After the South By premiere of his new movie The Promotion, writer/director Steve Conrad came out on the Paramount Theater stage with his star Sean William Scott to face the mob in a Q&A. Luckily, the movie’s funny so it was a pretty friendly mob. Conrad was relaxed and freewheeling as he fielded questions about his picture. Sean William Scott on the other hand, seemed simultaneously drunk and stoned. Or maybe he was tripping on acid. Hey, it’s SXSW! The intake of mysterious substances sort of goes with the territory. We’ll never know what Sean was enjoying as he stood up there mumbling, but something was definitely up as he daydreamed out loud in response to whatever the audience threw at him. A few minutes later I’d narrowly miss whacking him in the head with my backpack as we exited the theater, and he managed a pretty nice dodge; so while he Sean have seemed out of his head his reflexes at least, were definitely intact. That picture above and to your right was taken literally ten seconds before I twirled around, forgot about my backpack, and nearly thwapped him in the noggin.
Read my SXSW review of The Promotion here. Below is what Sean William Scott and director Steve Conrad had to say about making comedy with John C. Reilly in a smelly, Chicago grocery store.
On How Long They Had To Shoot
Conrad: We had 30 days. Does that sound like a lot er?
On How Conrad Came Up With The Idea For The Promotion
Conrad: I was shopping with my wife one day and I was waiting for her out to her car, and we lived in a neighborhood that was sort of… that scene where Sean comes out in the courtesy vest and winds up in a gang squabble, I watched that happen to a guy as I waited for my wife to come out of the parking lot. And I realized that it’s essentially, I saw the gang I saw the manager at the crosswalk standing with the assistant manager and I thought, “wow, this is a job that’s impossible to do.” I know what he’s supposed to do and he’s walking over I know he can’t do it. And it was like the slowest walk… I thought man, sometimes in life you have a boss who expects you to perform the functions of your job and the only one who doesn’t know it’s impossible is your boss.
So um, the kid walked over there, it was actually worse than the movie. They completely demeaned him, and when he turned around I saw the “have a nice day” on the back of his vest. I thought wow, this is really beautiful, like, the fact that he didn’t run right out in front of a bus. I thought that’s really an accomplishment and it’s to be respected. I think I know what this story is and I want to tell it. The story of a guy who walked back into his work after that happened. It felt really important to me.
On Casting Sean William Scott
Conrad: The prospect of finding an actor who could perform in a 2-shot with John Reilly and then defend himself, earn the frame, and then win, it was daunting to find someone who I felt confident could get in there fighting and then earn the movie. And um, Sean came and auditioned and I knew he was the guy. I was just so pleased that Sean is here watching the movie with us tonight.
Conrad On His Transition From Writing To Directing
Conrad: I wanted to do it forever, ever since I started writing. This one I felt like I understood very deeply, and I talked to the actors, clearing things in a way where we could do well. It’s story shot in my hometown, and it has great Chicago-centric ideas in it. So I felt like of the ones I’ve written it’s the one I understood the most. So I thought it could give me the best shot to do something had like that, a little bit of this town.
On How Sean William Scott Got Involved
Scott: Somebody that I worked with sent me the script, and I was so lucky to have after I do so many, uh, broad comedies. And the script it just had tone and sensibility that I really responded to. And I was lucky to get the interview with Steve and it was really a kind of dream come true for me because, just to have the chance to do films was huge for me. You know, I had so many dreams, but I never had a dream to make people laugh. So, to have an opportunity to do movies has been really amazing. It’s been challenging to transition from that to doing something like Steve a guy that has a little bit more substance in his films, well a lot more substance in his films. You know, me on MTV’s Music Video awards like, kissing Jason Biggs in American Pie 2 it’s hard to like, get a chance to sit down and see Conrad and get to work opposite John C. Reilly in the promotion so, I was really lucky just to get the interview and I was really lucky that he picked me for it.
So I liked the fact that it was about two guys that were trying to make it in life, and trying to do the best that they could. And find themselves, but with their wives and the work and life and the integrity and they made mistakes, there was just so much heart. And there was a real tone in my vibe and feel to it, it was a beautiful song and it kept getting more beautiful as Steve kept writing it. So I was really lucky that he wanted me to be in it. And it was great because you see me here in the theater today and it was three and a half years ago that I had a chance to sit down with him. And, it’s a guy from Minnesota that has won the lottery 18 times over for every movie I’ve been in to get to sit down with him, I love all the movies that I’ve done, but they’ve all led me to do things like this that’s different, it’s interesting. I can sit and laugh anyways, but like, you know, this one has a little more heart and I can relate to it. I’m 31 and I see that he’s trying to do and, so I like the human aspect that really drives the film, and heart drives the film.
On The Shoot
Conrad: It was 30 days, and everything felt good until we moved into the grocery store. You have to get actual meat, because no one makes pretend meat. So we shot in that store for two weeks and I wish I had shot a documentary, like there’s a place in the Apocalypse Now documentary... we had a day where we couldn’t run the air conditioners because of the noise so we had meat that was going bad, brown to green. We went to lunch one day and when we came back all the extras had left. They just couldn’t take it anymore, so we had to fill the grocery store with crew. I will never write another moment that takes place in a grocery store. It’s an easy little world and it ended up a hostile one to recreate. A brand new world the grocery store. The noise the carts make, you can’t shoot with the carts moving, it’s just crazy. But uh, we did ok until we got into the grocery store.
The craziest thing was we shot in cicada season in Chicago, but a cicada got into the store. One cicada got lost in the light and followed us from setup to setup. You’ll hear it! There’s a cicada in every single shot in the grocery store.
On Making Fun Of Retarded People
Conrad: I’ll share a really private story with you guys. The most difficult conversation I’ve ever had as a director with anybody who’s involved in the movie… our actor Josh who played Hardy… his father, had to talk to his father on the day of shooting and explain to him what I was trying to accomplish with this scene and convince him. I mean from my heart, completely earnestly what I’m making fun of is the fact that John C. Reilly is so beautiful that considering the pain that comes with being a human being, he can be moved to cry. Considering the walk of life that all of us have to go, he can be moved to tears. And I told Josh’s dad that I’m using this particularly weird story to demonstrate that John Reilly’s character is really a sympathetic human being, he’s really very beautiful. I made up this thing about the powdered hand, forgive me please but it’s been my experience that if I make things more pretend audiences somehow enjoy them more, and I apologize a thousand times. And he says, “hey it’s funny.”
On Whether The Promotion Will Get A Wide Release
Conrad: A lot of it just depends on the energy that gets out into the world. It’s a movie that, who can say. I was joking when I introduced the film and said this is the film that America has been asking for. Actually not. If the movie company feels like there’s an appetite for it, they’ll put it in Chicago. I think it’ll start there for sure, and we’ll see where it goes. But we’ve got to find an audience by way of mouth. Obviously.
Conrad On Whether He Wrote Parts For Specific Actors
Conrad: After we were cast I did a lot of experimenting and rehearsing we did a lot of scenes for people. And then uh, Sean made small adjustments that he and John, were doing the same thing.
On Whether Sean William Scott Did Research For His Character
Scott: I’m very method! Have you seen American Pie?
Conrad: Tell the story about how you were in the pretend shower!
Scott: No, because it makes me seem like I’m not a very hard worker… I worked at Home Depot, well I worked before that this place called Scientific Revolution where we used to sell glow in the dark stars. And I was trying to be an actor and, my buddy is like this is a great place you’ve gotta work here and it’s awesome. Girls hit on us! I was like, awesome, really? So I worked there, I didn’t know we had to wear like lab coats. So I’m selling glow in the dark stars and Bill Nye the Science Guy puzzles. He gets fired the day after I start working there. So I’m walking around in my lab coat with science things around me. So one of the guys that works there tells me that, you gotta go work at Home Depot! This place is awesome. You’re going to learn to fix the sink and like toilets and stuff. So I’m like, alright. I can make like seven dollars an hour and it would be awesome. That’s not true. I made like 5 dollars an hour and I was like a cart pusher. So I gathered up all the carts in the parking lot, which was cool because then I got a chance to like, study my auditions and stuff. So, all of the sudden I did a pretty good job of gathering up the carts. And the manager came out he was like, um, it’s the same vibe like working at a grocery store. He was like, “hey Sean, we can see how hard you’ve been working. We’re going to promote you. You’re going to be a plumber.” I was like, awesome! I don’t know anything about plumbing though. He was like, “no problem, we’re going to train you. We got a whole training session!” Basically the next day I had an orange vest on my body telling people about plumbing parts. So every day I would like hide in this little stall where the shower doors are. I’d crawl in there and I’d read like movie magazines. I’d here my name being called like, “Sean Scott in plumbing dial 227”. And I’m like “yeah right”. Actually that was like three months before I got American Pie. So for me, that’s why this night is actually pretty cool.
On Why John C. Reilly’s Character Is Canadian
Conrad: Making him Canadian I thought would help us all to appreciate the weird American energy that we all have. We don’t choose but we’re all born having to accept, which is to be in the middle of a race. You’re born and no one’s asked if you want to be in it, but you’re in a race to make a living. And I don’t know if it’s good or if it’s bad, but I thought it would be fun to look at. And then I thought, an interesting perspective might be someone who comes from somewhere else, and all of the sudden has to compete at that pace or that speed, with Americans who are, we’re all raised with these sets of principles. Like, early to bed early to rise, work hard and keep your head down and you’ll succeed. None of it’s true. You just get told it from the time you’re a kid, and if none of it works out for you then you’ve gotta deal with it and make peace with it and it’s so complicated and weird. I thought a fun way to look at it all is from a Canadian’s perspective. You think they’re American’s but they’re not!
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