Thursday, April 9, 1998
Lemmon, Matthau make more magic
FILM: ‘Odd Couple II’ another in duo’s long line of fabulous
movies
By Louise Chu
Daily Bruin Contributor
Even they don’t know how it works. After over 30 years together
in film, Hollywood’s most famous comedic duo still cannot pinpoint
the key to their extraordinary on-screen chemistry.
"I have no idea," says Jack Lemmon, one-half of the famed pair.
"It’s just a chemistry. We work well together, and we’re on the
same wavelength, and there’s nothing to it."
Walter Matthau, the other half of the pair, jokes, "I don’t work
without him, and he doesn’t work without me. He works, but he does
lousy stuff, and he doesn’t get paid very much. We work together,
we do good stuff, we get a lot of money."
Their latest movie, "The Odd Couple II," will mark the tenth
film in which Lemmon and Matthau have appeared together. Made 30
years after the first "Odd Couple" movie, "The Odd Couple II"
reunites friends and former roommates Felix Unger (Lemmon) and
Oscar Madison (Matthau) for the wedding of Felix’s daughter Hannah
(Lisa Waltz) and Oscar’s son Brucey (Jonathan Silverman). The
California wedding brings Felix out from New York and Oscar from
Sarasota, Florida. Unfamiliar with the California backroads, the
two find themselves lost, resulting in an adventurous road
trip.
The movie also reunites Lemmon and Matthau with Tony Award
winner and Academy Award nominee Neil Simon, who wrote the original
Broadway play and the screenplay for "The Odd Couple." Another
reunion this movie creates is with Howard Deutch, who directed
Lemmon and Matthau in "Grumpier Old Men."
Initially apprehensive about following up the 1968 classic, they
all eventually agreed to do it, seeing the quality of the script.
Simon began the script eight years ago, but confusion within
Paramount Studios postponed the project.
"I went on to write other plays and movies and forgot about it,"
Simon recalls. "Then came ‘Grumpy Old Men’ and (‘Grumpy Old Men
II’), and I thought, ‘It’s never going to happen now.’"
Lemmon and Matthau later opted not to do the third movie in the
"Grumpy Old Men" series, which was plagued with a small budget and
a bad script, and instead chose to do "The Odd Couple II," a
decision they ultimately did not regret.
"That was easy because of the writing," Lemmon says. "I think
that script is superb. The best script without any question. That
and ‘Some Like It Hot’ are the two best comedy scripts I’ve ever
read. I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of it."
Of the script, Matthau adds, "Much funnier than the ‘Odd Couple
I’ script, even though after I got the ‘Odd Couple I’ script, I
turned to my wife and said, ‘This play will run 10 years.’ It was
the only play or movie that I invested (money) in.
"I never even thought about (returning to the role of Oscar),"
Matthau continues. "And the way I talk is the way (Simon) writes.
He says that the way he writes is the way I talk. Anyway, it’s a
good mesh."
The newcomers to the "Odd Couple" project were especially awed
by the opportunity to participate in the sequel to the famous
movie.
"That’s insane. Nobody wants to do that," Deutch says. "I’m not
looking to get creamed by critics, by everyone saying, ‘How dare
you try to follow up this classic!’ But it was a good script, and I
had worked with Walter and Jack. They wanted me, and I felt
grateful about it, so I did it."
Jean Smart ("Designing Women"), who appears with Christine
Baranski ("Cybill") as "the babes in this movie" to Felix and
Oscar, offers, "I think that everybody just wanted to be a part of
it. It’s a piece of American cinema legend."
Although the movie returns to the same characters, Felix being
the cleaner, more proper of the two and Oscar being crude and
unkempt, many aspects of the script have changed from its
predecessor. In the thirty years since the audience last saw Oscar
and Felix, the men have evolved, and the story has adjusted for the
’90s audience.
"Society has changed, and we no longer have the naivete that
those characters had from the small city and being thrown by what
happens in the big city. It doesn’t exist today," Lemmon says.
In response to the lack of innocence of today’s world, as well
as the effect of living with Oscar, Lemmon explains how the
character of Felix changed. "Felix has gotten much more of a spine
(over the years). He’s willing to go toe-to-toe with Oscar
more."
Age has taken its toll, though.
"Oscar’s got hemorrhoids, doesn’t hear as well, can’t see as
well, posture’s dreadful, got scoliosis …" Matthau reveals.
In the same way that Oscar and Felix have grown with one
another, Matthau and Lemmon have cultivated an ideal working
relationship.
"It’s so easy working with Walter," Lemmon says. "It’s like
sitting down and chatting, as far as rehearsals go. Actually, we
don’t rehearse very much. At this point, we just learn our lines,
and then run them, and then wait until the camera’s rolling and
surprise each other."
The rhythm established by these two actors is the result of the
convergence of two different personalities, as well as acting
methods, that are as different as the characters they made
famous.
"Walter is a revolutionary," Deutch explains. "He needs to shake
things up. His process is, it cannot be neat and tidy and smooth
because, if it is, I think he feels unenergized and uninspired, and
he needs what he needs.
"Jack is the consummate professional," Deutch says. "He’ll get
there two hours before he has to and watch his light because he’s
just thinking about the scene and what to do. He has to break down
the scene, he has to figure out what the scene’s about, what his
character wants, how his character’s going to get what he wants,
what the obstacles in the scene are. Once he’s got that, he lets it
all go and goes out there and does magic."
No matter how such seemingly conflicting personalities derive
their chemistry, co-workers and audiences have responded well,
carrying their partnership through three decades. Instead of
attempting to explain it, most have found it most satisfying to
just sit back and watch.
"I think what I’ve learned is to try and keep my mouth shut and
not direct so much," Deutch says. "Particularly with guys like this
because they’ll give you gold if you leave them alone and don’t
interfere."
FILM: "The Odd Couple II" opens Friday.This project is Jack
Lemmon and Walter Matthau’s tenth motion picture together.
Paramount Pictures
(left to right) Christine Bartanski, Walter Matthau, Jean Smart
and Jack Lemmon star in Neil Simon’s "The Odd Couple II."