Kutcher praised Novak’s New Yorker takes Texas piece for “doing a pretty excellent job of portraying all sides, listening and finding each other’s humanity, in a manner that you don’t really see.”
With Vengeance, B.J. Novak makes his directorial debut in addition to starring as a New York journalist who goes to Texas to look into the murder of a lady he had previously hooked up with. This follows a successful acting and writing career. He launches a podcast along the journey to recount the tale, and after being accepted into the woman’s family, who believe the two were in a committed relationship, he learns about Texas culture.
At the Los Angeles premiere of the movie on Monday, Novak explained to The Hollywood Reporter how she came up with the idea. “In these times where we’re disconnected from each other, when friendship and dating and LOL and all of these things are completely different in our phones than in real life, we think we’re connected when we’re not,” she said. “I reasoned that given what the whole nation is going through right now, it would make for a terrific comedy as well as a drama. It turned into a means of expanding the scope of the observational humour about America.
For his first time directing a feature picture, Novak said he was most inspired by Quentin Tarantino, with whom he co-wrote Inglourious Basterds, and Saving Mr. Banks director John Lee Hancock, for how he “gets everyone enthused about his vision so they can feel like part of it.”
And it seems to have paid off since Ashton Kutcher praised Novak’s behind-the-scenes efforts, saying, “If he phones me tomorrow and says, “Let’s do this thing,” I’m doing it.”
Kutcher said the script for Vengeance was one of the best he’d read in the past ten years and explored “this fracture that is in the country of the coasts and the middle and how far apart people think their ideologies are when really they’re much closer than people want to imagine.” Kutcher plays a Texas record producer whom Novak’s character meets during his investigation.
The actor said, “It’s so much simpler to play these identity politics games and demonise everyone who disagrees with you than to hear their point of view and then attempt to see their humanity. “In a manner that you don’t really see, I believe this movie does a pretty fantastic job of portraying both sides listening to one other and recognising each other’s humanity. The idea that this movie could represent both this philosophy and that ideology is an astounding effort that B.J. accomplished.
Along with casting a star-studded ensemble that included Kutcher, Issa Rae, Boyd Holbrook, Dove Cameron, and J. Smith-Cameron, Novak also enlisted longtime buddy John Mayer for a cameo appearance. When the filmmaker recommended it, the singer was eager to accept.
Joining the initiative is not even an option, according to Mayer. “I know [Novak] wouldn’t simply think of me randomly, so [he has] a very solid reason,” she said. I’ll carry it out. As Mayer said, “If it was simply a screenplay I don’t believe he would have been satisfied with my job, but we got to goof around genuinely. “, the two were able to have fun throughout the majority of their sequences. We probably worked on it for three to four hours before realising that it was enjoyable after about an hour.
Did John Mayer, a movie star, develop a yearning as a result of what he saw on screen? Just a fun journey, that’s all. I get to go on amazing trips, all of these things are adventures,” he remarked. I simply follow where my excitement leads me, so I never quite know where I’ll show up.
The original soundtrack for the movie was composed by Finneas O’Connell, a famous producer who is also Billie Eilish’s brother, and Mayer’s other contribution to the movie was to link Novak with O’Connell, something the musician had long wanted to accomplish.
It was enjoyable for him and Novak to be gazing at one other and sighing, “I don’t know, what do you think we should do?” as they both played their parts for the first time. It became a pretty intriguing experience as a result. Finneas, who featured on Glee before getting his big break, said it’s possible that Mayer’s acting job motivated him to also appear on camera. He added, “I love acting and I’m happy to return to it at some time with the right project and right character.”
The national release of Vengeance is this Friday.
