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Paul Soter enjoys WATCHING

Written by Ranielle Gray

Friday, 15 August 2008

Paul Soter headshot

Paul Soter, one-fifth of the comedy troupe Broken Lizard, broke off from the group of SUPER TROOPERS to write and direct what he calls a “little indie rom-com”. WATCHING THE DETECTIVES, released recently on DVD, is a distinct departure from the Broken Lizard oeuvre and stars Cillian Murphy (BATMAN BEGINS, RED EYE) and Lucy Liu (CHARLIE’S ANGELS, LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN).

In this interview with DVDCorner’s Film Brat, first time writer/director Paul Soter reveals lessons learned, discusses why horror geeks him out rather than freaks him out, and disputes the slippery sliding scale of some very special animation.

Film Brat: Hello, Paul. Can I call you Paul? Let’s just jump in, shall we? As your first film written and directed outside the Broken Lizard collaboration, did your working/creative process on WATCHING THE DETECTIVES differ much from those projects, and if so, how?

Soter: Well, Ranielle, (may I call you Ranielle? Ms. Gray is so formal, don't you think?) yes, for sure, the creative process couldn't have been more different. With the Lizards, so much of the writing process is about selling your ideas to 4 other guys before it ends up on the page. So, while it was liberating to not have to engage in two-hour battles over which is funnier: a Dirty Sanchez or a Cleveland Steamer; it was also a bit lonely to have what I thought was a good idea and to look up to find that there's nobody around to bounce it off.

Film Brat: As a follow up to the above, as a first-time director, what useful lessons do you think you brought with you and put to use on WATCHING THE DETECTIVES?

Soter: I think the thing that Jay [Chandrasekhar] (director of the BL films) has always done, that I tried to adopt in my experience, is that you can ultimately win a lot of creative fights without having to dig your heels in. He's got a great, relaxed bedside manner with executives, producers and talent that keeps things cool when with other directors they could get heated and nasty. And it doesn't mean compromising. It just means hearing people out and at least pretending to think about it, even when it sounds unreasonable.

Film Brat: What’s been the best part about throwing this little indie rom-com together in your spare time? Have you found a greater pleasure in the process or the end product?

Soter: There were a lot of great things about this project. I really enjoyed myself every moment of shooting. There was a lot of stress in the prep and in the post process, but those 25 days of shooting were a total pleasure. When you've got good talented people around you, you really just have to articulate what you are seeing in your head, and your people work to put it on the screen. Every day presents challenges and problems, and I totally got off on trying to come up with solutions on the fly. That doesn't sound sexy as I describe it, but it really was fun.

Film Brat: How did the cast come together? What was your collaborative process like with the actors?

Soter: Cillian [Murphy] jumped on first. He read the script and liked the idea of doing something different. He's had a lot of dark and intense roles, especially for American audiences. So this appealed to him. We met up and hit it off. He's got a great attitude and doesn't take parts for any reason other than what speaks to him as an actor. Lucy [Liu] came along shortly after. I think she's a rare example of really sexy and really funny, so I was happy to have her.

As far as that collaboration, I really let them take off with the material. With BL films, we do a ton of rehearsal; but Lucy and Cillian liked the idea of not over-rehearsing, but rather just getting comfortable with each other, then working out the material on the day. So what I felt I had to do was be as prepared as I could on my end, so that we weren't pressed for time on the technical side, and could let them try things out on the set.

I should say that I feel very lucky that I got two movie stars who have a great work ethic and treated people around them really well. I think it got the whole crew very invested in the movie to be working with very sweet people.

Film Brat: Violet puts Neil through the first of many tests on their first date. Care to share a story about your worst/weirdest first date?

Soter: I think my history of dating is more a study in awkwardness, than anything particularly dramatic. I did meet a girl who wanted to get drunk and go pool-hopping. I incorporated that into the script. If I've had any other really bad/weird first dates, I must have repressed them.

Film Brat: I particularly enjoyed (and related to) the film geek-ness of Neil and his vid store pals and how they could oftentimes lose themselves in the strangest discussions. Neil’s fantasy of choice seems to be noir; what films bring out the geek in you?

Soter: Yeah, it's funny. As a guy who has made only comedies, I get asked often to discuss comedy. But I'm not totally comfortable trying to intellectualize comedy. I think it's way too amorphous and subjective. However, I'm a gigantic horror dork, and I could sit around all day and dissect the zombie genre, or expound on the slasher boom of the early 80's. It's a topic that makes me geek out at the drop of a hat.

Film Brat: Now, a question for the ages... Which is much, much better: Korean snuff cartoons or Japanese death match anime? And where might Afghanistanimation fall on that sliding scale?

Soter: Frankly, I think that admitting you like Korean snuff cartoons would probably get you put on a government watch list. And deservedly so. Enjoying Japanese death match anime, really just makes you human. It's a relatively healthy form of exercising one's misanthropy. Afghanistanimation is a more intellectual affair that requires a certain amount of heavy lifting. It should only be done in groups, because it provokes so much discussion. So, in short, Afghanistanimation is for late-night parties of grad students, Death match anime for 20 stoned teenagers, and Korean snuff cartoons for angry loners.

Film Brat: Thanks for taking the time to answer these interview questions for DVDCorner.net. (As a totally random side note, I’d also like to say thanks for putting me one step closer to -- sort of -- meeting all of the Broken Lizard crew. I worked as a publicist for Steve [Lemme] & Erik [Stolhanske] on a PA tour for BEERFEST and sat next to Kevin [Heffernan] as an extra on the set of MANAGEMENT. Now all I have to do is randomly run into Jay, and I can cross something off my Bucket List!)

I’m totally kidding. Sort of.

Soter: You deserve a medal for having to wrangle Erik and Steve on the BEERFEST tour. They have not been the same since then. They both have a sort of twenty-mile stare reserved for veterans of foreign wars. I don't know what MANAGEMENT is. I'll have to ask Kevin. And re: Jay, you're not missing much. Totally kidding. Sort of.

It's been a pleasure. Thanks for watching the movie.

-Paul

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