Interview (Written): Mike Birbiglia (“Don’t Think Twice”)
A Movie Maker interview with Don’t Think Twice writer, director, and actor Mike Birbiglia. Well known for his monologues and appearances on the NPR radio show “This American Life,” Birbiglia’s other screenwriting credit is the movie Sleepwalk with Me.
Here is the IMDb plot summary for Don’t Think Twice: “When a member of a popular New York City improv troupe gets a huge break, the rest of the group — all best friends — start to realize that not everyone is going to make it after all.”
Andy Young, MovieMaker Magazine (MM): You have this really talented cast at the top of their game but at varying levels of improv experience, so I’m really curious about the rehearsal process.
Mike Birbiglia (MB): Well, it was two weeks of improv workshops. Liz Allen was our coach; she has written a couple books about improv and studied with Del Close in Chicago. For some of us, like Keegan [Michael-Key], Chris [Gethard] and Tami [Sagher] it was a refresher, for others like Kate [Micucci] and Gillian [Jacobs], it was from scratch. The group really coalesced right away; I would send them these emails where I’d say like, “Guys, this is gonna be like college. This is gonna be like when you auditioned for your first play, or your first improv group or whatever. We’re gonna all come at this in a really pure way, like a ‘clear-eyes, full-hearts’ kind of way.” They all did it, and I’m so lucky. I don’t know if I’ll ever get a cast this great again.
(L-R): Kate Micucci, Mike Birbiglia, Keegan-Michael Key, Chris Gethard, Tami Sagher and Gillian Jacobs in Don’t Think Twice
MM: I want to ask this question specifically about directing comedy films. What advice to you have to directors that want to do comedy? Because to me, that’s way harder than drama.
MB: I believe it is. For me, it’s all about the reality of a situation. If you watch Spinal Tap, for example, there’s this believability of, “Wait, are those actual roadies?” That plays into the camerawork, and it plays into the acting, and it plays into all the departments. To me, the more real you make your movie, the funnier it will be. It’s like you want audiences to be so pained by the reality, to the degree to which it feels like their life, that they’re laughing. You know, if there’s one thing that I feel like is a growth from Sleepwalk with Me to Don’t Think Twice is that Sleepwalk is about basically a single protagonist, and this is about six characters. I always said to the actors on set, “Best-case scenario, people watch this in France, and they go, ‘Let’s go to New York and see [fictional troupe] The Commune.’” It’s like they think this fake improv group is real. Because I love it when you see like a Japanese film or something and you go, “These are the people, right?” Even like The Lego Movie is a good example; the actors play it very real. And in 21 Jump St., which is another Lord and Miller movie, a lot of my favorite stuff in that movie is the incredulous looks from Jonah Hill. Comedy is all about the reaction shot, and the air you give those moments.
Here is a trailer for Don’t Think Twice:
Here is an interview with Birbiglia and one of the movie’s producers Ira Glass:
Mike Birbiglia and Ira Glass - Interview
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For more of the interview, go here.
Movie website here.
Twitter: @birbigs, @moviemakermag.