- 11 minutes ago
"I think she's just an amazing actress and it was a little overwhelming at times," Duplass told THR about Falco.
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00:03Hi, this is Mariah Gullow from The Hollywood Reporter, and I'm in studio today with Jay Duplass.
00:09Yes.
00:10Hi, Jay.
00:11Hi, Mariah.
00:12How are you?
00:12I'm fantastic. How are you?
00:14I'm good. I have about three million projects to talk to you about.
00:18Sounds great.
00:19That you're currently working on.
00:19Oh, I thought that you were working on.
00:21Oh, yes. I'm pitching you, actually.
00:23Okay, cool. All right. Number one.
00:26I wanted to talk about outside in.
00:28That'd be great.
00:29Yeah. Okay, this is your first feature film that you're starring in?
00:34Yeah, kind of. Sure, we could say that.
00:37Yeah, the first one that's going to be released in movie theaters.
00:41And then stars Edie Falco.
00:43Yes.
00:44That's kind of cool.
00:44The amazing Edie Falco.
00:45The amazing. I was going to say amazeballs. Can I say it?
00:49Yeah, you can say it.
00:50Okay, amazeballs.
00:52What's it like working with her?
00:54Um, well, she's not that experienced, so I had to kind of like drag her along with me a little
01:00bit.
01:01She's a little tough.
01:01Uh, no, she's a genius.
01:04Yeah.
01:04And she, actually, I was very surprised that she works really similarly to the way that I like to most,
01:11which is I don't like to rehearse.
01:13I don't like to talk about things a lot beforehand.
01:15I like to just do a first take, see how it goes.
01:18And Lynn works that way, too, who directed the film, Lynn Shelton.
01:21And, um, it was like a really simpatico, like, positive, fun, exploratory relationship.
01:30We did tons of different kinds of takes, but I kind of knew a little bit about her
01:34because I had been in a movie called Landline with her.
01:36And I was like, oh, she's not only a genius, brilliant actor, she is very chill, very cool,
01:43really nice to be around, and all she really cares about is doing good work.
01:46Hmm, and is that really important for you to have a set that has a lot of people who are
01:52in that zone?
01:53Yes, because there is barely any money.
01:56So they have to want it and want to be there.
02:00And I think, I don't know, I mean, I've just had the experience of when you make movies for a
02:05small price,
02:07everyone that's there really wants to be there because you're not making the money.
02:11And so that's a different kind of currency where people really believe in the story that you're telling
02:16and the people who are making it, and it makes it like a family and makes it way more fun.
02:22Lynn Shelton wrote this role for you.
02:24Yes.
02:25Is this happening a lot?
02:26I mean, you're kind of new to being an actor, putting yourself in front of the camera.
02:30It's happening a lot.
02:31All you people out there, just, there's a lot of writing of roles for me,
02:37and I think you should get on board.
02:38It's going to be a tight competition, but do it because it's the only way it's going to work.
02:43Taking all offers.
02:44No, it is very, I mean, I think it's rare for anyone that, you know,
02:48a really accomplished and amazing director calls you up and says,
02:52I want to make a movie around you, and I want it to be this.
02:56You know, I was very touched and honored and excited to do it.
03:01And you play a character who gets out of jail after being in prison for 20 years.
03:06Yeah.
03:07So he has a certain amount of naivete to him.
03:11Yes.
03:11Yeah.
03:11He's, well, he went in at 18, and Edie plays his high school teacher who educates him,
03:20advocates for him, and then they sort of fall in love.
03:22And when he comes out of prison, he pursues her somewhat relentlessly.
03:27But she's married.
03:28And awkwardly.
03:29And awkwardly, yes.
03:31He has no skills.
03:33He's essentially an 18-year-old in terms of how he deals with society.
03:37And there's a, I mean, there's some interesting stuff about it.
03:39I did a ton of research on people who, in particular, went into prison
03:44before the technology explosion of smartphones and the Internet and come out after.
03:49Or it's really hard enough to reintegrate into a society that doesn't really want to rehabilitate you
03:55or reintegrate you.
03:56But to add that technology component where literally everyone's on a phone,
04:00they seem like, you know, the way guys describe it is like everyone seems like they're in the CIA
04:04because there's headphones and everyone's looking in here.
04:07So it really doubles down on the difficulty of transitioning back to society.
04:12And we explore that quite a bit.
04:14And it's a little bit funny.
04:16A little bit funny.
04:18Yeah.
04:18It seems like a lot of people would like to go back to a time before the Internet.
04:24But this is really kind of exploring the fact that that would be not so fun.
04:29It's not fun to move into life without any technological advances when other people have.
04:34It reveals how he has a really tough time reintegrating into society.
04:39But it was fun for us because, you know, as filmmakers, in terms of communication,
04:44he has like a crappy flip phone that he kind of doesn't know how to use and has no idea
04:49about texting.
04:51And he's calling people and it's surprising them.
04:54He's calling people on the phone and they're not cool with it, man.
04:56Or even showing up at their houses.
04:58How dare you call me?
04:59He shows up at their houses and he rides a BMX bike around town because that was his last mode
05:05of transportation that he had.
05:07So it's kind of fun in a filmmaking way where it was almost like a lot of the time we
05:13were making a 90s movie.
05:15Like there was no use of like smartphones or anything like that because they didn't really apply to him.
05:21Do you think being a new actor you can kind of transition into a role of somebody who is naive
05:29at a more, I don't know how to say this.
05:32What are you saying?
05:33What exactly are you saying?
05:35I'm sorry, Jay.
05:37I am a thousand percent versatile actor.
05:39I can do anything.
05:40No, I don't know what I'm doing.
05:42I'm just making it up as I go.
05:44To be honest, I was nervous about portraying someone so far from me.
05:49You know, most of the roles that I've played have been very in line with like who I am or
05:54in the realm or just people that I know.
05:56But I had to dig really deep and like befriend people who had gone to prison for like 10 or
06:0220 years just to be with them to understand the fears and the vulnerability.
06:08And what I found really interesting and actually empowered me to do the role and to take it on more
06:15wholeheartedly is, you know, because like a lot of guys coming out of prison are really tough.
06:20I'm not tough at all, you know, but the guys at least that I was talking to, there was a
06:26tremendous vulnerability.
06:28I mean, just on a scale that I don't think anybody who hasn't been to prison can experience of just
06:35that feeling that like I'm out, but I feel like somebody's going to pick me up and put me back
06:39in at any second.
06:40Because, you know, you've essentially all your freedoms have been stripped of you.
06:44And so there's this tremendous vulnerability towards other human beings.
06:48Will I ever be able to be accepted I'm an ex-convict, you know, whether I did it or not
06:54or did it to the extent to which they think I did it, you know, will people be able to
06:58accept me?
06:59And, you know, when I spent enough time to figure that out, I was like, oh, my God, this is,
07:03this is, and it's beautiful and it's a, you know, it's a great role.
07:07So that's the angle that I took.
07:09I'm really impressed at the ability of this movie to talk about some real taboo subjects without making it icky.
07:17Yeah.
07:18Without making it uncomfortable or without using a plot point to kind of devastate people involved.
07:25To gaslight the situation.
07:27Yes, exactly.
07:27I mean, I think what's interesting and what Lynn and I were trying to do, it's kind of hard craft
07:34-wise to do a true two-hander of a story.
07:38But that's something that Lynn was really, it was really important to her to try to do that.
07:43I mean, I think it was like ideologically important for her.
07:46And what we were really fascinated by is, you know, my character's coming out of prison, he's pursuing Edie's character
07:52relentlessly, and that's really easy to get your head around and to understand.
07:55But as the movie sort of transitions to the back side of the movie, I think the question becomes more
08:00about Carol's character.
08:02I mean, Edie's character named Carol, you know, will she be able to escape the prison of being in a
08:09somewhat emotionally loveless marriage?
08:12And exploring the questions of, you know, does a 55-year-old working mother get to take a chance at
08:21happiness, even if it is really risky and may seem silly?
08:26Is she allowed?
08:28And, you know, the more Lynn and I thought about it, we were like, culturally, in our society, no, it's
08:33not okay.
08:34I think that's what we're being told, and that was really exciting for us to explore that with Edie's character.
08:41Is it interesting to write your own dialogue for yourself?
08:46Because you wrote this with Lynn.
08:47Yes, I've never done it before.
08:49This is the first time I've written something for me to act in and perform in.
08:54I was nervous about it.
08:55In retrospect, I'm weirdly glad that I did produce it and write it because I was so in it, and
09:03I had to do all my research way early for the script, even before I did it as an actor.
09:08So it was all kind of baked in.
09:10It was very different from how I talk and handle myself in the world.
09:14And, honestly, all those jobs helped distract me from the fact that I was having sex scenes with Edie Falco.
09:21It's just like, every once in a while, you'll just be like, come out of a scene, and you're like,
09:26oh, my God, you're Edie Falco.
09:28What are you doing here in my arms?
09:31I think she's just an amazing actress, and, you know, it was a little overwhelming at times.
09:37You've had to play opposite some really amazing women.
09:40You've had Edie, Amy Landecker, Judith Light.
09:43Gabby Hoffman, Judith Light, Catherine Hahn, Jenny Slate, Chloe Sevigny.
09:49I've been in a lot.
09:50In my short acting career, I've been in incredible relationships with incredible women.
09:57You must have an appreciation for actresses.
10:02Yeah, I love actors in general.
10:05I mean, even when I was just a writer and director, I was the one director where everybody was like,
10:09they're crazy.
10:10And I'm like, I'm obsessed with them.
10:12They're awesome, and they can do anything.
10:15And, yes, they're weird, and they need, like, weird things to make their emotions go, but that's what this is
10:20all about.
10:21That, and I have an appreciation for strong women.
10:25My wife is a social worker and a feminist, and it's just, I don't know, it feels natural to me
10:31to have these relationships with these powerhouse women that I have had.
10:36We like it, too.
10:38Oh, that's good.
10:38I like that.
10:39I'd be really interested to hear about why you executive produced Wild Wild Country.
10:46Well, people are very surprised that my brother and I produced this, like, insane documentary about a cult and this
10:58old world town in Oregon.
11:02I think what it really comes down to in terms of what we produce, because people try to figure it
11:07out.
11:08And for us, it has more to do with the situation and the people and the content.
11:14It's not just the content.
11:16You know, we're not, like, looking for things to produce.
11:17It's, like, there are these two wildly talented young brothers who reminded us a lot of ourselves.
11:24They're insanely industrious.
11:28Chap and Mac Way are their names.
11:31And, you know, they had made this great documentary, The Battered Bastards of Baseball, that we had loved before.
11:36And they came into our orbit, and it looked like they wanted to make this documentary, and they weren't interested
11:42in making it on the grandest scale.
11:44They wanted to make something where they would be able to complete it, and they would be able to do
11:49it their own way.
11:50And they were willing to be incredibly industrious and hand-make it themselves the way that Mark and I had
11:55done always.
11:57And I think that's probably the most common ground of the things that we produce are those kinds of scenarios.
12:03We're really underdog people who are just, like, desperate to make something.
12:06And we're like, look, we might not make the most amount of money, but, like, you will make it your
12:11way, and you will get to the end of that road.
12:15And so that's why we produced it.
12:18And, I mean, those guys are such phenomenal filmmakers.
12:22It's all the credit to them creatively.
12:24They did such an amazing job.
12:27Can you talk a little bit about Duck Butter, which is another movie you produced that is making some waves?
12:33Duck Butter is the next movie that we are going to be releasing.
12:39I guess Outside In is starting this weekend, and theatrically, but Duck Butter is at Tribeca, imminently.
12:46And Duck Butter is a wild love child created by one of our favorite directors, Miguel Arteta,
12:54and one of our favorite actors, alias Shawkat.
12:57And the concept is pretty wild.
13:02It's that, you know, a lot of people spend a long time trying to figure out whether or not they
13:08are well-matched with each other.
13:10So these two people get together, and they decide, we're not going to waste all this time.
13:15In the next 24 hours, we're going to have sex on the hour every hour for 24 hours, and we're
13:21going to see how it goes.
13:23It's insane.
13:23It made you laugh.
13:26It's a really fun and surprisingly deep movie.
13:33Excellent.
13:33It kind of reminds me of Crank.
13:35Oh, yeah.
13:36It's got a little bit of vibe with that.
13:38Yeah, yeah.
13:40So one last question before I let you go, and thank you so much for indulging us.
13:45Well, you've said before that the Coen brothers were a major inspiration for you.
13:50But going back a little farther, is there anything that really set your mind on fire when you were a
13:54kid,
13:55a cultural moment or a movie really early on?
13:59Wow.
14:01You know, when I was so young, I would say the biggest impression of a movie was Rocky 1, the
14:09original Rocky.
14:10I was brought to Rocky 1 as a three-and-a-half-year-old at a movie drive-in in
14:151976,
14:16and I remember seeing the images.
14:19I remember him, and I didn't remember the fighting.
14:23I remembered him and Adrian and her in the pet store because that's the part.
14:28I mean, people don't remember, but the original Rocky is a gorgeous love story that is, I mean,
14:33the boxing is just so minuscule compared to the love story at hand and just the story of a person
14:41trying to, like, reclaim some kind of, like, hope and dignity for himself.
14:44And I felt that then, and then I remember my dad rented it on VHS when we got our first
14:51VHS deck in, like, 1981,
14:53and then I saw it on HBO in, like, 1984.
14:57And that movie has come back over and over again, and I think it, you know,
15:01I think it might be my all-time favorite movie.
15:03Wow.
15:04Wow.
15:04The humanism of Rocky.
15:06The humanism.
15:07I mean, it's been trodden upon by the many sequels since.
15:13I mean, it just...
15:13It's just Sylvester Stallone as a movie star.
15:16Sylvester Stallone as a movie star.
15:18When you tell people that Rocky won the Oscar and that he won the Oscar for writing it, I think,
15:25in 1976, they don't believe you because they just, they can only remember the plastic, the Mr. T,
15:32the Russian one, you know, it's been, like, buried by all this stuff.
15:36But it's a beautiful movie, and I recommend that you go back and watch it.
15:40Thank you, Jay Dupas.
15:41It's so nice to meet you.
15:43And have a great time.
15:44The movie is Outside In, and it's out in theaters right now.
15:49Right now.
15:50Go!
15:50Go!
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