By Shawn Wines

Photo by Shawn Wines

Jason Reitman ambles in to the Martini Room of The National Hotel, ground zero for the Miami International Film Festival, with a scruffy spring beard looking and sounding like any other 28-year-old. He sits down, taking off a weathered trucker hat and laughs back to the last time he was in Miami as a kid staying with his grandparents.

“It was a much different experience,” he remarks. Reitman is in Miami to promote Thank You for Smoking, one of the most anticipated indie comedies in years, and an impressive first effort for the confident but friendly son of a Hollywood A-lister.

His dad is Ivan Reitman, who has reigned over the last 30 years of movies like a less-detestable Jerry Bruckheimer of comedy, producing beer drinking bibles like Animal House on through Old School, and directing Meatballs, Stripes, Ghostbusters, Twins, Kindergarten Cop, and Dave.

Jason is understandably eager to steer clear of his father’s towering repute, offering up a hearty mix of canned responses and honest insights into the industry he’s soon to become a major force in. He brings neither the shyness nor the self-absorption one might expect from a young first-time director, and he’s no condescending Hollywood rich kid. Instead, he seems like an amiable, good-natured guy who’s refreshingly thankful for the attention bestowed upon him and his film.

Thank You for Smoking trails a leading tobacco industry spokesman, Nick Naylor, as he balances a job smack in the crosshairs of moralistic cancer-fighters with his personal life, which includes a dangerously impressionable 12-year-old son and a few fellow “merchants of death” comrades from the alcohol and firearm industries.

It’s being promoted as an edgy and dark satire by distributor Fox Searchlight, but most of the time it’s simply very funny. Occasionally, the movie becomes too playful, pushing character development and social conscience aside in its addiction for laughs. But taken as a comedy first and political satire second, it clicks like a softer take on Election, or a more polished, less biting Bob Roberts packed with intentionally blurry anti-messages on the state of cigarettes, politics, media and family.

ignore: What would you say your goal is for the film? Is it as simple as making people laugh or as big as trying to change the impression of the tobacco industry?

Jason Reitman: I want to change the world. [laughs] No, I don’t want to change the tobacco industry. I think the tobacco industry should just keep on doing what they’re doing. I want to make people laugh. First and foremost, this is an accessible comedy that makes people laugh, and I hope people understand that, that this is a fun night out. Beyond that, this is a movie about personal responsibility. I don’t want to beat anyone over the head either way about smoking or not smoking. This is about the freedom to smoke. This is about chilling out a little and relaxing. Let people make decisions for themselves as long as they’re willing to take personal responsibility for their actions.

Do you smoke?

No, I don’t.

Have you ever tried it?

I tried it when I was 15. I didn’t get it.

It was bad?

It hurt. [laughs]

So you don’t think cigarettes should be illegal? You’re not a big anti-tobacco person?

No, not at all. I think they’re a product as much as McDonalds is a product, you know? People like it. I don’t get it, but that’s not for me to judge.

What about lobbying?

Lobbying’s kind of funny. It’s interesting because the main character in this film isn’t a lobbyist in the traditional sense. A lobbyist is someone who is trying to move legislation with back room deals. Nick is a frontman. He is a guy who goes out and talks publicly when they need someone who is kind of unhateable to be their spokesperson. So he goes on television shows and goes and speaks at conferences. And I’ve actually met a guy like that, from Big Tobacco, who does that very thing, and it’s a very different job. It’s a pure deflection job. It’s about the gift of talk. My view of lobbyists is that it’s kind of a necessary evil on both sides of the aisle.

I read that the book was considered unfilmable until you came along.

[laughs] The reason why people thought it was unmakeable is they kept on trying to turn the book, which was this biting satire, into a soft, broad comedy. And that made no sense, because no one really wants to watch a soft satire. That’s just weak. It’s like a watered-down Diet Coke. The problem is they were spending a lot of money. They had to switch their mind frame and understand that the beauty of this book was that it could be a movie like Election, like Citizen Ruth, films that were made for cheap and never had to apologize for themselves. Whereas, a $50 million movie has to apologize for itself, because in the end, you’re going to spend $50 on the movie, you’re going to spend $20 [million] to $30 on the marketing, and all of the sudden, you need a very wide audience, and you’ve gotta come out sweet and endearing.

Cameron Bright’s character in the film is being raised by a man in the spotlight. Do you see any of your childhood reflected in that, growing up in Hollywood?

That’s interesting. Yeah, I guess a little, I mean I always watched my dad with my own curiosities, and I certainly asked a lot of questions. And I think my dad did teach me to be an independent thinker, so I think in some ways there are parallels.

Were you ever exposed to any of the bad side of Hollywood?

[laughs] Not really, you know, my parents have been together for 35 years or so. They don’t smoke, they barely drink. They never do any drugs. They never took me to any of those bad parties. So my experience with that was reading about it, as much as anybody else. So, look, I’m 28 years old, and the only drug I’ve ever seen in person with my own eyes is pot. So I’ve never even seen drugs. I’m still a fairly sheltered person.

How did it affect you, growing up in the ‘80s, going to school when every kid’s favorite movie was Ghostbusters and living in that culture? Did that have an impact on you wanting to be a director?

Not really. I remember one Halloween, the Halloween following Ghostbusters, me and another kid from elementary school went as Ghostbusters, and he had this kind of store-bought cheap plastic Ghostbusters outfit, and I actually had the real gun from Ghostbusters as part of my Halloween costume. So that’s a difference. But the guys who really made me want to be a director were Kevin Smith, Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater, Alexander Payne, Paul Thomas Anderson.

Do you know anything about Ghostbusters 3?

[laughs] I can tell you that it doesn’t exist.

It’s not gonna exist?

Yeah, I’m sorry. You’re a big Ghostbusters fan?

I like it, yeah. I actually like Dave, I like all those ‘80s, early ‘90s comedies that your dad did.

I meet some Ghostbusters fanatics and they always ask me about Ghostbusters 3. Yeah, GB3 ain’t gonna be, man.

My editor said that you were on the set of Animal House? You had to be, like, six months old.

I was 11 days old on the set of Animal House. Tell him Belushi did a coke line off my back. No, I don’t remember any of that. My first memory is Stripes.

What do you feel is the biggest setback that’s affecting the American film industry?

That all the studios have been sold 10 times over to huge corporations with shareholders who determine which movies will be made. There’s no more bravery, there’s no more studio heads that really are even able to go out and just make the movies that they want to make, because they’ll be fired within a quarter. It’s not even fired within years anymore, now it’s like, they’ll be fired within three months, and so you have to operate under complete fear, and no good films come out of complete fear.

What was your favorite movie of 2005?

The Squid and the Whale.

What’d you think about Crash winning Best Picture?

I thought Crash was pretty heavy-handed. I thought Brokeback deserved it.

I really like Thank You For Smoking, but I feel like it’s getting promoted as more of a dark comedy than I saw it as being. The subject matter is obviously very dark, but I think like you said before, it’s very accessible as a comedy for a lot of people. Do you see yourself going into studio comedies or staying in the independent world?

I want to make movies like this. I made this movie for a reason. I could have started with a studio comedy, but that would have just got me directing more studio comedies. I like movies that don’t have to apologize for themselves. And that’s why I like this movie, because he’s a lobbyist in the beginning and he’s a lobbyist in the end, and I like the attitude of this film. I love the attitude of the book. And I’d love to make more small movies like this. I know what you mean. It’s not dark in that it’s pro-tobacco. I think it’s subversive in that we live in a world where all the movies that come out have to have some sort of positive, liberal message at the end about how we can learn so much more, where my film is saying, “Fuck off. Chill out.”

Two of the big controversial moments that you’ve experienced so far were the Paramount Classics thing at Toronto [where two distributors claimed to have rights to the film at the same time], as well as the Sundance screening where the Katie Holmes sex scene was removed [accidentally, according to the studio, but nevertheless sparking “Tom Cruise made them do it” gossip page reactions. How did that impact you, coming into the business, and how does that impact your perception of how the press treats movies?

It’s interesting. It’s two sided. One, it helps, because it raises awareness of the film, and that’s exciting. The other thing though, that’s dangerous, is that people, I think, got this idea that it’s an important movie, when it’s a comedy. So I’ve had certain press reactions coming in, where they’re like, “Wow, I thought it was this big movie.” And it’s like, “No, it’s supposed to make you laugh.” So, it’s a comedy, and I hope people are aware of that coming into it. This is not The Insider. The other story, of course, was Katie. And Katie raised an incredible amount of awareness to this film. If you went out on the street right now and said to any guy, “Do you know what Thank You for Smoking is?” they’d say, “Yeah, it’s the movie with the Katie Holmes sex scene.” And, you know, that’s good and bad. Is this a movie about Katie Holmes having sex? No. But is it good that people and average Joes become aware of a political satire? That’s fantastic.

Have you gotten any reaction from political figures?

Yeah, we were just there [in Washington, D.C.]. I’m going to be there tonight actually for a screening that Donald Rumsfeld apparently might attend. But I was there a week ago, and we had a great screening with lots of local politicos, and lobbyists, plenty of lobbyists. An alcohol lobbyist pulled me aside and went on and on about how much she loved the film and how everyone she knows in guns and liquor and cigarettes can’t wait to see it. And I thought that was awesome.

What would you say are some of the misconceptions about being a director in Hollywood?

I don’t wear those pants that tighten up right above the calf. I don’t have a bullhorn. [laughs] I don’t do drugs. God, what do people actually think about directors in Hollywood? I think there’s a perception that directors are incredibly confident, when I would imagine almost all directors are terrified of what their next movie will be.

Do you know what your next movie will be?

Yeah, I’m very confident. No, it’s another book. It’s another white collar satire. I’m very excited about it. And also, Chris Buckley [author of Thank You for Smoking] and I are working on an original thing together.

Through the process of promoting the film and through growing up in Hollywood, who was the one person you’ve met that you were most excited to talk to?

When I met Arnold Schwarzenegger, I was ten years old. I had seen Commando and I thought that was the coolest thing on Earth. My dad was on the phone with him, and he put me on the phone. He said hello to me, and he said, “Do twanty pooshops!” And I said, “Alright!” And I gave the phone back to my dad and I started doing pushups right there. So, I was really excited.

I think that your career could go in any number of directions depending on what happens with the film and what you decide. Where do you see yourself in five years and in 20 years?

Five years? My dream in five years would be, I’m starting a comedy company right now with my producer Dan. And we’re starting a company to find guys like me five years ago when I had a screenplay ready to go. And that deal’s going to be at a studio, and we’re going to be making not only features, but short films and web-based stuff and all kinds of things. So five years from now, I’d love to have made two more movies, I’d love to have produced two movies. I’d love to go to the Sundance Film Festival and within the course of the ten days, I’d directed a film, I’ve got a film I produced that’s playing there, and I’ve got a short film that I’ve produced for a younger guy that’s playing there, that people are aware of this comedy company, and that I’m just adding as much subversive comedy to the film world as possible. Twenty years? Sell out, sell the company, go to a huge fuckin’ nasty, shitty broad comedy, make a ton of money, and I don’t know, whatever. Whatever you do then. [accidentally, according to the studio, but nevertheless sparking “Tom Cruise made them do it” gossip page reactions].