Jason Reitman
By Brendan MacDevette
Jason Reitman is a promising young writer/director from Los Angeles.
His debut feature Thank You for Smoking was just released to
splendid reviews and strong box office numbers. IFQ’s Brendan
MacDevette had the chance to talk to Mr. Reitman and learn about the
journey making this highly recommended film.
IFQ: How did making short films like Consent prepare you for making Thank You for Smoking?
Jason Reitman: The beauty of short films is it allows you to make
mistakes. I’ve made five short films since 1998; they’ve all had
success in one way or another and they’ve all taught me something.
Consent was unique because I felt I’d already made the short films
that established that I knew how to direct and could get a professional
gig. Consent was done for fun. My producing partner Daniel
[Dubiecki] and I were doing a commercial and we worked it into the
budget to be able to shoot this short film on the last day. I’m
really proud of the results because it was done to simply make
something small, bite-size and entertaining.
Thank You for Smoking has been the hardest endeavor of my life.
Back in 2000, Icon had the rights to the book and I went in and begged
them for the opportunity to direct it and wrote the first act on spec
that weekend right after the meeting. I gave them 25 pages and said,
“This is what I’d like to do, would you hire me to direct it?” They liked my
screenplay but couldn’t get any studio to touch it. That was
the beginning of about 3 or 4 years of trying to find someone
to make it. One day, my agent called me and said there’s this
guy David Sacks, one of the creators of Paypal and he’s independently
wealthy since having sold Paypal to eBay, who wants to make movies and
fell in love with your screenplay. David Sacks fought for a year to
get the rights out of Icon and Warner Bros. and he is the reason we
were able to make it. Ed Pressman was very instrumental in getting
this made as well and getting us our cast.
I think Jeff Skoll at Participant is doing something similar; he’s
making movies he believes in. It is a very exciting time for
independent film because you have these young wealthy people who want
to make movies because they believe in them, because they want to
leave a legacy of great films behind them.
IFQ: How did you approach writing the character of Nick and whether or
not he is a sympathetic character?
JR: One of the things I liked about the book was that it never
apologized for itself. Normally, if the hero of your film is a
lobbyist for big tobacco, you presume that he is going to have some
sort of change of heart and soon enough he’s going to be apologizing
for what he does for a living. I hated that idea and never would have
made the film if that were expected of me. I loved that the book was
libertarian and had an open-minded view of this guy’s occupation and
the issue of smoking in general.
IFQ: Are you a smoker?
JR: No, I’m not. I’ve never really understood the habit, but I
certainly feel people should have the right to if they want to smoke.
IFQ: What do you like/dislike about the production phase?
JR: I like that in production you are finding the movie. While in
writing, you are alone. In production, you are now working with all
these tremendous people in the cast and crew. They bring new ideas to
you and help shape what the film is and I truly believe a film has to
find itself; you can’t force it into a box. Production is also a
circus and it is hard to create in that kind of world when you are in
very strict time frames and with very limited money. People are
running around screaming and it is a tricky, creative environment.
IFQ: Did you feel like you had enough shooting days and money?
JR: Yeah, we shot it in 35 days for 6 million dollars. I’m very
happy with what we came up with; I don’t think we made any compromises
that hurt the film.
IFQ: Do you feel Thank You for Smoking will pigeonhole you as a certain type of director?
JR: Your first film says a lot about who you want to be as a
director. After I made my shorts, I started to get opportunities to
direct broad comedies and romantic teen romps that I had no interest
in. I didn’t want to make one of those movies because I thought it
would say the wrong thing about who I want to be as a director and
set me on the wrong path. What I like about Thank You for Smoking is it says I have
something to say. I want to make movies that don’t apologize for
themselves, that have balls and if I’m pigeonholed in that group, I
don’t mind. I hope that I continue to make movies like Thank You for Smoking that
are cheap enough to stay true to themselves and have something to say,
make people laugh but are intelligent.
You can read more about Jason Reitman and the film on his blog at
http://thankyouforsmoking.typepad.com