If Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheims TV show is Awesome, Great Job!, you know their movie has to be even bigger. So their movie is bigger than awesome, its Tim and Erics Billion Dollar Movie. However, the movie is not a collection of sketches like their TV show. Billion Dollar Movie is actually about Tim and Eric blowing a billion dollars filming an unreleasable movie. So to pay back the investors, they have to revamp a mall full of crazy stores to make it a billion dollar business. The film still breaks the fourth wall and takes breaks for weird sketches, but theres sort of a plot in there.
Heidecker and Wareheim premiered Billion Dollar Movie at Sundance, promising the audience it had been de-Rangoed, which I didnt get. They actually had two films at the festival. Heidecker stars in the experimental film The Comedy, which is named ironically. Set in a community of hipsters in Williamsburg, New York, the film is a statement about hipsterism. Wareheim has a smaller part in The Comedy too.
Wareheim and Heidecker were understandably exhausted when they did interviews on Main Street. Not only had they had midnight screenings the night before, but they stayed for the Q&A (where the audience gets a chance to ask them questions) and their own after party. I at least skipped the Q&A to get some sleep and prepare questions. Both films were notorious, with many audience members walking out. The Shrim scene in Billion Dollar Movie was probably the breaking point for many. I dont even want to describe what it is, just look it up.
SuicideGirls: So what was the Rango reference with regards to Billion Dollar Movie?
Tim Heidecker: Well, the jokes over.
Eric Wareheim: We can reveal.
TH: As a joke we suggested that Sundance was going to be intercutting outtakes from the Rango movie into our film as a promotional vehicle for the DVD and we tok it pretty seriously and played it pretty straight, on Twitter and Facebook made a big deal about asking Sundance to take the Rango out. Its amazing that all week, since weve been here, you get people coming up to us that know were joking, but going, Sorry about getting Rangoed, man.
EW: Rangos become a term now.
TH: So now its a term when you get Rangoed and just today, a fan made a trailer of our movie and intercut Rango in and its really well done.
EW: They synced the mouth of the lizard to our dialogue.
TH: So its a thing where we made this movie and the movie is what it is and were really happy with it, but its the center of a circle of all this other shit that were doing around the movie as well. This Rango thing, all the press were doing for it, all the promos and all these little things were doing that we feel like its part of the package. Its part of the whole film.
EW: It was interesting, a lot of people got the Rango thing. There was applause when we were de-Rangoed.
TH: Yeah, our audience knows that the joke doesnt necessarily stop when the movie ends. If you follow us on Twitter, if you follow us online, theres a multi-player role playing game or something.
SG: How can we solve the economic crisis and save small business?
EW: Just stay positive, be creative, look outside the box.
TH: Everybody pay for this movie. Dont steal it and then Ill pay it forward. We all win that way.
SG: Are you guys eternally happy?
TH: Oh yeah. Til the end of time. Weve been happy since the beginning of time and well remain happy until time ends.
SG: What gets you so angry that you have to yell and scream?
TH: Customer service.
SG: True. Cant you tell theyre just reading a script and not even listening to you?
TH: I can tell. Theyre not. And Italians.
EW: Ohhh.
TH: Hes got a big thing for Italians.
EW: Im Italian.
TH: Hates their music.
EW: Yeah, I do. All tenors.
SG: Are you in the business of deconstructing comedy?
TH: No.
SG: Have you heard that before?
TH: Weve heard that. Were in the business to make each other laugh and hopefully make other people laugh. Our sensibility and our sense of humor is I guess sometimes we make fun of comedy. The punchline is what can be bad about comedy but we just do what we do, try not to intellectualize it too much.
SG: I of course like to intellectualize it.
TH: Yes, well thats what your job is.
SG: Do you think you fit into the meta movement?
TH: I wasnt aware there was a movement.
SG: Im happy to see so much meta comedy. Certainly when you pause the movie to explain whats happening in the movie, thats a comment on the movie experience.
EW: One thing I would say is that I feel like we fit in a post comedy movement which is something that youve seen it all, youve heard it all, youve seen all the different styles. The joke to us around the laugh. Thats what we like to explore, what happens before and what happens after the actual punchline.
SG: Is that a step beyond irreverence?
TH: I think its just a different muscle. The irreverent stuff is another thing that just makes us laugh. Its irreverent to you if you find it offensive, so its going to be different for different people I would think.
SG: Is offensive a necessary quality of irreverence? I find a lot irreverent but Im not offended.
TH: I suppose its a little distinction. Irreverence doesnt mean anything to me because youd have to put a level of authority in the equation for us to be irreverent towards. We dont actively engage with any of those people.
SG: Is Tim the serious one?
TH: Today I am I guess. Not always.
SG: How has the festival experience been for both films?
TH: Its been good. Positive feedback.
EW: It was a similar experience at both premieres which is people are loving it, people are laughing at the right moments, people are walking out at the right moments.
SG: Walking out of both movies?
EW: Yeah, both movies. The Comedy and Billion Dollar movies have some similar qualities which I think are really interesting, one being sitting on the edge of your seat squirming, you cant believe what youre seeing kind of feeling, which I think were all happy about creating that kind of energy in both films.
SG: Do you embrace the walkouts as much as the accolades?
TH: Yeah. I don't think were masochistic about it in the sense that were in it to piss people off.
EW: No.
TH: We are human beings that have feelings and would like to be loved by everyone as every human being does, but we also kind of have a sense of humor about it. And realize that the people walking out are not people were going to worry about too much.
SG: Is that part of the magic of the festival? In most theaters people dont bother to walk out, but here they just give up and go to something else.
TH: I guess what Ive heard, its kind of a thing. First of all, theres lots of reasons. Theres Im committed to go do something else, Im going to try to see another movie. Its not like, I hate this movie. Fuck this movie. I want to burn the negative. Its like okay, Im going to go see another movie now. Whatever. The thing is, what I said as the credits were coming up, look at how many people stayed. Most people stayed. Thats the key.
SG: Its a wonderful silent communication, like "Nope, not gonna stick this one out." Even the filmmakers have a good attitude about it.
TH: Its certainly crazy energy in the room because you see it happening. Even if youre not leaving, that must
trigger some kind of thought process in your own head of like, Why am I staying? Should I leave? Thats gotta happen to some people.
EW: I think the core of both films is these are both very personal projects for us. Reviews are something but I don't think theyre super important to each of us. We both wanted to create something that was uniquely personal to us and made us satisfied. Were not making it for a specific audience.
SG: Which film got into Sundance first?
TH: I think our film did because our film wasnt in competition. Were just premiering it here so its a little bit of a different situation. I don't know if people see that distinction.
SG: Is hipsterism something you thought about before The Comedy came along?
EW: We actually invented hipsterism. And were making a pretty penny from that.
TH: I don't know, its a catch all word that describes a certain group of people that sometimes abuse it, use it inappropriately I guess.
SG: Has it gotten out of hand these days?
EW: Well, if youre in Brooklyn, which when we shot the movie, I hadnt been in quite some time, its rampant.
TH: Its like being in Haight-Ashbury in the 60s or something.
EW: A particular style, a particular kind of person.
TH: Its like a funny irony of the style is so about individualism but it all ends up looking like a uniform.
SG: Do you find that some people who complain about hipsters the most are the worst hipsters?
TH: Its definitely the rock through the glass house scenario. I don't think Rick [Alverson] intended this movie to be an indictment of that style or aesthetic. Its a device I think used in the movie to create a setting and a place, an environment.
SG: Do you think it originated in a healthy, subversive or ironic way and then escalated?
TH: This is a theory Ive heard from a couple different people, and I may not be able to prove it, but I think our generation, X or Y, between 20 and 30, our baby boomer parents were in so general encouraging of us to do what we want to do in life and pursue our dreams, I think there became a huge group of our generation who went to art school and creative things, and somewhat not very practical vocations. It created this class of people interested in arts or film or music that dont have that many real usable things. Journalists...
SG: Obviously I'm addressing it in a thematic way. Do you guys talk about the theme on the set or are you just riffing?
TH: I think we have a plan and sometimes we deviate from that plan but the plan is to get certain information across. Film is so easy to manipulate that we kind of didnt need to think too hard about anything. We just sort of went forward and the way things are cut and music and everything, you can just really shape the film a little stronger. Obviously theres hours and hours and hours of footage that isnt in the film.
SG: Are either of you from Williamsburg?
TH: I lived there for three years. I was there when it was booming and bustling, 2001 to 2003.
SG: Were you looking to explore more dramatic work?
TH: I don't think it was something we were seeking out necessarily but when the opportunity was brought up, it was something that sounded intriguing and dangerous and risky.
EW: It was also an experimental feel to it, after seeing his first film. It just felt like a piece of art rather than a movie. That was a huge draw for me, to be part of something thats a different world.
Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie opens March 2. The Comedy shows again at the South by Southwest film festival this month.
Heidecker and Wareheim premiered Billion Dollar Movie at Sundance, promising the audience it had been de-Rangoed, which I didnt get. They actually had two films at the festival. Heidecker stars in the experimental film The Comedy, which is named ironically. Set in a community of hipsters in Williamsburg, New York, the film is a statement about hipsterism. Wareheim has a smaller part in The Comedy too.
Wareheim and Heidecker were understandably exhausted when they did interviews on Main Street. Not only had they had midnight screenings the night before, but they stayed for the Q&A (where the audience gets a chance to ask them questions) and their own after party. I at least skipped the Q&A to get some sleep and prepare questions. Both films were notorious, with many audience members walking out. The Shrim scene in Billion Dollar Movie was probably the breaking point for many. I dont even want to describe what it is, just look it up.
SuicideGirls: So what was the Rango reference with regards to Billion Dollar Movie?
Tim Heidecker: Well, the jokes over.
Eric Wareheim: We can reveal.
TH: As a joke we suggested that Sundance was going to be intercutting outtakes from the Rango movie into our film as a promotional vehicle for the DVD and we tok it pretty seriously and played it pretty straight, on Twitter and Facebook made a big deal about asking Sundance to take the Rango out. Its amazing that all week, since weve been here, you get people coming up to us that know were joking, but going, Sorry about getting Rangoed, man.
EW: Rangos become a term now.
TH: So now its a term when you get Rangoed and just today, a fan made a trailer of our movie and intercut Rango in and its really well done.
EW: They synced the mouth of the lizard to our dialogue.
TH: So its a thing where we made this movie and the movie is what it is and were really happy with it, but its the center of a circle of all this other shit that were doing around the movie as well. This Rango thing, all the press were doing for it, all the promos and all these little things were doing that we feel like its part of the package. Its part of the whole film.
EW: It was interesting, a lot of people got the Rango thing. There was applause when we were de-Rangoed.
TH: Yeah, our audience knows that the joke doesnt necessarily stop when the movie ends. If you follow us on Twitter, if you follow us online, theres a multi-player role playing game or something.
SG: How can we solve the economic crisis and save small business?
EW: Just stay positive, be creative, look outside the box.
TH: Everybody pay for this movie. Dont steal it and then Ill pay it forward. We all win that way.
SG: Are you guys eternally happy?
TH: Oh yeah. Til the end of time. Weve been happy since the beginning of time and well remain happy until time ends.
SG: What gets you so angry that you have to yell and scream?
TH: Customer service.
SG: True. Cant you tell theyre just reading a script and not even listening to you?
TH: I can tell. Theyre not. And Italians.
EW: Ohhh.
TH: Hes got a big thing for Italians.
EW: Im Italian.
TH: Hates their music.
EW: Yeah, I do. All tenors.
SG: Are you in the business of deconstructing comedy?
TH: No.
SG: Have you heard that before?
TH: Weve heard that. Were in the business to make each other laugh and hopefully make other people laugh. Our sensibility and our sense of humor is I guess sometimes we make fun of comedy. The punchline is what can be bad about comedy but we just do what we do, try not to intellectualize it too much.
SG: I of course like to intellectualize it.
TH: Yes, well thats what your job is.
SG: Do you think you fit into the meta movement?
TH: I wasnt aware there was a movement.
SG: Im happy to see so much meta comedy. Certainly when you pause the movie to explain whats happening in the movie, thats a comment on the movie experience.
EW: One thing I would say is that I feel like we fit in a post comedy movement which is something that youve seen it all, youve heard it all, youve seen all the different styles. The joke to us around the laugh. Thats what we like to explore, what happens before and what happens after the actual punchline.
SG: Is that a step beyond irreverence?
TH: I think its just a different muscle. The irreverent stuff is another thing that just makes us laugh. Its irreverent to you if you find it offensive, so its going to be different for different people I would think.
SG: Is offensive a necessary quality of irreverence? I find a lot irreverent but Im not offended.
TH: I suppose its a little distinction. Irreverence doesnt mean anything to me because youd have to put a level of authority in the equation for us to be irreverent towards. We dont actively engage with any of those people.
SG: Is Tim the serious one?
TH: Today I am I guess. Not always.
SG: How has the festival experience been for both films?
TH: Its been good. Positive feedback.
EW: It was a similar experience at both premieres which is people are loving it, people are laughing at the right moments, people are walking out at the right moments.
SG: Walking out of both movies?
EW: Yeah, both movies. The Comedy and Billion Dollar movies have some similar qualities which I think are really interesting, one being sitting on the edge of your seat squirming, you cant believe what youre seeing kind of feeling, which I think were all happy about creating that kind of energy in both films.
SG: Do you embrace the walkouts as much as the accolades?
TH: Yeah. I don't think were masochistic about it in the sense that were in it to piss people off.
EW: No.
TH: We are human beings that have feelings and would like to be loved by everyone as every human being does, but we also kind of have a sense of humor about it. And realize that the people walking out are not people were going to worry about too much.
SG: Is that part of the magic of the festival? In most theaters people dont bother to walk out, but here they just give up and go to something else.
TH: I guess what Ive heard, its kind of a thing. First of all, theres lots of reasons. Theres Im committed to go do something else, Im going to try to see another movie. Its not like, I hate this movie. Fuck this movie. I want to burn the negative. Its like okay, Im going to go see another movie now. Whatever. The thing is, what I said as the credits were coming up, look at how many people stayed. Most people stayed. Thats the key.
SG: Its a wonderful silent communication, like "Nope, not gonna stick this one out." Even the filmmakers have a good attitude about it.
TH: Its certainly crazy energy in the room because you see it happening. Even if youre not leaving, that must
trigger some kind of thought process in your own head of like, Why am I staying? Should I leave? Thats gotta happen to some people.
EW: I think the core of both films is these are both very personal projects for us. Reviews are something but I don't think theyre super important to each of us. We both wanted to create something that was uniquely personal to us and made us satisfied. Were not making it for a specific audience.
SG: Which film got into Sundance first?
TH: I think our film did because our film wasnt in competition. Were just premiering it here so its a little bit of a different situation. I don't know if people see that distinction.
SG: Is hipsterism something you thought about before The Comedy came along?
EW: We actually invented hipsterism. And were making a pretty penny from that.
TH: I don't know, its a catch all word that describes a certain group of people that sometimes abuse it, use it inappropriately I guess.
SG: Has it gotten out of hand these days?
EW: Well, if youre in Brooklyn, which when we shot the movie, I hadnt been in quite some time, its rampant.
TH: Its like being in Haight-Ashbury in the 60s or something.
EW: A particular style, a particular kind of person.
TH: Its like a funny irony of the style is so about individualism but it all ends up looking like a uniform.
SG: Do you find that some people who complain about hipsters the most are the worst hipsters?
TH: Its definitely the rock through the glass house scenario. I don't think Rick [Alverson] intended this movie to be an indictment of that style or aesthetic. Its a device I think used in the movie to create a setting and a place, an environment.
SG: Do you think it originated in a healthy, subversive or ironic way and then escalated?
TH: This is a theory Ive heard from a couple different people, and I may not be able to prove it, but I think our generation, X or Y, between 20 and 30, our baby boomer parents were in so general encouraging of us to do what we want to do in life and pursue our dreams, I think there became a huge group of our generation who went to art school and creative things, and somewhat not very practical vocations. It created this class of people interested in arts or film or music that dont have that many real usable things. Journalists...
SG: Obviously I'm addressing it in a thematic way. Do you guys talk about the theme on the set or are you just riffing?
TH: I think we have a plan and sometimes we deviate from that plan but the plan is to get certain information across. Film is so easy to manipulate that we kind of didnt need to think too hard about anything. We just sort of went forward and the way things are cut and music and everything, you can just really shape the film a little stronger. Obviously theres hours and hours and hours of footage that isnt in the film.
SG: Are either of you from Williamsburg?
TH: I lived there for three years. I was there when it was booming and bustling, 2001 to 2003.
SG: Were you looking to explore more dramatic work?
TH: I don't think it was something we were seeking out necessarily but when the opportunity was brought up, it was something that sounded intriguing and dangerous and risky.
EW: It was also an experimental feel to it, after seeing his first film. It just felt like a piece of art rather than a movie. That was a huge draw for me, to be part of something thats a different world.
Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie opens March 2. The Comedy shows again at the South by Southwest film festival this month.