Hitch (2005)

Der Date Doktor

Interview with Andy Tennant

Chekhov is not really the first name you would think a man, who's first feature film was starring the Olsen twins, would let drop during an interview. But the former theatre student Andy Tennant has more up his sleeve than you would think. He made use of his training as a dancer in Grease AND it's sequel. Something that John Travolta didn't manage to achieve. Before his career in film kick-started into the highly successful rom-com gear with the modernized Cinderella tale Ever After and especially Sweet Home Alabama, the US smash with Reese Witherspoon, he contributed to some of the nineties' coolest TV shows. He has Wonder Years and Parker Lewis can't lose on his CV.

When OutNow.CH met him in Berlin he was still pumped because of the reaction of the audience the night before. There's a man that really believes in his work, even if he only made a movie around and about the star that hired him for his first rom com: Will Smith.

» Deutsche Übersetzung

Andy Tennant (AT): Where you guys at the movie last night? I mean last night was nuts.

OutNow.CH (ON): In what sense?

AT: There was enthusiasm. I was prepared, it's Germany and it's a festival. And they may not go along.

ON: Was it like an American audience then?

AT: No, it was better! It was the best screening of the movie ever. I mean I was in Vegas when we first previewed the movie. That audience went crazy in a kind of strangely funny way. You just don't like to expect it to be that way. You just make your film and hope they like it. But they loved it. The next time I really saw the movie was at our preview on Ellis Island. Which was a fun crowd but kind of an industry crowd. They enjoyed it and I thought that is pretty good. And then we were in Brazil when the movie openend in L.A. I felt like I missed that the people that spent money and wanted to see that movie went crazy. And then I came here. And last night they applauded scenes. The were hooting and hollering.

ON: Was Eva Mendes the first choice for the leading lady? She's heard there was somebody else.

AT: No, I don't think so. They way it works that Will (Smith) hired me. And by the time I was hired the conversations that I had with him where that we were thinking about Eva Mendes and try to make that work. So when I came on it was Will Smith and Eva Mendes. I don't even think I was the first choice.

ON: Was Kevin James your choice?

AT: It was all of our choice. It was like you've got to see the "King of Queens" which I hadn't seen. So they sent me a whole compilation reel of all of his stuff. And I saw that this guy is hilarious.

ON: How is it to work with these two comedians?

AT: Were you at the press conference yesterday? I mean that's it. It's just like this.

ON: It wasn't a press conference. It was a play.

AT: It was off Broadway. It's a good time. I worked with serious actors and that is fun too. That's a whole different kettle of fish. Will Smith has more energy than you know what to do with. I know him now a year and a half and I've seen him twice tired, where he was kind of quiet. But most of the time he is just up.

ON: What is his secret?

AT: It's a natural high. There is a lot of comedians out there that are like this when they are on camera. But you better be aware that they are off, when they are off the camera. They don't want to be disturbed. Like Bill Murray and Mike Myers. You never have to worry about that with Will Smith. You get on a plane and he doesn't stick to himself. He just pops up. I've had some amazing conversations with him about everything: politics, the war, the world economy.

ON: What attracts you to romantic comedies?

AT: I like humor. But I would say that Anna and the King wasn't very funny. I think love is a wonderful problem we never solve. And to me it's sort of endlessly fascinating to kind of explore the human condition when love enters or exits your life. My background is theater. In studying the theater you go from Shakespeare to Molière, from Chekhov to Euripides. They can chose to write about love in a comic way or they can chose to write about love in a drammatic way. It's always about love. I'm in my Molière-time right now. I'm in my farce kind of let's have a good time. But in the back of my head I am secretly more Chekhov. I want to go a bit more into the pain and anguish of love than the comedy of it.

ON: Talking of anguish. What is your worst dating experience?

AT: I have one that is kind of the worst. I took a girl out. I don't even know how I convinced her to actually go out. But I knew from the minute I picked her up at the door: This was not a date. This is bad. We went to a play. We had dinner. And when we came back it has just been a disaster. So we knew the date was over but we were stuck in the car on the freeway on the way home. So she finally starts telling me that she has actually having an affair with this married man. It was so bad. I walked her up to her appartement. She lived on the second floor near the staircase. It was nothing like Albert had in the movie. I knew there was nothing beyond the date. So I said good night to her and I tripped over the mat and I fell down the whole stairs outside of her appartement. The date was so bad, she didn't even step out of the door. She just said: "You ok?". I've fallen down about 25 steps. I should have been dead. Calling an ambulance would have been the only appropriate response. And she just goes: "Are you ok?". I was screaming and literally still on my back when I heard the "kaboom" of the door.
My first date with my wife was great though. But my second date with my wife wasn't for three years.

ON: What happend in between?

AT: The timing was like nope. But we had a great time. She says that she told her friends that she knew she was going to marry me after that first date. So it is about the eight out of ten kiss thing. I got that from the UK-Glamour. It was on the front page. One of that great polls they take. Eight out of ten women believe this. Well, if Glamour says it's true, it has to be true. At one point we had a scene with Hitch where he would check his mail and it would all be women's magazines. Because all you have to do is to read the European Cosmo and Glamour. There is some saucy stuff in there like how to fuck better. And your like, if I knew that I would have ruled the world.

ON: In your own words, what is the movie all about?

AT: I've been accused of being old-fashioned. There is no cynicism in the movie. Which is kind of by design. You can find cynisism everwhere else in the world and in every other movie. It's almost like I just wanted to kind of to get rid of all the attitude for two hours and just look at what people try to do. I think there are some very sweet things in the movie. At the speed dating scene Eva (Mendes) accuses him of tricking women. And Will says he just helps them getting out of their way, so great guys like Albert stand a fighting chance. That to me is the entire film. Because we have all tried to date somebody who has been burned by some asshole that makes my job harder now to make you trust that I am a good guy. That to me is what the movie is about. The landscape of dating is tough on everybody.

ON: You worked on a lot of TV-shows like "The Wonder Years" and "Parker Lewis". How is that different from making a movie?

AT: You know what? You make them the same way. It's like one shot at a time. My best friend is the director Brad Silberling who did Lemony Snicket. He makes really different movies and is a really really good guy. We started together. We were both doing TV. We got our first jobs in the same month and we were happy to be on the Director's Guild. But when we first started making movies we called each other: "Ok. Wait a minute, this is the same job!" All the things they tell you is nonsense. It's the same thing. In fact the TV-training of doing Parker Lewis and the Wonder Years really teaches you to think on your feet. You really don't have time because you do have that air-date-deadline. When you get to film you are like: "What are we doing after lunch? We already shot the scene. We're good." It's just about time and money but we are still doing the same.

ON: Our users seem to like "Parker Lewis" a lot. This series always pops up in our forum. Do you have any memories of that show you would like to share?

AT: I started that show. When they did the pilot the original director didn't have any of that camera stuff in the show. They did it all in post-production. The bang-zoom and the snaps and all of that they did in post. So when they met with me they said this is the pilot but we don't want to do it. We want you to do it this way. And so I set the camera and after the second day of shooting they came down and offered me every show of the season. And I said no. It was too crazy. But it was a blast. This guys where so much fun. That woman that played the principal was so funny on and off the camera. She just was up for anything.

ON: Was there a lot of stuff that needed to be cut from Hitch?

AT: There was a twelve-minute sequence. That was a really good sequence. It was a big one. What happend was when Alberts spills mustard on his shirt at the basketball game Allegra sees her old boyfriend Savy accross the court. Savy creates kind of a disturbance. This freaks Albert out. And Albert goes into the Tunnel. Hitch is bowling with his buddy, sees this on TV and runs to Madison Square Garden. And they have this big scene in the tunnel and there is a whole reverse psychology thing where Hitch pisses Albert off enough to make him march back in to Allegra. Then they walk out of the thing and see that Savy guy again, which is some sort of a royalty like prince William. Then Albert and Allegra have a wonderful scene in the limousine talking. It's going to be on the DVD. But that was the only sequences that was a big lift from the film. The rest of it is pretty much the first cut of the film.

ON: Are you very tight to the script as director?

AT: Yes. You would be surprised how detailed and what an obsession that trying to manage this kind of film is. As I said I'm coming from theater and there it is all about backing up the performance. That's the kind of director I am anyway. I am not a shooter. I am not Michael Bay. The imagery and "lets place the camera all day" is boring to me. Comedy in particular for me is like music. It's like a chamber orchestra as far as I am concerned. You've got a cello, a violin, a flute and a basoon. It's all about the ear and the tone in the line readings to get everybody on the same page in terms of the level of comedy and what we can do.

ON: To finish this up I would like you to tell me the words that pop into your mind first when I give you some key words or sentences.

AT: OK.

ON: Wonder Years

AT: (silence) The first thing that pops into my mind? Wonder Years? Ancient history.

ON: Parker Lewis

AT: Good Fun

ON: Grease

AT: The best time I never had.

ON: Will Smith

AT: Amazing

ON: Comedies are easier than action movies

AT: Not true

ON: Switzerland

AT: Fabulous

ON: Interviews

AT: Cool

ON: Thank you very much.

19.02.2005 / rm