. And then what struck me about her in that film, was that character was kind of young, self-absorbed, kind of bratty, self-destructive angry teenagers.
It reminded me of myself at that age. I had a big chip on my shoulder. I thought it was a really great performance, but a really specific performance that I hadn’t quite seen before. And what she reminds me of as an actor is a young Debra Winger or Barbara Hershey. A lot of my favorite actors from the 70s. There is such complete intelligence and lack of vanity and a real dedication to truth and honesty and a focus on their characters. Shailene, I was really fortunate. She had read the script for The Spectacular Now, and she was a fan of it. She was really on the barometer of honesty that we were going to go for with all the actors. Actors that felt real and gave very specific performances that weren’t wrong, that weren’t flashy.
You know a lot of films have teenagers. And then there is a handful where there are these special teenage performances and we obviously wanted to be the latter. Then with Miles, I had originally seen Miles in the film The Rabbit Hole, acting opposite Nicole Kidman. And again he was someone who I didn’t know who he was before seeing Rabbit Hole. I obviously knew who Nicole Kidman was and I was really blown away by him. While Nicole Kidman was the one that got the Academy Award nomination, which she deserved, part of the reason she got it was because of some of the incredible scenes that she had with Miles.
The two of them on this park bench, the two of them dealing with grief. She is someone who lost her child and he was someone who accidentally killed her child. It wasn’t a showy performance, it was really feel and you could look into his eyes and it reminded me a lot of my favorite actors. Guys like Tom Hanks or Jimmy Stuart or Henry Fonda. You know, guys that don’t have to act, they can just be. And then I saw Miles in the remake of Footloose and it was a complete 180 from that performance. And he’s just wildly charismatic and likeable and fun and reminds me of the people that I went to high school with. I couldn’t believe that it was the same kid, so I had to meet with him. So he and I met and talked for hours. I fell in love with his imagination and him as a person and I think he’s sort of a once-in-our-generation talent. So I felt incredibly lucky to have Miles and Shailene together.
Question: Are you considering Miles at all for your next picture, Rodham? He’d be a good Bill Clinton.
James: Hahaha, that’s funny. We’re really early in development process on Rodham. It’s not something we are going to even shoot this year. I mean I just came onto it a few months ago. There is a script that has been written, essentially a first draft. So we have been slowly going through that script and tightening it, bringing it to a place where it might be ready to shoot sometime in the next couple of years. So we aren’t really in a place where we are ready to talk casting yet. We don’t even have a casting director on the film. Miles could probably do anything so I wouldn’t put it past him.
Question: I am sold on Miles Teller as an actor after seeing this movie. I thought he was incredible. My question for you: Was there anything that you shot that you wish would have made it onto the screen but you just couldn’t fit it into the movie?
James: Ya definitely there are. It’s a great question. There were definitely scenes that wound up getting edited out of the film. It’s always really hard. For a director you are really grateful now that there are the blu-ray and DVD extras, so you know that you can fit all the scenes you want to. Sometimes you have to cut out scenes because you realize there are scenes shot that can’t fit in the film that you want to. Because you realize that there is just not room for everything in the story you are telling because you need to streamline it. There are a few scenes that we had to cut out but I think that they will probably wind up on the DVD bonuses. But, ultimately I am really happy with all the scenes that made it into the film. It is the best version of the film.
Question: Not only are the two leads unbelievably talented, but the supporting cast is unbelievably talented, it’s just amazing. Jennifer Jason Leigh and Kyle Chandler. Can you talk a little bit about what that cast was like to work with?
James: Ya, it was a complete gift to have that ensemble of actors. Miles and Shailene were the first actors that we cast, because they really do dominate the story. I felt really fortunate that we were able to surround themselves with an ensemble that was just as capable of bringing warmth and humanity and feelings in the more dramatic stories. Brie Larson was the next person that we cast. I really just adored Brie. I saw her in Rampart acting opposite Woody Harrelson, an incredibly intense performance. Then I saw her in 21 Jump Street where she was hilarious. She has that gift like a lot of these actors of really handling comedy and drama.
Mary Elizabeth Weinstead is in the cast. She was in Smashed. I think Mary is brilliant. I’d love to work with all the actors on anything. All of the young actors were fantastic including Kaitlyn Dever who I loved in Unjustified and Dayo Okeniyi who I loved in The Hunger Games and Mason Holton who I didn’t know before I auditioned him but he was wonderful as Ricky – Miles friend. Same with the adults. Some of the cast, a lot of my favorite actors. It was really sort of, I like casts that are sort of democratic.
As much as we pull from television and feature film and whether indie or studio, comedy or dramatic world where you create a throne, that can be equally dramatic and kind of in the in-between – you know if you are going to do a film with a lot of young people, I think it’s equally important to acknowledge the drama and the history. I mean Jennifer Jason Leigh is one of the best actors alive. During Fast Times at Ridgemont High is when I first became aware of her. Kyle Chandler, for years as Coach Chandler on Friday Night Lights, in Americas living room each week. All American perfect father and coach, Jimmy Stewart kind of guy. It was really exciting for him to be this kind of absent father. When Miles finally does get to meet him, when the door opens, you get to see him, I think it’s a dramatic moment where you breathe a sigh of relief and you think oh he’s gonna be this great guy and of course he’s a much more complicated guy then that.
Question: I didn’t realize he was in the movie until he opened the door. It was great.
James: Ya, supporting roles are the toughest. The toughest to get right and I think they can be really fun for an actor. Especially an actor if they have a persona – a persona where they are stars on television shows. James Gandolfini of The Sopranos, Bryan Cranston on his second TV series now, or Kyle Chandler… it really can pigeon hole them. Sometimes it can be, you can have some of the most gifted actors alive, but to see them in these roles. So I think it can be hard sometimes to break out of these preconceived notion that people have. So I was thankful that Kyle was really… even though he’s only in the film for 10-12 minutes, you feel his presence. Because his kid sort of idolizes him. He thinks about him, he defines him. He’s really indelible and you only have so much time to make an impression on the audience.
I think if the audience brings him without all these preconceived notions, you can have fun with that. Which is to say people assume this is going to be the world’s greatest Dad and he’s far from that. He’s much more interesting than a guy that screams danger or bad father. And then there are others, Andre Rayo who I adored as bubbles on The Wire. That was one of my favorite shows, ever. Bob Odenkirk which people know now from Breaking Bad, was on some of the best sketch comedy shows ever. These are all shows, wither comedies or dramas – I think Andre brought a lot of levity and heart to the wire. I think that for me the goal was to bring an ensemble of actors who you really love and in any given scene you don’t know if it’s going to go to lighter or darker territory so that you are never completely telegraphing where the story is going to go.
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