THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU directed by Shawn Levy, written by Jonathan Tropper from his novel, with Tina Fey, Jason Bateman, Corey Stoll and Adam Driver. A Warner Bros. release. 103 minutes. Opens Friday (September 19). For venues and times, see listings.
You’d think Tina Fey and Jason Bateman in person would be pretty amusing together.
You’d be right.
During their TIFF round table, Bateman and Fey, stars of This Is Where I Leave You, are bantering as if they’re doing stage shtick.
Bateman starts out thoughtful enough, commenting on how his wry, sarcastic character in the dramedy is starting to turn into something people expect of him.
“Can I chime in here?” says the diminutive Fey, surprisingly soft-spoken.
“Make sure it’s complimentary,” Bateman warns.
“When you need somebody to be the emotional centre of the piece,” Fey goes on, “there’s an intelligence he has to project, a warmth and a likeability for the audience to identify with.”
She pauses.
“Jason has two of those things.”
This gets a laugh from the usually hard-to-please journalists at the table.
Both actors were impressed with down-to-earth icon Jane Fonda, who plays their mother.
“The most impressive thing about it is that she was a working actor and [behaved just like another] member of the ensemble,” Fey remarks. “You know what they say you’re supposed to do: ‘Love the art in yourself and not yourself in the art.'”
She turns to Bateman
“Have you ever heard that?”
“Uh, no,” he says.
“It’s the Stanislavski method.”
“Is that the composer?”
Getting serious for a second, Bateman adds, “Fonda’s got a great spirit and no real vanity. There’s no separation between cast and crew. Everyone’s working together on the film, and she just happened to have a speaking role.”
Of all the siblings in the movie clan, Bateman says he identifies most with the character he plays.
“I like to pick parts that are closest to me. I don’t like to break a sweat while I’m working,” he deadpans.
Fey, on the other hand, liked playing a character unlike herself.
“She’s a woman who doesn’t work, which I found fascinating. The costume designer gave me a lot of jewellery to wear – like what a woman wears? – and at the end of the day, I’d be taking it off and thinking, ‘So much jewellery, like, two earrings.'”
She’s not saying where she’ll put her professional focus in future, on writing, producing or acting.
“I don’t have a master plan. I go thing by thing. It’s about whether this sounds like a movie I’d want to see, [made] with people I’d like to spend time with. If I’m gonna be spending time away from my family, I want to know who’s gonna be there.
“Is anyone gonna be yelling? Cuz then I’m out. Is anyone gonna be sweating off booze in the morning?
“I’m not into that either.”
Interview Clips
Fey on Jane Fonda auditing an acting class:
Fey on shooting inside one house:
Bateman on film vs TV:
susanc@nowtoronto.com | @susangcole
