David Wain and Zoey Deutch on Bringing Jobs Back to LA for 'Gail Daughtry'
We also answer if Deutch has seen her parents Tales From the Crypt aepisode
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Dorothy Gale wanted to go "over the rainbow" in 1939's The Wizard of Oz. In David Wain's Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass, his Dorothy-esque heroine Gail simply wants to have sex with Jon Hamm. But both heroines explore a magical world beyond the confines of their small town, ultimately realizing who they are amidst the belief that "there's no place like home."
The Wizard of Oz was one of several movies director David Wain saw when putting the movie together. "There's endless numbers of great movies that I love," Wain tells The Film Maven. "But one thing that we definitely took a direct steal from is What's Up, Doc? with the mistaken identical suitcases. We just overtly took that notion of that idea, which has also been in other movies too. There's little genre nods to different things."
Wain's name on the project should intrigue comedy fans, having directed the fantastic retro comedy Wet Hot American Summer. Gail Daughtry has a similar vibe, both taking high concept stories and using them to play on the nostalgia of a simpler time...with a hefty dose of sex in it. (That almost makes me wonder if Wain sees Preston Sturges's Sullivan's Travels as an influence?)
There's a similar Old Hollywood appreciation for Gail Daughtry herself, actress Zoey Deutch. "I could watch It's A Wonderful Life every day of my life," she says. "It's my favorite movie. And any Katharine Hepburn [movie]. Anything with Katharine Hepburn is a important to me and my household."
In a move that feels straight out of a Katharine Hepburn movie, Deutch lays out how she pitched herself to Wain for the lead in the movie, something the director himself disputes. "[He] didn't know who I was," Deutch says. "I read the script and I reached out to David. I was grateful that he took a meeting with me, and I somehow convinced him. I pitched myself to you. Do you disagree?"
"I honestly think the truth might be both things happen at the same time," Wain replies. "Because we were talking about who could possibly do this and your name is the one that went to the top of our list, and then maybe at the same time you reached out to us."
A 21-day shooting schedule certainly didn't scare off Wain or Deutch, both of whom have worked in the indie film scene before this. "Much of what I've done over my career has been on a lower budget and quicker schedule side of things," Wain says. "This was pretty challenging that we had a 21-day shoot to do a pretty wide ranging, somewhat epic movie. It was a very challenging puzzle, but fun at the same time. A lot of times those challenges emerged. New ideas that were great, but we used every trick in the book we learned on how to get something and make it look like you wanted it to look with no time."
Gail doesn't travel through the Land of Oz so much as she does Los Angeles. And, make no mistake, Wain's interpretation of Los Angeles is one that will appeal to those who live in the city and those who have only idealized it. This is a movie that celebrates the joys of Hollywood Boulevard weirdness and has a jingle dedicated to the agency CAA. For Wain, it wouldn't have made sense to film anywhere else but the city itself. The move couldn't come soon enough, and is possibly the beginning of some glimmer of hope in a landscape that thrives on filmmaking.
"Hollywood is everyone's town," he says. "We all have a relationship to Hollywood and the movie plays off that a little bit. We also do live here, and work here, and love this town, and love all the people, the community of filmmakers and crew here. So to be able to shoot in a place where features are shot less and less, especially comedy features, especially independent original comedy features, it was something we were extremely grateful to be able to do and feel like it should be done much more."
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Deutch, as a native to the city, concurs and praised Wain for doing his part to bring filmmaking back to the city. "I'm born and raised in Los Angeles and any opportunity to be a small part of bringing film back to LA is very meaningful to me," she says. "It's an amazing community, and there's not enough work here, and there should be. We need to bring movies back here."
Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is in theaters Friday. Watch the full interview below.
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