Mr. Beaks Takes A SEX DRIVE Part Two: Marsden Rising!!

In the first part of my interview with SEX DRIVE writer-director Sean Anders, co-writer John Morris and star Clark Duke, we discussed the genesis of the project, the arduous casting process, and the upside of 7-Eleven's shitty fluorescent lighting. It was penetrating stuff. The second part picks up after the rollicking, post-screening Q&A hosted by AICN's own Moriarty, which was so fucking hysterical we decided not to record it. Seriously, Anders told the most heartbreaking story I've ever heard about an old man's testicles. It brought the house down, and there is no way I could possibly replicate it in print. If you were in the audience at our Woodland Hills screening, you know exactly what I'm talking about. I didn't bother trying to get Anders to repeat the long, winding tale that ends in a dying man's hospital room with his family watching dailies of his drooping nuts, but I did get him to address the film's perception problem. It's all about the subgenre: if you're going to make a teen sex comedy today, you'd better have the Judd Apatow pedigree; otherwise, you're just another teen sex comedy. Though I'd like to think the involvement of dependably funny folk like James Marsden, Seth Green and Brian Posehn would signal to the average viewer that SEX DRIVE isn't another COLLEGE, the absence of a recognizable star - which Duke will be in a year's time - makes it a tough sell. Marsden, who was the screening's surprise guest, joined us for the conclusion of our exceedingly casual chat (he had a heroic moment during the Q&A as well when he referred to Duke as "a young George Kennedy"). There was a good deal of crosstalk during this recording, which pretty much clinches it for me: all group interviews in are going to be done as podcasts henceforth. I probably could've moderated this discussion a little more firmly, but then SLIVER wouldn't have come up, and that would've been a tragedy.

Anders: One of the things I'd like to cover in this is the perception of the movie versus the movie. We keep hearing over and over again that people are surprised they like the movie.

Beaks: Sure. When I was offered Clark for an interview at Comic Con, I was more than happy to talk to him, but I wasn't sure what it was for. They said "Oh, it's for SEX DRIVE." And I was like, "What the fuck is SEX DRIVE!?!?" After talking to Clark, I was wiling to give it a shot, but I wasn't expecting to go in and really like the movie. My problem now is how to recommend it without overselling it. It's a tough balancing act.

Anders: You have a teen comedy about a kid who loses his virginity. Okay, that's been done before. But people really have their guard up, as if there's a conspiracy of suits in Hollywood trying to put this movie over on them. And the truth is, it's from people who grew up on these great John Hughes movies, and we're really excited and passionate about making a comedy like that. It's that perception that's out there of a teen comedy about a kid losing his virginity that's hard to overcome. Duke: Everybody's immediately defensive about it. Marsden: Not to put anybody down, but while there have been some successful examples of that type of movie, there have been a lot of unsuccessful examples. I can't think of any recent ones...

Beaks: COLLEGE bombed just a few weeks ago.

Marsden: Yeah. I remember when AMERICAN PIE came out and brought that type of movie back, but I can't think of a recent one that worked. Other than SUPERBAD. Anders: SUPERBAD was such a fantastic movie, but it wasn't anything like this premise. But, you know, when you're the next one there's no way you're going to avoid those comparisons. Duke: But this is a totally different type of movie. Morris: Thankfully, like SUPERBAD, they allowed us to this R-rated.

Beaks: Did getting that R-rating affect your budget? Was there a sense that it would be a tougher sell to your target audience?

Anders: It was set up without a rating in mind. The studio actually called us and said, "What do you think?" And we were like, "Well, it's about sex, so it would be helpful if we could be frank in our dialogue and let these characters talk like real people." Morris: And looking back at SUPERBAD, we said, "If we're competing with that kind of stuff, we have to go R." Fortunately, they said we could. Anders: We'd written the script before we saw [SUPERBAD], and they said that was okay. But there started to be talk about a PG-13. Then we saw SUPERBAD a few months later, and that helped convince everyone that we needed to leave it R.

Beaks: Speaking of perception, were there alternate titles?

Anders: The movie was always called SEX DRIVE. The book was originally called SEX DRIVE, but they had to change it to get into certain stores or something. But when we shot in Florida, we had to change it because Florida's a red state. There were locations that wouldn't let us shoot there. Morris: They thought we were shooting a porn. Duke: So we were called UNTITLED TEEN ROAD MOVIE for about three months. Morris: "We're with SEX DRIVE. Can we shoot in your house?"

Beaks: We didn't talk about the book earlier. How different tonally is the film from the book?

Anders: It's really, really different. Morris: The book was geared more toward teens, really. Anders: The premise and the three main characters come from the book. And there are definitely some ideas along the way that come from the book, but the story is totally different. The journey is different. It's a good book, but, like John said, it's geared toward a younger audience. It's a book about a sexual experience, but it's a lot softer.

Beaks: In writing the script, did you know you'd be allowing much improvisation? How tightly structured was the script initially?

Anders: It was very tightly scripted. You have to make sure that you're going to get the story, so we would script it, shoot the scripted version, and then open it up. Duke: For all the talk about improv, I don't want to take anyting away from the script, which was really funny. Most of it is there on the page. Marsden: All of the stuff that I say is scripted. Anders: That's not true. Some of your best lines were improvised. I mean, I'm totally cool with taking the credit-- (Laughs) Marsden: I don't remember. Anders: (Laughing)"Mexican butthole." "The shaft or the balls." (Sing-songy) "You're a ho-mo!" Those were all yours! Marsden: I wonder if half the shit I was saying in the car is going to be on the DVD. Anders: It will be. It's awesome. Duke: The scene with me and Seth in the buggy goes on a long time. (Laughing) "Crying porn." Morris: That's on the DVD. Marsden: What's "crying porn"? Anders: Seth does a whole run about banging a crying hooker in Vegas. Marsden: But the script really was tightly written. Our protocol was to go in and do what was on the page, and after that do whatever. They were really encouraging of us to have fun and live in these characters. Morris: Fortunately for us, you guys were good with improv. Anders: But It doesn't say "Written by Sean Anders, John Morris and Everybody Else", so we get credit for everything.

Beaks: Well, structurally, it is a very nice piece of work. But when you do these movies nowadays, especially in the wake of Judd Apatow's success, there's an expectation that there will be a ton of improvisation.

Duke: But Judd Apatow writes scripts.

Beaks: He does. And the structure generally remains the same. But the dialogue... a big chunk of that is riffed on the set.

Anders: You know, what the improv does, on top of getting gems that you might not have thought of while you were writing... you're just in a different mindset when the people are there on set living in the characters. It's better than sitting in a room, writing and eating pizza. But the improv also affords people the chance to talk over each other and have a more conversational tone that is difficult to achieve with really specific [dialogue]. It kind of grounds everything. And in a movie like this, which has a lot of wacky things in it, to have grounded dialogue that's funny really helps; it makes you feel like you're more in the moment. Marsden: But the frame of the movie that they created allows for this. You can't go in and do a movie that's all improv. There has to be some-- (Crosstalk as the boys give Marsden grief for being a kiss-ass.) Marsden: (Gamely talking through it) --but it really is tightly scripted. Duke: You could fucking bounce a quarter off that script! Marsden: But all of the callbacks, like the donut at the end. It's just a bunch of puzzle pieces that are masterfully put together. (Everyone laughs)

Beaks: Okay, let's talk about your editor, George Folsey Jr., who cut some of the greatest comedies of all time. How did you get him involved? And what did you learn about editing comedy from working with him?

Anders: Our producer's wife had directed a movie. George wasn't the editor on it, but he did work on the movie with her. So we met with him. Morris: And we saw his credits, and were like, "Holy crap! How do we get him on board?" Anders: And when it came to the editing process, he's just really collaborative. He's got some guys who work with him regularly, and they were great, too. It took a while for us to find our method, but it just became a team effort that George was guiding. There were different people jumping on and off the Avid. It was actually really similar in vibe to how we shot the film.

Beaks: Knowing that he cut all of these classic comedies, did you ever mine him for stories?

Anders: Always. But here's the thing: if you know George, then you know that you don't really have to mine George for stories. And the stories are great, don't get me wrong. But you don't exactly have to put a nickel in him. (Laughs) He's got them cued up, and ready to go. Duke: The same was true of the second unit director. Anders: Our second unit director Mike Benson] had worked on PAPILLON, PATTON, RETURN OF THE JEDI, THE BLUES BROTHERS, ROCKY... Duke: He was shooting in a helicopter above a volcano. The helicopter crashed inside the active volcano, and he was stranded in there for how many days? He holds the Guinness record for the longest time spent inside an active volcano.

Beaks: That was the scrapped scene from SLIVER! It never made it into the final cut.

Anders: If you guys want a great story for your website, I'll hook you up with Mike Benson. I'm totally serious. First of all, he's a great guy. Let him tell the story. It may be the best story anyone has ever told me in person. Duke: Well, now you've talked it up too much. Marsden: How do you get in the Guinness Book of World Records for staying in a volcano? (Everyone laughs) Duke: Hey, we should talk about the custom license plates on Jimmy's car. Marsden: "GRNLGHT" Duke: And your Subaru has "BOOKT IT". Anders: That was one of the jokes on set. Jimmy's nickname is "Project Greenlight". He gets everything greenlit.

Beaks: Now that you've established such a great rapport with Clark and James, have you thought about getting them back together?

Anders: James is too busy. He's told us already. Marsden: It's not that I don't want to. I would be there in a heartbeat if I could. But there were a couple of other films that were just a heartbeat quicker. I've got to work. I've got two kids. Anders: (Laughing) The serious answer to that is "Yes." But right now we're just focused on trying to get people to see [SEX DRIVE]. That's job one right now. But we're working on a number of things, and, of course, we're hoping we can get these two again.

Beaks: You mentioned earlier that you had a series of different types of films that you want to make. Does that mean different genres?

Anders: No, they're all comedy something. "Comedy road movie", "Comedy..." (Trying not to give anything away) Morris: "Comedy road movie with four people." Duke: "Of different ages." Anders: EUROPEAN SEX DRIVE! Duke: Oh, you're going there.

Beaks: (To Clark) Hey, if you want to bring back Chevy Chase, that's the way to do it. CHRISTMAS SEX DRIVE. VEGAS SEX DRIVE.

Duke: Let's do SEX DRIVE II, where I die and voodoo brings me back and I dance all through the movie. (Laughter)

Beaks: If you can bring Andrew McCarthy back, you're a fucking miracle worker.

Duke: Dude, that's awful! I really do like Andrew McCarthy. What about Jonathan Silverman. Is he working?

Beaks: We should probably stop this before we hurt someone's feelings for real.

SEX DRIVE opens nationwide on October 17th. Check it out. Now that I've cleaned my voice recorder of interviews, it's time to do some actual movie reviewin'. I need to write about W., ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO and, best of all, THE FILMS OF BUDD BOETTICHER. Faithfully submitted, Mr. Beaks