The directors behind the newest comedy talk creativity.
Marc Silverstein and Abby Kohn, hailing from previous works How To Be Single and Never Been Kissed, deliver their first romantic, feature-film comedy. The Knockturnal caught up with them to talk about their latest film: “I Feel Pretty”, starring Amy Schumer.
Interview below.
The Knockturnal: What does it take to create a comedy style film?
Abby Kohn: I mean, you know, itβs so funny – when we write, I donβt even know that we always set out to write like this is going to be a comedy. Itβs just that is the natural way that we envision stories. And thatβs the natural way they come out. Right?
Marc Silverstein: Yeah, for sure.
Abby Kohn: I mean, there are premises that weβve written that I guess you can take and write in a totally dramatic tone. But I think that’s just the way that stories occur to us –
Marc Silverstein: Theyβre comedic.
Abby Kohn: Theyβre comedic. Yeah. So I don’t know. I think a lot of times for us it is letting the tone that we love and the tone that we enjoy be, you know?
The Knockturnal: Did you envision Schumer for the main role?
Marc Silverstein: I mean, not initially, we didnβt have anyone in mind, really, when we wrote it. But as soon as we were done, yes, she was kind of the only person we thought that could do it. So we were very excited when she agreed to do it.
Abby Kohn:Β Once we had finished and started making lists of who could possibly – anyone we spoke to, sheβs the first name on the list.
The Knockturnal: Renee has self-awareness issues, but did you intend for I Feel Pretty to address relationships and mental illness?
Abby Kohn: Right, right.
Marc Silverstein: I mean I feel like, not overtly but I do feel like the way the sort of pressure society puts people under in terms of standards of beauty and social media making people feel in terms of how people have to present themselves to the world, makes people feel a little crazy. So I do feel like, while weβre not making a comment on any sort of mental illness, I do feel like there is sort of an epidemic of sorts out there where you do feel like the pressure can make you crack.
Abby: Itβs not realistic. Itβs not attainable. This ideal that people have that they can be this airbrushed person – itβs not even real, you know. So I think that can be crazy-making.
The Knockturnal: Could you talk about the difficult aspects of making the film, if there were any?
Marc Silverstein: I mean, I think the difficult aspects of this film were just generic to making films. Which is just time – you never have enough time.
Abby Kohn: Right. You always want more days. You always want, you know, more takes. You always want it to be a sunny day when itβs not – you know, all those things that you donβt have control over.
Marc Silverstein: Right. Other than that, like, creatively, it was a very smooth production. We were all on the same page and Amy was so good in the role that it was not – we never felt like any of that making of the movie, creatively, was difficult at all.
The Knockturnal: So it all really just came to you.
Marc Silverstein: It really did. I mean, there were days where Iβd go in thinking βugh, this scene is gonna be really toughβ but I never went home feeling like we didnβt get it. So that was really-
Abby Kohn: But it was tough in the way that like filmmaking is just, you know-
Marc Silverstein: A slog.
Abby Kohn:Β Yeah. It is long hours, and a lot of pressure. And then a lot of also just mental pressure of trying to keep all these creative balls in your head, and then trying to manage – as a director, youβre kind of the leader of this big crew of people and trying to manage all of the departments and the personalities and the expectations. But I think that is true for every movie.
The Knockturnal: Tell me about your individual creative processes and how you compliment each other.
Marc Silverstein: Good question, I feel like personality-wise Iβm a little bit more lazy, and Abby is very focused and driven. So we definitely compliment each other in that way. And then I chill her out a little bit and she drives me forward in a good way, for sure. I think we both have a very specific kind of movie we like that matches, and then we have different movies that she likes that I donβt like and that I like that she doesn’t like, but we sort of bring that flavor to the things we do and so itβs always sort of a push-pull. Whatever it is, the process by which we pull and push each other creates this other thing that I think is – ends up working out. But however that process works, how we end up landing on ideas that weβre gonna do and how we end up writing those ideas and breaking those stories and making that work for whatever reason, through that process ends up being good.
Abby Kohn: And through the years that weβve worked together, we really do have a – if I write something, Mark knows how that should sound. He knows exactly the cadence of that line; he knows where the joke should hit. Like, itβs just obvious to him. You know, maybe not to everybody. But within us, it is. So, I think we just have a shared creative experience that is always there thats a baseline for anything else, you know. And that makes it very easy. Between us we understand like this movie – we know the line between a good rom com and a bad. Like he knows exactly which ones I think are over the line, and which ones are within the good realm. Other people could see all of those as the same. We donβt. And I think we have that shared creative, I guess, vision.
The Knockturnal: What was the atmosphere on set?
Marc Silverstein: It was really fun.
Abby Kohn: it was really fun. I mean, you know, there are moments of tension.
Marc Silverstein:Β Because youβre all trying to get stuff done really quickly.
Abby Kohn: Right. And, thereβs you know, always an argument for we need to do this one more time. And thereβs an argument for weβre not gonna get it any better than we got it. So thereβs always gonna be moments of tension. And weβre both under a lot of pressure.
Marc Silverstein:Β Tension between us.
Abby Kohn:Β Yeah, tension between us – totally. So it wasnβt always smooth sailing but for the most part it was really fun. It was really fun working on something that we all kind of believed in the message it had to say, and we-
Marc Silverstein:Β Thought it was really funny.
Abby Kohn: Thought it was really funny, you know?
Marc Silverstein: And we had a bunch of – we had Amy, and then every day we had other people coming in that were really fun, and funny and got to hang out and there was always someone new coming in to work. That was fun.
The Knockturnal: So weβre talking laughs all around?
Marc Silverstein: There was a lot of laughs.
Abby Kohn:Β A lot. A lot of it.
Marc Silverstein:Β Yeah. Amyβs funny all the time. Like, not just when sheβs on camera, so itβs definitely-
Abby Kohn: Right. Cracking up the crew.
Marc Silverstein: Yeah. Itβs an entertaining set for sure.
The Knockturnal: How do you think your previous work reflects on the movie?
Marc Silverstein: I mean I think itβs all of our experiences have let up to doing this. For sure. Weβve seen – you know, weβve written a handful of movies that have been made. And weβve seen how certain scenes are shot and work how we saw them. And certain scenes that were shot and donβt work as we saw them. And so – and weβve been on set for movies weβve written and weβve seen the sort of pitfalls. I think we were just extremely prepared to make this movie exactly how we wanted to make it. I think that part of the process was not difficult for us. We were not indecisive in terms of like, how it should be. So I think thatβs a result of our shared experience thus far.
The Knockturnal: What is the main message to take from the film?
Abby Kohn: I mean, for us, I think the overall message is that you don’t really need to change anything. The idea that this radical self confidence can change your life without ever having to really change anything about how you look or who you are; while saying still we understand that this radical self-confidence isn’t easy. Itβs hard. Weβre bombarded with images and social media and weβve all heard things as weβve grown up that have shaped us that donβt always shape us in a great way and itβs not easy to toss all that out and just say βbut Iβm gonna believe in myselfβ. However, I think as a goal, believing that the confidence can change everything without having to change who you are is, I think, a great message.
The Knockturnal: Thatβs extremely commendable.
Abby Kohn:Β Yeah, I mean, I do think – thatβs what we really try to show with Renee; that at the end of it all she got everything she wanted by being absolutely who she was. She didnβt change how she looked; she didnβt change how she acted; she didnβt change who she was; all she changed was believing that she could do it. Thatβs the only thing that changed. And she got everything, you know? So I like that as a goal and a message. For any of us. Not just women; not just people whose self-esteem was affected by their appearance, but everybody, you know?
The Knockturnal: Where did the idea for the premise originate?
Abby Kohn: I mean, it really just originated with an idea that I had that I pitched to Marc about a girl who believes that she has changed into this unbelievably beautiful woman but really, nothing has changed at all. And I kept saying to him – and heβs like βbut when she looks in the mirror?β no, not when she looks in the mirror – itβs just nothing changed. And the more he realized what I was saying heβs like βoh, that could be really funny. A real twist on like, the big storyβ. And then we could take the tropes of those movies and really have fun with them and play with them. And then I think the whole idea of it started to gell for us.
The Knockturnal: I wonβt deny, I tried looking for aesthetic changes. I enjoyed the subversion of the tropes.
Abby Kohn: Yeah. Itβs funny, I mean itβs very subtle. But the changes that we did make to her – we made under her. She started the movie wearing more makeup, and then actually we stripped it down because when she feels like sheβs so beautiful, she doesnβt need anything. She knows she looks good. Which is, I think, itβs the opposite of those kind of makeover movies where they, you know, feel like they have to do all the stuff to themselves. She feels like she has to do nothing to herself which is really another heart of that message.
The Knockturnal: How does it feel having your film on the big screen?
Abby Kohn: It is –
Marc Silverstein:Β Itβs crazy.
Abby Kohn: Itβs surreal. And scary. But really wonderful too. To know that a year ago we just had this script that we really wanted to make. And we were saying to people weβre not gonna sell it unless you let us make it. And we did it. Thatβs amazing.
I Feel Pretty releases April 20th.
