By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
Black and Weitz
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“Satire is what closes on Saturday Night”
— George S. Kaufman
Most filmmakers are superstitious. They wear things – socks, ties, shoes – that are supposed to bring them luck; they have traditions that have to be upheld when the deal is made, at the start of filming or on the first evening of a theatrical run.
It happens to be opening day when I sit down to talk to Paul Weitz. He’ll likely go to his grave remembered as the director of American Pie. His subsequent films that have included About a Boy and In Good Company don’t bear much resemblance to his first film but while both were commercially successful they did not gross more than $100 million and spawn sequels.
American Dreamz is a bit of all his prior films. It’s bawdy, rife with social commentary and not averse to delve into matters of taste. It’s a little after noon and if Weitz has been given the East coast matinee numbers, he fails to make note of them or ask if anyone can decipher their meaning. He appears to know that the film won’t be an audience magnet despite nods to a popular television talent show, a dysfunctional head of state and singing and dancing terrorists.
“I do that tradition of going around to theaters and trying to convince managers that I directed the movie,” says Weitz. “On American Pie, I bought tickets for 12-year olds that couldn’t get in because of the rating. But it’s not really organized. I just get in the car with my wife and whoever happens to be around and try to hit as many theaters as I can stomach. It generally leaves me with a hollow, empty feeling.”
He’s joking even if there is a dollop of truth in his words. One gets the distinct feeling that there’s no part of the process that’s particularly joyful for him with the possible exception of reading the script with the cast. Weitz is a compulsive writer, a meticulous planner and somewhat of a worrywart about the audience that will ultimately provide the thumbs up or down. Most of the leading critics haven’t been particularly kind to his new movie though some have found his premise intriguing and several of the performers captivating. Box office trackers see it as the weak sister among a trio of new national releases but predict better numbers than the $3.8 million it will gross on its opening weekend.
If there was a eureka moment that spawned American Dreamz, Weitz has long since forget it. He says that he’d been ruminating a lot about the dismal state of pop cultural as well as his frustration with politics and politicians. Somehow these two threads got intertwined with the notion that the President of the United States would seek to be a celebrity juror on the most popular show on television to buck up his sagging approval ratings.
“It just sounds like a social satire about life in America today,” Weitz observes. “But that was never the glue that bound this story together. We are a nation of people that are supposed to have big dreams and a lot of us, or at least a significant enough number, get to fulfill them according to lore. I wanted to deal with the reality, albeit in a sometimes bizarre and surreal manner.”
There are echoes of such diverse films as Network, A Face in the Crowd and Dr. Strangelove in Weitz’s film though he says any nod or homage was not made consciously. He says he was thinking about the early Woody Allen and Mel Brooks when he was hammering out the script. However, during the editing process he realized their were eerie parallels with The King of Comedy not simply in Robert DeNiro‘s character’s manic quest for stardom but by the fact that both that character and Omer (Sam Golzari) have subterranean studios where they play out their fantasies.
“Omer was the character that evolved the most during the process,” he notes. “I tend to mull a lot on ideas before I start the writing process. This was more fully formed than most and I’d bounce elements of the story off friends to get a reaction. When I’d mention the singing terrorist that loved show tunes, I remember someone said, ‘do it now, you have an opportunity because of past success to get it made that may never come again.'”
Omer, who backs into the competition by several twists of fate, is press ganged into becoming a suicide bomber with instructions to blow up the President. Weitz, whose career began in theater, carried over the tradition of table readings with the actors prior to filming. It’s not quite a rehearsal but it gets ideas on the floor that are incorporated into the film and lessens the prospect of wild surprises on the set. Seasoned actors don’t give performances during the readings but with newer actors including Golzari and Mandy Moore one can see their enthusiasm.
There’s a clear sense that Weitz wants to be prepared for whatever might occur prior to turning film. He’s slightly embarrassed to admit that he’s not very good about visualizing his film while he’s writing it and spends an enormous amount of time with his cameraman and production designer going over every element of the physical production. He doesn’t like to work long days and maintains a regular working day is more efficient for his cast and crew.
“We’re an odd culture,” says Weitz. “I think Americans have a sense of guilt because they understand that they have more of just about everything than anyone else. At the same time we’re essentially isolationist; cut off from the rest of the world both physically and in the news we hear. It’s an odd juxtaposition of opposites that manifests itself I think in fear and apprehension. It can be something as simple as the shark in Jaws or a much more complex issue like terrorism. I’m just stumbling around trying to give it a little bit of human context.”
April 25, 2006
