Jody Hill on the King of Comedy and Seth Rogen
By PETER KEOUGH | April 8, 2009
THANKS, SETH: Hill says the film wouldn't be as wild as it is without Rogen. |
Great filmmaker though he is, Martin Scorsese isn't the first name that comes to mind when you think about comedy genius. But Jody Hill, who developed a cult of admirers with his debut feature, the micro-budgeted martial-arts farce Foot Fist Way, and who enters the big-time-studio-release category with Observe and Report, traces his inspiration in part back to his first viewing of Taxi Driver."I discovered Martin Scorsese when I was in middle school, and that's when I suddenly realized, okay, there's actually directors behind movies. But me and my buddy kind of laughed at Taxi Driver. Like, oh my God, he takes her to a porn movie? Maybe we weren't really getting the full meaning at the time — we were 13 years old. But now, whenever I make movies, I try to remember when I was 13 and just kind of discovering movies and had my juvenile appreciation of '70s cinema. Straw Dogs and all that. The themes they dealt with in the '70s, isolation, alienation, the kinds of things that Peckinpah was dealing with, like codes of honor and bands of outsiders — I always responded to that. I think there are similar kinds of themes in this movie. At least, I tried to get them in there."
Another aspect of Scorsese's filmmaking that Hill tries to emulate is his unnerving tonal shifts, from comedy to creepiness, from laughter to cringing discomfort, the kind of effect that distinguishes King of Comedy and certain scenes in GoodFellas.
"King of Comedy is one of my favorite films of all time. I love how it rides that tone. It's easy to make the Taxi Driver comparison to this movie, but I think tonally it is closer to King of Comedy. I'll let people call it whatever they want to call it, but I think if you view this movie thinking it's kind of a drama — and I say 'drama' meaning any serious movie — then you might like it a little bit more. I think with comedy you get set up for a lot of preconceived notions, most of which are horrible. You get set up for jokes per minute and that kind of thing, but I don't think this movie is really based on that. I think it's based on characters. A lot of the time, I feel like comedy is disposable. Where things that are sad are funny-sad and things that are action or violent are funny-action. I didn't want to do that at all. I wanted to make a real movie that was funny."
This doesn't sound like the kind of pitch that would have studio executives reaching for their checkbooks. Hill, however, had Seth Rogen, fresh from hits like Knocked Up and Pineapple Express, in his corner.
Related:
Review: Observe and Report, Review: New York, I Love You, Hardboiled hub, More 
- Review: Observe and Report
Jody Hill's ambiguous and unsettling film is a comedy about law enforcement in much the same way that Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy is a comedy about comedy.
- Review: New York, I Love You
The multi-episode portmanteau movie is usually less than the sum of its parts.
- Hardboiled hub
When I was growing up in Roslindale a few decades back — among tribes of ignorant, second-generation immigrant kids whose favorite words began with “f” and “n” and who liked to torture small animals and beat up small children before they moved on to their future vocations as petty criminals, dead dope users, or real-estate agents.
- Good dirt
"Part of the mystery, when you find a love letter that was torn into bits: was it torn up by the person who received it, or did the person that wrote it tear it up before they even gave it to them?"
- Hope springs infernal
Given the current economic climate, spring this year is a season more of dread than of hope for change.
- Review: Monsters Vs. Aliens
Susan Murphy (voice of Reese Witherspoon) has it all: she's about to marry the love of her life and jet off to Paris.
- Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Kevin Smith’s ear for raunch is as piquant as ever, but he’s moved beyond his usual unconvincing leads to Judd Apatow regulars Rogen and Craig Robinson.
- The Year of the Nerd
Barack Obama is many things. Dedicated senator. Devoted husband and father. Adept orator. President-elect. Nerd.
- Rock of ages
What a difference four decades make.
- Light show
The biggest stars of this year’s Berlin Film Festival were neither actors nor directors.
- Whitey wash
One of the first questions at a Manhattan press conference for Martin Scorsese’s Boston-set mob thriller is addressed to “Matt and Ben.” Fateful Departed: Scorsese haunts the mean streets of Beantown. By Peter Keough
- Less
Topics:
Features
, Celebrity News, Entertainment, Movies, More
, Celebrity News, Entertainment, Movies, Movie Stars, Martin Scorsese, Martin Scorsese, Seth Rogen, Seth Rogen, Movie Comedies, Jody Hill, Less
