Once again motion picture writer/director Adam McKay has graced SuicideGirls with an interview. This time we were talking about the Unrated cut of Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby which was just released on DVD. Previously McKay was best known as one of the founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade, a former head writer of Saturday Night Live and directing the wildly surrealistic Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. With the great success of Talladega Nights, McKay has graduated from surprise first time director to a true master of film comedy. McKay directed Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly and Sacha Baron Cohen to career highs and even spotlighted some up and coming improv masters like Jack McBrayer and Ian Roberts. I spoke to McKay from his office in California about the magic of improv, prank comedy and keeping the film adaptation of King Dork close to its blowjob roots.
Buy the Unrated DVD of Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you up to today?
Adam McKay: I had a couple meetings today. I met with a writer about a half hour sitcom that were kicking around. Ive been mainly doing Gary Sanchez Production stuff today. Today was my day off from writing with Will [Ferrell] to come here and do meetings. I did that and then I met with my agent to talk about Gary Sanchez business and the script were working on. I had an hour and a half meeting with them, then made about a dozen phone calls; pretty boring stuff actually.
DRE: Youre so busy now. It must be fun to be able to generate all this material for yourself.
Adam: Yeah, the Gary Sanchez thing really got busy. We started this as a small little production company and really quickly it took off. We have two TV pilots going, about six different films in development and we just bought the rights to a book so its really been cooking.
DRE: Is Gary Sanchez a real guy?
Adam: Yeah, Gary Sanchez is originally from Paraguay and he was in the NFL for a while back in the 80s and early 90s. He was on a bunch of different teams like the Buccaneers, the Patriots and the Jets. After he left the NFL he became an entrepreneur with a bunch of different business ventures. Will and I met him and we would always talk about working with him. Then when we started this company, he wanted to front us for it. So even though we have our deal with [Paramount] Vantage, hes the face of our company.
DRE: I just thought the name was like Monty Python.
Adam: No, Will just had lunch with him in New York a couple weeks ago. Hes a tough guy.
DRE: How many extra minutes were put into the unrated Talladega Nights DVD?
Adam: Like 13 minutes. There are a couple whole new scenes in there and some line changes. I actually cut some stuff too.
DRE: Like what?
Adam: I cut this scene where the kid takes the car when hes five years old at the convenience store. I was always on the fence about that scene and I always thought it wasnt that funny and just okay. So I cut that scene, which I dont think anyones ever done that before.
DRE: Actually the Coen Brothers cut about two minutes out of their directors cut of Blood Simple, so youre in good company.
Adam: I love that. Thats so great. I think it should happen more often.
DRE: Talladega Nights is a much tighter film than Anchorman.
Adam: Yeah, I think thats because its a sports story so it has that typical sports arc of the comeback. We all know how that story goes. It hugs the storyline a little tighter than Anchorman did. Anchorman was pretty loose so it went wherever it wanted to. Talladega Nights was a little more disciplined.
DRE: It seems like you probably wont be able to recreate all the conditions that made Anchorman what it was again.
Adam: Well our next movie were doing is pretty loose. We kept joking about the sports arc movie while we were making Talladega Nights. Anytime there would be a peep of confusion while making it, we would always say thank goodness for the sports arc, because every sports movie is the same. You know exactly where its going. Theres going to be the retraining sequence where youve got to go back to your roots and youve got to learn what you did. Its going to end with the big game or the big race or the big showdown. Since those story elements are out there, it became really freeing in a way because you knew you couldnt go that far a field and it allowed us to screw with those expectations a little bit. Like the joke of Gary Cole coming to pick up the tickets and then saying who needs two? and the kiss in the end or the foot race from the crash in the last big race. So hopefully our later movies can be just as crazy as Anchorman because I love how crazy Anchorman is. I love that it doesnt adhere to any Syd Field three act structure.
DRE: All the main players in Talladega are very tall like you, Will, Sacha [Baron Cohen] and John C. Reilly.
Adam: Were massive men. We all are large men with very big hands and we all speak very loudly and we will come at you.
DRE: I couldnt imagine all of you guys walking towards someone. It would be scary.
Adam: It was true with Anchorman too. It was a big bunch of guys on that too. Well thats not true, Paul [Rudd] was not necessarily big.
DRE: But you did have Vince Vaughn, Tim Robbins and Luke Wilson.
Adam: Our line producer, David Householter, who became our executive producer on Talladega is also like 64. We call him the Kansas Plowhorse.
DRE: I think I got some insight into what happens with some of the people who dont or cant improvise as much as other actors from the DVD extras on The 40 Year old Virgin DVD. In the outtakes we see Seth Rogen and Judd [Apatow] off camera yelling lines at the actors for them to repeat on camera. Would you do that for the little kids in Talladega?
Adam: Absolutely. Thats why the kids were great. In fact the way I auditioned the kids was that I went down to Alabama where we did an open call. We had 1000 kids coming to this local middle school. I would have them read the lines from the scene and then I would throw lines at them to see how well they could repeat those lines. For the dinner scene that we did, I basically sat behind the camera and then Will joined me and we threw lines at them the whole time. Those kids were fantastic at just hearing a line and repeating it back as though they had just thought of it. In fact that scene was the funnest. It just became Will, myself, and then John C. Reilly even joined us at one point. So it became John C. Reilly, Will Ferrell, and myself, all sitting behind the camera throwing lines of just awful things for those kids to yell at their grandfather.
DRE: Was Amy Adams able to improvise?
Adam: Oh absolutely, shes amazing. Amy had auditioned for the lead in Anchorman and it came down to her and Christina Applegate. Obviously Applegate was tremendous and unbelievable so we went with her but we were really close to casting Amy. So when this role came around in Talladega, we just cast Amy with no thought or question.
DRE: Will you hire an actor thats not such a great improviser but is good at repeating the lines that you throw at them?
Adam: If an actor is really good and theyre cool with me throwing out lines, I will cast them. But the ideal is someone who can play and gets the game like Gary Cole. Gary Cole is a great classically trained actor who is also a natural improviser. Thats the way Will works as well. Wills improvising and then at the same time Im throwing out lines to him. But theres no doubt about it, if you get a great character actor whos got a fantastic look and they dont mind me throwing out lines to them, Ill definitely cast that person.
DRE: Is the casting process one of the longest ones for one of these movies?
Adam: Its gotten easier. Now that we know what we want, we can come in and just know who we want sometimes. We knew while writing the script that we wanted Jack McBrayer to play the Glenn character. I knew him from doing the ASSSSCAT show at the Upright Citizens Brigade theatre. Then obviously we know Dave Koechner. The only question about Koechner was that wit as a smaller role. Were like Will Dave do this? We just love Dave and wanted to hang out with him and he was cool with doing it, so that was cast. Then [co-founder of the Upright Citizens Brigade] Ian Roberts we love and hes great. So now were filling in roles with people we know and love. Then a lot of the other roles just became local hires and thats really fun to do. We were shooting most of the movie in North Carolina and I really took a lot of joy in finding these great local actors that really turned out to be terrific.
DRE: When we spoke for the Anchorman DVD you said that the two things that made you laugh at that point were Ali G and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. So I knew you liked Ali G but I didnt know you were going to hire him for your movie.
Adam: I know, it worked out really well. We threw that idea out there never imagining that Sacha Baron Cohen would actually do it. It came after our first read-through of Talladega Nights. Ben Stiller came and read the role just as a favor. He wasnt reading it with doing the role in mind. It was just to help us out. Ben killed and destroyed so it was clear the role was one of the funniest roles in the movie. Jimmy Miller, a producer on the movie, also manages Sacha Baron Cohen so word got back to Sacha that this was a really cool subversive role in a mainstream movie. We also know Sacha just from playing basketball with him. When he was interested we just couldnt believe it. He was a perfect choice.
DRE: Obviously hes a monstrous star now. Did you know how you were going to bottle what he does properly?
Adam: We talked about that a lot. What Sacha does is that he fucks with peoples expectations, stereotypes and preconceptions. Hes almost like a prank comedian or a performance artist comedian. At the same time, Will and I love that game as well even though in this case were doing fictional comedy. We wanted to have a little bit of that sense with his character and we talked about the fact that if youre doing a NASCAR red state comedy with Sacha playing a gay Frenchman, that adds a prank quality to that character. I think the more Sacha started getting into the Jean Girard, the more he started feeling that it was a fun character. Then once he started improvising and saying things like the only thing America has ever done for us is Cheerios, George Bush and the ThighMaster, I think he started feeling that there was really a way to screw with Americans in this role. The best way that he was able to be Sacha was in those small moments and what really came out of it was the kiss in the end. We were shooting the end race and he said What if I kissed Will? That was not in the script and I said oh yeah, go ahead. Try and kiss him. We ended up improvising this whole kiss moment and it was so hilarious that we ended up repositioning and doing a whole shot for it and then ended up doing several takes of it. Thats exactly a Sacha instinct. Not only does the American have the final footrace with the French guy and they have this mutual respect for each other, but of course they end up making out. So he brought a lot of those kinds of moments to the film.
DRE: Did you ever do pranks back with the Upright Citizens Brigade?
Adam: Yeah, one of the first shows we ever did was when I advertised my own suicide around town and we put flyers everywhere with my really cheesy looking headshot. It said Adam McKay will kill himself on this day and it also read no joke. Then this whole crowd came out and I got up on a five story building and talked down to the street and said this is what you want. I had a CPR dummy dressed as me and stepped back and threw the CPR dummy off the side of the building. You could hear the whole crowd gasp. Another time we took the whole crowd back to my apartment and did a staged murder in the apartment.
DRE: At this point with 2007 and Borat being so huge, is there anything more to be done in terms of filming pranks?
Adam: I think you can never exhaust it. I never get tired of crank phone calls. Therere always funny. The only trick is that the player can exhaust themselves. Once youre known, you cant do it again. But I never get tired of prank stuff if its done well. Even that new Candid Camera they did [in 2005] was really funny. It was the cheesiest presentation but they did really funny stuff. The Jerky Boys was really funny and they even did some movie.
DRE: Yeah, it was a hideously bad movie.
Adam: Exactly, but say whatever you want, those crank phone calls were really funny. Crank Yankers is really funny and I feel the same way about the prank stuff on The Jamie Kennedy Experiment. Theres some funny stuff on that.
DRE: Do you think people made too much of the supposed political subtext to Borat, even Sacha has talked about it?
Adam: I think there definitely is some. I think Sacha is just too smart for it not to be there. He has a bit of a radar for it and I think he hones in on the fact that part of whats fun about America is pointing out the fact that our country is so large and split. He just has a great sense of where to go to find those outrageous moments. Now is he consciously saying Im going to go do political stuff? No. But as a good subversive comic, hes going to go for those moments. The Borat movie definitely has a political edge to it. Those frat guys towards the end were scary.
DRE: I thought looked the racing stuff in Talladega Nights was as good as any racing movie there is. I think thats a compliment.
Adam: I think it is too although Im not quite sure. But that was the goal. We decided that if youre going to go see a big race car movie, it should look pretty good. We just went and hired the best people. Our [cinematographer] was Oliver Wood and he is amazing. He shot the Bourne Identity movies and Fantastic Four so hes as good as you get. All our stunt people were Michael Bays people. We kept joking and I would say okay, while youre talking to me, Im Michael Bay. Were not comedy people. Do it like Michael Bay would do it. Whats funnier than shooting it like Michael Bay would? But they did a darn good job, especially since our budget wasnt crazy through the roof. It was big, but it wasnt 125 million or something.
DRE: Who came up with Shake and Bake?
Adam: The funny thing is that it the catchphrase was supposed to be Thunder and Lightening. Then we found out that [Pixars] Cars has a whole thing with Thunder and Lightening, which we didnt find out until we were in the middle of shooting the movie. So we came up with all these other dumb versions of it and I cant remember who came up with Shake and Bake. I think it was me.
DRE: [laughs] Shake and Bake was just so stupid.
Adam: It was so dumb. To even take credit for that is ridiculous. Its like taking credit for Cowabunga Dude. Its a non-thought.
DRE: So when we spoke for the DVD of Anchorman you told me Bewitched was funny.
Adam: [laughs] How dare you! Thats like calling out Richard Perle on the Iraq War.
DRE: [laughs] Heres the thing. I believed you.
Adam: I know, Im sorry. I hate to do that to you.
DRE: But were you being political or was it funny at the time when we spoke?
Adam: I got to tell you, I went to a test screening and the thing played really well. There were some funny scenes in there like when he does the flip flopping with the languages.
DRE: Yeah and the dinner table scene was funny.
Adam: Yeah, I came up with that. I thought there were clever ideas in there. The truth is that the whole third act just fell apart. Even though it got savaged its not a terrible movie. It got a little cute at points and thats always tough when its comedy. Also the ending never came together, but I still say theres some funny stuff in that movie. Im not going to totally back off that. I still think theres a chance for democracy in Iraq.
DRE: [laughs] Does it frighten you from doing a big budget TV show adaptation?
Adam: That was a weird circumstance because I was the rewrite guy on that so I was a hired gun but I guess you do get a little carried away. You come in and you do all this good work and you get really good people in the movie and you see things get better and better and maybe you do lose a little perspective that ultimately you are doing a remake of Bewitched. It definitely scared us off doing remakes of TV shows. Theres no doubt about it. We had some other remake ideas that we were kicking around and they got put on the back burner a little bit. The thing with Will and I is that we have so many ideas for films. Theres no need for us to go remake old TV shows. The whole reason that Will did that was because Nicole Kidman was in it and he wanted to work with her.
DRE: She was luminous in it.
Adam: She was fantastic. Then also we met with Nora Ephron and she was really cool and really funny. Nora Ephron is laugh out loud funny, Im not kidding.
DRE: I loved her screenplays for When Harry Met Sally and My Blue Heaven but now she makes a certain kind of movie which the cool people dont like.
Adam: Well I had lunch with her and she had me laughing the whole time. Will really enjoyed working with her. So after those two things I think you lose sight of the fact youre still remaking Bewitched. But now I say that theres no need to do remakes so its a good little lesson learned from that.
DRE: I interviewed Frank Portman about King Dork and I really loved his book.
Adam: Its a great book.
DRE: Is the film adaptation of King Dork something you will just produce or direct as well?
Adam: I would love to direct it. If I had time I definitely would. Unfortunately, Im going into the Step Brothers movie that Will and I are writing right now so theres no way I could. It would have to be way down the road but were trying to get a really interesting director on it.
DRE: Are you going to keep the teenage underage blowjobs?
Adam: Yeah of course we are. Thats the whole heart of the book!
DRE: It really is. I told Frank that theres a lot of blowjobs in that book and Im all for it.
Adam: Theres a tasteful way to do it or a not so tasteful way.
DRE: At this point there is so much improv in television and movies, Im not asking this from a negative point of view but where else do you think improv can go?
Adam: The big thing is the Upright Citizens Brigade. I think they have a long way to go. In a weird way, I feel like theyre just starting. They had the TV show, they have the theatre in New York City; they have the theatre out here in LA so I feel like theyre going to keep going and going. I always look at [Matt] Besser as the ambition of that group. I guarantee you that group is going to open another theatre somewhere. The other thing is that I wouldnt be surprised to see that group open some film production company or do some production company off of that name.
DRE: Im still waiting for their movie Wild Girls Gone.
Adam: I want to see it too. Ive heard a lot about it but I havent seen it. But as far as the improv goes, it is everywhere. Everyones taking classes, everyones hanging out there. I just think the language of it has just completely infiltrated comedy. You hear about all the improv theatres in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and they are all packed with students. When we all moved to Chicago around 1990, these theatres were in bars with three little improv teams and 30 people in the classes. So questions of where can it go next are really amazing questions to even think about when you think how much its absolutely blown up in the past ten to 15 years.
DRE: What do you think of Studio 60 [on the Sunset Strip]?
Adam: All I can say is they nailed it. Thats exactly how it is, every second of it. I literally thought it was a documentary the first time I watched it. I was like how did they get so into our world? [laughs] But I will say this on the record. In fairness to [Studio 60 creator Aaron] Sorkin, because that guys a really talented writer, I dont think hes trying to nail it. I think what that guy does is wish fulfillment stuff. When he did The West Wing, never for one second did we ever imagine that thats the way the White House was, especially when Bush was in there. I think what he was showing us was what it could be. I think thats always the game that Sorkin plays. So for somebody who has worked at Saturday Night Live, you do laugh when you watch the show because it is a little bit ridiculous to someones whose worked there but in fairness to Sorkin, I dont think theres any attempt to be 100% accurate.
DRE: Its the same with almost any profession thats put on television, like being a doctor or a cop, except comedy writers are funny and usually have a place where they can express their opinions.
Adam: I specifically think Sorkin does this game of how good things could be. He shows people at their best in these high stake situations. Its neat what he does but it is funny when you see people speak that well and in those important tones at a sketch comedy show.
DRE: When do you start Step Brothers?
Adam: Weve finished the outline. Were about 25 pages into the script. Were slotted to start shooting in July, not too far off. Two people will be playing Will and Johns parents but who we dont know who yet.
DRE: You have yet to direct an R-rated film, what rating will Step Brothers have?
Adam: Step Brothers will be R rated. Were not in any way censoring ourselves on this one. Were not playing the PG-13 game. Were not ever stopping language or nudity ever. Already there are a couple jokes that have nudity and just 25 pages into it weve already said fuck about seven times.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Buy the Unrated DVD of Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you up to today?
Adam McKay: I had a couple meetings today. I met with a writer about a half hour sitcom that were kicking around. Ive been mainly doing Gary Sanchez Production stuff today. Today was my day off from writing with Will [Ferrell] to come here and do meetings. I did that and then I met with my agent to talk about Gary Sanchez business and the script were working on. I had an hour and a half meeting with them, then made about a dozen phone calls; pretty boring stuff actually.
DRE: Youre so busy now. It must be fun to be able to generate all this material for yourself.
Adam: Yeah, the Gary Sanchez thing really got busy. We started this as a small little production company and really quickly it took off. We have two TV pilots going, about six different films in development and we just bought the rights to a book so its really been cooking.
DRE: Is Gary Sanchez a real guy?
Adam: Yeah, Gary Sanchez is originally from Paraguay and he was in the NFL for a while back in the 80s and early 90s. He was on a bunch of different teams like the Buccaneers, the Patriots and the Jets. After he left the NFL he became an entrepreneur with a bunch of different business ventures. Will and I met him and we would always talk about working with him. Then when we started this company, he wanted to front us for it. So even though we have our deal with [Paramount] Vantage, hes the face of our company.
DRE: I just thought the name was like Monty Python.
Adam: No, Will just had lunch with him in New York a couple weeks ago. Hes a tough guy.
DRE: How many extra minutes were put into the unrated Talladega Nights DVD?
Adam: Like 13 minutes. There are a couple whole new scenes in there and some line changes. I actually cut some stuff too.
DRE: Like what?
Adam: I cut this scene where the kid takes the car when hes five years old at the convenience store. I was always on the fence about that scene and I always thought it wasnt that funny and just okay. So I cut that scene, which I dont think anyones ever done that before.
DRE: Actually the Coen Brothers cut about two minutes out of their directors cut of Blood Simple, so youre in good company.
Adam: I love that. Thats so great. I think it should happen more often.
DRE: Talladega Nights is a much tighter film than Anchorman.
Adam: Yeah, I think thats because its a sports story so it has that typical sports arc of the comeback. We all know how that story goes. It hugs the storyline a little tighter than Anchorman did. Anchorman was pretty loose so it went wherever it wanted to. Talladega Nights was a little more disciplined.
DRE: It seems like you probably wont be able to recreate all the conditions that made Anchorman what it was again.
Adam: Well our next movie were doing is pretty loose. We kept joking about the sports arc movie while we were making Talladega Nights. Anytime there would be a peep of confusion while making it, we would always say thank goodness for the sports arc, because every sports movie is the same. You know exactly where its going. Theres going to be the retraining sequence where youve got to go back to your roots and youve got to learn what you did. Its going to end with the big game or the big race or the big showdown. Since those story elements are out there, it became really freeing in a way because you knew you couldnt go that far a field and it allowed us to screw with those expectations a little bit. Like the joke of Gary Cole coming to pick up the tickets and then saying who needs two? and the kiss in the end or the foot race from the crash in the last big race. So hopefully our later movies can be just as crazy as Anchorman because I love how crazy Anchorman is. I love that it doesnt adhere to any Syd Field three act structure.
DRE: All the main players in Talladega are very tall like you, Will, Sacha [Baron Cohen] and John C. Reilly.
Adam: Were massive men. We all are large men with very big hands and we all speak very loudly and we will come at you.
DRE: I couldnt imagine all of you guys walking towards someone. It would be scary.
Adam: It was true with Anchorman too. It was a big bunch of guys on that too. Well thats not true, Paul [Rudd] was not necessarily big.
DRE: But you did have Vince Vaughn, Tim Robbins and Luke Wilson.
Adam: Our line producer, David Householter, who became our executive producer on Talladega is also like 64. We call him the Kansas Plowhorse.
DRE: I think I got some insight into what happens with some of the people who dont or cant improvise as much as other actors from the DVD extras on The 40 Year old Virgin DVD. In the outtakes we see Seth Rogen and Judd [Apatow] off camera yelling lines at the actors for them to repeat on camera. Would you do that for the little kids in Talladega?
Adam: Absolutely. Thats why the kids were great. In fact the way I auditioned the kids was that I went down to Alabama where we did an open call. We had 1000 kids coming to this local middle school. I would have them read the lines from the scene and then I would throw lines at them to see how well they could repeat those lines. For the dinner scene that we did, I basically sat behind the camera and then Will joined me and we threw lines at them the whole time. Those kids were fantastic at just hearing a line and repeating it back as though they had just thought of it. In fact that scene was the funnest. It just became Will, myself, and then John C. Reilly even joined us at one point. So it became John C. Reilly, Will Ferrell, and myself, all sitting behind the camera throwing lines of just awful things for those kids to yell at their grandfather.
DRE: Was Amy Adams able to improvise?
Adam: Oh absolutely, shes amazing. Amy had auditioned for the lead in Anchorman and it came down to her and Christina Applegate. Obviously Applegate was tremendous and unbelievable so we went with her but we were really close to casting Amy. So when this role came around in Talladega, we just cast Amy with no thought or question.
DRE: Will you hire an actor thats not such a great improviser but is good at repeating the lines that you throw at them?
Adam: If an actor is really good and theyre cool with me throwing out lines, I will cast them. But the ideal is someone who can play and gets the game like Gary Cole. Gary Cole is a great classically trained actor who is also a natural improviser. Thats the way Will works as well. Wills improvising and then at the same time Im throwing out lines to him. But theres no doubt about it, if you get a great character actor whos got a fantastic look and they dont mind me throwing out lines to them, Ill definitely cast that person.
DRE: Is the casting process one of the longest ones for one of these movies?
Adam: Its gotten easier. Now that we know what we want, we can come in and just know who we want sometimes. We knew while writing the script that we wanted Jack McBrayer to play the Glenn character. I knew him from doing the ASSSSCAT show at the Upright Citizens Brigade theatre. Then obviously we know Dave Koechner. The only question about Koechner was that wit as a smaller role. Were like Will Dave do this? We just love Dave and wanted to hang out with him and he was cool with doing it, so that was cast. Then [co-founder of the Upright Citizens Brigade] Ian Roberts we love and hes great. So now were filling in roles with people we know and love. Then a lot of the other roles just became local hires and thats really fun to do. We were shooting most of the movie in North Carolina and I really took a lot of joy in finding these great local actors that really turned out to be terrific.
DRE: When we spoke for the Anchorman DVD you said that the two things that made you laugh at that point were Ali G and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. So I knew you liked Ali G but I didnt know you were going to hire him for your movie.
Adam: I know, it worked out really well. We threw that idea out there never imagining that Sacha Baron Cohen would actually do it. It came after our first read-through of Talladega Nights. Ben Stiller came and read the role just as a favor. He wasnt reading it with doing the role in mind. It was just to help us out. Ben killed and destroyed so it was clear the role was one of the funniest roles in the movie. Jimmy Miller, a producer on the movie, also manages Sacha Baron Cohen so word got back to Sacha that this was a really cool subversive role in a mainstream movie. We also know Sacha just from playing basketball with him. When he was interested we just couldnt believe it. He was a perfect choice.
DRE: Obviously hes a monstrous star now. Did you know how you were going to bottle what he does properly?
Adam: We talked about that a lot. What Sacha does is that he fucks with peoples expectations, stereotypes and preconceptions. Hes almost like a prank comedian or a performance artist comedian. At the same time, Will and I love that game as well even though in this case were doing fictional comedy. We wanted to have a little bit of that sense with his character and we talked about the fact that if youre doing a NASCAR red state comedy with Sacha playing a gay Frenchman, that adds a prank quality to that character. I think the more Sacha started getting into the Jean Girard, the more he started feeling that it was a fun character. Then once he started improvising and saying things like the only thing America has ever done for us is Cheerios, George Bush and the ThighMaster, I think he started feeling that there was really a way to screw with Americans in this role. The best way that he was able to be Sacha was in those small moments and what really came out of it was the kiss in the end. We were shooting the end race and he said What if I kissed Will? That was not in the script and I said oh yeah, go ahead. Try and kiss him. We ended up improvising this whole kiss moment and it was so hilarious that we ended up repositioning and doing a whole shot for it and then ended up doing several takes of it. Thats exactly a Sacha instinct. Not only does the American have the final footrace with the French guy and they have this mutual respect for each other, but of course they end up making out. So he brought a lot of those kinds of moments to the film.
DRE: Did you ever do pranks back with the Upright Citizens Brigade?
Adam: Yeah, one of the first shows we ever did was when I advertised my own suicide around town and we put flyers everywhere with my really cheesy looking headshot. It said Adam McKay will kill himself on this day and it also read no joke. Then this whole crowd came out and I got up on a five story building and talked down to the street and said this is what you want. I had a CPR dummy dressed as me and stepped back and threw the CPR dummy off the side of the building. You could hear the whole crowd gasp. Another time we took the whole crowd back to my apartment and did a staged murder in the apartment.
DRE: At this point with 2007 and Borat being so huge, is there anything more to be done in terms of filming pranks?
Adam: I think you can never exhaust it. I never get tired of crank phone calls. Therere always funny. The only trick is that the player can exhaust themselves. Once youre known, you cant do it again. But I never get tired of prank stuff if its done well. Even that new Candid Camera they did [in 2005] was really funny. It was the cheesiest presentation but they did really funny stuff. The Jerky Boys was really funny and they even did some movie.
DRE: Yeah, it was a hideously bad movie.
Adam: Exactly, but say whatever you want, those crank phone calls were really funny. Crank Yankers is really funny and I feel the same way about the prank stuff on The Jamie Kennedy Experiment. Theres some funny stuff on that.
DRE: Do you think people made too much of the supposed political subtext to Borat, even Sacha has talked about it?
Adam: I think there definitely is some. I think Sacha is just too smart for it not to be there. He has a bit of a radar for it and I think he hones in on the fact that part of whats fun about America is pointing out the fact that our country is so large and split. He just has a great sense of where to go to find those outrageous moments. Now is he consciously saying Im going to go do political stuff? No. But as a good subversive comic, hes going to go for those moments. The Borat movie definitely has a political edge to it. Those frat guys towards the end were scary.
DRE: I thought looked the racing stuff in Talladega Nights was as good as any racing movie there is. I think thats a compliment.
Adam: I think it is too although Im not quite sure. But that was the goal. We decided that if youre going to go see a big race car movie, it should look pretty good. We just went and hired the best people. Our [cinematographer] was Oliver Wood and he is amazing. He shot the Bourne Identity movies and Fantastic Four so hes as good as you get. All our stunt people were Michael Bays people. We kept joking and I would say okay, while youre talking to me, Im Michael Bay. Were not comedy people. Do it like Michael Bay would do it. Whats funnier than shooting it like Michael Bay would? But they did a darn good job, especially since our budget wasnt crazy through the roof. It was big, but it wasnt 125 million or something.
DRE: Who came up with Shake and Bake?
Adam: The funny thing is that it the catchphrase was supposed to be Thunder and Lightening. Then we found out that [Pixars] Cars has a whole thing with Thunder and Lightening, which we didnt find out until we were in the middle of shooting the movie. So we came up with all these other dumb versions of it and I cant remember who came up with Shake and Bake. I think it was me.
DRE: [laughs] Shake and Bake was just so stupid.
Adam: It was so dumb. To even take credit for that is ridiculous. Its like taking credit for Cowabunga Dude. Its a non-thought.
DRE: So when we spoke for the DVD of Anchorman you told me Bewitched was funny.
Adam: [laughs] How dare you! Thats like calling out Richard Perle on the Iraq War.
DRE: [laughs] Heres the thing. I believed you.
Adam: I know, Im sorry. I hate to do that to you.
DRE: But were you being political or was it funny at the time when we spoke?
Adam: I got to tell you, I went to a test screening and the thing played really well. There were some funny scenes in there like when he does the flip flopping with the languages.
DRE: Yeah and the dinner table scene was funny.
Adam: Yeah, I came up with that. I thought there were clever ideas in there. The truth is that the whole third act just fell apart. Even though it got savaged its not a terrible movie. It got a little cute at points and thats always tough when its comedy. Also the ending never came together, but I still say theres some funny stuff in that movie. Im not going to totally back off that. I still think theres a chance for democracy in Iraq.
DRE: [laughs] Does it frighten you from doing a big budget TV show adaptation?
Adam: That was a weird circumstance because I was the rewrite guy on that so I was a hired gun but I guess you do get a little carried away. You come in and you do all this good work and you get really good people in the movie and you see things get better and better and maybe you do lose a little perspective that ultimately you are doing a remake of Bewitched. It definitely scared us off doing remakes of TV shows. Theres no doubt about it. We had some other remake ideas that we were kicking around and they got put on the back burner a little bit. The thing with Will and I is that we have so many ideas for films. Theres no need for us to go remake old TV shows. The whole reason that Will did that was because Nicole Kidman was in it and he wanted to work with her.
DRE: She was luminous in it.
Adam: She was fantastic. Then also we met with Nora Ephron and she was really cool and really funny. Nora Ephron is laugh out loud funny, Im not kidding.
DRE: I loved her screenplays for When Harry Met Sally and My Blue Heaven but now she makes a certain kind of movie which the cool people dont like.
Adam: Well I had lunch with her and she had me laughing the whole time. Will really enjoyed working with her. So after those two things I think you lose sight of the fact youre still remaking Bewitched. But now I say that theres no need to do remakes so its a good little lesson learned from that.
DRE: I interviewed Frank Portman about King Dork and I really loved his book.
Adam: Its a great book.
DRE: Is the film adaptation of King Dork something you will just produce or direct as well?
Adam: I would love to direct it. If I had time I definitely would. Unfortunately, Im going into the Step Brothers movie that Will and I are writing right now so theres no way I could. It would have to be way down the road but were trying to get a really interesting director on it.
DRE: Are you going to keep the teenage underage blowjobs?
Adam: Yeah of course we are. Thats the whole heart of the book!
DRE: It really is. I told Frank that theres a lot of blowjobs in that book and Im all for it.
Adam: Theres a tasteful way to do it or a not so tasteful way.
DRE: At this point there is so much improv in television and movies, Im not asking this from a negative point of view but where else do you think improv can go?
Adam: The big thing is the Upright Citizens Brigade. I think they have a long way to go. In a weird way, I feel like theyre just starting. They had the TV show, they have the theatre in New York City; they have the theatre out here in LA so I feel like theyre going to keep going and going. I always look at [Matt] Besser as the ambition of that group. I guarantee you that group is going to open another theatre somewhere. The other thing is that I wouldnt be surprised to see that group open some film production company or do some production company off of that name.
DRE: Im still waiting for their movie Wild Girls Gone.
Adam: I want to see it too. Ive heard a lot about it but I havent seen it. But as far as the improv goes, it is everywhere. Everyones taking classes, everyones hanging out there. I just think the language of it has just completely infiltrated comedy. You hear about all the improv theatres in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and they are all packed with students. When we all moved to Chicago around 1990, these theatres were in bars with three little improv teams and 30 people in the classes. So questions of where can it go next are really amazing questions to even think about when you think how much its absolutely blown up in the past ten to 15 years.
DRE: What do you think of Studio 60 [on the Sunset Strip]?
Adam: All I can say is they nailed it. Thats exactly how it is, every second of it. I literally thought it was a documentary the first time I watched it. I was like how did they get so into our world? [laughs] But I will say this on the record. In fairness to [Studio 60 creator Aaron] Sorkin, because that guys a really talented writer, I dont think hes trying to nail it. I think what that guy does is wish fulfillment stuff. When he did The West Wing, never for one second did we ever imagine that thats the way the White House was, especially when Bush was in there. I think what he was showing us was what it could be. I think thats always the game that Sorkin plays. So for somebody who has worked at Saturday Night Live, you do laugh when you watch the show because it is a little bit ridiculous to someones whose worked there but in fairness to Sorkin, I dont think theres any attempt to be 100% accurate.
DRE: Its the same with almost any profession thats put on television, like being a doctor or a cop, except comedy writers are funny and usually have a place where they can express their opinions.
Adam: I specifically think Sorkin does this game of how good things could be. He shows people at their best in these high stake situations. Its neat what he does but it is funny when you see people speak that well and in those important tones at a sketch comedy show.
DRE: When do you start Step Brothers?
Adam: Weve finished the outline. Were about 25 pages into the script. Were slotted to start shooting in July, not too far off. Two people will be playing Will and Johns parents but who we dont know who yet.
DRE: You have yet to direct an R-rated film, what rating will Step Brothers have?
Adam: Step Brothers will be R rated. Were not in any way censoring ourselves on this one. Were not playing the PG-13 game. Were not ever stopping language or nudity ever. Already there are a couple jokes that have nudity and just 25 pages into it weve already said fuck about seven times.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
Though, I'd like to hear more about his
role in 'founding' the UCB Theatre!
That's awesome.
Oh, and the longer version of
Ricky Bobby kinda sucks comparitively.
I just got it, and I might try and get
the other one if it exists.