Jason Segel has had a hell of a 365 days. Last summer, he gave a surprisingly nuanced performance opposite Cameron Diaz in BAD TEACHER and elevated what could have been a throwaway role into something a bit more meaningful. Then, of course, in November he defied all expectations by taking his deep love of the work of Jim Henson and company into THE MUPPETS, a worthy revival of the struggle franchise.
Among his many other accolades for THE MUPPETS, Segel was given a comedy award by the Chicago Film Critics Association in December for his body of work, and I had a chance to chat with him informally about a another film of his I'd seen in October, the Duplass brothers' latest JEFF, WHO LIVES AT HOME, the laugh/cry story of an isolated man living in his mother's basement trying to find clues in the world about what his purpose on earth is. Nothing heavy. It was clear that Segel was perhaps more proud of his acting in JEFF than in anything he'd done before, and if you see the film, you'll know why.
And we still have much more to look forward to from Segel in 2012. In April, he'll star opposite Emily Blunt in THE FIVE-YEAR ENGAGEMENT, and word on the street has him reprising his role from KNOCKED UP as trainer "Jason" (possibly still on the hunt for Leslie Mann) in Judd Apatow's THIS IS 40, starring his pal Paul Rudd. A couple weeks back, I talked to Segel on the record about JEFF, and he confirmed reports that another MUPPETS movie is not in his future. Please enjoy Jason Segel…
Jason Segel: Hey Steve, how’s it going?
Capone: Hey man, how are you?
JS: Good, good. A good long day.
Capone: It’s one of those whirlwind days, I’m guessing, where you’re just blowing through 50 of these.
JS: Yeah, it’s fun talking about something you like though.
Capone: I was really excited when I saw you in Chicago in December and we talked about JEFF, not knowing we would be doing this interview, but I just wanted to talk about the movie, because I had seen it a could of times.
JS: You’ve seen it a couple of times?
Capone: Yeah, they played it here at the Chicago Film Festival, and then Jay [Duplass] came out to do the Q&A, and so I watched it again at the actual festival screening.
JS: Oh, cool man. Oh thanks.
Capone: I remember when we talked about it in Chicago, I said to you, “There’s some genuine acting going on in this movie from everybody.”
JS: Yeah, we do a little acting.
Capone: When you are going through the process of making a movie with the Duplass brothers, do you feel it’s something a little special, something different?
JS: Yeah. What you don’t realize is that they are very silently and very quietly challenging you to be your best, because they point the camera at you and they don’t cut. They just make you keep going, and so you can’t show up unprepared and you can’t show up just expecting to say your lines. You have to really have thought about what your intent is and what the scene is about, because they’re not going to stop. They’re just going to let that camera roll and hope something happens.
Capone: How do you prepare differently for a movie with them then? What was different for you in the process?
JS: I was lucky in that I write also, and our styles are that different, but it’s just about really… First you have to know what your character is like. That was very easy, because mine was so well drawn by their original script, and I made a very simple decision right at the beginning. My job was to do nothing, which is harder than you think. Jeff is just a watcher, you know? I didn’t want to do too much acting. I just wanted to try to be really calm and regular. So you need to know your character and then you need to really understand what each scene is about. Beyond that, you just have to be prepared to be really honest.
Capone: And he does feel like an open book. He really doesn’t know how to lie.
JS: He’s a little Chauncey Gardner.
Capone: Yeah. I love that one of the first things we find out about him is that he’s obsessed with the movie SIGNS, because on some level that had to appeal to you, maybe not that particular movie, but just that we go through these crazy obsessions through our lives.
JS: Yeah. He and I are very different in that Jeff is waiting for the universe to present a sign to him, you know? He’s content to just let nothing else on the radar until that moment comes. I was like that for a while and then I realized that if I didn’t do something, I was going to be unemployed for the rest of my life, and so that’s when I started writing and I decided that taking the bull by the horns and taking control of your own destiny is the key. I did relate to my out of work period where I believed that the sign was getting cast. I was waiting to get cast in something, and then it just didn’t happen, so I started writing.
Capone: They called that being proactive.
JS: Yes, exactly.
Capone: Was there any level of fear in taking a role on like this? I mean that as a motivation, not as something that might have kept you from doing it.
JS: That’s why I take every role that I take, it’s that I’m a little bit scared. I don’t like to feel like I know how to do something, that’s a waste of time. I was really scared to do MUPPETS because it was a legacy that I have so much respect for, and I really didn’t want to fuck it up, you know? And I was scared to do this, because I knew that they were going to demand for me to be the best actor that I could be. Part of their challenge--and they don’t say it to you, it’s just how you feel--to you is,“Well you claim to be good at this. Let’s see.”[Laughs]
Capone: I’ve interviewed Jonah Hill a couple of times--for CYRUS and then again for MONEYBALL--andhe mentioned that the Duplass brothers and making CYRUS was a turning point in his life, because it gave him a taste of doing a very different kind of acting.
JS: Yeah, and it’s nice to know that you're capable. Until you try it, you never know, and I’ll be indebted to them forever for giving me that opportunity.
Capone: How did you adapt to their style of filmmaking?
JS: No, it was kind of nice because there’s never the moment where it’s like, “Now is my close up. Now it’s time to really act.” You know? That’s what kicks in with normal setups. They're like, “Now, it’s time for your close up” and you’re like “Better turn it on now.” With this, you have to be honest and be acting the whole time. There’s no difference between the wide shot and the close up, because there was no wide shot and close up, they were just moving around the whole time.
Capone: Jeff the character is so loaded with anxiety that he actually a couple of times becomes frozen by it. I’ve never seen you play a part like that. What do you have to pull out to be like that?
JS: I just think he’s very stunted. He’s a really stunted guy. You know the spectrum of autism is… You know things like Aspergers are sometimes so subtle, and I just think he’s got a little bit of that. I think he’s touched a tiny bit. You know that I mean?
Capone: Sprinkled a little, yeah.
JS: Just sprinkled a tiny bit.
Capone: Tell me just about working with Ed Helms and creating what might be one of the least communicative sibling relationships I think I’ve ever seen on the screen. How did those scenes come together?
JS: You know it was neat. Ed and I were talking about it today, but we had never met before. But we knew who each other were obviously and had a mutual respect, but I think what was cool is the fact that we didn’t know each other really reads on screen in a good way, because that’s kind of what the movie is about. It’s about brothers who don't get along and don’t know each other. They know the childhood versions, and the movie is about a day that is them getting to know each other as adults.
It’s an interesting thing. I don’t know if you have siblings, but you kind of reach this moment where you are both adults and you get to decide, “If you met you at a bar, would we be friends?” Not “Yes, we are bound by blood and all of that, but we don’t have to hang out. This is an actual choice. Do we really like each other?” That’s sort of what that day is for the two of them.
Capone: And they don’t communicate that much better with their mother either, so it really is this family that has this horrible communication issue that they kind of have to overcome through the course of this particular day.
JS: I think no one quite addressed that their father died. We barely talk about it in the movie with the exception of that cemetery scene, but it sent the family into disarray and they never quite recovered.
Capone: I’ve seen the trailer for FIVE-YEAR ENGAGEMENT a bunch of times now, and it looks just great.
JS: Thank you.
Capone: What’s up next for you in your next break?
JS: I don’t know. You know I’ve been working pretty hard. I think I made four movies last year and I wrote two of them. I might be ready for a nap.
[Both Laugh]
JS: I do this TV show too. I think maybe the kid deserves a little nap. [Laughs]
Capone: The story has just come out now that you’re not going to take part in the writing of another MUPPETS movie.
JS: Yeah, my goal was to bring back the Muppets, and I accomplished that. I know they are in good hands now. I didn’t want to take over the helm of the Muppets or anything, I just wanted to get them back to the Muppets that I grew up with. I kind of feel like I’ve done that and maybe now I’d like to pursue some more human-related projects. [Laughs]
Capone: I know the DVD for MUPPETS is coming pretty soon, can you preview some of the really cool extras that are on there?
JS: You know, I actually have no idea. I’m not even teasing you. I have no idea what’s on the DVD, but I’m sure there''ll be cool stuff.
Capone: I do like that the case is green.
JS: I think I read something about finger puppets, but I don’t know. [Laughs] I literally have no idea.
Capone: Have you had a lot of parents or people your age just sort of thank you for giving them a reason to introduce their kids to that whole universe for the first time?
JS: It’s so funny because kids don’t know who the Muppets are or didn’t. They're so beloved to our generation. I think it’s kind of neat that parents and kids got to share in that together and parents got to look cool for a second, because they knew Kermit before their kids, you know?
Capone: Yeah, of course. We did a screening of it here for Ain’t It Cool in Chicago and it was like half kids and half parents, the parents were the ones who were crying.
JS: Oh man, that’s awesome!
Capone: I know you only have a couple of scenes with Susan Sarandon in JEFF, but that had to be pretty great. She’s your mom, but she’s also still hot, so that had to be kind of tough.
JS: Literally, the biggest challenge in the movie was not to look like I was wildly attracted to my mother. [laughs]
Capone: Seriously though, just getting to even be in a couple of scenes with her had to be pretty great.
JS: It was an honor to act next to someone on that caliber. You can’t help but feel like you made it. Do you know what I mean?
Capone: Before you saw a cut of the film were you even really aware what was going on in the scenes with her? That’s like a whole separate movie almost.
JS: Yeah, it was. I knew it from the script, but we weren’t seeing day to day what was going on and so then when you saw the movie it’s such a beautifully crafter B story.
Capone: Since JEFF is about obsession, I'm wondering what sort of things are you watching right now or becoming obsessing on?
JS: I was obsessed on "American Horror Story."
Capone: I loved that show.
JS: I loved it. I freaking loved it. I don’t get a chance to go to movies a lot, but yeah I made a point to watch that show. It was awesome. I’m a giant horror fan. I think horror and comedy are very similar in that they are meant to elicit a physical response. Slipping on a banana peal is exactly the same as when you shut the…mirrored pill drawer and there’s someone there. They are the exact same thing. “Medicine cabinet!” That’s what it’s called. I said, “mirrored pill drawer.”
Capone: I knew what you meant.
JS: Jesus Christ, it’s been a long day.
Capone: Well when you were here in Chicago for the awards you were telling me how tired you were.
JS: It’s been a long few months.
Capone: But the comedies and the horror films, those are always the two things that I insist when they want to screen them for us, I want to see them with an audience because those should be shared experiences.
JS: Absolutely.
Capone: Back to the SIGNS thing again, has there ever been a film or philosophy or something that you could relate to that you got that obsessed about? I'm talking about something that you actually altered your day-to-day goings on for a little while just to follow this obsession?
JS: It’s not film related, but something my mother said to me when she sent me off into the world. She said, “I want you to remember that the person you are in this world is a reflection of the job I did as a mother.” I’ve been nice ever since, because my mom raised me really good.
Capone: Were you familiar with the Duplass brother’s work at all before they contacted you?
JS: I was, yeah. I was a giant fan.
Capone: Do you remember what you responded to in particular about their work?
JS: It was very much like what Richard Donner did with the kids in THE GOONIES, you just feel like people are talking. They are not saying lines.
Capone: Right. That’s true, because they probably are. I know Jonah was a fan of the THE PUFFY CHAIR. Had you seen that when it was fairly new?
JS: THE PUFFY CHAIR and BAGHEAD, yeah I watched all of them and you know what a great one is that they helped with, but Mark starred in is HUMPDAY.
Capone: Sure. I literally have a copy of it sitting on my coffee table right now, because I’m going to watch it again soon.
JS: The last act of HUMPDAY is so perfectly crafted. I watched it so many times.
Capone: That’s the funniest movie I saw that year. Jason I appreciate you taking the time out to talk and hopefully we'll see you again soon.
