Opening this Friday is The Last Mimzy. If youâve been reading the site for awhile youâll think hasnât Frosty already interviewed Rainn for this film at Sundance and didnât he post a video interview? The answer is yes and if you happened to have missed it you can check it out here.
If you are not familiar with the movie here is the synopsis (from the studio) after a few words from me.
Iâve gotten a few emails about why Iâm posting the straight synopsis and hereâs the answer. The people who made the film have already written a good summary of what the film is about so why should I spend time trying to re-word it? I run the site on my own and I only have so much time in the dayâ¦I figure it would be better to use it posting more content and not re-writing stuff thatâs already goodâ¦
Based on the acclaimed sci-fi short story by Lewis Padgett, The Last Mimzy tells the story of two children who discover a mysterious box that contains some strange devices they think are toys. As the children play with these âtoys,â they begin to display higher and higher intelligence levels. Their teacher tells their parents that they seem to have grown beyond genius. Their parents, too, realize something extraordinary is happening. Emma, the younger of the two, tells her confused mother that one of the toys, a beat-up stuffed toy rabbit, is named Mimzy and that âshe teaches me things.â Emmaâs mom becomes increasingly concerned. When a mysterious blackout shuts down the city and the government traces the source of the power surge to this one familyâs house, things quickly spin wildly out of their control. The children are focused on these strange objects, Mimzy, and the important mission on which they seem to have been sent. When the little girl says that Mimzy contains a most serious message from the future, a scientific scan shows that Mimzy is part extremely high level electronic and part organic! Everyone realizes that they are involved in something incredibleâ¦but exactly what?
Iâm a big fan of Rainn and I think his work on The Office is always brilliant. He has a lot of interesting things to say but I especially liked hearing him talk about hosting Saturday Night Live â which he had done less than a week before we did the roundtable.
If you would like to listen to the interview you can download the MP3 here, otherwise the transcript is below.
And if you want to watch the trailer before reading the interview click here.
The Last Mimzy opens this Friday at theaters everywhere.
Question: What are your thoughts on the spiritual aspects of this film?
Rainn Wilson: I actually have spiritual beliefs that are very important to me, and I grew up a member of the Bahaâi Faith. It was one of the things that drew me to this project, in reading the script and seeing the spiritual and metaphysical journey that the story takes, as well as the science fiction and adventure journey. Thatâs such a rare thing in a
Q: Did you want to be a part of something for an audience that is younger than who sees most of your stuff?
RW: No, I didnât really look at it that way. I think that I just really responded to the story. I didnât really think about it as a family film, or that I should expand my horizons to incorporate a family audience. Last hiatus, after that season of âThe Office,â I was offered a number of projects that were very broadly comic and, after playing Dwight for eight or nine months, I just didnât really feel like doing that. I wanted to try something different and play a real character. Although heâs eccentric, heâs a real three-dimensional person that you can picture really living in the real world.
Q: Was it daunting to have Bob Shaye as a director, and as head of the studio?
RW: It wasnât daunting to me. I donât really care about that. If I did a bad job and he never hired me again, Iâd just get work somewhere else. Iâm fine. Iâve got a TV show. [Laughs] I just didnât know his work as a director, so that was a little bit scary for me. He directed this one other film, called âThe Book of Love,â a long time ago, and I actually had a friend in that film -- John Cameron Mitchell, the creator of âHedwig and the Angry Inch.â I called John and said, âSo, whatâs Bob Shaye like?,â and he gave me the story of Bob Shaye and said, âUltimately, heâs a good guy and a smart guy, and heâll treat you well.â So, that lead me to sign up for the project.
Q: We heard that there was a little bit more to your romantic scenes in the film. Do you remember anything more?
RW: Yeah, I think I get it on with Kathryn Hahn. I think they cut out after a kiss, but we had a scene when she took her clothes off, and I was in bed. That scene continued.
Q: Was there anything else of yours that didnât make it into the final cut?
RW: Yes, my ass did not make it into the final cut. They had to CGI underwear onto me, when I had the pajamas and I was walking to the refrigerator to get the chocolate cake. [Laughs] For real. I like the opportunity to take my clothes off, especially for comedic effect. Anytime they need a laugh on âThe Office,â they ask me to just take my shirt off. âLetâs just get Dwight to take his shirt off.â[Laughs] So, I have no problem getting naked, but apparently that has been taken out. But, I think most of my stuff is in the film.
Q: What was it like hosting âSaturday Night Liveâ? Was it like what you expected? How receptive were they to your ideas?
RW: It was an amazing experience. I canât even say that doing âSaturday Night Liveâ was a dream come true âcause it was never even a dream that was on my radar. I never thought I would be hosting âSaturday Night Live.â I grew up watching Buck Henry and Steve Martin hosting, and I just never thought that would be me. But, it was a great experience. Itâs exhilarating and terrifying, but they kept saying, âMake sure you have fun. Thatâs the most important thing. Thatâs whatâs really going to read to the audience.â And, I think I was able to have fun. We did a spoof on âBlack Snake Moanâ called âWhite Possum Scream,â [laughs] and it was a long scene. It was a 7-page scene, and they kept wanting to cut it. I kept fighting with Lorne (Michaels) about it. I was like, âTrust me, on this one. If Iâm in my tighty whities, on a chain, being held by a black man, writhing around, itâs going to be funny.â [Laughs] So, I fought for that to stay in. They were open to my ideas. I had a lot of ideas about the sketches I was in, that I think helped them.
Q: How was the experience of doing live TV? Is that something youâre comfortable with?
RW: Itâs terrifying, man. Itâs unbelievable. Those lights pop on, on the cameras, and you know that what you say is being heard, that second, by millions of people. I donât even think âSaturday Night Liveâ has a delay on it. I donât think they do âcause every once in awhile the F-word leaks out. Itâs terrifying. When I did Bill Maher, it was terrifying, in the same way. That was even scarier because I was talking about politics, in which Iâm not really that adept. But, it was a great experience. I feel like now I can do anything. You feel like, once youâve done that, you can do anything. You really do.
Q: Would you like to do more live theater?
RW: I started in the theater, for eight or nine years before I did any TV or film, in
Q: Are there any surprises left in Dwight, or is it very comfortable at this point?
RW: Thatâs an excellent question. The struggle is to not go on auto pilot with him, and to try to challenge myself to find different ways to allow his character and his comedy to come through the material. Iâve got several years more of playing that big, annoying dufus, so Iâve got to find ways to keep me interested in it and to keep having new surprises coming from him.
Q: When does your season wrap for âThe Officeâ?
RW: In about three or four more weeks.
Q: Do you have anything special planned for the finale?
RW: I think thereâs a one-hour finale.
Q: Have you thought about what youâre going to be filming this summer?
RW: Yeah, Iâll definitely be filming, I think, two movies this summer. But, weâre in negotiations, so weâll have to see what those are yet. It hasnât been finalized.
Q: When you were a kid, or a teen, did you like science fiction or fantasy films?
RW: I think the first movie I ever went to was â2001: A Space Odyssey.â I was 5 or 6 years old and my dad took me. It was terrifying. I had nightmares about that baby coming over the earth for the rest of my life. [Laughs] I love science fiction movies. I loved â
Q: Did you grow up in
RW: Yeah.
Q: Doesnât
RW: It does. [Laughs] Itâs a gorgeous substitute for
Q: How do you feel, as a
RW: I feel fine about that. Itâs a lot cheaper to film there, what can you say? I love the city of
Q: Do you have any kids?
RW: I do. I have a son whoâs 2 ½.
RW: Yeah, definitely. I donât think itâs a film for kids under 8 or 9.
Q: As all of your âOfficeâ co-stars go off to do movies, when you come back to do the show, do you notice a difference in skills or styles?
RW: No. The main change thatâs happened for all of us, since weâve gotten famous and since the success of the show and the addition of movies, just has to do with time and energy. Thereâs just a lot more demands on your time. Thereâs a lot more press and photo shoots and movies and rewrites and meetings, and stuff like that. I have one day off in the month of March. March 10th is my day off, so donât ask anything of me on March 10th. [Laughs] Thatâs one of the challenges. When you read stuff about celebrities and how theyâre bitches, you realizes that thereâs so many demands put on people and so many requests. And then, you have old friends writing and they want you to send head shots or they want you to host a charity event, and you donât want to let them down. You want to keep everyone happy, but itâs hard. But, itâs great. Iâm not complaining. Itâs definitely a dream come true.
Q: Have you directed an episode of âThe Officeâ? Do you even want to go in that direction?
Q: How much of that is ad-libbed between you and Steve Carrell, and all of the other cast members, and how much do you really stick to the script?
RW: The scripts are really brilliant, so weâre fortunate to have really great writing. I would say that what you see is about 3/4 scripted, and about 1/4 ad-libbed.
Q: Did you watch the British show? There was worry that we wouldnât like it because the British version is so good, but you really took it and made it your own.
RW: I was always a big fan of the fact that there was going to be an American âOffice.â I loved the English âOffice,â but the English âOfficeâ was like a mini-series. We adapted an English mini-series for American television. Itâs a very different thing. They made 13 episodes. Weâre on our 50th episode right now, already, and weâre not even half-way done. I just thought there was always a great deal of potential in the show and, when I met Greg Daniels and saw how passionate he was about it, and his intelligence and sense of humor, I knew we were in good hands. I was always a believer.
Q: Have you ever had a boss like Michael, or would you want a boss like Michael?
RW: Iâve had bosses worse than Michael. People are always like, âI donât believe Michael Scott would be the boss at that company,â and itâs like, âDude, I have worked for people so much worse than he is, so much less funny and more boorish and domineering.â Theyâre out there.
Q: Do you think that adults and kids, in this modern world, have lost their sense of wonder?
RW: I think what drew me to the story of âThe Last Mimzyâ is that the children go on this metaphysical journey that ends up saving mankind. Weâre at a crossroads right now where we, as humans, can choose to destroy our planet and destroy ourselves, or we can unite and spiritually transform the planet into the paradise that it was meant to be. I think this movie has a lot of resonances and I think people are really going to respond to this film. Itâs going to last a long time. I donât know about opening weekends, and stuff like that, but when people see it and pass it on, itâs going to really be a small classic.
Q: Were you interested in the science in this, either from a research perspective or just for your own curiosity?
RW: Yeah. I guess I was most interested in how DNA works. I didnât know you could be carrying junky DNA and that toxins can affect your DNA, and how that works. I still donât quite understand it, but itâs pretty amazing what can happen in the future with genetic modification, and stuff like that. But, I do believe that the impurities of today -- mental, spiritual and physical -- are going to take their toll on the planet.
Q: What did you think about working with these kids?
RW: Donât print this, but they are horrible. [Laughs] They were great. They didnât have much experience, but theyâre both naturals. It was really fun. We goofed off a lot. We had a great time. We really did.
Q: Did you ad-lib any of the funny lines in this film?
RW: I think so, yeah. I seem to remember doing ad-libbing. You canât stop me from ad-libbing. Itâs kind of what I do. Itâs kind of what I bring to the equation. Iâm just going to say what pops into my head. I try to stay in character and stick to the story.
Q: Were you in Julie Taymorâs âTitusâ?
RW: I was in the stage production, yes.
Q: Did you end up in the meat pie, or were you alive at the end?
RW: I ended up falling into a pit and having my head cut off, not dissimilar from my end in the Rob Zombie masterpiece âHouse of 1,000 Corpses.â [Laughs] Julie Taymor and Rob Zombie. I was clubbed to death by Scarecrow and sawed in half, and my torso was attached to a fishâs tail. I was turned into fish boy. That was my first leading role in
Q: Whatâs the origin of your name?
RW: Kind of crazy bohemian parents, living in