When THE STATE hit MTV in the winter of 1993, Ken Marino made an immediate impression as Louie, the man who sought to "dip his balls" in a variety of substances. Though recurring characters were anathema to the troupe, Louie wound up being an ideal introduction to The State's absurd, sometimes aggressively meta sense of humor. In subsequent sketches, Louie viewed his catchphrase as a burden; after a while, it also felt as though Marino might also be lamenting getting typecast as a big, loud galoot.
Though Marino has become a go-to goofball in film and television over the years (I especially loved his recurring role as Vinnie Van Lowe on VERONICA MARS), he's also carved out a career as a versatile screenwriter. His script for DIGGERS was a sharp departure from the rampant zaniness of THE STATE: a sweet, nuanced character study about regular working class guys facing an uncertain future. And then there are his silly-but-sneakily-perceptive collaborations with former STATE-mate David Wain: THE TEN, ROLE MODELS and, opening this Friday, WANDERLUST.
A comedy about a married couple (Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston) who try the carefree commune life after bottoming out financially, WANDERLUST finds Wain and Marino playing to both mainstream audiences and their more adventurous core of fans who've stuck with them since the early '90s. Whereas ROLE MODELS felt like a miraculous salvage job (Wain and Marino were brought in after years of development with other writers), this film fairly consistently reflects the duo's out-there sensibility. The structure may be conventional, but many of the comedic set pieces - in particular, a hilariously protracted scene in which Rudd psychs himself up for an extramarital dalliance with Malin Akerman - are off-the-charts bizarre. Marino also adds to the onscreen madness as Rudd's obscenely materialistic, suburbanite brother (who's married to a serene, self-medicating Michaela Watkins).
When I chatted with Marino a week ago at the WANDERLUST press day in Los Angeles, I was eager to learn how his creative partnership with Wain works, and whether or not they felt creatively compromised on this movie. This led to an interesting discussion of WANDERLUST's "bizarro cut", which will be included on the film's eventual Blu-ray release. It sounds sublime. But before we got into any of that, we had to discuss my shitty handwriting.
Ken Marino: Look at that chicken scratch. Let me see it.
Beaks: You're going to read my notes?
Marino: Let me just look upside down. (Studies my notebook) Wow.
Beaks: It's only gotten worse over the years. When you're working on a screenplay, do you go straight to the computer or do you like to write longhand first?
Marino: David is completely computer. I like to grab a yellow legal pad and just scribble stuff. It just takes a while because then I have to decipher what those words are that I was writing. I try to write as fast as I'm thinking, which is certainly better than me trying to type as fast as I'm thinking, because I'm like... (mimics hunt-and-peck technique).
Beaks: Are you someone who needs there to be a bit of chaos at first? Do you let loose with a sprawl of ideas?
Marino: Yes. I think you can't let the sensor part of your brain in there first. You just have to throw it all up, and... (Laughs) I was going to say, "... and then look for the food you want to eat again."
Beaks: (Laughs) When this project was first announced, it was impossible to not compare it to LOST IN AMERICA. What's interesting is how both films reflect the times in which they're made. LOST IN AMERICA is about blowing the nest egg; WANDERLUST is about the nest egg getting...
Marino: ... getting blown by other people.
Beaks: Right. It's not all on them. As you were writing, were you using LOST IN AMERICA as a blueprint to some degree?
Marino: There were a bunch of things that inspired us, and LOST IN AMERICA... when we wrote it, we always had Paul in mind, but David does an awesome Albert Brooks impression. So sometimes we were writing the character as if Paul was a younger Albert Brooks-type guy. We wanted that kind of voice. So whenever we were stuck on "What would George say here," I'd say, "David, what would Albert Brooks say?" And David would break into his Albert Brooks, and that would allow us to break through the next line and into the next scene. So in that sense, there was the shadow of Albert Brooks hovering over the writing of it. But at the same time, I would say to David, "What would Woody Allen say?" And he does a very good Woody Allen, and he would channel him. Then we'd be like, "That's a good joke!" And then we'd re-structure that joke so that it doesn't sound as Woody Allen-y. But going on the road and getting "Lost in America"... there's a similar vibe.
Beaks: Back when I was first watching THE STATE in college, if you'd asked me which cast members were going to split off and write movies together, I don't think I would've grouped you and David together. When did you two figure out that you made a good team, and how has your writing relationship changed over the years?
Marino: I'm actually very curious why you would say that's a weird combination, so I would love to hear your answer.
Beaks: I'll explain myself.
Marino: But David and I from the very beginning of THE STATE wrote together. We had a very easy time writing together; we always enjoyed going off into a room, writing stuff, and then bringing it back to the group. I think we brought some funny stuff to THE STATE. That was one of my favorite break-offs. I also broke off with Joe [Lo Truglio] and [Michael Ian] Black. But we enjoy it. I think we help each other because we bring different strengths to creating a story or creating characters. We also get a kick out of each other: I like making David laugh because he's such a connoisseur of comedy, and so worldly in understanding what the jokes are and how to break away from them or bend them or deconstruct them. If I can make David laugh, I know I had a fresh take on that joke. I also think that I'm good at reeling David in at times. I can help ground something and keep the absurdity... because David can go in twenty-five different directions, and keep making right turns. So I'm like, "Okay, let's not make another right turn. Let's make three right turns, but keep it somewhere on planet Earth." But sometimes we do the opposite. Sometimes I go crazy big with weird visual stuff, and he'll go, "I don't know if that works for the world we're in." We help each other out, and complement each other. We also just make each other laugh.
Now, what's your answer?
Beaks: It's kind of there in your answer. I always identified David as the cerebral, absurdist type, whereas you would really explode things. You were big and visual, and good with physical gags. But you are right that those two complement each other nicely.
Marino: I think so. I think that I do like to sometimes pull away from the jokes, and just do a straightforward dramatic scene. I'll push that at times. I'll say, "Okay, what's really going on in this scene?" Not that David doesn't do that, too. He's also very good at doing that.
Beaks: Well, with you I have DIGGERS as a reference point. Based on that, I know you can write drama. And that script was a surprise given the style of comedy I associated you with.
Marino: You just thought I was a big, loud, goofy, lowbrow guy - which I am!
Beaks: (Laughs) I'd say "jocular", but yes! But this because of your on-screen persona. I didn't necessarily think that's who you are in real life.
Marino: (Laughs) Eh, it's kind of who I am. But there's more to me than that.
Beaks: I'm not trying to get all Barbara Walters here.
Marino: It's okay. I get it. And here I am in this movie playing a big, loud, obnoxious...
Beaks: Exceptionally obnoxious...
Marino: Thank you very much.
Beaks: I love the little things that you add to scenes. In ROLE MODELS, you did something that absolutely floored me. It's when you put the chair up on the table. In WANDERLUST, it's when you smash the plate. I'm certainly not expecting that reaction. Was that scripted, or did you come up with that in the moment?
Marino: We wrote down the plate-smashing. We thought it would be funny if he, out of nowhere, gets upset and starts breaking things because he feels disrespected in his own house. You know what I laughed at last night that I forgot about? There were other scenes at the house where Paul and Jen talked more, and had conversations with us more. The way it got tightened up and edited, it seems like I'm literally talking from the minute they get to the fucking house until they leave. And at one point, I say, "Can I get an word in edgewise!?!?" (Laughs) And it's like no one else has said a word since they got to Atlanta. But, yeah, we scripted the plate-breaking. There was some other stuff we did that day. In the bizarro cut, I pull out a gun. I start waving a gun around. And no one's like [freaking out] except for Jen. Paul's just drinking coffee and watching, and Michaela [Watkins] and my son [played by John D'Leo]... he's still playing a game on his phone, and Michaela's like, "Now you owe me a cruise trip" or something.
Beaks: I'm interested in this "bizarro cut".
Marino: For the DVD, there will be a crazy "bizarro cut", which will essentially be a whole other version of the movie. It takes it into bizarro places. If a lot of those scenes were in the movie you saw, we wouldn't be able to get the audience back. We pushed it too far. But you have to shoot those to see if they work, and see how far you can push it. And in a DVD alternate universe cut, it works; you get to see all of the other stuff in a fun way.
Beaks: Aside from Rick, did you have a character you really liked writing for?
Marino: Wayne [Joe Lo Truglio's nudist character] was a blast to write for. And we were having a good time with Kathy, Kerri Kenney's character. And Justin's character... having Justin in our head while we wrote made it easier. But I think they were all a lot of fun. There's a great scene in the bizarro cut with Alan Alda... it's so funny, but it didn't make the movie. I remember us really liking that scene. It's really interesting. You write a movie, and you're like, "That scene is going to be my favorite scene." And then that scene has to go.
Beaks: When you're writing, can you ever anticipate that? Do you ever have a feeling that a certain scene might not fit?
Marino: I never foresaw that scene being cut. When we wrote it, I was like, "That scene's awesome." And when we performed it, I was like, "That scene's awesome." But when we started cutting the movie, we were like, "That scene's not necessary." It's a bummer. And then there are scenes that, from the minute you put it on the page, you shoot it and see it in post, and it doesn't change. Like Wayne's introduction. When he's walking through the woods with his wine and chases the car... visually, that was exactly as we wrote it. And it's exciting when that happens.
Beaks: Speaking of Joe, did he require any coercing to commit so fully to the nudist thing?
Marino: I mean, he thought about it, but he's wearing a [prosthetic]. I think that put everybody at ease. Now he could stand around and not feel like he's making anybody uncomfortable. Now we were all just playing with a plastic piece as opposed to someone standing around actually naked, where you're like, "Okay, am I staring at his dick?" That just made everything easier, even though it did look like a dick. And it put him at ease, and let him perform in a way where that wasn't the thing he was thinking about. He was just thinking about Wayne. And Wayne is much more than a nudist: he's an intelligent writer, and he loves wine.
Beaks: He ends up having some good ideas as a writer!
Marino: He does. And he loves talking about them. (Laughs) We thought Wayne was a nice, fresh character.
Beaks: I love Wayne. I think Wayne might have to come back..
Marino: I'd love to see Wayne back.
Sadly, my time was up before we could get into PARTY DOWN. Next time.
WANDERLUST hits theaters Friday, February 24th. Go.
Faithfully submitted,
