Over at Roger Ebert’s little corner of the web, the Chicago Sun-Times critics has posted a great conversation with “Up in the Air” director Jason Reitman. There’s a bit of everything, really, but most noteworthy is his praise of “The Hurt Locker” and “District 9.” He proves he’s a lot more humble than his detractors would like to think he is, I’d say. Take a look:
After the jump, he talks about where he sees his career going and again praises his fellow contenders. But do head over to Ebert’s site for more (including his thoughts on why “The Catcher in the Rye” is probably not a filmable volume).
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19 responses to “Reitman: “Bigelow is going to win and she deserves to win.””
He had some great things to say about the other nominees. And nice nods to The Abyss, T2, and Avatar.
I have a hard time figuring out what to make of Jason Reitman. I think he is a very good writer, but his directing is unknowable to me. I would like to see him go outside of an adapted book or a stripper’s script, though, to get a clearer picture.
Great interview. I also saw an interview by the LA Times with all five DGA nominees. I really don’t get where all the bad mouthing comes from about him. He seems like a genuinely nice guy and I personally think he’s an incredibly talented director. He’s three for three with me which officially makes me a fan. Can’t wait for his future projects.
To reflect what a colleague told me, and I agree, I think it’s just a matter of a young guy seeing success a bit too young and too quickly for some people’s tastes.
His thoughts on Catcher are doubly interesting considering Salinger and Joyce Maynard were an item once upon a time.
My first impression of him was actually from his speech at the Critic’s Choice Awards.
I agree that he seems like an affable, decent guy.
I’d say anything not-so-positive about the guy springs from the fact that he’s an exceptionally young director, and there’s always a certain cockiness and a lot of ambition that go along with the younger folk. It’s like being a college graduate.
Sometimes you grow out of it and develop a sense of humility and grace, and other times you evolve Pokemon-style into a James Cameron.
There seems to be a bit of dislike for Cameron in the business. Is it because he really has the reputation of being a pompous ass, or is it just a case of jealousy on the parts of others who don’t get the budgets he does to realize their own film making dreams??
It just seems like he takes more then his share of criticism. Just wondering if it’s really deserved or not.
Jason Reitman – the estranged brother of Kyle Orton and Dave Grohl.
Reitman came off as a bit of a jackass so its nice that he redeemed himself. Up in the Air was still brilliant though.
David,
As for Cameron, I think some people just feel inclined to dislike someone if they are infamous for having a difficult affect. I don’t know what people in the business think.
There’s no denying the man knows how to entertain, but personally, I always find it icing on the cake when someone who’s excellent at their craft is also humble.
What’s nice is that he’s at least trying to be happy for Kathryn Bigelow.
Oh snap, homie, Roger Ebert’s accusing you of stealing content!
Whoops, nevermind, he subsequently deleted said post. Guessing he realized “Oh, he credited me AND put in a link to the site so you can see the rest of the videos. Nevermind.”
“a stripper’s script”
Thanks for being an asshole.
@Aleksis: It wasn’t a lie.
@Chase K.: And don’t forget Edgar Wright.
Someone please cut Jason Reitman’s hair.
I really like Jason Reitman and think his confidence can just be misinterpreted as boastfulness. The only time he rubbed me the wrong way was during his podcast with Bill Simmons. He said something to the effect of George Clooney will not win the Oscar because it doesn’t look like he’s acting whereas Jeff Bridges’s performance is more obvious (his remarks were a lot more subtle). Obviously there are genuine concerns about the Academy equating ‘Best’ as ‘Most.’ But including Jeff Bridges in that group just seemed like a complete misrepresentation of his beautiful, subtle work in Crazy Heart.
I think Reitman Junior is doing a so-so job at trying to reboot his recent bad publicity about sniping at director Tom Ford and the thing about the other screenwriter of UPITA almost being clipped out of the credits by Reitman’s attempt to question the WGA ruling.
I don’t really believe he loves his competition’s films either. It smells fake and he lacks true enthusiasm. He shrugs and grimaces when he says these compliments. Totally disingenuous. I can feel the PR firm coaching him.
It’s like James Cameron saying he’s happy for his ex-wife, but when you see the awards show cut aways, like when she won the VH1 Critic’s Choice award for best picture and director, and Cameron is there in his bowl haircut, scowling away with a fake applause. I’m not buying that these guys would so willingly want someone else to win when they think they have the remotest chance of sneaking in there to steal away. It’s Bigelow’s year, and everybody else is just in it! Get used to it.
Aleksis: Well, she was, wasn’t she? I think Diablo Cody is the worst thing to happen to cinema in the last decade.
I didn’t have a negative opinion of Reitman until I read that interview where he trashes on The Insider in comparison to Thank You For Smoking. There’s just no way in hell anyone but him could think that Thank You For Smoking was in any way superior to The Insider. Then I read that stuff about him and Tom Ford. Then I read that stuff about him and Sheldon Turner, and well, the bad press has kind of snowballed. This interview doesn’t do much to neutralize all that.
The Tom Ford thing was blown out of proportion by a craven journalist. It’s a shame it made it as far as it did. Reitman and Ford are just fine, FYI.
The Turner stuff is also bullshit stretching for a story that any smart, discernible reader would have dismissed out of hand.
The Insider thing, though — yeah, I’ll back you up on that. I’m not sure why he even went down that path when discussing it since the film isn’t even about whether smoking is “good” or “bad” for you.
Anonymous: No one is coaching him. He says this stuff regularly. But the guy can’t win because people, for some reason, just want to put him in his place. Sad but true.
I think rosengje gets it, re: Reitman’s “confidance.”
Adam: Roger emailed me to apologize and told me to keep the video content live.