Interview (Written): Tess Morris (“Man Up”)

An Indiewire interview with Tess Morris, screenwriter of the new romantic comedy Man Up, starring Lake Bell and Simon Pegg.

It feels like every few months, there’s some kind of article about the death of the rom-com…
And then the rise of the rom-com! And then the death again.

What do you think has led people to think that the genre’s been in trouble?
I think sometimes people forget that they’re watching a rom-com. “Silver Linings Playbook,” that’s a massive, massive rom-com that won Oscars and did incredibly well at the box office, but people weirdly didn’t put it into a romantic comedy bracket. Maybe because of the Oscars, it became “a proper film.”

It became An Oscar Movie.
Yes, exactly, rather than a romantic comedy. Similarly something like “Crazy Stupid Love,” which I thought was brilliant, didn’t get tagged in the genre, because it had Steve Carell and Julianne Moore. “Oh, so it’s a serious movie that was funny as well.” Well, no, it’s a romantic comedy! It’s endlessly fascinating to me why people dismiss it as a genre. There are good ones and there are bad ones, just like every single genre in film history. You never get people going “Oh, I don’t like thrillers” or “I don’t like dramas.” But it’s a complex thing, I think everyone’s been trying to remake “When Harry Met Sally” for the last 25 years. And some people have succeeded, and some have not. I’m not blaming “When Harry Met Sally,” I’m very glad it exists, but I think people forget that just as much work should go into a romantic comedy as any other film. You don’t just have a man or a woman want to get together with someone, and then do. It’s not enough.

For the rest of the interview, go here.