Almost a month ago I had the opportunity of participating in a roundtable interview with writer Tucker Max and the film’s co-writer Nils Parker to discuss I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell. Tucker Max if of course the man behind the bestselling book, a popular blog, and he also had a hand in the script. With that said, you’re probably already aware of his work. Here’s what Tucker and Nils had to say about their recently released film.
Considering you guys are doing this tour it seems as if you’re going for word-of-mouth as a big marketing push, is that the main intent of this tour?
Tucker Max: Well, the way I see it is that there’s no stronger or better marketing tool than word-of-mouth. We feel like we’ve made a great movie and all we have to do is get it in front of people and have them tell their friends to go see it. They can leverage the tools to do that online with Facebook and Twitter. It’s not the only marketing tool we’re using since the movie is still a month away from release and most movies don’t start seriously marketing until about three weeks out. All the commercials and newspaper ads are still coming. To me, if you think you got a good movie then the best thing you can do is let people talk about it. No one believes media anymore, because media lies to them all the time but you’ll believe your friends. If your friends tell that a movie is great then you’re going to go see it. All we have to do is get people to see it and tell their friends.
Could you talk about the pros and cons of working outside the studio and with independent financing?
Nils Parker: The biggest con is instant legitimacy, because if you work inside then you have legitimacy. Working there you get more marketing money and you’re in all the AMC and Regal theaters right away. The major pro of working outside the Hollywood system is artistic integrity. You get to make the movie that you intended to make and you don’t have to swallow your pride by taking stupid notes from stupid executives who have never written a word in their life. You can also make sure the words written on page will transcend to screen the way they need to be translated. We’re almost at the end of August and we’ve had like two comedies — nothing funny is being made since people are forced to work inside the Hollywood system. If you can raise your own money, find people who support you and be dedicated to the art then you can make the funniest thing you can possibly make.
So you weren’t a fan of The Hangover?
Nils Parker: The Hangover is funny and it’s totally fine…
Tucker Max: I think for what it is it’s a great example of… it’s probably one of the best comedies you could make in that genre in a studio system.
Nils Parker: You also have to realize that Tod Phillips is not a first time director. If that was going to be his first movie then that never would have been made. He had Old School under him so he had proven himself already. If you were a first time director in the studio system then everyone is going to tell you don’t know what you’re doing and you have to do it our way. With that type of pressure you end up with a weak comedy which is half of the comedies you see every year.
Tucker, could you talk about the challenges of adapting your own work?
Tucker Max: You should probably ask Nils about that (laughs).
Nils Parker: Yeah, because originally he was so attached to the stories. When you have to adapt… When you have a normal screenplay you have about one-hundred pages so every word and plot choice has to matter. You can’t just throw something in because you think it’s funny in another medium. It took a while, but finally he understood for this movie to be a cohesive narrative that things were going to have to change, go out or add things you never intended. With that, you end up having the best adaptation of the book. We did ourselves and the movie a great service by breaking it down and saying this will make it better.
Tucker Max: My short answer to that question is that I brought him onboard to do that since he’s a better writer than me (laughs).
A lot of writers have felt burned or disappointed with their work being adapted. You seem the opposite. With having such a great experience would you consider working on more films?
Tucker Max: At the end of the day, I feel like we’ve made the best movie we could make with the budget we had and the time we had. Yeah dude, it was a great process… What was the other question you had? I lost track (laughs).
Would you consider working on more films?
Tucker Max: Of course, I mean we have sequels planned. If this thing does really well and if audiences love it then they’ll want more and we’ll do more. There’s no question in my mind that two will be better than one if we do a second one, because we have learned so much on this first process. As good as this is, I feel like we can do so much better — so much better.
Nils, I heard you say that you’d be interested in possibly shooting the sequel with the Red One camera. What do you think that could bring to the sequel that 35 mm can’t?
Nils Parker: Cost, but it goes deeper than that. You can’t buy the cameras on which you shoot 35 mm, because they have their fucking hands around it in a way that to buy it would cost two-hundred and fifty-thousand dollars. They won’t sell it and the cost of renting them is so far beyond buying one. That price difference is the difference between a better location, better wardrobe, and bigger lights and if you want that crane shot then you got it. That’s the real difference and you’ll see that with Red One when it really starts to kick in. You’re going to see really well shot Hollywood level cinematic achievements with that camera which you can easily hold.
