BoD: Q&A with Jason Reitman

WEEKEND loves Jason Reitman. Two of Jason Reitman’s films, “Juno” and “Thank You For Smoking” find themselves on the WEEKEND top 50 of the decade and Brian Welk names him as one of the 15 most influential people in film of the decade.

So in a great example of coincidence, Welk and Chad Quandt were lucky enough to be part of a conference call with the Reitman last month in prep for his latest film, “Up In The Air.” During the call, Reitman spoke about why he likes to adapt other people’s work and his life in the air.

On spending seven years writing “Up in the Air”:

You know when I first started writing this, I was a guy living in an apartment in my 20s, I was single, and by the time I finished, I’d met my wife, become a father, had a mortgage. The story changed and simply as I grew up, so did Ryan Bingham and what I found in life, he began to look for. What started out as a movie about a guy who just fired people for a living became about a man who was trying to figure out who and what he wanted in life.

Also, I had to make some changes because of the economy. Most notably, I cast real people as the people who lose their jobs in this movie. So when you see someone get fired in this movie, except for a few actors that you’re going to recognize like Zach Galifianakis and J.K.  Simmons, these are real people in St. Louis and Detroit who actually just lost their jobs in real life.

On what drew him to the book, “Up in the Air”:

You know I think it was a combination of things me. I mean, one, it was a book about a guy who fired people for a living and I thought that was fascinating that this job existed and I wanted to humanize a tricky character like that. It reminded me of (Nick) Naylor from “Thank You for Smoking.” And I suppose I enjoyed the fact that Walter (Kim) had humanized the existence of travel. It was nice to see someone who has written kind of a love letter to travel.  

On how the movie industry has been affected by the economy:

It is a tough time in the movie business and certainly, independent film divisions have shut down, and there are less, (thoughtful) movies for adults being made because they’re more risky, and there’s more kind of popcorn movies getting made. I have a few friends that have lost their jobs, more than a few. It’s a tricky time but you know the film business has gone through tricky times before and it’s usually when filmmakers feel pressure that they often come out with their most creative material. I hope that whatever pressures we’re feeling will actually lead to more interesting films.

On making movies about family ties:

You know it’s funny because I never intended to be a guy who made movies about the importance of family.  As a director, you just kind of instinctually come to material that interests you and really follow your gut in the process. It’s only once you’ve made a few movies that you look back and go, “Huh.”  For whatever reason, I continue to be drawn to similar themes, and obviously, I think there is something inherently valuable about having family connections and building up that kind of interconnectivity between the people that you love most.

On what draws him to certain character personalities:

I’m obviously attracted, whether I know it or not, to characters who live in kind of a polarized world. Usually, why I like these characters is that they usually have a very open-minded point of view on something that is traditionally polarizing. They give me an opportunity to take a fresh look at a subject that is usually kind of talked out in one way.

On “loss of innocence” as a theme:

Certainly, that is at the core of what “Juno” is about. “Juno” is really not about teenage pregnancy, “Juno” is about the moment that we decide to grow up, our teenage girls growing up too fast and a 30-year-old man refusing to grow up. And, certainly, in approaching “Thank You for Smoking,” there is this kind of crux as to how informed you want the next generation to be and how you still also want to have a childhood? In “Up in the Air,” (Anna) Kendrick’s character looks at Vera (Farmiga)’s character wondering “you know, is this just going to be me 15 years from now?  Should I just kind of face the fact of how hard it is going to be a career woman?”

On directing his own script versus someone else’s:

I guess it’s a little bit intimidating to return to the keyboard after working with a writer who I admire so much.  But, thankfully, I’ve been writing this the whole time so, it wasn’t as much of a, “All right, now I could figure out how to write again.”
When I’m directing my own words, I’m less (precious) about them and I’m much more apt to allow the actors to change stuff. When I’m directing someone else’s screenplay, like Diablo (Cody)’s, I’m much more apt to be rigid about the dialogue on the page. But by the time I get to the set, I need to personalize the movie and make it mine. And I felt just as much ownership over “Juno” when I started directing it as I did over my two films that I’ve written.

On blending comedy with drama:

I think comedy and drama are techniques not genres. And, I think they can be both used to move an audience in a very specific way. So, I don’t limit myself to one or the other. I think that I’d like my movies to have comedy, and drama, and danger, and romance, and kind of every technique that allows you to push and pull the audience and give them as complete an experience as possible.

On his musical inspiration:

Well, it changes for every movie you know.  It starts with a few songs and builds to a couple of hundred songs until before I start shooting, and then I hand over this couple of hundred songs to my editor and she starts cutting through them. Usually, I have one song that gets me in the mood to write each film and strangely enough on all three of my movies that song has never wound up on the movies. On “Thank You for Smoking,” it was the song, “I’m a Man” by Steve Winwood. On “Juno,” it was Yo La Tengo’s “You Can Have It All” and on “Up in the Air,” it was Hank Williams’ “Ramblin’ Man.”

On constant air travel:

I started enjoying flights for the same reason I enjoyed going to movie theaters. It’s a chance to unplug from your normal life, and a chance to be surrounded by strangers. Your cell phone doesn’t work and your closest friend is this person in 17J and you can have the kind of conversation with them that you would never have with someone you knew well. You find out about lifestyles and jobs you would otherwise not know. I get most of my reading done on planes. And, yes, I collect miles; I collect miles like crazy.

On what the future holds:

If “Thank You for Smoking” and “Up in the Air” were two parts of a trilogy, and I needed my third angry white guy to fill it in — tobacco lobbyist, corporate termination executive — what is the third slot? I’m not sure. Either maybe pharmaceuticals, lawyers or, I don’t know,  someone who works in the clergy.