Canadian-American Shawn Levy is the two billion dollar man, a directing and producing machine whose work in the comedy field has been nothing but prolific, from films such as CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN and NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 1 and 2, plus the rather awesome DATE NIGHT and with it, it has made him one of the country’s most commercially successful filmmakers.
Hailing from Montreal, Quebec, the 44-year-old graduated from Yale and stepped straight into a production deal at Fox. Apart from an occasional sideline as an actor – his debut was in 1986’s Zombie Nightmare, he recurred on the original Beverly Hills 90210 and he recently appeared as a TV producer in an episode of 30 Rock – he’s become the king of the big screen comedy. More recently, he diversified with the sci-sports drama, REAL STEEL and has begun production on the darkly comic Jonathan Tropper novel, This Is Where I Leave You.
First, however, is the fish out of water comedy THE INTERNSHIP, which reunites him with his NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM co-star, Owen Wilson, and the dynamic Vince Vaughn. The Internship finds Nick (Wilson) and his partner Billy (Vaughn), as two newly unemployed watch salesman trying to find employment with a limited skill-set in a world that appears to have passed them by. Levy had this to say about his new film:
“As salesmen they are incredibly good at what they do, but the whole profession of selling in person, in an age where most people are increasingly buying their goods on the Internet, is on the wane. So they are downsized, suddenly unemployed, and Vince’s character comes up with this idea of applying for an internship at Google, a company that represents the vanguard of the new economy. It’s a long shot, but this possibility of self-reinvention is exciting to Billy and Nick and they take their shot.”
How did you first get involved in The Internship?
Vince approached me about a year and half ago. He said, ‘Hey, I’ve got this idea for a movie in which Owen and I are interns at Google,’ and as soon as he said that one sentence I knew there was a big idea there. He then shared his screenplay with me, which at that point was definitely imperfect, but clearly showed a road map for both a fun and aspirational movie. I only want to make comedies that are both.
What was it about that single sell line that hooked you?
There were a few things: First, I think it’s relatable. I think there’s an interesting moment right now where you have a generation of adults who feel increasingly obsolete or out of step with our digital age, who frankly are made to feel like their skillset is no longer valued. Simultaneously you have a generation of 21 year olds coming into the job market with no certainty that they will get a foothold and build a successful life. So you have 20 meets 40, with a shared anxiety about this moment, and the movie hints at the promise of 20 and 40 collaborating and sharing their talent in order to have a chance at making something of themselves. So I liked that it was both timely and a bit of an underdog tale with a possibility of triumph.
The story revolved around Owen and Vince – what kind of relationship do their characters have?
If you’re going to team Owen and Vince, a duo that is arguably one of the most special in comedy, you need to build characters that exploit their natural personalities. So you have Owen’s character Nick, who is a bit more laconic, very positive, very much – to quote his character – ‘a blue sky artist’. He’s an optimist, but we meet him in a moment when he’s been thrown back on his heels. Although he is working for a rather unlikable character, he is still soulful and has an original perspective on life. Vince, meanwhile, plays Billy who is a fast talker, a big dreamer, makes lots of plans, has a lot of big ideas, but can’t always put it all together. They’ve been friends since they were kids, and we get a real sense of that history, and they have a very easy rapport that mirrors the chemistry and rapport between Vince and Owen in real life.
It’s their first time on screen together since Wedding Crashers. Was it intimidating trying to recreate the chemistry that made it such a hit?
Like everyone who likes comedies, I was a huge fan of Wedding Crashers – I think it’s one of the great comedies of all time. I knew it would be foolish to try and replicate that paradigm. My hope was to capture the magic of Owen and Vince together, but within a very different plot, tone and decidedly different movie. The Internship touches on some different and potentially bigger ideas, namely a generational story, a story about the challenging economic times.
This feels like more of an underdog tale than Wedding Crashers, which was really a buddy comedy.
I think that’s fair – there’s no question that the heart of the movie remains the chemistry between these two actors, but it is less of a pure buddy comedy and more a fish out of water comedy. Ultimately it’s more of a generational comedy, both in terms of the conflict and mismatch between generations, as well as the bonding across generations.
Of course this isn’t your first time working with Owen and Vince: Have you developed a shorthand?
Without question. I’ve found Owen to be the most approachable, directable guy – he wants to give me what I want, but also the freedom to try his own ideas. That is our agreement and that is how we approach every day. Frankly, Vince is very similar – our relationship on this was unique in that we really worked intimately on the screenplay, we co-produced the movie and he was my star. I’ve got very close and comfortable friendships with both guys, so it made for a really pleasant and relaxed work environment.
Vince and Owen both mentioned how you encourage improvisation on set, but that most of the comedy is dialed in during rehearsals.
I believe firmly in both improv and rehearsing. I actually believe in a three-pronged approach, and I’ve used it religiously since Night at the Museum. I spend months and months writing and re-writing the script with the voice and input of the actors so I’ve got their ideas and tone baked into the script. Then I do several days of rehearsal where we read the scenes, talk about them, and then add to them with our ideas. But then after having got a few takes of the script, encourage several free takes where I let the actors go off road and come up with whatever their instincts tell them. Sometimes it’s complete and utter crap, but you have to wade through the crap to get to the one or two gems, because those gems will often make the difference between a good scene and a truly memorable scene.
Are the entire cast afforded that approach?
For sure – everyone, including the other key component of the movie, this ensemble of five 20-somethings that play the young interns. They may not be famous, but they are really talented, have great instincts about the roles they play, and they were as free to improvise as were the movie stars.
You cast Rose Byrne as a Google exec and Owen’s love interest, their relationship in some ways being the heart of the movie.
I obviously love her because I’ve just cast her in my next movie as well. What could have been just an ancillary romantic sub plot really turned into something quite sweet and poignant. Rose brings not only intelligence and obvious beauty to whatever she does, but she brought to this character fragility beneath the corporate veneer so that you believed her as a Google executive. But once we get into the second half of the movie, there are moments between Owen and her where you really see these two characters share a certain loneliness as a result of the choices they’ve made. This theme of second chances, this theme of ‘it’s not too late’, it applies to the underdog plot, and it also applies to the romantic plot. That’s a function of the nuance and softness Rose brought to this performance.
You mentioned Vince’s original pitch had the movie set at Google, and you went on to shoot some of it there. Could you have made the movie if they hadn’t got on board?
I made it clear to Vince that as much as I liked his screenplay and his idea I wasn’t going to make the movie if it was set at a generic make-believe tech company. Part of what was big, cool and unique about this movie was pulling back the curtain on the company and culture that is globally famous but to, some extent, unknown from the outside. We’ve heard stories of nap pods and free food and beach volleyball, but I had never seen a true look at Google culture from the inside out, and that’s what we were allowed to do with this movie. So I wouldn’t have made the movie if Google hadn’t said yes. Soon after Vince pitched me the idea, I travelled to Northern California and sat down with the company. I made clear my intentions and they very quickly made clear that they were completely willing to poke fun at themselves, provided we portrayed their culture accurately.
I see Google founder Sergey Brin made a cameo…
I’ve got him in there twice. The cameo that everyone recognizes is at the end when he says, ‘Congratulations boys,’ to Owen and Vince. But if you look closely, when Vince and Owen arrive at Google and they’re looking around at this fantastical strange workplace, there’s a point of view shot showing a man in yoga clothes on an elliptical bicycle wearing big neon green fluffy slipper shoes and a pair of futuristic glasses with a computer screen above the eyebrow. That too is Sergey Brin.
Talking of cameos, I see you’re in a scene too in one of the nap pods…
Yes, though ironically I’d cut myself out of the movie because I loathe watching myself, but with the encouragement of Vince and my editor I tried a screening where I put my brief appearance back in the movie and it got a sizeable laugh. So, sadly for my self-consciousness, it stayed in and made the final cut.
When you were filming on the Google campus, were the extras real Google workers?
Yes, we had a sign-up sheet for real Googlers – which is what they call themselves – to be extras in the movie and we had hundreds of people who wanted to play background performers. So most of the extras you see in the exteriors at Google are real Googlers, and they were the most directable and intelligent extras I’ve ever had in my life. Probably because they were wildly over qualified and over educated.
And the intern program portrayed in the movie – is it anything like that?
Yes, there is an internship for college students every summer at Google where they are divided into teams and given challenges to reflect the type of work that Googlers do. The area where we have taken license is it’s not quite a head to head pitting of team against team. But what is true is at the end of the summer internship only 5 to 10% of the interns are awarded jobs.
In real life, do you think Vince and Owen’s characters would have any chance of being part of that percentage?
I think it’s steep, steep odds but not impossible. One of the criteria is definitely personality, which would have helped them. Although they have older people working there, and by older, I mean around 30.
The Internship clearly highlights a generational culture clash – which generation do you think has it better?
Wow. It’s very interesting you should say that because I think the 20-somethings have a facility with the tools of today that I don’t have, but I do think that a life staring at screens has resulted in less skill at the inter-personal stuff. In my experience, what you can do in relating to another human being makes all the difference.
How are you personally coping with the modern, tech world?
I am tenuously involved – I greatly enjoy Instagram because it allows me to keep track of my daughter’s social life. I am a lazy and somewhat unexceptional Tweeter – I enjoy the direct communication with fans and cinefiles. However, I’m a Facebook ignoramus.
Vince and Owen’s characters are struggling to stay relevant in this modern world – how do you do it?
I make it my job to be plugged into the culture and the emerging technologies. I recognize that as much as I still prioritize character and performance and humor and heart in my movies, it would be very dangerous to let myself become marginalized and unaware of the technological tools that change every single year of my career. So I make it my business to stay educated – it’s a never-ending self-education. Longevity and relevance matters to me and if I want those two things I need to be aware of both the technology and the culture that shape-shifts daily.
THE INTERNSHIP is out on July 3rd in the UK. Our review will be live early next week and you know, it’s quite an old school funny and charming affair!
