I remember Adam Scott initially as more of a dramatic actor in such television series as the glorious first season of "Murder One," "Party of Five," "Wasteland," and the explicit HBO series "Tell Me You Love Me." Then he began showing up in supporting roles in such films as THE AVIATOR, THE MATADOR, ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL, KNOCKED UP, and his breakthrough role in STEP BROTHERS. Scott has balanced TV and film work in the last few years, with his starring role in NBC's "Parks and Recreation" being his primary gig until the show ended its supreme run earlier this year. But let us not forget his great work in the cult hit "Party Down," "Eastbound & Down," "Burning Down," OUR IDIOT BROTHER, FRIENDS WITH KIDS, and classics like PIRANHA 3D, A.C.O.D., THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY, HOT TUB TIME MACHINE 2, and THE GUILT TRIP (they can't all be winners).
But in the last couple of year, Scott and his wife Naomi has embarked as producers on an endeavor that is so important, it's actual title is "The Greatest Event in Television History." They made four episodes for Adult Swim in total, and they featured shot-for-shot re-creations of some of the greatest opening credits sequences of TV series ever. The first installment featured Scott and Jon Hamm doing the "Simon & Simon" opening; this was followed by a pairing with his "Parks & Rec" and A.C.O.D. co-star Amy Poehler doing "Hart to Hart”; next came a great ensemble doing “Too Close for Comfort”; and it ended with Scott and long-time pal Paul Rudd doing “Bosom Buddies.” If you haven’t seen them, go find them and die happy.
After that series, the Scotts wanted to branch out their newly formed production company, Gettin’ Rad Productions, into the film world and got ahold of writer-director Patrick (CREEP) Brice’s screenplay for THE OVERNIGHT from their mutual friend Mark Duplass, who ended up producing the film as well with brother Jay. The film is the story of two couples—one who have been living in L.A. for years and the other are recent transplants from the Pacific Northwest who are looking for new friends. They spend an evening together eating, drinking, swimming and sharing…a lot…probably too much. I first saw the film at Sundance in January, and it remains the funniest movie I’ve seen all year.
Last weekend, Adam Scott was in Chicago for a couple of nights to do Q&As after several screenings of THE OVERNIGHT that I moderated (one of which was attended by none other than the mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel), and this interview took place early the first day he was in town. Keep an eye out for Scott several more times this year: in another Sundance favorite, the sex comedy SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE; the Whitely Bulger drama BLACK MASS, starring Johnny Depp; and the Christmastime horror KRAMPUS from director Michael Dougherty (TRICK ‘R TREAT). THE OVERNIGHT has opened in even more theaters this holiday weekend, and you shouldn’t miss it. Please enjoy my talk with Adam Scott…
Capone: Patrick Brice is having a good week. CREEP is finally coming out on iTunes this week and Netflix next month. This is your first film with your production company. Why was this script the one that you guys selected? How many did you look at before you decided on this one?
Adam Scott: We had been sniffing around for a while trying to find something that would be a good first movie. This one was great, because it was really funny. It really spoke to us, but mostly it was just hilarious. I thought comedy was a great delivery system for this other stuff it was talking about. It was also small and contained. We could shoot quickly and for a certain amount of money. So it checked all the boxes for us.
Capone: Between Sundance and SXSW this year, I think I saw six films that Mark and Jay Duplass produced. What do they bring to the table as producers for this film?
AS: Well, Mark sent Naomi and I the script initially, and we really trust Mark’s taste in material and in filmmakers. You can really trust those guys, and you can really trust their taste. Anything that their name is on, I’ll always check out.
Capone: Once things got rolling, what do they bring as the production is going along?
AS: They’re incredibly supportive. Naomi was running the show on this. She was the on-the-ground producer, but anytime we were in any bind, those guys were right there. They’re the most supportive guys to have on your side. They’re incredible producers. So, to have guys like that in your corner is just incredible.
Capone: You mentioned before about using comedy as a conduit for some of the messages in this film. What were some of the messages that you particularly responded to as a producer and an actor?
AS: It’s funny, because Taylor [Schilling] and my characters are people who feel like their days of reinvention might be behind them. You get to a certain age and you have kids and you’re married, and you feel like you need to be a rock for these people in your family and you forget that it’s still okay to maybe change and maybe shed a skin every once in a while. I think these are two people that aren’t really aware that it might be time to shift a little. Over a period of a handful of hours, their whole world gets turned upside down, and they had no idea that not only were they not ready for it, but that they needed it both for their marriage and for themselves. I thought the way the characters react to that is really interesting.
Capone: The idea that, as parents, people tend to worry that their stuck and that’s their life until the kids move out, at least—most people don't think about shifting until the kids are 18 or out of the house. That’s something a lot of people are going to identify with. I know Jason [Schwartzman] had a child shortly before making this, as did you and your wife. Was that something that you could identify with?
AS: Yeah, for sure. Naomi and I have young kids, and really the only places where we meet new people are through work or through our kids, because that’s all we do. We very much identify with the movie, in that sense.
Capone: In pulling this cast together, Taylor, at least at the time, was maybe the biggest question mark in terms of what she was capable of. “Orange is the New Black” would have only been on for a season. I have actually seen Judith [Godrèche] in more movies than Taylor, because I watch a lot of French films. Talk about Taylor in particular. How did you know she was the one?
AS: Naomi and I both love “Orange is the New Black,” so she wasn’t a question mark at all. We were thrilled to get her, and we figured we wouldn’t get her. So when she agreed to do it, we were super excited. So she’s incredible. She brings so much light to what she does. She does this thing that’s really hard to do that’s one of the fundamentals of acting, which is making it seem like these words are coming out of nowhere, and it doesn’t sound like she’s saying lines. It’s just really wonderful stuff—simple, wonderful stuff that you forget how extraordinary it is until you see it happening in front of you. She’s so alive in everything. I’m watching the new season of “Orange is the New Black” now and watching her and marveling at how good she is.
Capone: Jason is usually doing neurotic characters, and lately he’s been playing wonderfully jerky ones. But here, he’s the biggest presence in the room. He’s seductive. He’s confident and so sexual. Was it fun to play with those expectations?
AS: Yeah. I hadn’t seen him play a roll like this before, and we didn’t have any rehearsal time or anything for this movie. We made it 12 days. So we were all flying by the seat of our pants, and he was just perfect for it. I think in other hands, the role could have come off as kind of creepy, but with Jason playing it, there’s no question as to why we would stick around. Because that was a big question going in: why do we stay at this house? But with Jason and Judith, that question is answered right off the bat.
Capone: There is an underlying tension to the whole film, partly because there are kids nearby that could wake up any moment. If it was just two couples in the house, that wouldn’t be there. Anything goes. Whatever happens, happens. But because there’s kids nearby, it does make a difference. I kept waiting for it to get creepy, because I had no idea where it was going. I kept waiting for it to make that particular turn, and you’re right, it never does. It takes a lot of turns, but not that particular one. You mentioned it was a small budget, a 12-day shoot, primarily in this one location. What does that pressure and energy bring to what’s going on?
AS: I love it. It’s more or less a TV schedule, because we shot “Parks and Rec” in five days; “Party Down” was four days. So I’m really comfortable in that schedule. As long as you have two cameras, it’s plenty of time to make a small, contained movie. So I love it, and as long as you get like four or five shots for every setup, I think you’re good. I love it.
Capone: You make it sound so easy.
AS: [laughs] Well, it’s not easy. Making anything is a huge pain in the ass, but once you’re there, and the lights are set up, and the cameras are rolling, you don’t need much more than that, you know?
Capone: When you’re in one location, does it afford you the opportunity—which I always assume actors would prefer—to shoot a lot of it chronologically?
AS: Yeah, we did. We shot it pretty much chronologically. The last scene we shot was all the stuff at the park, both at the beginning and end of the movie. That was the last day of shooting. The second to last day of shooting was Taylor and I in the apartment for the opening scene of the movie. But all of the stuff in the house, we shot chronologically, which was terrific, because you never get to do that.
Capone: Is that easier just as an actor?
AS: Yeah, it does. You would think it doesn’t matter, but it’s great to be able to do it chronologically.
Capone: Your character, among his many issues of being stuck in his life, also has these body issues, which I’m sure some men can relate to. You spend all this time trying to build up that particular issues, but it really comes down to you and Jason dancing naked and exposing these prosthetic penises in that sequence. I’m assuming that was always there in the script, but realizing you had to commit to that and go through it, walk me through that whole mental process.
AS: It freaked me out initially, and then we went through the whole process-Patrick, Naomi, Mark and I—of picking the prosthetics over email with photos, and we finally settle on them. Then the day of, I was just like, “Why did we do this? This sucks.” But once we had them on, we were weirdly fine, because a psychological barrier goes up. It’s not actually your penis; it’s fake. So it’s just like having a really interesting pair of shorts on. You feel far more comfortable than you thought you would. So it was totally fine.
Capone: Were you in any way concerned about your image as sex symbol that you are?
AS: [laughs] No, you can’t worry about that stuff. If you worry about that stuff, then you won’t end up doing anything.
Capone: What I have not yet seen anybody bring up is the fact that this is not your first time using one of these things. I saw “Tell Me You Love Me” on HBO, and I had not seen anything like that on HBO before. Tell me about the difference between those two.
AS: Well, that was such a stark drama. But as far as prosthetics go, that one was less involved, because it was sort of off camera. I didn’t have to glue it onto my body.
Capone: You were more covered up, if I remember correctly.
AS: Yeah, yeah. [pauses to consider] I have had now quite a bit of experience with the pretend penis.
Capone: That scene in THE OVERNIGHT, we could intellectualize it, but it’s also just a really joyful moment in his life, and he’s able to free himself of that burden.
AS: Oh, it’s a huge moment and huge turning point in his life.
Capone: I hope people remember that, because he’s really so anxious right before.
AS: Yeah, he’s a different guy from that point on, not just in the movie. Not to spoil anything for the readers, but in the epilogue, you see that he’s a different person.
Capone: We should mention Judith, because she’s extraordinary. A lot of the things I’ve seen her in before this were comedic. The first thing I thought when I saw her was, of course Jason’s character is married to a French woman, because an American woman wouldn’t be good enough for this guy. Of course he’s wearing a hat like that. How did you think of her?
AS: Funny enough, she was already attached when the script came to Naomi and I, because she and Mark are friends. Patrick wrote this role, and Mark was like, “I know a sexy French mom.”
Capone: So the character was always French?
AS: The role was written French, and then by sheer coincidence, Mark was friends with Judith, so she was already on board.
Capone: You liked the script, obviously, but as a director, how was Patrick to work with? Obviously, he has a little bit of experience working quickly and working with small crews in single locations.
AS: He was great. He kept it really loose, and I think to move that quickly, you have to have a really quick, easy rapport with the actors, and he did right off the bat. He’s great. Not precious about anything, just ready to adapt. But at the same time, he had a really strong idea visually of what he wanted as well. He and John Guleserian, the DP, worked really well together and got a nice visual language for the movie that was loose and ready to adapt, but they also knew exactly what they wanted it to look like at all times.
Capone: With your production company now, I’m assuming you’re looking at many things now as a follow-up. Are you focusing primarily on these smaller-budget things, or are you looking at all size and shapes?
AS: Yeah, we’re looking at everything. We have some TV stuff we’re working on, and also another movie we’re hoping to shoot soon. Our only criteria is we want to make stuff that we would want to watch.
Capone: Were you always planning on being in this film?
AS: Yeah.
Capone: So are you looking for things you can be in as well?
AS: Some of them, but like this movie we’re hoping to shoot soon, I’m not in it. The TV stuff we’re developing doesn’t involve me as an actor either, but I do want to find stuff for me. We’re doing both.
Capone: Were there things you learned as a producer on THE OVERNIGHT that maybe you didn’t know before that you will carry forward and say, “I will continue doing things that way, if we can.”
AS: I think it’s all dependent upon the project. For stuff this size, we now know what it is you need to do and what things you can do away with. I think making a movie like this—of this size and this quickly—you learn a lot about both movies of this size and bigger ones as well and how much waste there is when making movies [laughs].
Capone: In this era when seemingly every week we’re hearing about somebody bringing back an old TV show, I know for a little while there was talk of “Party Down” being a movie. Is there anything anybody’s talking bout as a film or maybe even bringing the series back for one more go?
AS: Not right now.
Capone: I know people probably ask you about it a lot.
AS: Yeah, it was a good show.
Capone: With your “Greatest Event in Television History” series, are you done with that? Because I don’t ever want those to end.
AS: I know, they were fun. But I was so worried that “Bosom Buddies” wasn’t going to be any good, but then our editor really pulled it together. I’m just glad we ended on one that really worked. I would just be so afraid of them running out of steam and not being great, and they were really hard to make—really fun, but really hard. So we’re done for now, yeah.
Capone: I did not see SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE at Sundance, but the trailer just came out a couple of days ago. Who do you play in that?
AS: I play an on-again/off-again old boyfriend of Alison Brie.
Capone: Great. Thanks so much, and I’ll see you tonight.
