People can’t wait to get out of work. They spend all week powering through long hours just for that glorious 6 p.m. Friday night to come. And sometimes, others can’t wait to go back to work.
Jules Osten and Ben Whittaker are exactly those people. Played by Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro respectively, the two spoke together with writer/director Nancy Meyers about The Internย and what new ideas it brings into today’s technologically based society. The film, which also stars Rene Russo and Adam DeVine, revolves around a fashion site start up created by Jules Olsten (Hathaway) which is moving too fast for Jules and her company to keep up with. This, added with the fact that the company is hosting senior interns (senior citizens; because college seniors still aren’t expected to have any job outlook) provides just the perfect opportunity for Ben to jump in and help Jules out.
The film offered a refreshing look into today’s treatment of people of different ages in society. This truly is a coming of age film, at least for all members of society today. Besides pushing envelopes with gender and age roles, the film itself gives a new look into different relationships and how they all revolve around each other.
The Intern hits theatersย this Friday, and for now, check out our interview with the three below.
How are the issues of gender and age and retirement approached in the film?ย ย ย ย
Nancy Meyers: Well obviously the concept of retirement and that it might happen to you whether or not youโre ready is talked about, and this great desire to be part of things and not to stay pushed aside. I enjoyed enormously all the research I found on start ups and found that whole culture interesting and the fact that Anne plays someone whoโs the founder of a company. I was saying earlier to somebody that when I wrote Baby Boom, it wouldnโt have occurred to me to make her the boss and it wouldnโt have occurred to me when I was writing Anneโs character to make her an employee. So I think the world has changed and Iโve been able to make films over such a long period of time that we can examine the lives of these women who have lives and have children and then I got to look at the stay at home dad. The mom is running a company, a world that all entailsโI totally forgot the question. The primary thing I wanted to write about was the friendship between two people thatโs a love story but in its own way, not a romantic one.
Anne Hathaway: Well obviously age and gender and I think one of the things that Nancyโs done in this movie and what sheโs done in her career is paint things that we feel via humor, via emotion, and just live our lives. And in this case in particular, she usually has a knack for getting there first and making observations and in this case, I think the observations sheโs made about generational humor is sheโs really gotten there before the pulse and before other people. And this isnโt an issue about the movie, itโs just something that I love about the movie that I feel I can go to see with any of my friends. I have friends who are twenty years old and I have friends who are 83 years old and Iโd love to see it with them. Iโd love to see this movie with my parents and I donโt think that weโve had a movie in a long time that can appeal to everybody specifically of any age and whether they can find humor in it.
Robert De Niro: Well I was honored and flattered that Nancy asked me to be in the movie and reading that script, I read it and liked it a lot. I think everybody said it: it deals with whatโs going on today and the whole me part about being the intern is what is interesting and fun. I suppose that is all I would say. I mean she dealt with the issues at handโ
NM: No, youโre right. Having Ben in your life, thereโs a void for her, in her life.
Robert, do you see this as a revelation for baby boomers in that thereโs more afterwards, and for Nancy and Anne, it seems as if youโre suggesting itโs lonely at the top.
RD: Yeah thatโs a good way, but I think it is her love letter us guys to our generation or our people. Itโs fun and I hope that itโs seen by a bunch of people, because itโs fun, this movie. We do tendโwe feel that if youโre a certain age, people arenโt relevant and youโre much older and thatโs just not the case. And people who are aware and sensitive to that and younger certainly realize that and when you get to that age you certainly know it. And thereโs a lot of times you donโt know it until you get there, but thereโs a lot of people there so hopefully youโll see the movie.
NM: You know I never would have thought of that. When you said that, I thought, โWow, thatโs interesting that you noticed that.โ It never struck me as any kind of loneliness as it did knowing what I knowโlike any many at this company would needโand I donโt necessary think itโs because sheโs female, itโs just that when youโre taking on a big thing like that, itโs you. Youโre a one man or one woman band so I didnโt think it was lonely.
AH: Itโs so good to hear you say that because I was thinking, โI donโt know how to answer that. Am I a bad actor?โ I thought it was not of a gender issue but I think itโs because Jules is a private person. And I think that she is so dedicated to her company and that anything to her personal life will impact her ability to do her job and keep the company going and she doesnโt really have anyone to confide in. And then she meets Ben and their relationship develops organically and she ends up taking to him and really really liking him and opening up to him and taking his advice because heโs very sound. And like I said, itโs not a force that happens organically, I just think sheโs more isolated because of what Nancy said, because of her position. And one of the things I like about this movie is that Jules has so much heart and so much structure and she has bonesโthereโs no connective tissue in it and no one at the company knows how to build the connective tissue and thatโs when Ben comes in and he kinda gets everyone to connect to each other. And I just loved that in this day of age when we have the tools of communication at a disposal and that weโre using them in such a way thatโs itโs not taking full advantage of them or maybe weโre taking full advantage of them but itโs not as effective as having a one on one conversation. So I thought it was a great observation of how new school meets old school and they just make better the other.
For DeNiro, youโre such a great mentor to Anne in the movie, did you have any sort of mentor, and second, are you as technically challenged as Ben is in the movie?
RD: Iโm a little less technically challenged but Iโm not far behind. But I never had a mentor like thatโI donโt envy but I do think itโs a great thing if you are lucky enough, especially in a certain intangible situations, you will have a mentor that will change your life and they canโt do that. I didnโt imagine myself in a lot of ways. And I like to give advice to young people if they ask me. I have in times asked people further on in their careers and certain actors who are generations older than me and Iโd ask them questions about what to look out for, blah blah blah, and all their experiences. I wanted to take a short cut in some things, I didnโt want to do something I donโt want toโitโs going to be a negative one. I just want advice. So I do that if young people ask meโI donโt volunteer it but Iโm sort of there if somebody sometimes asks me stuff on my opinion on situations.
Has this movie made you change the way you treat your interns if you have any?
RD: Well I had interns that I now work for. They were very respectful and never forgot where they were working before. So itโs nice, Iโm very proud of them, itโs great. Tribeca after all these years, itโs a wonderful thing.
NM: One of my interns is in the movie. The kind of scrappy kid who sits to Bobโs right, he was my intern in Itโs Complicated. I think, unconsciously I was kinda writing him, I wasnโt fully aware of it until I emailed him one day and said โCan you act?โ That was the subject line, I didnโt actually write him an email. He was pretty good right? Heโs never acted before.
AH: I donโt have an intern, because Iโm not themโIโm not that impressive. But I was on a photoshoot recently and I was greeted at the top of the day when I arrived at the photoshoot by an intern. I think because of our movie, I went a little bit out of the way to pay her some extra attention and ask her questions about who she was, why she was doing this, where she wants to go. And then I thought I was doing something so nice and I was like, โHey I have a playlist ready to go, can you be on the music and weโll be in synergy and you play this song and that songโ and she was like, โOf course.โ And I didnโt realize the sound system was impossible to work and every time she had to leap from iPod to iPod, she had to do that for some reason, it would create the most horrible screech throughout the entire sound system and everybody was kinda annoyed at the sound she was making. So I was trying to do a good thing for her and, oh, I made a mess.
How was it like working with Nancy and share what you admire about her?
RD: Well NancyโIโm used to doing movies that took as much time as our movie did. Iโm from that generationโI donโt know, but itโs certain types of big movies like science fiction or those types of movies. But Nancy was very specific, great as far as telling us, a lot of takes at times but she was very specific and knew what she wanted and I totally get that and understand it and it was terrific. These days, movies donโt have the luxury of extremely long shoots or high budgets unless you kinda find yourself there because you have to finish it and itโs going to take longer than you hoped it would. But anyways, she was terrific, bottom line.
How long was the schedule?
RD: About 15 weeks.
NM: Half as long as to what Iโm used to. But twice as long as other movies. So for me, I was racing on rollerblades the entire time.
AH: So you look at Nancy and you see this tiny adorable woman with awesome hair. And I donโt know, at least at first glance, I had no idea the tenacious uncompromising inexhaustible powerhouse that she is. I am so lucky that I got to work with her on this. The collaborationโitโs true though, I admire you so much, even more so, itโs beyond. When we started, I saw the character in two different ways, and I wanted her to be wearing her stress more on her sleeve and Nancy wanted Jules to have a little more together. And I had this moment where, โOk, we see it different ways, am I going to go uncomfortably the entire time if I donโt follow my instincts and Iโm thinking the entire time, โIdiot, who knows a Nancy Meyers character better than Nancy Meyers. These characters are beloved by you, trust her.โ So it became this exercise in being guided through a character which was very new for me. So I felt like it was a true collaboration and Nancy is the funniest person Iโve met, I think sheโs the smartest person in any room sheโs ever been in and I imagine having been a woman in this industry for the last thirty years, itโs not easy being the smartest person in the room and being a woman but she lives it with tremendous grace. And I think sheโs underrated and I hope this movie is such a global hit because she deserves it.
NM: Thatโs the nicest thing anybodyโs ever said about me.ย I love you so much. It makes it easy thoughโI have to say one thing. But these two actors are great people. So when youโre surrounded by great people, they make you better and they allow you to express yourself all the time and theyโre open. Like I was saying to Bob the other time, he feels safe and thatโs what you want. Why donโt we make a movie to feel safe and get what we need so they allowed me to do my work in that itโs up on the screen for what we in that short amount of fifteen weeks, that was barely there as far as I was concerned.
