Tim Robinson, Paul Rudd, Andrew DeYoung On ‘Friendship’ Comedy
Tim Robinson, who has been a huge success on the web with his Emmy award-winning sketch comedy I Think You Should leave, is now starring in his first leading film role, Friendship. The surreal buddy comedy, which also stars Paul Rudd, will have its world premiere at the Midnight Madness segment of the Toronto Film Festival.
The film will be familiar to fans of Robinson, with its slapstick bits, socially awkward characters (“It’s just adventure, not trespassing”), and offbeat dialogue. It follows Craig Waterman, a suburbanite who is estranged from his wife Kate Mara, who doesn’t see any reason to change or make new friendships…until Austin, a weatherman, moves into his neighborhood. Austin is mysterious yet friendly, macho and vulnerable. He transforms Craig’s life until his obsessive, childlike nature threatens the friendship and everything else in his world.
Robinson, who was once a writer and actor for Saturday Night Live before joining Friendship in 1999, has since teamed up with DeYoung – a veteran TV director making his directorial debut – on the HBO pilot The Chair Company. Robinson refused to comment on either that project or the future of I Think You Should Leave which aired in its third season this past fall. In a Zoom interview with Friendship’s Director and Lead Actors, the trio discussed the inspiration behind the new Fifth Season picture, the state the theatric comedy, Rudd’s recent John Carney collaborative and forthcoming Anaconda film, among other things.
DEADLINE: Andrew, could you tell us about the inspiration behind the film?
ANDREW DEYOUNG
:The seed of it came 2018. The seed of it came [during] 2018. I asked a person I thought would be a friend. I had worked with them. I asked to hang out with them, but I was blown off. I spun out over it. I was like “Oh, wow”. I had never seen a friendship between two men fall apart in such a way in a film. So I started playing with the idea and it became this.
DEADLINE : Was the film intended as a parody of buddy comedy tropes?
DEYOUNG: No, I don’t really think that way. I write what feels interesting. I want to make it entertaining in a new way, something we haven’t experienced before. So I try to write with that instinct. It’s not so much about pointing out things as it is to try and find something that will make my parents or any parent laugh. And also, me, Paul, Tim, etc. It’s a timeless, universal feeling that is both interesting and intriguing. It sounds pretentious but it’s what I mean.
It was funny and sad in many ways, and I liked how sad the character is. It was funny and sad in many ways. I loved how sad the character’s voice is. I love the funny and sad worlds where people are trying their best but don’t know how to achieve what they want. The characters are relatable and funny. I thought it was funny. What is it? When I read it, I couldn’t put my finger exactly on what it was. It was a story I was not sure where it would go. I loved Tim and Andy and that was a big part of it. I didn’t know how it was going to resolve itself, and it seemed funny, and sad, and the right amount of weird.
DEADLINE: Paul, it seems like you’ve recently been signing onto smaller, more out-of-the-box projects after a number of years working on tentpoles. What would you say the choices you’ve been making say about the place you’re at, creatively?
RUDD: I don’t know. I look at each project individually. I really enjoy working with people I can hang out with and whose work inspires me. Usually, in smaller or independent projects, you find that. It was new for me to be in big studio films. Before the Marvel movies, I had never done anything like that. I suppose
isn’t that different for me, because I’ve tried to do smaller and interesting things in the past. But that’s part of what makes it appealing. You can really get into these because they are smaller. You are not painting on a large canvas. DEADLINE Tim, this is your first major film. Was acting on the big screen something you always wanted to do? Was this just the case that the right project came along? Do you see yourself getting into film more going forward?
ROBINSON
: I think this was just the right fit for me. It was great. I don’t plan to do anything else. If I see something and want to read it, then I will do it. So it’s like I don’t have any plans, but this was something that spoke to me and I thought was funny.DEADLINE: Your character here feels very in the vein of those you play on I Think You Should Leave. What is it that interests you about socially awkward characters in scenarios taken to extremes?[right now]ROBINSON
: I think it’s as simple as, it’s a sensibility thing. It’s just what I find funny. It’s just what is funny to me.
DEADLINE: What kinds of conversations did the three of you have ahead of filming, as far as the creative vision?DEYOUNG
: When I sent Tim the script, I was like, “I wrote this for you and I want to shoot it like
The Master.” Because The Master is really funny and could be all kinds of things, and any kind of reaction is right. It’s funny and could be anything. Any reaction is right. That was something I always aimed for. In terms of acting everything had to be grounded. We would make sure that we always touched the reality of emotion in each scene. These guys are brilliant and so effortless. Paul and Tim are already so good at what they do that you don’t need to do anything.
RUDD
: I feel like
just both kind of innately knew what this was. I think we all saw it the same way, so there really weren’t that many in-depth conversations about “How do we play this?”ROBINSON[Paul Thomas Anderson’s]: When we started shooting, even stuff that was in the script, we realized on the day some things weren’t fitting into the tone, the groove we had found. So, we threw out some stuff that was like, “Oh, this is funny on the page, good on the page,” but then you’re like, “Oh, that feels different than what we’re shooting.”
DEADLINE: Paul, you got to flex your musical skills a bit with your part…RUDD[Tim and I]: If that’s flexing, I think I need to work on that a little.
DEADLINE: Is that fun for you, though? Or do you just happen to end up in comedies asking that of you?RUDD
: I don’t know. It was probably just in the script. From the character’s perspective, it seemed like this would fit into a list of things that are generally considered cool. It’s cool that he is in a group and that he appears on TV.
It’s a lot of fun. It’s fun to play characters that seem cool or at least try to be cool but aren’t. I thought the character I played would have been someone who seemed pretty confident in himself and had it all figured, but he didn’t. He’s got his own insecurities and things that make him sad in his own right.
DEADLINE: Was there much improv on this set?DEYOUNG
: No, barely. Tim and Paul are so good at it, so naturally, small additions would come up, but it’s the page, for the most part.
DEADLINE: How did you get Subway on board for a toad venom hallucination sequence?DEYOUNG
: Honestly, that’s a producer question. I never thought we’d get them. And do you want money?” It was like, “Oh my God.” They were just down for anything, and it was fantastic. And do you want money?” It was like, “Oh my God.” They were just down for anything, and it was fantastic.
DEADLINE: The state of the theatrical comedy has been in the public discourse lately, with Vince Vaughn, for one, lamenting that studios seem less willing to take big swings these days. How do you feel about the relative lack of comedies made for the big screen, compared to a decade or two ago?
RUDD: I mean, comedy movies aren’t going anywhere. The comedies are always there, and I love to watch them. It would be nice to have a renaissance, where they make a lot more movies. But I don’t really know. I’m not even able to figure out how my thermostats work, let alone the film industry.
I can’t figure out why most people do things. Does it work better in other countries? Is that why people don’t invest money in this type of thing? I thought comedies were more successful when the world was in turmoil and people were sad. So, it would seem that
is doing well these days. But that’s not the case.
Studio’s make movies differently. People watch them in different ways. There are many more TV shows. They seem to have put more effort into it. What can you tell us about it? DEADLINE Andrew and Tim have recently reteamed for the comedy pilot The Chair Company on HBO. What can you tell us about it?
DEYOUNG
: I absolutely love it. Fingers crossed that we get to make more.DEADLINE: Paul, you’ve also got some exciting projects coming up, between John Carney’s new film Power Ballad and a new Anaconda film with Jack Black. What are you most excited about at the moment?
RUDD[should]: Football season.
I would say that I have always been excited about every job that I’ve done and hoped that it will work. Just finished the Carney thing. It was an amazing experience. He is terrific. You were talking about the next movie you mentioned, which is this Anaconda film. I’m still trying to figure it out but I like their last movie
and Jack is fantastic. We’ll have to wait and see. I’m looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
