Hey, everyone. “Moriarty” here. I love this movie. So far this year, there are a handful of films that I just unreservedly recommend. And as of this weekend, THE FOOT FIST WAY is on the very top of that list. If you live in a market where this film is opening this weekend, put it ahead of any blockbuster of any type. Ahead of IRON MAN. Ahead of INDY 4. Ahead of SPEED RACER or CASPIAN. Ahead of SEX & THE CITY. Ahead of THE STRANGERS. This is the film you should check out first. Why? Why THE FOOT FIST WAY? Is it just because it’s “cool” to pretend like you discovered some underground eight-dollar-looking low-key comedy, a la NAPOLEON DYNAMITE? Everyone loves to be the one to say they were into REM’s MURMUR before anyone else was listening. Everyone loves to feel like they planted their hipster flag in something and moved on before anyone else even got there. So is this one of those cases? Or is this a case of seeing a film and knowing right away that the people involved were going to be making movies that you’d be watching for the rest of your life? Because we’ve all had that experience, too. I remember seeing RAISING ARIZONA in a theater with six other people present, and four of them walked out before it was over. And I was sure in my bones that I’d be watching Coen Bros. movies until I was 90 years old, something I’m still sure of today. I think those are the moments we chase as film fans, those little lightning bolts where we welcome some new voice to the fray, where someone persuasively makes the case that they’ve got something real and substantial to contribute. That’s how I feel about THE FOOT FIST WAY. Like the British OFFICE, this is a pitch-perfect portrait of a very particular force-of-nature personality... in this case, Fred Simmons, played by Danny McBride. He’s the center of this particular firestorm of deadpan madness, but the reason the film is great and not just a nice showcase for one guy is because director Jody Hill and co-writer Ben Best also both play key onscreen roles. Hill is the very creepy, very twitchy Mike -- his first scene with the kids in the car is greatness incarnate -- and Best plays Chuck “The Truck” Wallace, a low-grade martial arts celebrity who goes from idol to rival for Simmons. Both of them are just as good in front of the camera as they are behind it, and so McBride’s able to really soar. They give him exactly the right support, exactly the right energy to make him look better. There are a lot of happy accidents in the casting, including Spencer Moreno, who damn near steals the whole thing as Julio. I picked THE FOOT FIST WAY as one of the twelve best films I saw last year, and you can read my reasoning in that article, where I called it “the comedy ENTER THE DRAGON,” a description I’m sticking with. This movie offers up Fred Simmons as a fully-formed comedy character, the sort who has a life that extends beyond what we’re watching. McBride can do broad and funny... that’s not a problem for him. But what he does here is something a lot more interesting... he plays him totally real. There’s no joke in what McBride does, and that’s what makes it so powerfully funny. I absolutely believe in Fred Simmons while I’m watching that film. He doesn’t feel like a put-on, a mockery of a person. He just feels like a real person, completely without self-perspective, hilarious and pathetic and cool in spite of himself, all in fits and starts. I’m convinced McBride’s going to get hired in about 37,000 films because of his work here, and that Hill and Best are guaranteed continued constant work as well. They’re just too centered, and the film’s just that good. They knew how much I liked the picture when we finally got a chance to sit down face-to-face for a few minutes. Sixteen, to be precise. It felt like two. In a situation like this, I hope some of what we quickly discussed turns out to be interesting or entertaining for you. More than anything, I hope it inspires you to check out the movie. Need more convincing, or just want to kill some time and get a laugh? Do you think y’all have the moves to make Fred beat Chuck “The Truck” in a battle of the egomaniacs? Play the FOOT FIST WAY Game, which lets you play one of the film’s best scenes, or just check out the main site, where you can play with the Kickass SoundBoard or just watch videos. We sort of bantered for a moment as I walked into what appeared to be the projectionist’s break room at the Arclight in Hollywood. Strange place to finally meet. Actually, Jody and I had met once before on the set of SUPERBAD, when he was just there one evening talking with the cast and the producers. This was not long after they’d all seen FOOT FIST WAY for the first time, and I remember Shauna Robertson in particular talking it up. The guys commented on the BNAT shirt I had on, and Jody talked to me about the idea of coming to see him work with Seth Rogen on the mall cop movie they’re doing now. That’s something I’m trying to figure out right now, actually. They talked about their reactions to showing up on Ain’t It Cool the first time with reviews of their film. Finally, we sat down and I set my recorder on the table in front of the three of them. MORIARTY: It’s interesting... you guys, this has been a, uh... a long road to get from where you made it to where you’re finally putting in front of a wider audience.
BEN/DANNY: Yeah.
MORIARTY: And along the way, you’ve picked up a lot of supporters, a lot of people in the business who’ve loved it. Um... you know, if it had just been a calling card, it would obviously have already done its job, but now... how does it feel to finally be able to share it with everybody?
BEN: I am so... it is a relief because it really, like, what you said... it really has done wonders for us career-wise. At the same time, it’s just something that I think we’re really proud of and, uh... just getting, havin’ the chance for everyone to see it now is amazing. It’s such a relief. DANNY: It’s, like, nuts because, you know, we never... I’ve never heard of an independent film being marketed by the famous people that like it. Which is... it’s so weird. We always wonder if people misconstrue that. Like they think that, like, we knew these people before. We literally... we were coming from nothin’, no connections or anything. We made this film because... really our only goal was to, when we were in film school, we used to sit around and get drunk and watch movies over and over. And we thought, “Hey, let’s throw our hats in that arena and let’s try to make something that hopefully other film school kids or film geeks would fuckin’ put on and drink a beer or two.” That was really our goal. And then it gets into Sundance, and we start to find out all these people we are fans of have somehow seen the movie and are liking it, and... JODY: Good Lord! BEN: ... and then Will Ferrell comes out... I mean, I... I PA’d on TALLADEGA NIGHTS, which they shot in Charlotte. Cause when we finished shooting FOOT FIST WAY, I was so broke. I mean, like, I went’n’did craft service over there, you know? I didn’t know Will. I saw them from afar, you know? Like, “Wow... there they are.” DANNY: And then you got escorted off the lot... BEN: Yeah... pretty much. DANNY: ... for tryin’ to look at him. BEN: Yeah, trying to steal some garbage... JODY: Yeah we didn’t expect it at all, you know. Like you said, we thought maybe it would be a calling card, or we could make another movie with it or something. I don’t know, it was... yeah, I hear what you’re saying, Danny. Because it is one of those things... you see famous people, Will Ferrell, for example, and you think, “Oh, well, these guys finagled their way through Hollywood and stuff,” but you know, it’s like... I would love to have this feeling again. Because it was like the type of thing where we were trying to make each other laugh and really nobody else, and we felt like that was where we wanted to be and the fact that other people laugh at it? DANNY: Yeah! JODY: ... but for me, it was a special time, a special film, and I don’t know if we will ever get that again. DANNY: I can remember when CAA called and said that Judd Apatow had seen the film and he wanted to meet me at the set of KNOCKED UP. We are like... huge fans of Judd... and, I mean, we followed him since THE CABLE GUY, through FREAKS AND GEEKS and UNDECLARED, and we’re all big fans of Seth. So I remember calling Jody before I went over there, and I was like, “Damn! I am so nervous to meet these guys!” And then I went over there and... and they were all, like, y’know... instantly, instead of me talking to them, they were telling me, like, how much they loved THE FOOT FIST WAY. They were just completely star struck and it was awesome, and I was, like, “This isn’t real. There is no way this is happening.” They were shooting down the street from Jody’s house, and we were callin’ Jody and, like, “Jody, get over here. Not only have they seen the movie, they fuckin’ liked the movie. They’re, like... quoting it!” So then Jody came, and there was just this really surreal moment where we standin’ in Judd’s trailer, and there are Seth and Martin Star and all these guys we liked from FREAKS AND GEEKS, guys we all loved. And Judd’s, like, fast-forwarding through the movie showin’ them... like goin’ over their favorite parts. We were, like, what the fuck is goin’ on here? This is INSANE. We went back to our house after that and we were just, like, fuckin’ 10 year old girls for like three hours. (TIGER BEAT –ESQUE HYSTERIA ENSUES) JODY: “Remember when Judd said that to you! That was AWESOME!” DANNY: “Remember when Judd looked at you?! Dude!”
MORIARTY: I think every big genre right now, whether it be the horror genre or the comedy genre... we’re starting to see, like, communities, real communities. And for a long time... I’ve been out here since summer of ’90, and I really felt like there wasn’t a film community. There was an industry, but there wasn’t a support system from filmmaker to filmmaker...
BEN: Right!
MORIARTY: ... and now I’m seeing that. I am starting to see filmmakers embrace other filmmakers and enjoy their work and talk about that work as opposed to “Everybody for themselves.”
BEN: It’s crazy, yeah. Like, I love, like, the 70’s, and, like, reading stories about... there was a group of directors from, like... DANNY: It’s like 6 degrees of Roger Corman, and you see from Scorcese to... BEN: ... and you’re right. It just... disappeared. But when we were at film school, you got these three knuckleheads here, and Craig Zobel who directed GREAT WORLD OF SOUND...
MORIARTY: Yeah, which I liked a lot!
JODY: Good. BEN: He was in our class, and Danny and I, when we first moved out to Los Angeles... to Burbank... we lived with Zobel. And then David Gordon Green was in the class ahead of us... DANNY: ... and if you remember in FOOT FIST, Julio at the party? He actually kicks and knocks out Craig Zobel. BEN: That’s right! JODY: (laughing) We got that bit of trivia in there for ya’. DANNY: That, that’s how the vibe was in film school. A lot of classes ahead of us and below us, they were very cutthroat. It was very much competitive, everyone was worried about their own films. And for some reason with our class, and a lot of people from the class above us, everyone was just really supportive, and we just kind of rolled in a big pack. We would act and pull cable and shoot... do whatever you gotta do to support each other and help each other to do, y’know, whatever you wanted to do. JODY: That’s continued to now, y’know? Like we, Danny and me, were talking to Seth and just talking up David Green, and that’s how he got hooked up with everybody on PINEAPPLE EXPRESS.
MORIARTY: I’m so excited to see you working with him in PINEAPPLE EXPRESS.
DANNY: Yeah...
MORIARTY: I loved ALL THE REAL GIRLS and it’s a film I think, like, a lot of people had not seen theatrically. So it’s picking up fans as it goes on video...
DANNY: Yeah...
MORIARTY: ... and I hope this leads people to David’s other work.
DANNY: Yeah. I think it will. Going to film school with David, I felt like we were the only other people who ever knew David is funny as shit. His movies from film school are ridiculously funny, and a lot of people didn’t know that. When we told Judd and Seth about that, I think that definitely perked their interest. They were like “This is a competent filmmaker who has a voice. And the fact that he is funny hasn’t been tapped yet.” I think that was really appealing to them to get him on board. BEN: That is such a great idea. DANNY: You have to see LATHER UP MY ROUGHHOUSE. You’d love it. It’s two guys sittin’ in a tub flippin’ lard around and making soap. (laughter) BEN: The other thing that was amazing is when we graduated from film school, we graduated with, like, this army. We had all these people that, like, immediately went in and started working in the industry, and, uh, so, when you needed, if we needed a good editor or a good cameraman, we’ve got so many choices, y’know? And they’re all still working together. Everyone kind of lets everyone take their moment, y’know, to step out, or direct, or like shoot. It’s amazing. JODY: That’s Tim Orr shootin’ that film.
MORIARTY: Oh really?
JODY: Yeah. OBSERVE AND PROTECT. Orr’s shooting it and Zene Baker who edited ALL THE REAL GIRLS is the editor on that one... BEN: Tim... c’mon, that guy’s amazing! JODY: Even, like, our sound guys... same guys we used before...
MORIARTY: You know, you talk about that you, you made this to make yourselves laugh. Um, I really... there is nothing formula about it that fits into what I would think of as an “easy mold.” Where did the seed for this come from? Were any of you active in Tae Kwon Do? Had any of you done it when you were younger?
JODY: (sheepish) Yeah, I grew up doing Tae Kwon Do. I had a Tae Kwan Do School. DANNY: He started a school. JODY: Yeah. DANNY: Hell, he INVENTED Tae Kwan Do! (Laughter) JODY: I, uh, I was a black belt when I was in high school, got started when I was younger. Opened a small Tae Kwan Do school. It was just in a ballet room, like, upstairs was this community theater. BEN: He wasn’t diggin’ ballet. So he made the switch. JODY: So I made the switch and, um... chicks come in handy. When I went away to college, I gave away the whole thing, and it’s... I guess the seed started there, but it’s like... that was the initial kernel, but then... when I pictured Danny as a Tae Kwan Do instructor... BEN: That just sold it. JODY: ... and Danny had actually turned me on, and turned Ben on as well, to the British OFFICE, and we were just like, feelin’ these, uh... darker comedies, the droll kind of comedy you just... it’s not really out there at all in America, even still today. When you watch the American OFFICE, it’s not quite the same. BEN: They do a great job, but...
MORIARTY: The British OFFICE makes you feel genuinely uncomfortable.
BEN: Yeah! Oh my god. DANNY: That really appealed to us. Let’s not make a funny movie because we have a bunch of jokes and gags... BEN: About Tae Kwon Do. DANNY: Instead, let’s make this... JODY: ... and let’s sacrifice jokes for real performances.
MORIARTY: There is so much more potency in the comedy of the uncomfortable, and that’s why there is sort of a small movement of it now. It’s... I think it’s, because it’s honest, because it comes out of character... you can’t help but identify with what you’re watching.
BEN: Yeah, exactly. That’s exactly it. Those, those situations that you get into are so uncomfortable in your normal life... I mean, that’s what makes watching THE OFFICE so uncomfortable. You are like, “Oh my GOD I’ve done that,” or “I’ve been there.” JODY: Or I’ve got drunk and slipped up and stuff. DANNY: Yeah... BEN: Oh, I’ve danced like that before... DANNY: And right around the time we were writing FOOT FIST WAY, David Green and I sold a script to Universal that had been put through the fucking wringer about the main character, and we had all these fucking notes about what a main character had to be and the level of likeability that had to be there in order for people to follow the main character on this quest. It was drivin’ us fuckin’ nuts. So when we came and sat down on this, we were like, “Fuck that. I’m not subscribing to that.” You gotta... you don’t gotta like the person you are following in a movie...
MORIARTY: I’ve always said I just have to be interested.
DANNY: That’s it. BEN: That’s right, man. DANNY: You gotta, you gotta, like, want to see what they are going to do, but that’s pretty much about it. JODY: If they have some kind of cause, even if nobody agrees with it. But they have something in their world... (laughter) BEN: You look at a show like AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE, which is a hilarious... I love that show, and I remember reading an interview with those guys. The first season of that, y’know, the Cartoon Network was, like, “Look guys, there has to be some sort of plot. They have to go do things.” So for the first couple of episodes, they go... they actually do... there is a plot, sort of, and they were, like, “We don’t want it to be about fast food doing nothing.” (laughter) BEN: But now, that is what that show is about, and it’s brilliant. You don’t... I mean, if it’s interesting, people will want to watch it. We were also very wary of... also, like, being able to, like, see the screenwriting when you’re watching a movie. We didn’t it want it to... because, like, when you’re sitting at home all brilliant and clever, and you come up with that funny joke, and then you get on the set... we wanted the freedom to be like, “Okay, that sucks. That does not sound real. There’s too much set-up.” JODY: Even in editing we would take out some of the jokes we wrote... DANNY: ... because they seemed too obvious. It seemed like we were just reaching too much for the laugh, or it just didn’t seem like it was fitting in...
MORIARTY: Well, especially since you were working with kids like Julio who is...
BEN: Amazing.
MORIARTY: ... a minor God.
(hysterical laughter from everyone) DANNY: He would love to hear you say that. BEN: That kid is great!
MORIARTY: So much of it is just that you found the kid. He is perfect, the moment you see him...
BEN: GOD, he’s amazing. JODY: He’s a real blackbelt student. DANNY: He was at the time. I think he sold out to Hollywood, though. BEN: He got corrupted. (laughter) JODY: At the time, he was in Charlotte, and somebody introduces me to him... DANNY: Now he’s been through two divorces, a cocaine problem... BEN: Yeah, he’s got that coke habit...
MORIARTY: ... but it’s when you are working with, um, a cast that’s... I imagine that Julio had no acting experience.
JODY: Nobody did. Danny was the only person who’d ever been... DANNY: Thismuch. JODY: ... since he did ALL THE REAL GIRLS.
MORIARTY: How did you get them to loosen up? What did you do to get such natural, sort of unaffected performances in the film? It doesn’t feel like, like anybody’s acting. It all feels captured.
JODY: In my limited experience, you either have a guy like... Danny... who is just a really good actor, you know what I mean? He understands film, and he gives a good performance no matter what. Same thing with... I am working with Seth now, and it’s the same thing. They are just good actors, period. Then you have people with no acting experience, and you are able to sometimes, y’know... it’s, like, whether it’s Ben... BEN: Hello! JODY: ... well, now he’s an old pro, but whether it’s Ben or my dad, or these little kids... y’know, it’s, like, I don’t know. Maybe it would be harder to get a performance if it was like “Say these lines I wrote,” but if you are saying like, “Hey, just get in here and have a conversation about this,” and then you film it, then... BEN: Just the gist. JODY: ... yeah, exactly. Then maybe that’s the way, and if it starts to sound too written or thought out, just stop it and start again, you know? The trouble is, like, when you get middle-of-the-road actors who have just enough experience to do bad stuff. BEN: Oh, Jesus Christ... JODY: You know what I mean? That, to me, is the problem area, but people who have no experience are really great because they don’t know enough to mess up. They only know how to talk like we’re talkin’ right now.
MORIARTY: That’s what comes across really clearly. I mean, it comes across in early Spielberg when he would use such great faces, like in JAWS... all the locals...
BEN: Oh, yeah.
MORIARTY: ... or in SUGARLAND EXPRESS, that’s a great example, where everybody in that movie feels like he found them on the side of the road.
BEN: Yeah.
MORIARTY: I miss that. I miss seeing real people and real places, which is why I liked so much the regional flavor of the film. It doesn’t feel like it came out of LA or a factory. It feels like you just found everybody.
DANNY: That was one of the cool things when we were doin’ it, too... all the people in the karate class, they were all really people from that school or other schools. JODY: Those were all real students. DANNY: And we were never like aiming to make fun of Tae Kwan Do ever. We didn’t ever want to stoop to making jokes, like karate jokes. We just wanted to make the jokes about this guy and set it in this world but... it was crazy, as we started to shoot, that these, like, the students... as they would see more and more of what we were doin’... that they were just, like, “I get it. This is how this is for real.” They were able to fall into the... it was a world they were really familiar with, and they saw what we were kind of... poking at, and... BEN: But also seeing the dawning horror of the instructor as he slowly realizes, “Shit... this is about me.” (laughter)
MORIARTY: Is there a real Fred Simmons? Is there a Fred Simmons who you knew?
JODY: There are a bunch of Fred Simmons. DANNY: He’s the, uh, the culmination of... BEN: ... many, many assholes. JODY: There’s a lot of this based on things I’ve seen... but... I’d hate to pinpoint one person.
MORIARTY: Right. Of course.
And then just like that, my time was up. Waaaaaaay too short to really get a sense of these guys, but still... my thanks, as always, to my transcription elf Saffy and to Paramount Vantage for putting me in the room with the guys in the first place.
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
