It’s official: fraternal film-fest favorites and Mumblecore mavens Mark and Jay Duplass have a certified studio-backed hit on their hands. Cyrus – the writer-directors’ third understated, improvisational outing – may not have generated Toy Story money this past weekend, but with the frame’s highest per-screen yields, it did pretty darn well for a movie about a guy (John C. Reilly) wooing a woman (Marisa Tomei) who is already immersed in a co-dependent, semi-incestuous relationship with her son (Jonah Hill). Corduroy recently caught up with the Duplass brothers to talk casting, improvisation and the catchphrase that´s a t-shirt waiting to happen.
You guys were working with a dream cast. Was it a struggle to land such an accomplished group of performers or did it come together pretty effortlessly?
Mark: It was fairly effortless considering it was our first time working with big-time movie-star people. John Reilly and Jonah Hill, and Marisa (Tomei) in particular, had all seen [the Duplass’ debut feature] The Puffy Chair and they responded to the feel of the movie. They were interested in doing something that gave them more creative flexibility and they were interested in improvising and building the characters with us. So they were surprisingly eager.
Some of the film’s lesser-known actors were great too. I was happy to see [Upright Citizens Brigade performer] Matt Walsh playing Catherine Keener’s fiancé. Were you familiar with his work?
Jay: We live on the east side of LA and are fans of UCB, but to be honest, we didn’t know if that world would mesh with ours. But when he came to audition, it was so obvious that he was the guy. He’s just one of those actors that can be totally real and low-key and just really play a character. But also, the laughs in there are amazing. I think they get better with every viewing. We like to say that Matt has the most laughs per screen time.
It’s interesting that you bring up [Walsh’s] ability to get laughs while also delivering a realistic performance. There definitely were some silly jokes that sounded like they would fit in an Adam McKay or Judd Apatow movie. And yet, Cyrus felt naturalistic and believable. How do you account for this quality in the movie?
Mark: We wanted humor that is grounded in character. We would never make a joke that is out of character. That’s an ethic we hold on to. It is a little bit more challenging to create a movie where your jokes have an emotional limit on them on some level. It’s part of why we improvise the way we do: to make sure that everyone’s rooted in the narrative and they’re rooted in the scene and they’re rooted in their character’s goals.
Cyrus is similar to other popular comedies in that it depicts an average-looking guy landing an incredibly hot girl. Why do you think this dynamic keeps appearing in comedies and what was the attraction for you?
Jay: For us, this was a function of story. We definitely noticed that trend and normally we try to debunk trends like that. But in particular, what was critical to getting John Reilly hook, line and sinker into this relationship was that this girl needed to be out of his league. That’s something we drew attention to in the narrative. In the first interaction he had with her, he’s like, “I’m like Shrek. What are you doing in the forest with Shrek? Are you actually flirting with me?”
Once you get into the movie you realize that she is a very specific kind of girl: she sees people for the deeper things in them. More specifically, her son is also a regular-looking guy and we always imagine that she wants to live in a world where regular-looking guys who might be the odd man out can get the hot girl if they’re really honest and have something special to offer.
From what I’ve read, your films really take shape in the editing room. Do you have a clear idea of how it will look before you start editing or is it really open-ended?
Jay: On set, we are creating an environment where lightning can strike, and once it does, Mark and I build the scene around what we think is the most special thing that happens. That being said, that often changes when we get in there. Our movies are not built as much on a scene-by-scene basis as they’re built on building character over time with these tiny little looks and reaction shots that often say a lot more than dialogue. So you’re right that we really do manage that very specific tone in editing and our edits take a long time. It takes us like nine months to edit these films because they are ultimately like a documentary edit.
Mark: Basically, we’re very opinionated about what we think is going to work in editing, but we’re just as happy to be wrong and adjust to that due to the wealth of footage we have.
Do you have any favorite improvised lines from the movie?
Mark: Don’t fuck my mom.
Jay: Don’t fuck my mom.
Mark: It’s interesting because if that line were written into a script, you would look at it and be like, “This is the most unoriginal, on-the-nose, lame-ass line.” But the way that Jonah did it, and he improvised that line, the way that he did it was so brilliant. He did it as a joke, but you kind of knew that it wasn’t a joke. It was a joke within a joke. It just had so many layers to it and it shocked the hell out of John and Marisa. It only happened once and we didn’t ask for it again. That was one of those moments when lightning struck and luckily, we were there with a couple documentary cameras to get it.
- James Simons
