Amy Schumer, Judd Apatow, Bill Hader, and More Talk TRAINWRECK
Late last week, I had the opportunity to attend the press conference for Judd Apatow's latest film, Trainwreck. Written by its star, rising comedian Amy Schumer, the movie is surprisingly personal and often hilarious, with a great sense of heart and the best all-around performance of co-star Bill Hader's career. You can read my full review right here, and my review of the final show of the Trainwreck comedy tour here.
The press conference featured Schumer, Apatow, Hader, and co-stars Vanessa Bayer, Colin Quinn, and John Cena (who is really funny in the film). I've compiled a list of the best statements from the press conference for you to read if you're interested, with the responses ranging from funny and ridiculous (the story about Apatow taking Schumer and Hader out on a "date") to honest and serious (Amy addressing her father's real-life illness). Check 'em out below:
Balancing the dramatic moments with the funnier moments:
Schumer: It was difficult. I would say on this season of my show, I rewrote 12 Angry Men and had to trash myself endlessly for 35 pages, and I would say actually that was harder than this. But Judd really encouraged me to look at myself and ask myself these questions, like ‘what’s going on with you?’
A moment from the film we might be surprised to know is from Amy's real life:
Schumer: A lot of people have asked me if I intended to flip the gender roles where I’m playing the guy, and that’s not been my experience at all. This is how I am and how a lot of girls I know are, where the guy wanted to be a little more sensitive and invested, maybe. The scene where I get high and then John’s character looks through my phone, and instead of comforting him and I ask if I can leave, that did happen in my real life.
How the film changed for Amy from the earliest drafts all the way through post-production:
Schumer: I am very lucky that Judd came along and became my fairy godfather with this movie. Actually, the first couple drafts I feel like were just sad, but he would come and say, ‘We’ll add the jokes later.’ He just saw the pieces of what he could turn into a movie that we could be proud of. So it changed so much. Just some scenes that I didn’t even think of, that he’s like, ‘Well, we need this here.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, it’s a good thing we put that in.’ Just knowing the balance of, don’t leave the audience hanging and sad for too long, and how a character with behavior like mine could still be likable and relatable. Because you could really turn on me. If I describe any scene to someone, they just say, ‘Oh, so she’s the worst?’ and I’m like ‘Mm-hmm.’ There were huge changes. I had a different idea for the ending. Big changes. That ending was an Apatow production idea.
How Apatow cast Bill Hader as Amy's love interest:
Schumer: We just hit it off.
Hader: I auditioned for the movie, and Judd — I don’t know if you remember this — but he took us out to dinner and then didn’t say anything and just watched us.
Schumer: He took us on a date. He took pictures of us.
Hader: He took pictures of us, and then was showing them to friends saying, ‘Do you buy these guys as a couple?’
Schumer: ‘Do you want to see these two f*ck?” [laughter]
Hader: [Adopting New York accent] ‘You wanna see him f*ck her, right?’ To anybody. ‘Oh thank you sir. Anyway, here’s your bill.’ [laughter] But no, it was great. It was a lot of fun.
Schumer: There are a couple people that I’ve met in my life, and I would say this with Vanessa [Bayer] too, where you just bring this really silly energy out of each other, and you’re just like, ‘Oh my God, we’re going to be friends forever.’ It felt really comfortable right away.
On writing about multiple sclerosis, an affliction that isn't often seen in mainstream Hollywood films:
Schumer: From the beginning, I was going to write about [MS] because of my dad [who has it in real life], because it is an affliction that a lot of people don’t know anything about, but a lot of people have it. This was a good opportunity to show what it looks like with somebody living with that. But I also was a little fearful because the way my dad handled it was to continue to drink and really punish his body, but it’s come a long way and become way more manageable than the way he’s treated it, so that was a little bit of a fear of mine. But from the get-go I was definitely going to write about my dad and show our relationship and how you don’t know what’s going to happen and that shit’s pretty unfair.
Directing LeBron James (who is also surprisingly great in the movie):
Apatow: I think LeBron was really game to have fun and he knew what he was doing. He’s a good actor, and I think he might have even prepared. He showed up and knew his stuff inside and out, had ideas, and I’m just happy when anyone’s nice to me.
And finally, on what we can expect from the special features on the eventual Blu-ray and DVD release:
Apatow: Bill had to learn how to ride a horse carriage in a sequence that got cut.
Hader: We shut down Columbus Circle and most of Central Park West for a week and me and Amy were on a horse — I had to actually drive a horse carriage. Jim Norton was in it…I was so afraid of horses.
Apatow: It was the hardest thing to shoot. The hardest thing to shoot always gets cut. We have tons of stuff. There’s a lot of additional scenes. There’s a great scene with Vanessa where she’s hitting on a guy in a bar and she’s asking him about his app. He says he invented an app, and his app tells you where pick-up soccer games are. And she’s like, ‘You’re going to get rich like Stephen Hawking!’ [laughter] Then she hits on two guys and says, ‘It’s OK that there’s two of you because I have two Nuva rings in.’
Bayer: ‘I can take on both ya’ll.’
Trainwreck hits theaters on July 17th.