At this year's Toronto Film Festival, I was able to speak with The Duplass Brothers (Cyrus) about their new comedy Jeff, Who Lives At Home. The film stars Jason Segel, Ed Helms, Judy Greer, Susan Sarandon and Rae Dawn Chong.  The story centers on Jeff (Segel), a stay-at-home son who loves M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs.  While out on an errand for his mother (Sarandon), he gets an epiphany about his destiny and decides to see where it takes him.  I caught a screening after doing the interview and thought it was great.

During the interview, the brothers talked about what it's like to premiere at TIFF instead of Sundance, the connection between Jeff, Who Lives at Home and M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs, how much of the film was scripted versus improvised, editing, video games, karaoke, and they also talked about future projects like The Do-Deca-Pentathalon.  Hit the jump to watch.  Jeff, Who Lives at Home gets released March 2, 2012.

jeff-who-lives-at-home-image Jason Segel

Finally, click here for all of our Toronto International Film Festival reviews and interviews.

Duplass Brothers Time Index

  • :25 What is their go-to karaoke song?
  • 1:55 What’s the last video game they played? Talk about classic games and the slippery slope of video game addiction.
  • 3:43 Talk about TIFF and what it’s like to premiere a film at the festival. Talk about the differences between TIFF and Sundance.
  • 5:21 Will the film also play at Sundance? Talk about the message they’re trying to send out with the movie and how they want to describe it to audiences.
  • 6:43 Talk about the connection between Jeff Who Lives at Home and M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs.
  • 9:17 How many takes do they usually do, and how much is improvised? Talk about their documentary-style approach to filming and how they don’t block scenes out.
  • 10:37 Talk about the filmmaking differences between Jeff, Who Lives at Home and Cyrus.
  • 11:22 How long does it normally take them to edit?
  • 12:56 Do they have a drawer full of ideas that they just choose from each time they decide to make a project?
  • 13:40 Talk about future projects. They’ve already shot The Do-Deca-Pentathlon that will come out next, and they’re doing script punch-up and rewrite work on some bigger Hollywood movies.
JEFF, WHO LIVES AT HOME Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass

 

JEFF WHO LIVES AT HOME Jason Segel, Ed Helms