Comedy's New, Neurotic Nerd
Making his directorial debut in The Baxter, Michael Showalter isn't waiting idly for the returns; he's chipper about the picture's prospects, and he's already thinking about what to do next. But don't be surprised if the 35-year-old New York City writer, who also plays the bachelor accountant in the madcap movie, melds a starchy East Coast approach with sloppy raunch.
"I was a huge fanatic over [National Lampoon's] Animal House," Showalter told Box Office Mojo during the San Francisco leg of his publicity tour. "The 1940s sensibility is a more recent development." Showalter, whose television series, Stella, finished its first season on Comedy Central, explained that he didn't set out to mimic the Forties in The Baxter, a nickname for the guy who rarely, if ever, gets the girl.
"I just made a movie," Showalter said. "There's a kind of a banter that some people might recognize as being screwball. There are no cell phones, no DVD players—it's set in a timeless Brooklyn. Hopefully, it's a good, old-fashioned movie."
Showalter did add a modern twist to The Baxter, which is more complicated than those 1940s pictures, with deliberate emphasis on the title character's foibles. "He is that character who gets dumped. He is the wrong guy—I tried to stay true to that—and he really is flawed, inconsiderate, myopic, and that's why he gets dumped. The mission for me was to change him a little to be both likeable and conventional."
Asked about his favorite comedians, Showalter said he thinks Will Ferrell (Elf, Bewitched) is very funny, and he mentioned Ricky Gervais from The Office. He described Stella, in reruns on Tuesday nights at 10:30 p.m., EST, as a celebration of silliness and absurdity—the Marx Brothers for the 21st century, as Showalter put it. It is based on a stage show he developed after coming to New York in the early 1990s with a goal to become an actor. After auditioning for parts such as the supporting role he played in Kissing Jessica Stein, another offbeat New York movie, it was his humor, Showalter discovered, that clicked.
"I never really loved the acting, and I was never really that good at it," Showalter admitted. "I never felt like I was better at this than other people. I started finding that my true passion is writing."
Despite a number of negative reviews, Showalter said the audience response has been great, with the biggest surprise that Baby Boomers are warming up to The Baxter, in which the accountant falls for an attractive, wealthy blonde (Elizabeth Banks) but is also drawn to his female equivalent, played by Michelle Williams. "They really, really enjoy the film," he beamed, "it seems to speak to them in the way I intended. I haven't had the experience of having something I have done appeal to people outside of my hip college friends, but it still has an edgy sensibility."
Another plus has been working with Williams. "Michelle is really talented," he said. "She's got something. She's someone for whom it needs to be real, otherwise she can't do it. In editing, you have the opportunity to create the whole movie, and you're choosing reactions and takes and, with Michelle, she was intelligent, adorable and sympathetic. I love her performance."
Asked whether he follows his movie's box office performance, Showalter answered simply, "no, I don't think so. I didn't even check box office at opening weekend—it's too outside of my control. I can't really look at it. I won't. It's not the kind of movie that is going to have a huge opening weekend. We are in most cities on one screen so there's a disparity with the way the movie's doing in New York and, like most small features, the best shot it's got is as a word of mouth movie. The success lies in having a slow build."
Showalter is at work on audio commentary for the picture's DVD release, though the date has not been announced. "I would love nothing more than for this movie to stay in the theaters," he said, "but, if it doesn't, life goes on. There is life beyond the movie theater."
RELATED LINK
• Review - The Baxter
"I was a huge fanatic over [National Lampoon's] Animal House," Showalter told Box Office Mojo during the San Francisco leg of his publicity tour. "The 1940s sensibility is a more recent development." Showalter, whose television series, Stella, finished its first season on Comedy Central, explained that he didn't set out to mimic the Forties in The Baxter, a nickname for the guy who rarely, if ever, gets the girl.
"I just made a movie," Showalter said. "There's a kind of a banter that some people might recognize as being screwball. There are no cell phones, no DVD players—it's set in a timeless Brooklyn. Hopefully, it's a good, old-fashioned movie."
Showalter did add a modern twist to The Baxter, which is more complicated than those 1940s pictures, with deliberate emphasis on the title character's foibles. "He is that character who gets dumped. He is the wrong guy—I tried to stay true to that—and he really is flawed, inconsiderate, myopic, and that's why he gets dumped. The mission for me was to change him a little to be both likeable and conventional."
Asked about his favorite comedians, Showalter said he thinks Will Ferrell (Elf, Bewitched) is very funny, and he mentioned Ricky Gervais from The Office. He described Stella, in reruns on Tuesday nights at 10:30 p.m., EST, as a celebration of silliness and absurdity—the Marx Brothers for the 21st century, as Showalter put it. It is based on a stage show he developed after coming to New York in the early 1990s with a goal to become an actor. After auditioning for parts such as the supporting role he played in Kissing Jessica Stein, another offbeat New York movie, it was his humor, Showalter discovered, that clicked.
"I never really loved the acting, and I was never really that good at it," Showalter admitted. "I never felt like I was better at this than other people. I started finding that my true passion is writing."
Despite a number of negative reviews, Showalter said the audience response has been great, with the biggest surprise that Baby Boomers are warming up to The Baxter, in which the accountant falls for an attractive, wealthy blonde (Elizabeth Banks) but is also drawn to his female equivalent, played by Michelle Williams. "They really, really enjoy the film," he beamed, "it seems to speak to them in the way I intended. I haven't had the experience of having something I have done appeal to people outside of my hip college friends, but it still has an edgy sensibility."
Another plus has been working with Williams. "Michelle is really talented," he said. "She's got something. She's someone for whom it needs to be real, otherwise she can't do it. In editing, you have the opportunity to create the whole movie, and you're choosing reactions and takes and, with Michelle, she was intelligent, adorable and sympathetic. I love her performance."
Asked whether he follows his movie's box office performance, Showalter answered simply, "no, I don't think so. I didn't even check box office at opening weekend—it's too outside of my control. I can't really look at it. I won't. It's not the kind of movie that is going to have a huge opening weekend. We are in most cities on one screen so there's a disparity with the way the movie's doing in New York and, like most small features, the best shot it's got is as a word of mouth movie. The success lies in having a slow build."
Showalter is at work on audio commentary for the picture's DVD release, though the date has not been announced. "I would love nothing more than for this movie to stay in the theaters," he said, "but, if it doesn't, life goes on. There is life beyond the movie theater."
RELATED LINK
• Review - The Baxter
