Interview: Jason Orley
A conversation with the writer-director of the new indie comedy Big Time Adolescence.
A conversation with the writer-director of the new indie comedy Big Time Adolescence.
The comedy Big Time Adolescence was nominated for the 2020 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Award. The movie is written and directed by Jason Orley, his directorial debut, and stars Pete Davidson.
IMDb plot summary: A suburban teenager comes of age under the destructive guidance of his best friend, an aimless college dropout.
Some excerpts from a Movie Mensch interview with Orley.
The Movie Mensch: First off, congratulations on your film. It really struck a chord with me. It got me thinking, what was the genesis of Big Time Adolescence?
Jason Orley: I was always really into this idea of male friendship in the teenage years. And I think that in talking to my friends and my experiences, there was always universally someone being corrupted and someone doing the corrupting. I think everyone has had that kind of friend. That’s kind of how you grow up. I was really interested in exploring that. It’s kind of like a love story, because almost always that relationship ends the same way. That first guy you always think is cool growing up is almost never someone that you stay friends with or that feeling kind of remains. I thought it’d be fun to treat it like a love story between two boys who will become friends and that arc of idolizing someone, becoming their best friend and then outgrowing them. It’s something that… While the script took a long time, it took to get made. And it was one of the earliest scripts I wrote and I kind of changed things all the time and that arc always stayed the same, of idolize… Those three beats, that was always in my head.
The Movie Mensch: Did you have to alter your script in any way to accommodate what Pete was bringing to the role and exploring?
Jason Orley: No, actually! The story didn’t even change. It’s like you said, it’s a kind of a universal story. The beats of the story don’t have to change. But how he dresses, where he lives, what his apartment looks like … Pete was sending me pictures every day in prep. “I want to wear this watch. I want to wear these shoes.” We’d go back and forth nonstop and really built this character. Which was amazing. I think what also drew me to Pete, and to answer your question of why people like him, it’s just that he’s just very, very real. There’s no act with him. He’s a very honest actor. The great thing is in the editing room we had a lot to play with.
The Movie Mensch: I can’t imagine Big Time Adolescence without him. Then, there’s Griffin. Your entire movie really works or doesn’t work based on the casting of Mo. What was it about Griffin that you knew you had your Mo?
Jason Orley: When I had written the script, I had imagined someone much shorter. It was a really tiny kid. Then Griffin came in and I was like, “He’s too handsome and cool.” Then, he started. He can hold his own with Pete and all those older guys. He accesses this real youthful innocence that you just want to protect him. It was really important to me that we cast a real teenager. Not like the TV casting of this where it’s an 18, 19 year old playing a teenager. The main reason was because I wanted it to feel dangerous the second you saw them on screen together. I wanted you to separate them. I wanted a parent to be like, get this kid out of Pete Davidson’s apartment. You know?
Screenwriting Takeaway: I thought it’d be fun to treat it like a love story between two boys who will become friends and that arc of idolizing someone, becoming their best friend and then outgrowing them… Those three beats, that was always in my head. When you come up with a story concept, it’s important to remember what attracted you to it in the first place. There is a purity of a story at the conceptual level which can help steer you through the story-crafting, page-writing, and rewrite process.
Here is the trailer for the movie Big Time Adolescence:
The movie, which premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, sold to Hulu for a reported $4M. Big Time Adolescence debuts in limited theaters this weekend and on Hulu.
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