Big Jerk
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mbellerbrock — 16 years ago(December 12, 2009 11:19 AM)
Ha, Jason discussed this very message board on a Slashfilmcast on December 10, 2009.
You can listen to the whole thing here:
http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/12/11/an-evening-with-jason-reitman-dire ctor-of-juno5b4-and-up-in-the-air-the-filmcast-after-dark-ep-79/
He was addressing fan questions straight from the live chatroom. It's at 1:37:03, since I don't expect many people to listen to the whole thing, I will transcribe it word for word.
Reading the question straight from the chatroom to himself:
"Did you see
Let The Right One In
?
Uh, Yes, in fact, I saw
Let The Right One In
in Detroit and it got written up on IMDb. This is another internet story about why I'm an a$$hole, umm, that I'd like to address now. This is good, I'm getting an opportunity to explain various stories that have happened. So I was in Detroit, and it was the day before the first day of shooting on
Up in the Air
and my first AD (Ed. note, Assistant Director) said, 'hey do you want to go see
Let The Right One In
? It's playing at 4 o'clock in this theater down in Ann Arbor.' And I thought, 'yeah that sounds like a lot of fun, I've heard this movie is amazing, let's go.' So we drive down to Ann Arbor, which is a bit of a drive. And we get to this theater that I actually did a Q and A at once for
Juno
, and I go in and get a ticket for a movie and find out the movie is not playing at 4 o'clock, it's playing later that night at a time when we were supposed to have some kind of like meeting before the first day of shooting. And I said to them, 'look, is there any way you could just run the movie earl5b4ier for us?' and they're like 'oh, I don't know' and I was like, "you know, I'll pay for the theater, I'll pay for whatever you need, I just would love to see this film, and the second we start shooting this movie I'm never going to be able to see it. It's an indie movie, it's not playing in many theaters, and I'd love to see it on the big screen.' And they called the owner of the movie, and I got on the phone with him, and he actually thanked me for how well
Juno
had played in his theater, and he said 'yeah!' and they ran a screening of
Let The Right One In
for my first AD and I, and like a lot the people who worked at the theater came in to watch it with us, it was a lot of fun. And then someone wrote online that like I went into the movie theater and demanded they show me the movie, it was just a little bit unfair."
Hmm, everyone satisfied?
I'm a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar.
Boondock II: 4/10
Surrogates: 7/10 -
mbellerbrock — 16 years ago(December 14, 2009 01:15 PM)
Yeah, no problem, it needed to be shared. I'm not sure what I was thinking before, but I just added a link to the /filmcast. I meant to when I posted it.
I'm a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar.
Boondock II: 4/10
Surrogates: 7/10 -
garrettok31 — 16 years ago(December 14, 2009 02:47 PM)
Nothing wrong with demanding special treatment if you're courteous and can pay that's the whole point of the pursuit of happiness, I believe. If I had the clout to make it happen i would arrange private screenings for films all the time.
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benlenn — 16 years ago(January 01, 2010 01:53 PM)
So it's okay for one person to inconvenience the rest of the people who had bought tickets because he has money and acclaim. Okay well as long as I bring enough money I will proceed to use my phone though out the film and beep over every seat in the cinema because I have a wallet full of cash and i'm related to Adam. Rock on capitalism. I'm sickened people are appeased by such a slimy excuse.
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jeffscsr — 16 years ago(January 05, 2010 07:47 PM)
not many people go to the cinema at 4 0'clock mate. if he did inconvenience anyone it would have been a handful of people and anyone watching it at that time probably has a lot of time on their hands.
Eric C 4 Prez
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mbellerbrock — 16 years ago(January 21, 2010 01:06 PM)
You're assuming that other people were going to see it sometime while he was there. He said he got there for the 4 o'clock showing and found out it was playing later that night. I highly doubt he inconvenienced anyone by watching it at 4 when they weren't showing it until later. If anything he gave the staff at the theater a good time seeing a movie with a famous director and having a story to tell.
I don't see how this could inconvenience anyone, unless he simply made a big deal out of it and pissed everyone off in the process of getting it screened, which if you believe his word, that didn't happen.
I'm a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar.
Avatar: 10/10
Up in the Air: 10/10 -
MovieAddict2016 — 16 years ago(January 21, 2010 08:56 AM)
Nah, he still sounds like a jerk.
The TIME Magazine interview and roundtable discussions he's been participating in also paint him as a bit of an arrogant prat. He explains in one interview how he became "a great director" versus "a good one" (his words), which I think is pretty hilarious.
W.W.G.D.
What Would Gibson Do? -
ImCuredAlright — 16 years ago(March 15, 2010 06:26 PM)
mbellerbrock,
I would just like to thank you for posting what ACTUALLY happened at the theater. This guy who made this story up saying Jason is a spoiled brat is ridiculous and I knew as soon as I read it that it was untrue. There is no way he is like that at all. I just listened to him speak at my college and he was incredibly humble and happy to speak with such a small school and audience. Anyway just thanks for posting this so everyone can see that the story that guy posted is completely fabricated and that Jason Reitman is nothing like that!
"Joel: It would be different, if we could just give it another go-round" -
duncreg — 15 years ago(June 26, 2010 02:50 PM)
The problem with this is that the event did happen just as the original poster claimed, which showed they weren't inventing the tale. The question you have to ask is whether they bothered to use a real story no one knew about and change details to make him seem bad (why not just make up a much worse story?), or whether Reitman is the one putting a spin on an accurate account? Or what is most likely, that the truth lies somewhere between the two?
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miltownboy88 — 16 years ago(January 18, 2010 05:02 AM)
I heard him explain it on a podcast (the one that has it's own thread for his message board). Apparently he didn't raise a big fuss about it, he just asked if he could see it at that time. He was just about to start shooting a movie, and since it was an indie, it wasn't going to be playing in many theaters and he wouldn't have had an opportunity to see it.
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inuimari — 16 years ago(January 19, 2010 04:41 AM)
So..
It's not smart to believe everything that is said on the board. However, I really don't see why people would quickly believe everything J. Reitman said either.
If everything was going on courteous as J. Reitman said, I suppose someone creative was there at the theater and over-exaggerated. Or else the poster was right. -
yoda87960 — 16 years ago(January 27, 2010 12:34 PM)
Does else anyone here work at a crummy service job for minimum wage? If you did, you would know that just about any special requests, no matter how courteous the asker perceives himself to be, always come off as harpy and mean spirited. You can't say no, you have to call around, you have to be polite - all the while helping out other customers and panicking that the "special" customer will go nuts at any moment.
The truth is usually somewhere in between two sides of a story. Keep in mind that this guy is a director, meaning "creative dude that asks the producer for stuff." Every movie is an attempt to give this guy what he wants, so therefore the thought might transfer over to non-professional life. Just because you're nice and have the money, doesn't mean it's not a huge inconvenience for the people working there. It's not like they're getting anything extra out of helping out Jason Reitman, other than added stress. I guess I would extend this advice to anyone who shops anywhere. Really, most people, not just directors, still need to understand this. -
patkav6 — 16 years ago(March 12, 2010 12:45 PM)
Watched him on Leno, he rubbed me the wrong way. A nice guy but seemed arrogant when he explained a story about him and his father and said, "Oh, you know I'm an oscar nominated director now." It was fun atmosphere but come on, dude. Morgan Freeman sat next to him. I wonder what he was thinking as this guy gloated.