Ultimate Dolph

Jox wrote:A young adult identity crisis experimentation? By the way it may be more that she had a thing for hunky shy Swedes because she came on to him... His next girlfriends were definitely not androgynous.

dolphage wrote:

Jox wrote:A young adult identity crisis experimentation? By the way it may be more that she had a thing for hunky shy Swedes because she came on to him... His next girlfriends were definitely not androgynous.

Well, hooking up with Grace made his career so in hindsight it was a good decision.

Small Apartments has such an amazing cast of actors including Billy Crystal, Dolph Lundgren, James Caan, Johnny Knoxville, and more… how did you get involved in this project?

I am a huge fan of Jonas Akerlund’s work. His movie Spun blew me away and the script for Small Apartments is, dare I say, audacious. It’s crazy good. Chris Millis wrote the novel and the screenplay adaptation. Obviously between the script and Jonas, that’s what drew the talent. This is a modestly budgeted movie at under $2 million. No one was making bank on this one. They also shot it really quickly.

What was the environment like on set?

Jonas is just a really cool guy. He’s not demonstrative. As he works, you can literally see the gears turning in his brain. He’s got a translucent head… and he’s a robot! I’m kidding. It was a ton of fun. At one point there was a camera strung across the top of the apartment complex, much like the NFL cameras are strung across the top of the field. It was crazy and wonderful.

So you were in a real apartment complex?

Yeah, the apartment complex was about to be demolished, so it looks like it could have been in post-war Beirut. I need to update my references, by the way.

You’ve been in this business a long time and worked with some pretty amazing comic actors. But how do you handle it when you have to work with a legend the size of Billy Crystal? Did you have an out of body experience?

You know, I’m in show business and I’ve met a lot of people, but there’s this part of you that is watching yourself a little bit. When you meet him, you’re like, “Okay, be cool, Koechner!” You don’t want to gush because you don’t want him thinking, “We’ve got to do a scene together. Are you going to be present in it?” He’s a really focused and dynamic performer and… you know, this is a different role for both of us. I get to play a bumbling cop and he plays an alcoholic fire investigator.

Right, this is a very different role for you. But there’s a thread of similarity to the characters you’ve played in Anchorman or on The Office. What attracts you to a project?

Here’s what attracts me to a project: it’s work. Unlike most actors, my wife and I have been blessed with five children. So if there’s a job lying around I say, “Yes, what time do I need to be there?” That’s part of it. You have to work. Who knows why I normally get cast as this misogynistic, homophobic, loud moron. It’s a bit ironic because I couldn’t be further from that type of personality in real life. I have a wife, three daughters, and two sons. I love my girls and I’m not in the least bit homophobic. Who knows? Here’s what I love: I get to play characters like that in movies like Piranha-3D, and I also play Fat Uncle Earl on Hannah Montana. Tell me THAT’S not range!

I know you have an extensive improv background, and you got to use it during the filming of Anchorman. Did you get to improvise much in Small Apartments?

Well, everyone in Anchorman has an improv background, including the writer, Adam McKay. It’s a rare thing when the writer gives you that much free reign. In that situation, we might do a few takes as written and then do a few more where we we’re allowed to add our take on the scene we’re filming. Small Apartments didn’t really call for that. It’s a modestly budgeted film, so we didn’t have the same luxury with time. It’s also a much more visual picture than Anchorman, so that’s not really the focus.

quite surprisingly, this narrative ties them together in a very unusual, but strangely watchable fashion.

Director Jonas Åkerlund is more famed for music videos than films, you’d know him for The Prodigy’s ‘Smack My Bitch Up’ shock-video, plus work with Madonna and Metallica. However, his style here with Chris Millis’ debut screenplay is a lot more laid back. It allows the characters and the situation to develop, rather than making anything uncomfortable or trying to force the film and make it cleverer than it is.

There’s a definite Coen-brothers influence in SMALL APARTMENTS and although it doesn’t quite hit the heights of their very distinct tone, it works well as an impressive indie outlet for Lucas’ varied talents. Knoxville also affects as an aging-stoner with a Zen-like viewpoint on life, despite his Sean Penn in THIS MUST BE THE PLACE looks.

It’s also great to see Billy Crystal in something a little more low-key. He’s underplayed, yet smart and snappy as a fire investigator/wannabe Police detective Burt Walnut. When you throw in the addition of James Caan as the long-suffering neighbour of Franklin, their experience brings a positive focus and strength to the screen. There is also accompaniment from the always-excellent Juno Temple and subtle cameos from the likes of James Marsden, Rebel Wilson, Amanda Plummer and Dolph Lundgren in a Patrick Swayze-style DONNIE DARKO inspirational speaker role.

I have a feeling SMALL APARTMENTS may be overlooked on some film circuits, as the premise and some of the actors are a brave venture with a smaller amount of collateral. However, it deserves attention with impressive performances for this unusual ensemble. Quirky is an easy word to describe SMALL APARTMENTS, but the peculiar nature doesn’t undervalue the odd impact of this black comedy with occasional serious and poignant undertones.

"The Dog Walker Scene"

Ah, yes. The Dog Walker scene.

For all that went right during the filming of "Small Apartments," the one scene that fell far short of my intentions and expectations was the scene where Franklin encounters a dog walker who instructs him on the rudiments of driving a manual transmission automobile.

The theme of "Small Apartments" -- sort of the whole philosophy of the film -- is that we are all inside our own small apartments. We have our personal shit we're dealing with and, while we appear to be listening to and caring about other people, we are so enclosed in our private headspace that there is no room for anything else.

Thus, each time in the film when someone is informed that Mr. Olivetti is dead, their immediate response is: "Is he alright?"
"No," says Burt Walnut. "He's dead."

No one listens to anyone.

"Ask him yourself," says Franklin to Mr. Allspice. "He's lying dead on the ground."
"What?"
"Nothing."

For me, the Dog Walker Scene was meant to be a foil to that over-arching thesis of the film. An unexpected counter-point. An anti-thesis, designed to initiate the rocket-boost Franklin requires so desperately to ultimately get away with (what he wrongly considers to be) murder.

A reluctant kindness from a stranger. Someone who, for just a brief moment, saw Franklin, heard Franklin, and helped him.

This does occur in the scene... sort of. But it certainly doesn't happen the way I wrote it.

The Dog Walker was played by Noel Gugliemi. I'm sure he's a nice guy. I see him in a bunch of stuff. Jonas liked his "street-tough" look for the role. But in my opinion, he arrived unprepared to deliver the lines I had written. I don't believe he even memorized them -- riffing in his own words from the first take.

Unfortunately, this provoked Matt Lucas into improvising, too. Suddenly the odd, tightly scripted little sequence I had written was obliterated.

What was intended to be funny about the Dog Walker was that, though he is walking a pit bull and looks as though he could twist your head from your shoulders like a soda cap, he speaks to Franklin in a very technical, instructional -- almost professorial -- way as he teaches Franklin the proper technique for driving stick.

When I saw, take after take, that the Dog Walker was determined to stay completely off script, no matter what our terrific Script Supervisor, Britta Menges, tried to do about it, I commenced doing tortured back-flips in my chair behind Jonas, employing every muscle fiber to restrain myself from launching into a dead sprint and leaping on Gugliemi, shaking him until he delivered the words I'd written.

Jonas could sense my anger and anxiety like a hot wind on the back of his neck. He, too, knew the original scene was blown, but kept shooting all the coverage he needed to get out of it the essential elements needed to move the plot forward when he got to the editing bay.

On one level, I knew that's what Jonas was doing -- and I understood all would be well in the final cut. But on another level, I wanted to commit homicide with impunity.

My displeasure with the Dog Walker's performance was no secret to all those on set shooting into the wee hours of the morning. But the only one to approach me was Matt Lucas. He plopped down in the seat beside me and proceeded to scroll through the screen of his iPhone, showing me the various pages of the gay meet-up site his friend had submitted his name to.

He got me laughing, of course. Leave it to Matt to diffuse the situation.

Britta and I still joke about "The Dog Walker" every time we see each other. That's our inside joke for the one-and-only less-than-awesome day of shooting on the set of "Small Apartments."

If you want to read the original scene (even though script formatting is a bit funky online), I've posted it here...
http://www.chrismillis.com/p/stuff.html

dolphage wrote:I've seen it, by the way. Wait... is it too soon to have seen it legally? In case it is; I was just kidding; I haven't seen it.

Otherwise; I HAVE seen it (legally)(?) and I thought it was good.