2012 - Some Girl(s)

tiuchis

Posted on 2/7/2013, 00:04

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Thanks 4 the new video!! Jen makeupless

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comotion

Posted on 2/7/2013, 04:10

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Yup, I like it, too. Thanks, Aurore.

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aurore

Posted on 6/7/2013, 08:40

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Interview: Adam Brody and the women of Neil LaBute's 'Some Girl(s)'

Based on his play by the same name, Neil LaBute’s script for “Some Girl(s)” follows a successful writer (Adam Brody, "Gilmore Girls," "The O.C.") on the eve of his wedding as he travels the country in an attempt to make amends for past transgressions with five ex-lovers. Crisscrossing from Seattle to Boston, he meets up with high school sweetheart Sam (Jennifer Morrison, "House," "Once Upon a Time"), sexually free-spirited Tyler (Mia Maestro, "Alias," "The Twilight Saga"), married college Lindsay (Emily Watson, "Breaking the Waves," "Hilary and Jackie"), his best friend’s little sister Reggie (Zoe Kazan, "Bored to Death," "Ruby Sparks"), and “the one that got away” Bobbi (Kristen Bell, "Veronica Mars," "Heroes"). The film was directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer (“Party Girl”) and features excellent performances all around. I sat down with Adam Brody, Jennifer Morrison, Mia Maestro, and Zoe Kazan to discuss how they maneuvered through LaBute’s fascinating, provocative, and often infuriating world.

MSN Movies: This film has such an interesting structure in that Adam has these intense individual scenes with five very different women from his past. Did it sometimes feel more like you were doing a play than a movie?

Zoe Kazan: Yes! It’s funny but this is the first time we’ve even been in a room together. I was so excited to finally see the movie and see what everyone else was doing!

Jennifer Morrison: Yeah, I was, too! I couldn’t wait to see the other scenes.

Mia Maestro: We never saw each other on set—we each had three days per scene.

Jennifer: One day of rehearsal and two days of shooting.

Mia: There were only two sets for the whole film. When one was being used, the other one was being re-dressed. They did such a beautiful job because it really looks like a lot of different locations.

I’m always fascinated by Neil LaBute’s work and the way he holds a mirror up to how messed up most of us are! He tends to be very polarizing and in some quarters has a reputation for being a misogynist. Did this give any of you pause?

Adam Brody: No, not at all. Neil is very aware of the subject he’s dealing with. He’s inviting you to talk about it, and he often writes about it in a very provocative way. But it never seems gleeful or like he’s getting off on it. If anything, he’s talking about how terrible the guys are. And it’s interesting here that the women all have gender-neutral names and the guy’s not named at all. I think part of what he’s saying is that we all do this kind of stuff to each other.

Jennifer: I always loved Neil LaBute’s work. And I find it really interesting that people talk about how hard he is on women. He’s actually way harder on men—always pointing out how ridiculous they are!

You had Daisy von Scherler Mayer directing and a largely female crew on this film.

Mia: Daisy was great and it was lovely to have so many women on the set—our DP Rachel Morrison, the production designer Maya Siegel, and most of the producers. It was a very feminine set! It’s hard to shoot these huge 18-page scenes but Daisy was wonderful. I think because she’s done a lot of amazing television she was very comfortable shooting that many pages in a day. Some directors would have had a hard time doing that!

Zoe: And being able to shoot it in sequence was extremely helpful.

Jennifer: Yeah, that is so rare and it did make it feel like we were doing a play. You normally have a lot of different locations so everything gets split up according to that. When you’re in one space and going from start to finish, that’s a total luxury as an actor.

Did the lack of locations create any challenges?

Zoe: For me, the hardest part was finding ways to justify moving around in a small space. If I was actually meeting my ex in a hotel room I’m not sure I’d move around that much! Trying to find ways to convey the character without that much action and finding organic ways to make various movements make sense was a challenge. Daisy really helped with that.

Did you wonder why these women would even agree to meet him in the first place?

Jennifer: Sam had overheard people saying that he had cheated on her in high school. She just wanted to find out the truth, that was enough to get her across the threshold.

Mia: I think Tyler probably agrees to meet him because she thinks it would be fun. Maybe something would happen between them.

Zoe: I feel like there’s just some morbid curiosity we would all have if an ex called us up. I think that unless you were just completely bored by that person, you'd probably agree to meet them if they asked.

But maybe not in his hotel room!

Jennifer: Yeah, that was a little suspicious, actually.

I don’t suppose in a film like this there’s any room—or need—for improvisation?

All: No!

Adam: I enjoy improv and in most films you end up doing it a lot, it’s very collaborative. But with this, coming from a play that’s been performed around the world, it’s very specific. As an actor that was part of the fun. I knew I didn’t have to improvise at all so the challenge became finding ways to say all of this stuff in a believable way.

Mia: Neil writes in such a particular way that every word, every alliteration, every pause (is it three dots or five dots?) means something. So the truer you are to the text, the more easily the emotions come since it’s so well written.

Jennifer: Neil always writes real people—there’s no costume or accent to hide behind, nothing extravagant to put on and feel like you’ve changed in some way. So every little detail becomes heightened. How does she hold her coffee? Why does she sit in the chair that way?

Zoe: Neil LaBute also has some very particular word choices that aren’t everyday words.

Jennifer: I think that was especially true with your character.

Zoe: She’d say things like, “I thought I would ring you up.” Sort of a Britishism, I guess.

Jennifer: I wonder if that’s because Zoe’s scene wasn’t in the play in New York and was only performed in the London version.

Zoe: Oh, that’s interesting, I never thought of that!

Mia: Yeah, I saw the play in London with David Schwimmer and my friend Saffron (Burrows). The text changed a lot from that version to what we did.

Adam: I really liked the challenge of saying those “Neil-isms.” Like when I had to call someone a “gal!”

I take it that Neil LaBute wasn’t on set when you were making the film?

Mia: No, but he was watching dailies and would send encouraging messages…even flowers!

Do you think someone could ever do what this guy said he was trying to do and have it not be a disaster?

Jennifer: I think it really depends on the intentions. That’s what’s so intriguing about this script is that we don’t really know what his true intentions are for so long. Going from girl to girl and seeing what happens almost makes the film feel like a thriller.

Adam: For me it’s like watching a horror movie. What’s this guy up to? I guess I can believe him. Oh wait, he hurt that girl. Can we trust him? And then as it goes on more is revealed. In the end I think it’s fairly obvious that he’ll never stop being this way. We basically learn that he’s a narcissistic sociopath!

Who seems incapable of ever saying that he's sorry!

There’s something Neil does so well in his movies. I remember in “Your Friends and Neighbors” after Ben Stiller sleeps with Aaron Eckhart’s wife, he's confronted with it and just stammers, “Well, you know…” Here this guy can never own up to what he’s done to these women and say, “It’s my fault, I’m sorry.”

Even though he tells himself that he’s helping them get some kind of closure as well.

Jennifer: I have friends who’ve gone through AA and part of that is going back to people who you’ve hurt and truly dealing with it to try to heal those wounds. If that’s what was coming out with this guy the whole trip might have been productive. Of course then it probably would have been a pretty boring movie! (Laughs.) In this story he's constantly re-opening wounds rather than cauterizing them!

Zoe: It was very cool to me to see how all these women seemed to exist in their own worlds. That’s a testament to the other actresses—seeing the way that they carried themselves and brought their whole world with them, I could just picture where they lived, where they’re coming from and where they’re going. Whereas he’s the drifter—a blank with no name. He’s looking for a place to throw down an anchor but he never finds it. He may be retracing his steps in an attempt to find some sense of identity.

http://social.entertainment.msn.com/movies...tes-some-girl-s

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tiuchis

Posted on 6/7/2013, 16:06

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Thanks!! Love that Jen speaks a lot!! Hehe so we get more of her thoughts on the movie!! Cool!!!

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comotion

Posted on 6/7/2013, 19:26

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Another good interview....thanks for finding it and posting it for us, Aurore.

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aurore

Posted on 27/8/2013, 19:17

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Jennifer Morrison in "THE LIMO DRIVER"

Jennifer Morrison in "THE LIMO DRIVER" from Some Girl(s) on Vimeo.

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jennwithapen

Posted on 27/8/2013, 20:08

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Love this little spoof...Jen looks so pretty in it too...and that is so not her real house...and where are her parents who went with her to the premiere? ;-)

Thanks for finding this Aurore friend!

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comotion

Posted on 27/8/2013, 21:26

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This is a great addition...so cute. Many thanks for finding this, Aurore.

Question: was this included in the movie? I downloaded the movie, but honestly, I only watched the part with Jennifer. Was this a bonus feature? :huh: