Thursday, October 17, 1996
FILM:
Writer/actor/co-producer Jon Favreau expresses his private self
on-screen with comradesBy Brandon Wilson
Daily Bruin Staff
Being the Next Big Thing isn’t all wine and roses. Besides the
performance anxiety of having a film garner heat before its release
date, Jon Favreau also has to contend with having some rather
personal moments now subject to public consumption when "Swingers"
opens Friday in L.A. and New York.
Of course, Favreau really only has himself to blame, because in
addition to starring in the film, he co-produced and wrote it as
well.
"When I wrote it, I didn’t think about anyone else reading it or
seeing it. I just set it in a context I was familiar with, which
was my neighborhood, the clubs I hang out at, the people I know,
even the building I live in," says Favreau. "It’s a fictitious
story, but people assume that I’m that guy, and now more people
than I could ever meet in my life will have an opinion about me
based on the material I made."
The material in question is the new indie film penned by
Favreau, which is the sum of his own experience as a struggling
actor in a new town with a broken and lonely heart, coupled with
his firsthand knowledge of L.A.’s Lounge ‘n Swing Club Circuit, and
a little help from such films as "Goodfellas," "Annie Hall" and
"The Odd Couple."
The result is the often hilarious "Swingers" starring Favreau
and his real-life friend actor Vince Vaughan. The duo play Mike and
Trent, amplified versions of themselves, which means Favreau gets
to be the neurotic everyman having one mean losing streak with the
ladies, and Vaughan plays a frenetic hepcat with a lingo and style
all his own.
Both actors have some trepidations about being typecast as these
characters who are essentially themselves, and in person, they do
indeed stick close to their roles. Vaughn, fresh off the set of the
next "Jurassic Park" film, has all the manic energy as he does on
film, and Favreau has the same affable air about him as his
on-screen counterpart.
"It was only after I started showing it to people that I got
self-conscious about it," confesses Favreau. "And I never rewrote
it after I finished it, I never got the chance; because for a year
and a half we were doing readings with actors trying to set things
up, and I always thought I’d rewrite it eventually. By the time
Doug (Liman, the film’s director/cinematographer) came on with the
money, we went right into pre-production, then right into
production. It wasn’t until I was sitting in the editing room that
I thought, ‘Oh my God, that’s my house, my car, the places I hang
out.’"
"And I started panicking because I’m a very private person. And
now there’s this whole world on the screen except with everyone
exaggerated and me looking like a schlemiel. It’s like the Central
American Indians who won’t let you photograph them because they
believe it steals your soul. We laugh at that, but now I know what
they mean."
Though director Doug Liman, and producers Victor Simpkins and
Nicole Shay LaLoggia came aboard during Favreau’s year-and-a-half
odyssey to get his script before the lens, Vaughan was involved
with "Swingers" from it’s genesis.
"We were sitting around and Jon said ‘I want to write a
screenplay; I’m sick of sitting around and waiting for someone else
to give me a part.’ I said that’s a good idea. Two weeks later he
called me and said he’d finished ‘Swingers,’" says Vaughan.
"It’s strange, it starts off as this small thing, your friend
says ‘Hey, do you think this is funny?’ Then it becomes this
project with an agency’s name on it and people want to put money
into it."
The film got its title from being written in the popular hipster
hive on Beverly Boulevard, even though the establishment never
appears in the film.
After the script’s completion Favreau sent it to everyone in
Hollywood and had the script passed on by most. Those who were
interested were uninterested in also buying Favreau as an actor,
since the writer insisted on retaining the lead role he’d written
for himself. This insistence came from more than just
self-interest, Favreau also insisted that any potential investors
also accept the cast of fellow actor friends Favreau had written
parts for.
"These guys were definitely in mind when I wrote it, I kept in
mind who they were and did a caricature of them," says the
actor/writer. "When I was first approached to do the script, I set
up a reading with them playing the characters I’d based on them,
and it was at this point that I realized these are the guys that
have to play this. And the whole fight was to keep this cast."
Even the playful Vaughan gets sincere and earnest when
discussing his friends allegiance in the face of adversity. "Jon
walked away from several opportunities in order to make the film
with his friends because he thought it would be a better film. Me
and the other actors involved are really blessed to have a friend
stick up for you like that and insist on making a movie with
you."
Once the deal had been struck and Favreau had secured a place
for he and his comrades, the actor was faced with a whole new set
of headaches while serving as co-producer; not to mention the fact
that he’d be carrying a film in the leading role for the first time
ever. And then there’s the unusual situation of acting your own
material.
"First of all, there’s no need for a lot of interpretation, you
don’t need to change it to make it your own," says Favreau. "But if
you screw up a line, your writing is ruined forever. We shot all
the apartment scenes in the first two days; all the phone
conversations, and that’s about one quarter of the script, and I
was so worried about my other actors, if the deals went through, if
we got the casino for the Vegas scenes, all this crap as a
producer. Then I realized I have to do all these lines, and we’ve
only got a couple of takes. So there I am in my living room, and
I’m just trying to remember the lines; but I knew where the
character was coming from, I was on such unsteady ground that it
was easy for emotion to come out of me. I was so close to the
surface that it made for a really nice performance."
"Swingers" has already launched the careers of Favreau and Co.
Besides Vaughan’s current turn under the direction of no less than
Steven Spielberg, Favreau has already done some roles in larger
projects, and plans to continue working on both sides of the
screenplay.
"Right now I have the most heat as a writer. I’ve written two
more scripts: one for Universal called "Leatherheads" about the
early days of the NFL, and "The Marshal of Revelation," a western
about a Hasidic Jewish gunfighter," says Favreau.
The actor-writer plans to direct and star in the latter of his
two new projects, but even if "Swingers" is a raging success, he
knows that "Marshal of Revelation" like any film will hinge on the
subtle art of compromise.
"We’re fighting over the peyes," jokes Favreau. "I have peyes
consultation, but final approval over the length of the peyes or
the amount of curls falls with Miramax. I got the whole cast for
‘Swingers,’ so I’m confident I’ll get some peyes on the Hasidic
Jew."
"Swingers" will be playing at AMC Century 14, Laemmle Sunset 5,
Costa Mesa Town Center, Los Feliz Theater and Westwood UA.