At the recent press day for The Way, Way Back, we landed an exclusive video interview with writer-directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash. The film marks their directorial debut, and centers on a 14-year-old boy (Liam James) who spends his summer vacation bonding with the manager of a water park (Sam Rockwell) while staying with his mother (Toni Collette) and her overbearing boyfriend (Steve Carell). For more on the film, watch the trailer. The film also stars Maya Rudolph, Rob Corddry, Zoe Levin, AnnaSophia Robb, and Amanda Peet.
During the interview they talked about transitioning from acting to writing/directing, how this project came together, filming in Massachusetts, Dunkin’ Donuts, if they made any changes since premiering at Sundance, the editing process, what they collect, cartoons, future projects, and more. In addition, they reveal they're working on a few scripts where they hope to take the same character-driven, ensemble approach but apply it to a different genre. Hit the jump to watch.
- 0:23 – The transition from acting to writing/directing
- 1:52 – How did they choose this movie for their directing debut?
- 2:58 – If one of the reasons they chose to film in Massachusetts was because there’s a Dunkin’ Donuts on every corner.
- 3:21 – Other than Dunkin’ Donuts, why they chose to shoot in Massachusetts
- 5:05 – What they know now that they wish they had known before going into production
- 6:50 – Any changes from the Sundance cut to the theatrical cut
- 7:14 – The length of the first cut
- 8:16 – Anything from the script that had to be cut due to the tight production schedule
- 9:30 – The approach they had to their careers following the success of the film at Sundance
- 11:34 – Taking the same character-driven, ensemble approach but applying it to a different tone or genre
- 12:49 – What Rash collects or geeks out over
- 14:32 – The cartoons Rash grew up on
- 15:21 – What Faxon collects/geeks out over
- 16:23 – Working titles for their current projects
