Jason Reitman is three for three. In both his debut satire "Thank You For Smoking," and his sophomore smash "Juno," the director and son of Ivan Reitman ("Ghostbusters," "Stripes") has proven himself to be a formidable filmmaker in a cinematic world where being original can be one of the hardest things to achieve.
With his latest release, the topical romantic comedy "Up in the Air," the director once again applies his signature touch of humanizing characters that audiences typically find easy to hate.
The central character this time is Ryan Bingham, played by the always-charismatic George Clooney in possibly his most personable role to date. A corporate downsizer for big business, Ryan travels the country and fires people for a living, thriving off of his status, ever-growing air miles, and lack of connection to essentially anyone. That is, until he meets the attractive and relatable Alex, played by Vera Farmiga.
Throughout the film, Reitman takes the characters of Ryan and Alex, along with a brilliant performance by young actress Anna Kendrick as a straight-out-of-college go-getter, and makes them irrevocably authentic.
The film has already fared well with critics at advance press screenings, and has gained a hefty amount of Oscar buzz for all aspects, from Best Picture to the performances of Clooney and Kendrick. That success is owed mainly to the film's director, writer and co-editor, who recently sat down to discuss his personal growth as a filmmaker, his individual methods, and how Clooney is just so gosh-darn charming.
Greg Vellante: So, let's talk about the ladies in this film. Farmiga does a phenomenal job with her character. Was that mostly her? Does she have a certain type of process?
Jason Reitman: I have no idea what her process is. I don't believe in process, or at least I don't wanna hear about it. I want my actors to be as natural as humanly possible, and I try to work with actors who share a quality with the character they're playing, so that it always feels that it's coming from a place of truth. I'm not really interested in working with an actor who's playing a character who's the opposite of them...I don't need to cast an American as a 16th century monarch — it just doesn't appeal to me.
What I liked about Vera is that she doesn't judge her characters. I was portraying a very specific woman, a woman in her late-30s who's going through kind of a midlife crisis based on the fact that the feminist movement promised her that she could have any life that she wanted and she could do everything, and now she's trying to have and do everything. But we all have to sacrifice, is the truth, and I think that's where midlife crisis comes from. I needed a woman who could be as masculine as she was feminine, completely in control of her sexuality, and not judge what happens from the beginning to end of the film.
GV: Was there automatic chemistry with George and Vera? Because their chemistry in the film is so strong and believable.
JR: I had to sprinkle some pixie dust [Laughs]. You know, honestly, that's all George. I think it's very easy to have chemistry with George Clooney at the end of the day, and he makes that happen. And every time I've heard Vera interviewed, that's exactly what she says. So I had no doubt that they would have chemistry.
GV: And there's also Anna Kendrick as Natalie. And you wrote that character specifically with her in mind. Is that something you typically do?
JR: Yeah, I do. I wrote eight of the characters in this film for certain actors specifically. I find it a lot easier to write once I know the voice of the character. And with Anna, I'd seen her in "Rocket Science" and, in that, saw a girl so different from everyone of her generation, with such an articulate, pointed way of speaking. In her, I also needed an actress who wouldn't judge her character. A know-it-all, a girl who is like many of the girls I've fallen in love with in my life, who are always, kind of, the smartest girl in the room, who are frustrated by their own brilliance. And that's exactly what she is; she's like Tracey Flick out of college.
GV: You also have characters played by Jason Bateman, Sam Elliott, and J.K. Simmons, all of whom you've worked with before. Are you more comfortable working with certain types of actors, especially those you know?
JR: Oh yeah, I hope J.K. is in every movie I ever make. He's my muse. Woody Allen and Alfred Hitchcock had beautiful women; I have J.K. Simmons [Laughs].
GV: Will you ever write yourself into one of your films? You did have some acting experience when you were young...
JR: [Laughs] You should realize that my father, as a practical joke, gave me a line of dialogue in each of his films during the worst moments of my puberty. Really as a method of guaranteeing that I would never want to be an actor, and so I never want to be on screen.
GV: You seem to be a very personal filmmaker. Do you go for this route with every film you make? Do you ever want to try something different?
JR: I didn't go into my career thinking I'm going to make one type of film, or I'm going to come out in my films in a specific kind of way, I think that just kind of happens. I think, really, once you start to make movies, you talk to journalists and they tell you what kind of filmmaker you are. Oh really? That's what I do?
OK. Look, I've made a movie with the head lobbyist for big tobacco, a pregnant teenage girl, and a guy that fires people for a living. I seem to be drawn to tricky characters that I like to humanize and situations that appeal to me personally, for which I have a lot of questions about, but not answers. I've always enjoyed the movies that don't tell me how to think. I always prefer a film that teaches me to think, but not how to think.
GV: The novel "Up in the Air" was originally published in 2001. Was it weird adapting it into a screenplay in a world where corporate downsizing is so much more socially prominent?
JR: Not really, because I feel like downsizing isn't what the movie is about at the end of the day. The movie is about a guy trying to figure out who and what he wants in his life. And this economy has served as an interesting location for the film, and it's become a more prominent location from when I started writing the script seven years ago. But it's never been a movie about actually firing people. That's just his job, that's just the location.
GV: Do you think that audiences going into the film will vilify George's character because of his job in the film?
JR: Yeah, I think a lot of people will come in ready to vilify the guy, more than had we made the film eight years ago. But I'm used to making movies about characters who are usually vilified, so I'm not as worried about that. You know, I have the combination of having written a script I think is pretty charming, and I have the most charming actor on earth. So, I'm not as worried about people being ready to hate him from the beginning.
GV: Have you ever been fired?
JR: I've never been fired. I've had to fire people, and on top of that, we used all these real people in the film, and I heard every single one of their stories. So I have a very good understanding now of at least what happens in that scene.
The astonishing thing is, if you had asked me before I had made this film, "What's the hardest part about being fired?," I would probably say the loss of income. I didn't make a movie about people who lived on a factory line, I made a movie about people who went to college and started careers and had real salaries, a mortgage, and two car payments, and kids about to go to college who were suddenly left with nothing.
So I said, "Oh, it must be the loss of income." But what I came to realize was that, at least for the people — and we talked to a lot of people — it was the loss of purpose, the reason to get out of bed in the morning.
The thing that they would say that would scare me the most was "I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I don't know where I'm supposed to go." That seems to be the most frightening thing.
GV: Do you think that this film would've still been as special had you made it a while ago, before "Thank You For Smoking" or "Juno"?
JR: No, I mean, for many reasons. For one, I had to grow up. I had to grow up and learn about life. When I started writing it, I was a single guy living in an apartment, and by the time I finished I was married, I was a father, I had a mortgage, you know?
GV: Do you feel that you grew up in some way during the filming of "Up in the Air"?
JR: I don't know. I probably won't know that for a few more years until I look back and figure it out. At the time, I just thought I was making a movie. I don't know how I've grown up during filming. I can look back, more, on how I've grown up since "Thank You For Smoking." I mean, my first film is a very, kind-of, black-and-white satire of lobbying, and this one is much more about the intricacies of human behavior and human relationships. I think I've become a much more articulate filmmaker and much more interested by the gray, and I am much better at hitting very specific points and pushing the audience in a very specific way.
