David Schwimmer’s directing days started back on the set of his hit show Friends and now the sitcom star has stepped behind the camera again for his first feature film.
Schwimmer recruited British talent Simon Pegg and Thandie Newton to star in his comedy Run, Fat Boy, Run about a guy named Dennis who leaves his pregnant girlfriend at the altar only to realize years later that he’s made a huge mistake. To prove he’s no longer a quitter, Dennis begins training for a London marathon despite his beer belly and smokers cough.
When we caught up with Schwimmer during his press stop in L.A. he was happy to tell us all about the challenges he encountered along the way.
Hollywood.com: Have you been able to watch the movie as a fan and not as a director?
David Schwimmer: It’s really hard to do that because I still look at it thinking, “Ah. I should’ve done that.” I think that’s going to happen for a long time. I don’t think that I can watch it objectively without regretting a choice that I made. I’m not saying that I don’t enjoy certain moments, when the audience laughs at a certain moment, something like that. The moment that I really enjoy, but not in a funny way, is given that our lead guy leaves his pregnant bride to be at the alter at the beginning of the movie – I’m really happy that the audience really seems to feel for Simon in the engagement scene. You can hear a collective kind of pain of seeing Simon. Then I know that the audience is on his side by then. So that was one of the biggest challenges of the script, can the audience ever forgive this guy after what he does.
HW: What made you decide to cast Simon Pegg in this role?
DS: Well, Simon and I have been friends for a while. We met on Band of Brothers about eight years ago. At first I didn’t think about him because the script was set in New York to begin with…Then when the script got optioned by a company in London and suddenly it was going to be made in the UK I was conveniently working with Simon at the time on this other movie we did called Big Nothing. I said, “This movie I was set to direct is suddenly going to be in London. When we’re done with this would you give it a read?” because I thought he was actually perfect…He’s not your natural first choice as the best looking guy in the room, but there’s something about him that guys like because they want to be friends with him and women kind of want to take care of him in a way. I think that like Jack Lemmon he has this quality where he’s able to do drama and comedy and kind of seamlessly go from one to the other. [PAGEBREAK]
HW: Did you face any challenges while directing?
DS: Hell, yes [laughs]. Look, I mean, we’re on a budget even though at times it looks like a big movie it’s really not. It’s $4.5 million. It’s a big budget script on a low budget…When I arrived to shoot the marathon, for instance, I didn’t realize, for some reason I didn’t put two and two together that we only had 200 extras on that day. We were shooting in this big area, city hall downtown and I thought, “Two hundred extras, OK. I guess I could make that work.” But it wasn’t until I was in this huge space and a marathon is 10,000 runners and 30,000 spectators and I looked at my first AD and said, “Where are all the people?” …and she said, “We literally can’t afford more bodies, more people.” So it took some real strategic camera work to take the same 200 extras, redress them and move around…It’s just kind of getting your battle plan together. So there were a hundred challenges a day really.
HW: This film did really well in the UK, does that give you a sense of relief?
DS: Absolutely. I feel a sense of relief that the people who invested in it and publicized it in the UK made their money back. I’m hugely relieved about that, but then again now opening it in the United States I have the whole same set of anxieties because now this wonderful company Picturehouse has picked it up to distribute here and they’re putting a lot of money into PR and now all my friends and family who I’ve told that I directed a movie and who were all like, “Sure you did” because no one has seen it…so I’m just as nervous for it to be received as well here. I would be lying, anyone would be lying if they said they weren’t.
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HW: How has your international Friends fame affected your career?
DS: Any success that I had on the show as an actor literally translated to zero when you’re directing your first film. In some ways you can actually argue that it hurts you. I mean, I think no one is about to give you the benefit of the doubt and trust $4.5 million of their money just because you were an actor on some successful show. You really have to prove yourself and you have to prove yourself as a director. So I see them as two kind of completely separate careers. If anything what the show gave me the first shot at learning how to direct on camera and in a very safe environment. I learned how to direct four cameras at the same time and could refine it and hone it over 12 episodes that I think I directed for that show. So it gave me a safe environment to grow and to build confidence, but directing a movie is really a whole different animal from that.
HW: Have you thought about directing yourself in a future project?
DS: Yeah, I don’t know. I have to say that when I did it on Friends, I was directing episodes and then my AD would say, “You have to go to wardrobe.” It was a kind of pain in the butt in a way. I don’t know. We all know so many actors who have done it with great success – Mel Gibson, Kevin Costner, Woody Allen and Mel Brooks. But I haven’t seriously considered directing myself in a movie. I’d really have to think about it. If I did that it’d probably something like co-directing a movie because who do you have to kind of give you acting tips and notes and who’s going to push you as an actor, if you do that. But then again we’ve seen so many people do it well.
HW: Is there a specific type of thing that you’re reading right now in order to direct?
DS: I’m not. I’m looking at comedies and dramas…what are being sent are comedies. But I want to keep growing. To be honest I look at Ron Howard‘s career as a model. He started as an actor, although I want to keep acting [laughs]. He started in comedy, not bad comedies, but like Splash. Then eventually as we now know he’s doing great dramas and thrillers. He’s got a pretty good career. So we’ll see.
