The Chair (2014) s01e03 Episode Script

Mentionable Is Manageable

1 Corey Moosa: We're trying to make an independent film.
This isn't a studio movie.
This isn't Hollywood at its finest.
There is no money here.
Lauren Schnipper: We were given $600,000 to make this movie.
People think $600,000 is a lot of money, and with a movie, it's not a lot of money.
That's just a $100,000-hit on our budget out of 600.
Philip Quinaz: That's a big chunk.
Why are we waiting to get signed off? Because I think Chris Moore is trying to do too much shit.
We're going to shoot and we're going to assume we can work it out.
To me, a director is somebody who can make decisions very fast.
I make no secret about the fact that I am challenging myself.
There are always concerns about her ability to believe in herself enough to do what she needs to do.
I know.
It's totally subconscious.
- I'm just recognizing it.
- Let them know how smart you are and how great your ideas are and share the vision.
Anna Martemucci: This is outside of my comfort zone, and that's a good thing.
- Julie Buck: We have some bad news.
- What's going on? The DP is a hugely important part, a major collaboration.
This is the conversation where I beg you to come and shoot this movie.
We are scrambling.
What I'm not used to is not doing everything by myself.
Now there's so many people to depend on, one of them fucks up we're all fucked.
Martemucci: You just don't like the nudity? But I love the nudity.
It starts with such a graphic sex scene.
This movie can have a dick in it.
You automatically get an NC-17 rating when you have a hard dick? That's what we needed to find out! Vic is hard against the dick in the condom.
Yeah.
It is a gender equality fight I'm having.
No, it's no no, it's not a dick for a dick.
It's a dick for depicting the awkwardness of sex when you're 18 years old.
You're on speaker, and you're on camera.
Sorry.
This is a good conversation, though.
I just did ten seconds ago.
Buck: She told right as she did it.
This is not gross.
It's just a dick.
That's kind of my point.
Like, let's show life.
But the movie starts with the girl gyrating on a guy's dick and crying.
Yeah, I can just get that and not show his dick.
Steve Black: Almost all the best directors will tell you that casting is 90% of it.
You cast the right people and good people who know what you're doing, they'll come up with so many of the ideas for you.
My name is Steve Black.
So as a talent agent, my job is to find and develop talent and get my people work in the best possible projects and develop their careers, whereas the casting director, they're hired by the production company, and they're trying to find the character that they're looking at to book.
So nice to finally meet you! My name is Nancy Mosser.
I'm a casting director.
When directors come into Pittsburgh to work on projects, they need us because we know the local talent.
All right, so we're meeting Donna Belajac.
She's very sweet, and Neal suggested her.
Thanks, Phil.
Hey, Donna, how are you? I'm Phil.
- Hi, Phil.
- Nice to meet you.
So Phil is my brother-in-law, co-producer of the movie, and playing Phil.
Mosser: So we know who's playing Scott.
Schnipper: We do.
Shane Dawson: But, you know, we might need a backup.
- Really? - No.
I don't know, I don't know.
Maybe! Now I'm insecure.
Belajac: And then Angela.
Oh, I think I'm playing Angela.
Oh, are you? Okay.
My job is getting easier by the minute.
And Tori, your 17-year-old.
Philip: She just sort of has that self-awareness.
Like someone with an awareness that high school's kind of bullshitty even while she's in it.
While she's in it.
Tell me about Tori.
Me and Lauren were kind of talking about kind of like Christina Ricci when she plays like a dry bitch who's just kind of like over everything.
- But she still has that inner - Her goth look.
Yeah, like she has it in her eyes that she actually, like, really does have a heart, - but it's covered a little.
- Yeah.
Similar to the Janis character in "Mean Girls," the lesbian, kind of similar to that.
A little less of a lesbian, but still.
(laughs) Dawson: So Tori is the main character of the movie.
She's very sarcastic.
She's very negative.
The girl who had a really tough time in high school.
She was unattractive.
She had pimples.
She got made fun of.
It's very similar to my personal me.
- Heather.
- Yeah.
Dawson: So this is Anna Faris, like, insane, like, totally not even on this planet.
So just very almost like a cartoon voice, almost like, "Oh, my God, hey, let's fuck," just crazy, like, oh, my God, psychotic.
Really active, like, physical comedy.
Katie Crake is going to be really fun to cast.
Belajac: Yeah.
Yeah, that's a cute role.
Do you think it's really gonna be a problem to find an Asian woman in her 40s? There just aren't a lot of them.
Scott's mom is only a voiceover.
- Philip: Probably.
- I have no idea.
- Probably, what, post? - Yeah.
Schnipper: We'd love to have that be a minority, that character.
Especially, like, you know, a lot of my audience is minorities.
So I wanna make sure it's not, like, "The White Movie.
" Mosser: Right.
That was a big question I had, too.
- In White-D - Yeah, okay.
There are some of these that can transfer over.
The other thing you throw out there while you're thinking about that is budget-wise one of the things that we're looking at is trying to tap into the SAG diversity incentive.
Is it gonna be hard to find? Because, you know, we have a few minorities.
Is it gonna be hard to find that? Should we There are fewer minorities than other you know, Caucasians, of course Hispanics, and the Eastern Indian guy, that's a little more difficult.
But, you know, so we'll start here, and then we'll have to work our way out to find them, yeah.
There isn't a lot of ethnicity here.
Very few Hispanic actors.
Some African-American actors, but not a lot.
Shader: The Heather's stuff is so vulgar.
We did "Zack and Miri Make a Porno," so Like, who is okay with getting shit on their face? Okay, all right.
You, like, crack the script and see there's a glory hole on the first page.
Yeah, yeah.
It is definitely a very different script from the original script that we read.
More profanity, a lot more bathroom humor.
We have a lot of actors who have real jobs in the white-collar business world, so they can't be associated with scripts that have this raunchier element to them.
Martemucci: Pretty much all of these have to be local or my personal friends who are willing to work as locals and sleep on my floor.
You have to pay them all the SAG stuff, you know? God, I'm just so used to operating on this level where it's like, "You wanna do this right? You have to do this.
This is what you're doing," but I guess that probably won't work.
Yeah, it's not working when we're because of the union because we're working under a union contract.
Martemucci: Phil is my brother-in-law.
I wasn't sure exactly what his role would be, but I knew that there would be a reason for him to be here.
And I knew it was a really good idea.
In addition to being my co-writer and co-producer, he is my right-hand man.
Philip: Moving from co-writing to the producing sort of aspect, as involved as I was in pre-pro, it was fun but a little unsettling 'cause it's just such a different rhythm, and I'm so worried about making sure that Anna's okay and that just things are going smoothly.
Belajac: That part, Scott, that's definitely being cast? That's definitely being cast.
I just don't know enough 18-year-old kids.
For us, it's always sort of the idea of best idea wins.
Martemucci: Thank you so much, we're definitely scrambling because we thought we had our gal and then it didn't work out.
So we're on and it was Hillary Spera, who I think recommended you, right? So I looked at your stuff and it looks beautiful.
So that's great.
So you are interested and available? You can maybe even, like, leave me with an assignment of, like, shot listing or something, I don't know.
I just need your guidance in terms of how you prep for a film, because I've never done it.
I think it might be a great thing for you to come Friday and Saturday.
Is that doable? (laughs) Thank you so much, Meena.
I already started speaking with Meena about the script tonight, and it went very, very well.
I realized that it's really, really important for me to work with someone who is excited about my very imperfect script.
That is a major factor for me, someone who wants to make this movie.
- Hi.
- Hello.
I would like to hire Meena Singh.
- We will get her hired.
- Okay.
We want to talk you a little bit about today's casting.
- Casting, yeah.
- What's up? How you feel you personally feel as a director and how you feel the actress will feel if Shader and Moore and Corey all show up and are hanging out in that session.
- Oh, like in the room with everyone? - Yeah.
I don't really feel that strong a need to really coddle and protect the actors because if they freak out because people are in the room then how are they gonna carry the movie, you know what I mean? - Yeah.
- So I want strong, Teflon actors.
And how do you feel about directing in front of them right now? - Oh.
Eh.
Um - You know.
I didn't even think about this.
I mean, there's already gonna be a camera crew there as well.
We can call these guys now and tell them, look, it's the first time meet, and I don't want them to feel distracted.
I also want them to get a sense of who you are.
And feel like it's a circus.
It might be good for us, too, to talk ahead of time as to what the approach and going in and sort of how to utilize - that time best with these actors.
Mm-hmm.
So I don't wanna ban those three guys from this thing.
But I kind of do.
I mean, it would be nice not to have We don't have to ban them.
We can say, hey, you know For this callback, I really want some time This is my first chance to be with these actors Philip: Or if you gonna come by, come by early and just poke your head in, say hello, and then good-bye.
There's already gonna be a camera crew, like, three more bodies and Hetzler: I can be the heavy on that and email all those guys and say, "Anna has requested" And I'll be happy to watch the tapes with them after.
All right, let's 86 them from the casting session.
Philip: We'll let them know.
Man: You're gonna be outside on this side of this incline naked? Dawson: Yeah, perfect.
Add that in.
That'll be a pink page.
So we're filming at the incline.
They think we're filming a fun, romantic scene, which is not what we're filming.
We're actually filming a scene where me and other girl moon the whole town and then a drunk homeless crack head puts his dick and balls up against the glass.
We might get kicked out.
There's a lot of kids there.
It would be like butt, butt, empty, dick.
Okay.
Butt, butt empty dick.
(bell dings) Hello, how are you? I'm James.
Nice to meet you.
How are you? Woman: Hi.
Virginia.
Nice to meet you.
Martemucci: Hi, Virginia.
Nice to meet you, too.
So tell us about your ideas.
Your thoughts.
- Oh, my God.
- Your script.
The people are very, very clear in my mind.
Just really, really kind of naturalistic and real and subtle and nothing too crazy.
Basically, a lot of this is coming from my memory of being an adolescent in Pennsylvania in a smallish town.
We were just talking in the other room how much we do love a really subtle character development and you know, and how you sort them out.
Mind you, we do have a raw copy of the script.
Did you guys read any script that I wrote? No.
I only read this one.
- And that's Shane's.
- Yeah, yeah, so So we're totally different.
We're gonna totally ignore it.
Oh, this is crazy, so you already you just have a sense that mine's different from Shane's? - Yeah.
- Okay.
I think the best way to explain Pittsburgh is this is the largest smallest town you'll ever come to.
So I already had a basis of what and who would be here.
- (laughs) - Oh, like you've heard all about it? - Oh, yeah.
- Okay.
Cool, cool.
We also heard that you were the director we wanted to work for.
Shane did hire us, but we told him no 'cause it wasn't enough.
You guys are the sweetest! Okay, well, that means you feel nice.
- Martemucci: I feel very flattered.
- And then they were like, "But you want to work with the female director.
" And that you'll love it.
But the interesting part is this script versus what I was we were just sort of going over is that we're talking about a subtle character development as opposed to a caricature, which was what this was, and you know, those things are always costume-driven.
You have to have a specific look for the specific character - and that costs money.
- Yeah.
Guys, I'm so excited that you wanna do this.
(Phillips laughs) I'm so happy.
Eidel: I'm more excited now and more energized about it now.
Now that I know that yours is a 180, yeah, I think this is gonna be ridiculously fun.
Now I can put this in the dumpster.
And I feel so much better.
- Hello.
- Hi.
Man: This is the Tori house.
So we have just the bedroom.
Schnipper: So then on the reverse, we catch this whole area.
Okay.
(indistinct conversations) Nothing inappropriate happens in this house.
Which is yeah, I did check on that.
Although I didn't let him watch your stuff.
- Oh, no, no, no.
- Do not no.
Oh, no, I already got a heads-up.
I said, you will not be watching any of that.
- How old is he? - 13.
- Oh, he's seen it.
- He's seen it.
(laughter) Did he know who he was? Did you mention his name? - I didn't wanna tell him.
- Okay.
Right.
He's smart.
Of course.
I know him too well, so I just said, "Someone" our word is "inappropriate.
" Yeah, that would be very inappropriate.
Look what you're bringing to the mess.
- You know - Thank God.
My demo is 12 years old.
It's terrifying.
I'm not getting it.
Thank you for being a good parent.
- Hope to see you again soon.
- Okay, yes, thanks.
Bye-bye.
- Stay warm.
- Thank you.
Dawson: I respect the woman who said that she's not gonna let her children watch my videos or this movie.
My mom on the other hand, she loves the dirty humor, so, no, my parents are into it.
Moosa: Hello, Hollidaysburg.
Hello, Corey.
I'm just emailing you.
Awesome.
Got some callbacks today.
Yeah, and that's what I am That's what you're getting emailed about.
Anna wants it to just be Phil and her in the room with Donna and Oh, okay.
Because they wanna don't wanna make the actors anymore uncomfortable than Me and Josh, were both gonna come by, and Chris.
So you're saying not to do that, basically? I am, yeah, and I'm literally pressing send on that email right now.
- Hey, Corey.
How you doing? - Hey, how are you? I'm good.
You want to come into my chambers? Yeah, I just told them about the that they got banned.
- (Martemucci laughs) Okay.
- So.
Moosa: How many people are you seeing? - Like around - I forget what the tally is.
It was three or four for each, and that's five.
So 15 to 17 people.
Is that a lot? Moosa: No, no, that's good.
It'll be like be a fun afternoon, actually.
Have a good time.
We'll talk about all this.
We're gonna go in and just Martemucci: This is the fun part.
- Is that Josh Shader? It is.
- Hey! - Hi, Josh Shader.
- Hi, Josh Hetzler.
- How are you? - I'm good.
How are you guys? - We are good.
- We are A-okay.
Yeah, better day? And no one quit on us today? - Yeah, totally.
- No.
Hired people.
Hired an awesome new DP, Meena.
Her name is Meena Singh.
I hadn't even heard that name yet.
She is actually the recommendation of Hillary.
Shader: So I just saw these I was dealing with something else and I saw the casting stuff.
It's not a big deal for today, and my concern is just setting a general precedent of thinking that she can block other people from being part of things.
No, no, I don't think that's a concern It's not a big deal for today.
But I just didn't want to turn into something more where Well, that's one of those things, too, where I guess maybe we should all have a conversation about it because how involved does the production want to be in the casting part of it? Is it an approvals process where, you know, Anna can sort of make picks but then you guys have final say or Anna has final say.
The problem would be thinking that in all the decisions can be made in a bubble without conversation - or consultation with other people.
- No, I think it's That's that's but I'm saying that's the only concern I have.
I keep hearing this phrase, "best idea wins," but that means that people are involved in making decisions and people are getting feedback.
- We can make all these appeals to her.
- I don't have any - She's the one to convince.
- I'm not trying to convince.
I don't have any issue with the specific decision of the day.
I had an issue with setting a larger precedent.
To her point, they're already gonna be nervous from just having an audition.
They're gonna be extra nervous for having a camera crew.
They would be even more nervous about having, you know, as many people in the room as were talking about.
However, if they nail the audition that way, you have your actor.
Like, you know who to pick then.
And that's kind of the point.
And I think she wants to, like I think she legitimately wants to go through tapes with you.
If that's the case, we don't have a problem.
You can understand why I would think in hearing that, that may not be the case.
Cool.
- You need a hug? - I don't.
Phil's right here for you.
But I'm aware it's the it's the it's the situation it seems more dramatic than it is.
Because I have to walk in and talk to you about it, but I get it.
I don't give a shit about not sitting there today.
I just give a shit about, wait, is there more going on in this, or is it just this? And the answer is just this, no big deal.
Hetzler: Julie and I are realizing as we move through this process is that we're in the last ones in.
Like, these guys have been living with this project for a very, very, very long time.
And so they have a real ownership of it.
Josh Shader has a very strong feeling about how things should go and wants to make sure that his voice is heard.
We're here really to make sure that Anna's vision as a director - gets realized.
- Buck: For this project.
I don't need to talk to Anna.
I don't care.
I don't need to create more drama.
There's not - No drama.
- That's what I'm saying.
Everybody loves each other, and we all wanna play together.
She just doesn't wanna freak out actors in meeting one.
Dawson: Directing actors for me is the most fun part Dawson: Directing actors for me is the most fun part because I understand what they're doing.
I understand most of how they work.
- Hey.
- Hi, Michelle.
Thanks for coming.
- Hi, nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
- Hi.
Mmm! - Yeah, look at that.
I like to sit in a room and really talk through the characters.
Your dad and you do not have a good communication.
Your mom died, so she was the one you went to.
So your dad kind of doesn't know how to talk to you.
And I've done that with every project, and it always comes out great because the actors trust me.
I give them a lot of room to do whatever they want.
Great.
I literally I don't really have any notes.
I'm just trying to figure out what character 'cause you you played multiple characters, and you did them all really well.
So I'm trying to figure out, like, okay, what one.
And it's fun to be in the scene acting with them, seeing the choices they're making.
Playing off of that, It's just way more exciting than sitting behind a monitor and watching it happen.
You actually get to be in it.
Janie, is that you? Joe? What are you doing here? Oh, you know, nothing much.
Just visiting the old stomping ground.
Might reminisce with a former teacher, too.
- Woman: The teachers hated you.
- (laughs) Dawson: I think all of the characters have a little piece of me in them.
I was very nerdy.
I was also very naïve, which is how Janie is.
I was also, at some points, well-liked because of making videos in high school.
So, Scott, he's very well-liked.
So there's me in all of these characters except Heather.
I've never been inside of a glory hole.
Give me your dick.
Dawson: Uh, I don't think I want to.
You oddly resemble the Alice in Wonderland cat right now.
Stop being such a pussy and give me your dick! I'm just gonna be a 100% honest with you, like you'll know by today.
- Oh, cool.
- Thank you so much.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
Schnipper: I think Shane's strengths are definitely his decisiveness.
When he knows what he wants, he just knows.
Martemucci: All right, so basically, we're gonna have the kids.
Let them do what they prepared, adjust them once, and then either you or I will be like Philip: Lt'll always be you.
You're the only voice they're gonna hear.
Am I crazy that everybody is like, "You're the director.
" I know I'm the director.
Like, I get it.
Am I crazy to think that people are - Yeah.
- Okay.
- You definitely are.
- This is my own thing? Okay.
Okay.
That was unclear.
Okay, so they'll just do it, do it, and then no, I'm getting totally paranoid.
Philip: Yeah.
I had this problem with Josh Shader, too, super defensive.
Why are people are treating me like I don't know what I'm doing? Because I don't.
It's a plan, but that was a fruitless little interaction in there.
She's just getting very defensive.
She feels people keep reminding her that she's the director.
And she knows that, and I'm like, okay, I don't know what you're talking about now.
This sounds crazy.
Actor: Oh, man, I wish I had been more bold in junior high.
In the 8th grade Kim Carvy invited me over to watch TV, but the week before, I'd heard she'd stuck an entire Jergens lotion bottle up her pussy.
If you could, let's see like - just give me one second.
- Yeah.
Where is this it's this one? All right.
Sorry, this is my apparently, this is how I work in auditions.
Yeah, like, so it's more of a you're throwing it away more.
There's an obstruction, like you're talking through the action.
Let's see.
I'm wondering let's do it again just for fun.
And let's do it like, uh - Philip: I just have one thing.
- Martemucci: Do tell.
You get like flabbergasted.
Like there's a little bit more, uh Sorry, I take a long time to think about what I'm gonna say, apparently.
I would love it if you started the scene Started with that? Outrageous and then take it down a notch with the truth - that Crake delivers, you know.
- Okay.
Okay, I think I got it.
(laughs) This is ridiculous.
I'm just learning this as I go.
- Is she coming in right now? - Casting assistant: Yes, she is.
- Hi, Rachel Keller! - This is Rachel Keller.
Anna Martemucci.
- Oh, nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you, too.
Keller: Do you hear what he's saying? He wants all females to crawl towards him so he can jizz on their faces.
It's almost like a hate crime.
Timmy Rilen's having a little thing tonight.
He got his GED and got an apartment with Nate Dills, I guess.
We're going, yeah? We'll see, if my parents can let me out of my cage.
Martemucci: Very nice, very nice.
Tori has just gone away to college, and she's found her voice, right? So she's sort of she was the sidekick to Crake all through high school.
That first beat, that's the sort of new Tori, the one who's thoughtful, who's going to school.
She has an opinion.
She's not afraid to share it.
And then you sort of get reduced back to sidekick.
Oh, that's such a good note, Phil! Are you both directing it? Oh, no.
Phil's just my acting captain.
Amazing.
You're directing it? Yes, I'm directing it.
I am the director.
Martemucci: Auditions are really weird.
They're a weird situation.
I started getting down on myself for letting Phil run that session, but in retrospect I think it's fine.
I was just you know.
I just wasn't on my game that morning, and Phil totally stepped up, which was great in the end.
I think I let that make me think, like, am I director? Like, I couldn't even direct that kid to a better audition.
But those are the kind of thoughts that maybe I shouldn't be sharing all the time.
I definitely wouldn't share them with my team, but I'll share them with you, video diary.
Hi, my name is Cherami Leigh.
I'm with Talent House LA.
I'm reading for the role of Tori.
Dawson: French fries are so much better when you're high.
Leigh: Okay, I have to tell you something.
- You're a lesbian? - What? No.
Why would you think that? Dawson: You're the one who wanted me to buy Charlene.
And I gave her a back story.
She's bouncin' back.
One day at a time, right, Charlene? Dawson: The only lead role that is not cast is Tori.
She's the lead of the movie.
I have a few options, and each option's is a 100% different from the other.
So I'm trying to figure out what movie I wanna make because if she's bad, the movie's bad.
So I just did my final Skype auditions with two actresses that I like a lot to play the main character, Tori.
And, um Ah! This sucks.
Two amazing actresses are waiting to hear whether or not they're gonna be in the movie, and if they find out they're not, they're gonna be really sad, and they're gonna think they were terrible, and they're gonna question what they did wrong, and in reality, they were both fucking amazing for different reasons.
I had Alexandra.
She was amazing with her comedic timing.
And then I had Cherami, who really brought the emotion.
And those are two important things.
(groans) One of the girls was even crying in her audition.
She really like brought the emotion, and when she was crying, all I could think was, "Oh, this is how she's gonna cry when she finds out she doesn't get the part.
And that's because of me.
" I mean, I don't know what to do.
I don't know what to do.
I have to make my final decision in two days.
Dawson: Pictures are overrated and pretentious.
Well, how about a movie, then? There's a new Pixar out.
It's supposed to be depressing as shit.
Hey, I was thinking maybe we could check out the new Diane Arbus exhibit at the art museum.
How did you convince your parents to let you out the house all weekend? - Thank you.
- Schnipper: I mean, he was hilarious.
- Do you hate him? - Stop saying I hate people.
You know that I don't mean "hate.
" It's an expression.
I know but it makes it look like I'm hating everybody, and they're not gonna show the part where I say no.
They're just going to cut to you being like, "You hate him?" Then that's what they're gonna show.
(laughs) Just letting you know I'm gonna be turning the atmosphere up a little bit.
Don't let that trigger any of your silly little hormones.
Let her out! Let her out! Pussy and titties.
(laughs) Dawson: I lost the nice about 15 minutes ago.
I don't know how you guys do this.
It's so hard to act like I care about these actors when all I'm thinking about is farting.
You're not doing that great of a job of it.
I know, well, when they walk in and I automatically know they're not gonna be good, I just lost the whole and then she throws out, "Do you have anything to say to them?" And I wanna be like if l just don't ask that.
'Cause I don't feel like saying anything.
I'll just tell her when she walks in.
Okay.
'Cause why am I gonna waste their time? The character is doesn't matter, just do it.
- Okay.
- Wrap it up.
- Chillax.
- I'm just saying.
I need this more than you, bitch! Black Friday! - (laughs) - That was good.
I'd say Take it up a notch? - Take it up about 587 notches.
- Okay.
Schnipper: Are we seeing a lot of people that are not on this list? 'Cause there's obviously a lot of first-timers.
- Yeah, there's just a couple.
- Okay.
Schnipper: One of the downfalls of shooting in Pittsburgh is that it's not incredibly diverse of a city.
There's not a lot of diverse actors in Pittsburgh, it's just a fact.
We don't want a movie with all white people for a lot of reasons.
So we're having a difficult time casting some of the smaller roles.
And we have a lot to cast in a week.
Each one of those people costs a lot of money, so coming out to him with more of the creative standpoint, being like, "We're not gonna find those people," is much easier than coming to him with just the budget thing, because as any director, they just want they want, and they're gonna make it happen and not to compromise.
Are any of these people coming in today diverse? All right, I'm gonna take my pretty pictures and quit stalking me.
This guy stalking you? All right, that was good.
I'd say as far as intensity and loudness, go up about 800%.
- Oh, okay.
- Big.
Like, "Whoa!" Like, really, like, scare the shit out of him.
- (Dawson laughing) - Schnipper: That was good.
- That was it.
- That's it.
Thank you.
- See you later.
- Thank you.
Schnipper: Why are you hating everybody today? That wasn't scary at all and his voice is too high-pitched.
It's not his fault but I thought that last one was good.
I'm not fucking settling, dude.
I'm not settling because we need a black or we need Mexican - You have to.
- No! We don't have a choice for some of these things.
We're not settling.
- I need you on my side with this.
- I disagree with you.
You can't constantly battling me because in your head you're thinking, - oh, money, and we need - No, I thought the last read was good.
I thought the last read was good.
I really did.
I'm not disagreeing with you, and it you know, it's one line.
And I just feel like the last one was good.
It's a big visual gag, and if it doesn't work, then that whole scene is stupid.
Martemucci: I just got Victor's very interesting thoughts on casting.
We agree on everything except he except for Heather.
He sees Heather as Krista Marie Yu whereas I was seeing Heather as Claire whatever her name is.
Victor thinks that my girls looked too beautiful to even be in the movie.
And I can kind of see what he's saying.
Hetzler: I'm gonna say something mildly controversial.
I love Victor.
Martemucci: Yeah.
I trust Victor.
Martemucci: Mm-hmm.
Victor is not the director of our movie.
Martemucci: Yes.
He is one of the writers.
He is one of the writers, for sure, and he's your husband and you know.
But I don't want you to feel undermined in your instincts because it is your instinct guiding this process.
Buck: Victor has a different feeling.
I'm not saying, "Victor says no, so I can't do it.
" I am fully exploring Victor's point of view because I wanna make sure that I'm not missing something.
Does that makes sense? Like, best idea wins.
- In this dynamic - Yeah? - I'm just being very frank with you.
- Yeah, give it to me.
Victor speaks with the loudest voice.
Like you can you will hear the things that Julie and I say, but you haven't, you're not married to Julie and I, and you haven't been working with Julie and l You guys saying that you don't want me that you think that I shouldn't ask Victor's opinion? No, you should totally ask Victor's opinion.
He's your husband.
I mean he's a writer, he's a Yeah, we're creative partners.
We've always worked together.
You say, "I think this person is great," and Victor comes back and says, "I think this person's terrible," and you're like, well, I guess this person isn't gonna work, and that's not how that But I didn't say this person isn't gonna work.
I'm saying I'm looking at both these people.
So why are you guys jumping to the conclusion that I'm saying this person isn't gonna work? I'm just taking I'm just going down the road considering Victor's very passionate response.
You know what it is, too? I wish that Victor was actually here.
Martemucci: I know.
The thing that Martemucci: He's like a phantom menace.
It's basically like it's I'm sensing a dynamic where the core-creative team has a silent partner that we don't all get to interact with.
Like Victor is essentially a member of the core creative team.
- Yeah.
- But you are the only person interacting with him.
And I guess Phil is to a certain extent, too, but Yeah, Phil's interacting a lot because that's how we do it.
The three of u because the three of us wrote it.
So we're writers getting ready to put this movie up.
Which is how "Breakup at a Wedding" worked.
Yeah.
It's cool, we can get Victor on the phone the next time so Josh can hear him.
- Is that cool? - Sure.
- Is what you want? - Yeah, actually, that is what I want.
- It's very much what I want.
- Okay, perfect.
So I'd probably have, like, you know, a wide shot, and the bus pulls up.
It's like it's funny because it's super fancy, and then you see this shitty party bus pull up.
(laughs) Cool.
Philip: So how'd everything go the other day at Nancy Mosser's with casting? - Dawson: It was a horrible day.
- It was? Worst day of my life, casting.
The main issue is there's not that many comedians out here.
And we need, like you know, for Tori's parents, we need we have an option for the mom, but we need really funny parents.
Haven't been able to find that.
It's been hard, there's just And then a lot of people don't wanna do it 'cause they're like, "We don't wanna be in a raunchy comedy.
" I'm like, "What the fuck are you talking about? Every movie right now is a raunchy comedy.
" Yeah.
You out-of-work actors have standards and morals? What the fuck? Yeah, we have two options and they have really great looks, but just we haven't found anybody like good comedic timing, which is just really hard.
- It's the first joke of the movie.
- Right, right.
Oh, and then for the bus driver, we need, like, a really funny, creepy guy.
And that's been really hard.
And are you looking for somebody of ethnicity for that as well? It could be.
Doesn't have to be.
- Did you see "Scary Movie 2"? - Yeah.
Do you remember the guy with the weird hand? (high voice) And he talked like this.
And it's like, "Hey, everybody.
" Like I'm looking for that.
- Okay.
- Which is impossible.
- How are you? - I'm great.
It's good to have you.
I'm gonna put you in this to start.
I was running around the house the other day just sort of to keep it fun in the living quarters with Anna.
And, man, did she just go crazy.
She loves she loves laughing at my body.
- (laughs) - I love it, too, 'cause I don't think you're ready for this jelly.
No, no, no one's ready for that kind of jelly.
Jingle balls.
Okay, I got to run through to this meeting real quick.
Makeup, too? What the fuck is going on? Oh, my God! - Phil's got a union suit on.
- This you don't film (screams) No! (laughing) That was terrifying.
Dude, "Spider-Man" auditions are the next floor down.
Man: Phil? All right, so yeah.
You have to sell it.
There we go.
- Pie? - (camera lens clicking) Look, there she goes, that girl is strange but special Please go tromping into the meeting with that on.
Four people standing up and kind of wrestling around with each other.
(laughing) - Dressed.
- (all laughing) Pie? Jesus.
Dawson: What happened with the Scott and Ginny house? They got word of script content that they weren't comfortable with.
There's nothing in that scene that's Yeah, but it's not the scene, it's the movie.
All right, what do you mean they got word? Well, they're allowed to know what's being shot in that house.
Somebody told them that the movie had Who's going around saying this movie is the fucking raunchiest movie in the world? It is not the raunchiest movie in the world.
- It's not but - Lebanon is a very classy - Shader: "Stepford Wives.
" - Yeah, yeah.
So That bitch was not a Stepford wife.
She was a K-Mart wife.
I'm a K-mart husband, I get it.
We were on the same page.
Idiot.
And this is sort of the theme of the day.
I think, Shane.
Who the fuck is talking to people? 'Cause I wanna fucking talk to them.
Like, what is happening? I just talked to Tony about this.
The script is not that raunchy.
It's an R-rated comedy.
Nicholas: I was talking to them about that.
I talked to them for an hour this morning.
They kind of just said they don't think it's gonna change their minds.
Okay.
Well, let me ask you a question.
How much do you love that location? I mean, listen, if we were losing Sharif's house, I would be punching a wall right now.
Sharif's house isn't going anywhere.
But I'm saying if you want the location badly enough, I can call them and go back and offer more money, too.
Fuck them.
I don't care about them anymore.
They're dead to me.
But I wanna know who the fuck is going to all these people just fucking saying this shit.
- Who did they fucking talk to? - I don't know.
There's somebody out there is a fucking rat and they're going around saying this is the raunchiest movie ever made, and it's pissing me the fuck off.
Because this is fucking over Anna, too, because people are gonna assume her movie's raunchy which it's probably not, and now she's gonna get fucked over because of this.
So I don't know who's talking, but I will fucking take their balls, rip them off, put my hand in the open area where their balls used to be, go all the way through their body, go out their ear, and do one of these like they think they're getting hugged, but they're not.
They're getting full-body fucked.
All right, sit down.
Let's talk.
So you know Nancy situation fully.
People are reacting to the fact that it's SAG modified low budget.
So there's not a lot of money in it.
So they're just like, "Fuck it, it's not worth my time.
" They are reacting to the fact that the content in the sides is a turn-off to them, because it is to some people.
And they're reacting to the fact that it's a first-time director who they haven't heard of, and he said to me quite frankly, he says, "Look, I'm gonna be honest with you.
I've had clients that have gone online, watched Shane's stuff, and said, I don't wanna be a part of that.
" But I sort of said that I would hope that if there was anybody that we are really excited about, they would at least give us a chance to read the full script, have a conversation with me or Lauren or you because I think that it's not a full representation of what you're going for to just watch a YouTube video and then make a decision based on that.
All of these people are not actors.
When I was an actor, I was auditioning for everything, especially since half of the people in this movie are teenagers.
So I don't quite understand the logic of being picky when you have no fucking job.
Well, no, but that's the problem, they do have jobs and that's exactly - What are their jobs? - What I didn't understand that was explained to me today they don't make their living as actors.
So what their fear is, is that and one woman in particular, who's a professor who's up for tenure who literally said to him, "My fear is that I put myself in this movie and my colleagues see it and it hurts my status at my job.
" Well, then why am seeing professors? Where are the fucking actors? It's a smaller, more limited talent pool than out in New York and LA, and that's what we're dealing with, and so that's what these people are responding to when you hear about Drew talking about locations, too.
- These are not New York, LA people.
- If we can't find locations, if we can't find the actors, if we can't find crew, then how are we gonna fix this to make Pittsburgh look great? Because Zach Quinto ain't doing fucking anything.
Can we call him? Does he have actor friends that live around here? - What are we gonna do? - Well, this is what I said to Nancy, and she believes she believes and don't get angry about this.
I just want to take it one step at a time 'cause obviously she is very frustrated that she's being blamed for everything.
'Cause she feels like, I mean, if you really look at those factors, people passing because of money and passing because of not responding to the material or passing She's not being blamed for that.
She's being blamed for not fucking telling us.
And that's what I said to her.
I said, "That is what my frustration with you is, that this is the first time I'm hearing of this.
We feel like he's blaming us for people not coming in to audition, and it's really the content of the script.
It's really the low budget.
It's the docu-drama being filmed in conjunction.
The fact that he's an unknown director, the fact that he put himself in the lead, that was definitely an issue, too.
I think that it was surprising for Shane and tough.
I think he also needs to be realistic or this film is not going to get made.
Quinto: A lot of movies come into Pittsburgh and shoot there.
It's just the matter of knowing how to communicate, knowing how to work with people to get what you want and knowing how to be flexible with the limitations and the parameters in which you're working.
And that's also a really important skill for a director to have.
Shane was on board when we came to the table.
Chris decided that he was a really good candidate for the experiment, and it made great sense.
So I think the test for Shane is gonna be how does he transition into an entirely new territory of being responsible for so many other people, an entire production, and a feature-length production at that.
When Shane and I initially talked, he's directing it, he's starring in his movie, so he's putting in tremendous amount of responsibility on his own shoulders.
All right, kid, this is a lot, but I like the confidence.
I respect that part of it, and I feel like it remains to be seen how that will play out for him.
I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt because that's the job of a producer.
It is our responsibility to create an environment in which a director can execute his or her vision to the full extent of their ability.
Martemucci: I kind of go in and out of panic about it.
I got to find my Scott.
It's hard.
It's hard to find the right guy.
I need to know exactly the two or three or four Scotts that I'm considering, and I need to get on Skype with them because we can't afford to bring them in, which is really difficult.
There are a lot of things I don't know how we're going to do it, but we're gonna figure it out, so you just kind of live minute by minute.
Actor: Are these all my school photos? He looks old, but you can try.
How tall is that guy? Man: So with the simple utilization of just a Mandarin collar and my mom's glasses - There you go! - Oh, yeah.
Casting has been harrowing, and it's been a struggle not to feel like things are the end of the world.
It's been a struggle not to feel like where is God? The hunt for Scott October continues.
I didn't expect all this.
I thought maybe they moved Skip.
Skip.
Today I spent the entire day frantically looking for my Scott, and I haven't found him yet.
That guy kind of looks too old for the role.
No, no, no.
Wow, I'm just blowing through these guys.
It's a struggle to not panic and feel like we're running out of time.
I've started watching through them, and there are three that I'm like, hmm, yeah.
Martemucci: And I have a weird faith that I will find my Scott even though I don't have him, and it is officially less than two weeks until we shoot this movie.
Actor #2: Talked to mom yet? Why aren't you calling anyone back? Actor #3: Yeah, I talked to her.
Are these all my school photos? It's just so funny how many factors go into finding one human being to embody to tell a story.
I found everybody in this movie except for the lead dude.
- Actor #4: Meesh.
- Actor #5: Hey, Mush.
- Actor #6: Meesh.
- Actor #7: Hey, Mush.
- Actor #8: Meesh.
- Actor #9: Hey, Mush.
The thing that I really want is to have time for me to bond with my actors and my actors to bond with each other.
The fact that we don't have a Scott is a little bit difficult right now.
So I'm kind of holding back, but we'll figure it out.
I got a call from Josh because he thought that between Nancy, the casting director, and myself as an agent that I was telling people not to audition for this film.
I wasn't telling people not to audition for this film, but I was being honest about what the material was.
In this town, 50% of the people ended up knowing Shane's movie as the movie where somebody eats his own shit.
That's what actually narrowed the casting process for them.
If you tweak a scene here or there and I'm not telling anybody to write anything, but if you write a script a certain way and you wanna make your film this way and put these elements in here, then you got to expect that some people are gonna say no.
It's been mentioned many, many times the shit-eating is a problem for people.
So if we just lose that, perhaps this next week might go easily.
I'm just saying.
I'm not taking anything out of the movie to please a bunch of fucking-out-of-work actors in Pittsburgh who should be lucky to get an audition for a feature film.
I'm not catering to that fucking market.
- I agree with you.
- Thank you.
- I agree with you and I think - That is bullshit.
No director has ever taken anything out of a movie to get someone to audition.
But, Shane, the flip-side of that coin - is having that level - Then we suffer the consequences.
Right, you have to deal with the consequences and realize that people you can't angry when people say I don't want someone shooting that scene in my house or I don't wanna go up for that role because of that.
I'm not angry about them not wanting to be on the movie.
I'm angry that we're finding out about this two days before we start fucking filming the movie.
- I 100% agree.
- I'm angry that I've had no options.
I'm angry that I saw one girl for Heather.
I'm angry that I saw no people for Luke.
- I'm angry that we have no options.
- I agree.
I'm just trying to find ways in the last minute for us to solve it.
So I mean, I think we're all in the same page.
Changing the movie is not the way to do that.
You know I'm not asking you to change the movie.
I'm saying this one thing that people bring up.
Fine, we can move on.
If you don't want to move it, you have to suffer the consequences.
Period, end of story, moving on.
All right, this is everybody that we've mentioned that we like for Coleen.
How do you wanna do it? Do you want headphones? Do you want to look at it together? What do you wanna do? I don't know.
I'm gonna go.
Shane, stop it, you can't go! We have too much shit to do! I'm gonna go, and I'm gonna do this in my fucking hotel.
- Because I can't deal.
- Shane, please, you do not do that.
That is not fair.
Do not leave.
We have too much shit to do today, four days away from shooting.
I have to fucking shot list this movie! - I know! - I need to go do that.
Yes, I will watch that shit in my hotel room.
I don't need a million opinions on who to fucking cast.
I asked if you wanted headphones.
Because I'm gonna give you the answer none of them are great.
That is the answer.
We have a lot of settling people.
Do you want me to pick all the people that we can settle? 'Cause I can go through the list.
Is that what you want me to do? No.
I want to try fucking solve the problem.
Then what are we gonna do? We're gonna sit here and do what Josh Changing the movie is not the answer.
So what's the other answer? I don't get angry that often.
I kind of got angry at the office.
But, you know, I just sat down and collected my thoughts, and I wrote Nancy and the other casting people an email.
I just said, "Listen, I'm upset, I'm frustrated, but I want you to know that I still believe in you guys, and I honestly just want to make a good movie, and that's why I'm so passionate about this.
" And I could have easily called them and just bitched and moaned and complained, but that doesn't get me anywhere, and I think I just have to get them excited about the movie, too.
And they wrote back, and they're really happy, and they're happy that I reached out, and I definitely want them to work hard, but I want them to work hard because they want to, not because they're scared that I'm gonna yell at them.
You know how scary this face is.
Terrifying.
Hetzler: When you talk to photographers about photography, you don't have to get deep into the language of photography, but you can start to think about the visual world that you are creating.
- I have, like, a natural eye.
- Mm-hmm.
And I used to photograph, but I never, ever got into it in a real way.
- Like, it stopped at a hobby.
- Right.
And I never got into the technical stuff of it at all.
So I don't know lenses, I don't know Buck: That's okay, you don't need to know that.
- Okay.
- That's why you have a DP.
You don't need to know that stuff.
But I know what I like in terms of movies.
Right, having some photographers whose aesthetic you feel, like, matches the things that you want I think will help you in those conversations with the DP so that you're not just sort of kind of being like - Martemucci: "I like brown.
" - "I want it to look good.
- Martemucci: Yeah, yeah.
- Can you give me the good?" Buck: Josh is exactly right.
You give film references.
I was pitching you on that "Punch-Drunk Love.
" - Do you remember that movie? - Mm-hmm.
So it's a comedy of sorts.
Yeah, that is a it's like a high-art-piece comedy.
- Yeah.
- (laughs) These are some very high-brow photography ideas that I actually don't think apply so much to - To your film.
- To my film.
I think there's a little bit more of a, um realism.
Your "Uncle Buck" and your John Hughes and things we keep referencing.
Like much more It's a John Hughes, "Uncle Buck," Alexander Payne thing which is all kind of rooted in the mundane a little bit, you know what I mean? And maybe the colors aren't so beautiful.
They're more just kind of homey and brown.
The beauty comes from the Terrence Malick side of things rather than be really innovative, slightly edgy, slightly high-art of the Sophia Coppolas and the - Buck: PT Andersons.
- PT Andersons, you feel me, dog? I feel you, I feel you.
This is helpful.
In the camera package, there's, like, a wireless little director's monitor that Shane will be able to have.
So, like, when he's in the scenes, like - Thank God.
- He'll be able to see himself before "action" is called.
- Cherami's in! - Really? - Yeah! - Yay! Yay! I'm gonna have sex with Cherami, Cherami I'm gonna get in between them cheeks Me and Cherami, she gonna get laid - All day.
- Okay, all right.
- She might be out after this.
- Oh, man.
- Yeah, just got the email.
- What did she say? Sorry, I was trying to, I was Shane's personality lends itself more to being witnessed.
It's part of his whole sensibility as a personality, as a performer.
There's a voyeuristic aspect to his history.
It's online.
It's accessible to everyone.
It is inextricably tied with who he is.
He's created this persona.
This persona is the thing that people subscribe to literally.
Anna doesn't have that trajectory.
Anna is a much more quiet, reflective, sensitive writer and artist, and doesn't spend her life in the same position of exposure.
It's weird when you're in a moment and then you realize you're being captured or documented.
And it's gonna be a real hurdle for her if she's not able to see past it.
(music playing)
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