Modern progress

Tropic of Cancer, p. 162:

I am speaking naturally of that world which is peculiar to the big cities, the world of men and women whose last drop of juice has been squeezed out by the machine—the martyrs of modern progress.  It is this mass of bones and collar buttons which the painter finds so difficult to put flesh on.

Young Adult at Music Box Theatre

Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody continue to tour Young Adult.  After screenings in New York, Toronto, and Minneapolis, Young Adult came to the Music Box Theatre in Chicago.

My co-editor, RD, recorded the complete audio of the Q&A; I've divided it into three parts.  The embedded audio file appears first, followed by the questions within that file.

I bolded the parts that, to me, were the highlights of the evening and listed timecodes for them so that you can scrub through.  I added only a few comments and transcribed one answer.

Obviously, following an advance screening, the Q&A is filled with spoilers.  I suggest stopping here until you've seen the film.  Young Adult opens wide on December 16.

Note: I am not the really audible laughing guy.

Part 1 of 3 (17:07)

Q. To JR. What attracted you to the script?

Q. To DC. Explain how you saw Mavis’s trajectory as a character.

DC: I have this theory that assholes don't actually change.

Q: To DC. Were you inspired by going to your own high school reunion?

Q: Was one of the action figures in the sex scene Night Owl from Watchmen?

05:31 - 06:45
Q: [Steve Prokopy had joked at the beginning of the screening that the audience was going to watch Happy Feet 2.] Was that anything like the original? The first Happy Feet?

JR and PO riff on the confusion.

Q: What made you decide to pick Music Box for a theater?

Q: When you were thinking about the character of Mavis, did you had a vision of the character? Did you picture Charlize Theron?

Q: Patton, how did you get involved with this?

Q: To DC. Eavesdropping on teenagers. How much of that was intentional? Are you trying to comment on Juno, etc.?

Q: To DC. Did you know what was going to happen to Mavis at the beginning, or did she lead you there?

Q: To DC. Was the theme of young adult fiction a constant from the beginning?

Part 2 of 3 (15:12)

00:00 - 02:55
Q: How did you guys do the leg? Did you blow your entire CGI/prosthetics budget?

The answer includes PO's acting preparation with a physical therapist and his Daniel Day-Lewis-like dedication to the craft, as well as the logistics of a sex scene.

Q: I'm from Minnesota, and I've never heard of Mercury.

Q: 1) Business card from Village of the Giants guy 2) Mavis's name 3) How do you market a movie like this?

Q: To DC. Motif of fingernails

Q: To DC. Do you have an idea of what happens to Mavis after what we just saw?

Q: To DC. Is this a revision of Jennifer's Body? Why do you center on teenagers so much?

Q: Why did you choose Minnesota?  Painted in dark, depressing, strangely accurate light.

12:06 - 15:12
Q: How different were the characters on the page as first conceived versus on the screen in the final product?

PO talks about the recent "cult of improvisation" and the merits of following a good script.

Part 3 of 3 (15:30)

Q: Patton Oswalt moving to serious films

JR's Q to PO: Shooting a certain scene from Big Fan script

Q: J.K. Simmons as "narrator"?

Q: How long did it take to film? Why didn't you do the normal route of festivals?

04:40 - 08:50
Q: Is the intercourse an act of compassion, condescension, vulnerability?

08:50 - 11:00
Q: Advice for young filmmakers.  (A common question that gets a great answer from JR.)

JR: First thing, be born the son of a famous director.  It's invaluable.  You have no idea. [?] left and right.  People just get out of your way. 

Honestly, look, I think you are a young filmmaker at a very exciting time to be a young filmmaker.  And, you know, back in the 70s, Coppola said the next Mozart would be some girl with a video camera from the middle of nowhere.  I think he was right.  He was just early because you didn't only need a video camera; you needed to be able to cut at home, and you needed a distribution system, which came through YouTube. 

And the sophistication of filmmakers your age blows me away.  The shit that I see online now is way better than the stuff that I was doing basically throughout my twenties as a short filmmaker and all of my contemporaries.

So, look, I think there is two great avenues for you right now that are specific to directors, which is basically YouTube and film festivals.  And film festivals are where I made a name for myself.  And I joke about being the son of a famous director because the truth is, when you're the son of a famous director, people presume you're gonna be an idiot.  I mean, they presume you're gonna have--that you're talentless and that you have an alcohol and drug problem.  Like, that's basically that going in. 

PO: The first thing is untrue.  He has so much talent.  It's ridiculous.  Before noon.  Amazing.  Amazing.  Wow. 

JR: But I used the film festival system to get legitimacy so people would actually think I was a real director.  And it was playing film festivals where I felt like a real director for the first time.

So my advice is: go to tons of film festivals.  You should be shooting and cutting on a daily basis 'cause it's all available to you now, and use the Internet simultaneously.

Q: What do you think is Mavis's bag of neuroses? Alcoholism, depression, narcissistic personality?

Q: Were the characters based on anyone?

Q: To DC.  Getting the story out.  What were you drawn to?


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