Interview With "The Idea Of You" Director/Writer Michael Showalter

[00:00:00] You were listening to the Next Best Picture Podcast and this is my interview with the director and co-writer for the idea view

[00:00:06] Michael show Walter. How did you guys meet? We need to know the story

[00:00:10] We need a Coachella

[00:00:14] Hi

[00:00:15] Hi, this is your trailer. Yeah, I'm in the band performing on the main stage august moon. Yeah

[00:00:22] I met someone tonight. I feel a little inspired

[00:00:26] This one's cool

[00:00:32] So then we need you up front. Okay, like now I don't know if you remember me, but

[00:00:42] We met in Coachella. Yes. I remember you. Well, I definitely need some artwork

[00:00:47] Why don't we start in the back?

[00:00:50] How are you? Ah

[00:00:53] This piece is from my friend Sarah

[00:00:55] What's he called? Unclose me. What do you feel when you look at it?

[00:01:00] Everything

[00:01:02] Hello everyone. Welcome to the next best picture podcast

[00:01:04] I am being joined here by the writer and director for the new film the idea of you Michael show Walter Michael

[00:01:10] Welcome back to the show once again. How are you, Matt?

[00:01:13] Great to be here. Absolutely man. I remember the last time you and I spoke

[00:01:18] Uh for spoiler alert

[00:01:20] We talked a lot about the trajectory that your career has taken over the last 10 years since uh

[00:01:26] Hello, my name is Doris and your streak sir is continuing here

[00:01:32] You have yet another one that I saw and I I gotta tell you I walked into this with an expectation

[00:01:38] I was thinking okay. Harry Styles fan fiction

[00:01:42] Coachella is not really my scene. I don't really know what this is going to turn into

[00:01:46] I was so pleasantly surprised

[00:01:48] by the same level of depth

[00:01:51] And maturity that you brought to uh, some of the ever films in your filmography also was brought to this as well

[00:01:57] So my hat's off to you sir. Oh, thank you so much. That means so much. It really does

[00:02:02] So I want to talk about that actually first. Yeah starting with that like what drew you to this

[00:02:08] Material that you saw that this would be a good fit for you

[00:02:11] It's such a good question because I know that some of the people in my

[00:02:16] My sort of my team my everyday team of people that that I work with that helped me make decisions like this

[00:02:23] We're like, I was like, this is it. We got to do this. They were like really this

[00:02:28] um

[00:02:29] In a sense it has to do with

[00:02:31] With I mean it starts with that. I love romantic comedy. I love romantic stories

[00:02:36] and I'm always looking for a

[00:02:39] A pairing or an equation that feels new

[00:02:42] But not just feels new

[00:02:44] But that feels really interesting

[00:02:47] And like something that people are going to have strong opinions about

[00:02:51] and

[00:02:52] In the time where where I read the movie, you know

[00:02:56] um, you know, Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde were all over the all over the

[00:03:01] media but not just them. I mean you had

[00:03:03] Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson and

[00:03:06] Gabrielle Union and Dwayne Wade Gabrielle's a producer on the movie like these sort of

[00:03:12] older

[00:03:13] I mean older. I put that in quotes women who are older than the guys they're dating

[00:03:18] And they're being this like very strong reaction to it, you know, this incredibly strong

[00:03:24] opinion that that the

[00:03:26] Larger culture had about it and that just felt really interesting to me and like something that audiences would

[00:03:33] Again would want to see this movie and want to talk about it and it sort of starts there

[00:03:38] Yeah, I definitely agree with that because I walked out of this movie thinking okay, maybe a sort of

[00:03:45] fantasy-esque

[00:03:46] premise for an average person who would go to a show like this and

[00:03:51] Would catch the eye of some sort of a megastar on that stage

[00:03:55] But at the same time

[00:03:57] It was a very interesting premise to throw oneself into and to have this relatability

[00:04:03] to not just

[00:04:04] In halfway's character uh, selen but also to really getting into the headspace of haze and

[00:04:11] How he is approaching all of this because even though he's younger than her

[00:04:14] He is still a man capable of making decisions for himself and he knows exactly what he wants

[00:04:21] And he's had a very he's had a he's lived a lot

[00:04:25] For his age. He's had a lot of life experience

[00:04:28] And I should add one of my favorite movies of all time is nodding hill

[00:04:33] Yes, yeah, and so

[00:04:37] I felt like this was an opportunity for me to riff on how much I love that movie

[00:04:43] And some of the things that that movie

[00:04:46] I thought was saying to sort of take some of that stuff and and continue moving it forward

[00:04:53] And in my movie the silver lake is nodding hill silver lake is the magical neighborhood that that where she lives

[00:04:59] But yeah, you know that movie certainly uh, julia roberts and we all you know

[00:05:03] And sort of this idea that like being a celebrity or being

[00:05:08] That person isn't everything it's cracked up to be right

[00:05:12] And then and that we as a culture are very obsessed with our celebrities and and and and I like that that

[00:05:18] Movie explored that and obviously there's been many examples since then of things like it even

[00:05:23] Just a movie that just popped into my mind as we were talking as an american president

[00:05:28] Which is which is another great example of this genre where

[00:05:32] A sort of quote-unquote normal person has a has a love affair with it with like someone who's like

[00:05:38] Globally known kind of thing and it just really interesting to me to get in there and and sort of see what

[00:05:45] See what's underneath the surface of those kinds of relationships and obviously too just the opportunity to

[00:05:51] Have there be great music and dancing and great costumes and as a filmmaker

[00:05:55] It's also just there's all sorts of just cinematic elements that I felt like this movie could lend itself to have done the right way

[00:06:03] And also too the opportunity to work with fan halfway not just as an actress

[00:06:07] But also as a producer on the film too 100 and and and it started with that when when the project came to me

[00:06:14] And and Anne was attached

[00:06:16] I was like, okay great because I really really love her. I've loved her career

[00:06:21] I followed her career and have really wanted to work with her and so I kind of jumped out it

[00:06:26] Yeah, absolutely

[00:06:28] Where did nicolas come into the process? Was that something that you found through

[00:06:34] Auditioning or was he suggested to you? How did that come to be?

[00:06:38] Yeah, we we we you know, we had we knew that we were gonna find

[00:06:42] That we were gonna cast that role through

[00:06:45] An audition and a chemistry read with Anne that we wanted

[00:06:49] to kind of narrow it down to some people and have them read with her and and

[00:06:54] improvise with her and workshop some scenes with her and

[00:06:57] So nicolas was one of the guys that we met with

[00:07:01] Kind of knew who he was

[00:07:03] He had done that that movie purple hearts that was a big success on netflix and um, I'd actually seen him in the movie

[00:07:11] Cinderella because I have young daughters and we watched him in Cinderella

[00:07:14] And he's really great in that and so he was on the on our radar

[00:07:19] With a bunch of other very talented young guys and he came in and

[00:07:23] Really just kind of blew us all away with his

[00:07:26] Charm his humor

[00:07:27] He felt like a relatable guy, but he's obviously great looking and romantic and and then and then

[00:07:33] He's turns out he's this incredible musician. He does all his own

[00:07:37] Singing and dancing in the movie and so he was he was he checked every box and had great a great

[00:07:44] Report with Anne right off the bat and and so really it was kind of like, you know instant

[00:07:49] Love it for sight with nick

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[00:08:44] I want to talk about some of these uh concert uh sequences, you know and also to how they meet at coachella

[00:08:49] How do you stage something like that? Do you

[00:08:53] Find actual empty arenas to shoot in do you know we built

[00:08:58] We built that stage. So basically we took over a fee. Uh, we have a it was a raceway in Atlanta

[00:09:03] Like the Atlanta speedway or something which is essentially just a gigantic field

[00:09:08] Yeah, and we built coachella

[00:09:11] We built that stage and the the company that

[00:09:14] You know with one of these companies that is that's what they do

[00:09:18] They go to film festivals and what have you and they build these giant

[00:09:22] Performance stages with the jumbo trons and the sound system and all that stuff. So we actually like

[00:09:27] Staged our own gigantic outdoor rock concert. Wow. That's amazing. Yeah

[00:09:34] The audience, you know, we there's a fair amount of like audience vfx in there

[00:09:38] So it looks like there's a lot more people there than there are but um, we did sort of

[00:09:45] film a real concert

[00:09:47] ourselves and

[00:09:49] As if it was sort of like a a concert

[00:09:51] A concert documentary or something, you know, like we had six cameras going all over the place

[00:09:57] Like so we we kind of just like the guys had a show, you know, the august moon guys

[00:10:02] Had three songs. There's one song that we ended up not putting in the movie. I hope it comes out at some point

[00:10:07] Yeah guys had three song a three song set

[00:10:11] And essentially they came out and put on a concert and we filmed it like it was a concert for a concert film

[00:10:17] Now in terms of making the music, uh, because like you said, even though it's three songs

[00:10:20] You still got to come up with three songs. You still have to make it sound like it's

[00:10:24] You know, like this generation's in sync or something like that

[00:10:27] That would get people feeling this way about them

[00:10:30] So was that a process that took a long time? Is that something that just came naturally?

[00:10:36] How does that, you know happen?

[00:10:38] Well, there's a there's a guy named Sabin Kotecha who wrote all those songs

[00:10:43] Who is a

[00:10:45] You know pop writing maestro who's written songs for every major recording artist out there

[00:10:51] Including one direction. Um, demi levato and

[00:10:55] The weekend and he's written songs for everybody and so he

[00:11:00] Created this

[00:11:02] The sound he created these songs. He wrote all of it and um, so we kind of

[00:11:08] You know, we had a real pop singer

[00:11:10] Pop songwriter writing songs for august moon to create that that feeling of authenticity and the songs are amazing

[00:11:17] And he's kind of a savant. I mean he's just

[00:11:21] You give him 24 hours and he writes a hit song

[00:11:24] I know you co-wrote this movie with uh, jennifer west veldt

[00:11:28] Can you tell me just a little bit about how you handle writing duties?

[00:11:33] Between the two of you well jennifer jennifer was on this project before me

[00:11:39] And so and so I came came into it and

[00:11:42] Had some ideas about some things I wanted to to change but she

[00:11:47] she really

[00:11:49] Created the blueprint for the for the film and for the for the character and for the arc of it and

[00:11:55] And then we worked together a little bit on on kind of

[00:11:59] Some ways in which in some of the ways in which I wanted to take certain things in a different direction and then

[00:12:05] But I have great, you know

[00:12:06] I'm a huge at fan of hers and and and her writing and her directing and I was very excited that she was

[00:12:13] You know to to be a part of it with her

[00:12:16] And just in terms of like more creation for this film too. I'm curious to know

[00:12:21] There's some stunning artwork featured in this movie. I know people will immediately go to the songs and things like that

[00:12:26] But from me, I was wondering who made the artwork

[00:12:29] That is here, especially that one particular painting that holds significance towards

[00:12:34] The characters and that's a friend of ann's an artist friend of ann's

[00:12:39] there's quite a few pieces of art in the movie that

[00:12:43] That we had that ann had

[00:12:45] artist friends of hers that she's a fan of

[00:12:48] Len to us and that was definitely the main one the calendar is actually something that was in my childhood home

[00:12:55] Um, so that's something that that I grew up with that

[00:12:58] And then there's a lot of artwork that was all from local Atlanta artists

[00:13:02] So all the art in the movie is is real artists real artwork real pottery. What have you?

[00:13:08] um, and yeah, like we wanted the

[00:13:11] To represent the art in a way that was like felt like what real art people are about art. It's not just pseudo intellectual, you know

[00:13:21] Mumbo jumbo it's it's

[00:13:23] Trying to take it seriously and look at it in a slightly different way. Sure

[00:13:28] This was yet another one of your films that has had its world premiere at south by southwest

[00:13:33] So you get that experience of seeing the film with a theater of people

[00:13:38] But like the lovebirds this is going to be a film that will be going to a streaming service in this case amazon as opposed to neflix

[00:13:45] Do you have any kind of preference in terms of theatrical streaming?

[00:13:49] Do you care as long as just people see see it like what's your stance on that?

[00:13:54] um, I definitely am not I definitely don't feel

[00:13:59] passionately about it. I think like I

[00:14:02] I would say that most of the movies that I well, I've had I've had an experience

[00:14:06] I've had both but I mean, you know something like what hot american summer found an audience after theatrical

[00:14:12] um a lot of the movies that I grew up loving I watched

[00:14:17] On video I would rent them on blockbuster and watch them on video. So like it would be

[00:14:23] This it's ingenuous of me to say that most of the movies that I've seen and loved

[00:14:28] I didn't watch them in the theater. Actually I watched them on tv or rented them

[00:14:32] Um, I love going to see movies in a theater. I love the theatrical experience as a filmmaker

[00:14:38] You want your audience you want to be able to see your film with a big group of people

[00:14:43] A movie like this does play well in front of a large audience

[00:14:47] There's a lot of audience interaction with this and so it's been great seeing

[00:14:52] The movie at festivals and and in certain kind and screenings and things like that and seeing how have that

[00:14:59] But I also feel like obviously times have changed the

[00:15:03] viewing habits have changed and

[00:15:05] I'm just very grateful to be making movies and amazon has been a great

[00:15:09] Creative partner with us on this and has been very supportive

[00:15:13] In all sorts of ways. And so I don't put a lot of um, I don't spend a lot of time thinking about that part of it

[00:15:19] To be really honest with you

[00:15:20] That's totally fair

[00:15:21] And as we say goodbye here, uh, can you give us a snapshot preview of what you have coming up next?

[00:15:26] So we can look forward to from you in the future. So well, I'm actually right now. I'm in in pre-production

[00:15:32] I'm prepping to start shooting in about a month and a half

[00:15:35] A another amazon movie

[00:15:38] It's a holiday ensemble film

[00:15:42] And that stars um, michelle pfeiffer and a whole bunch of other really amazing people

[00:15:47] And the movie's called oh what fun and I'm very excited about it. That's awesome

[00:15:50] Uh, especially love michelle pfeiffer so I can't wait to see that. Yeah, thank you michael once

[00:15:56] See you again. You as well. Take care. Take care. Hey everyone

[00:16:00] Thank you so much for listening to my interview with the director and co-writer for the film the idea of you michael show

[00:16:05] Walter here on the next best picture podcast

[00:16:08] The idea of you will be available to stream on amazon prime video on may 2nd

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[00:18:03] All right, I think that was good enough. I hope so man. I'm tired

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