Interview (Written): Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber

The screenwriting duo behind the movie ‘The Disaster Artist’.

A RogerEbert.com interview by Matt Fagerholm of Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber whose screenwriting credits include (500) Days of Summer, The Spectacular Now, The Fault in Our Stars, and their most recently released movie The Disaster Artist, which stars Dave Franco and James Franco, who also directed the film.

Considering that “(500) Days of Summer” was based off of Scott’s own break-up, how were you both able to explore the subject matter with enough objectivity to avoid making a one-sided misogynistic mess like “The Room”?

Scott Neustadter: (SN): That’s a very good question.

Michael H. Weber (MW): Having two people helped. I was there to tell him, “You’re being a crazy person right now.” [laughs]

SN: Yes, that was said a lot. [laughs] My ex actually got engaged when we were in the middle of writing the film and it ended up defining the direction of the script. The female character wants the same thing that the male character wants, he just isn’t the person she’s looking for. She isn’t the villain of the story. I had been feeling angry and bitter about the relationship, but that revelation helped me to let go of it.

MH: Until that happened, we were kicking around the idea of a “chase in the rain” ending that left open the possibility of the couple getting back together, rather than acknowledging that their time together was a passing phase in their lives.

SN: We essentially had a 205-page first act until we realized, “Oh that’s the story we’re telling here.”

What you both do better than anyone is make films about relationships that aren’t dependent on happy endings in order to be rewarding. Even if the relationship doesn’t last, the self-discovery and self-evolution that occurred during it made the experience worth having.

MH: Well, we now have to basically steal what you just said because you’ve described exactly why we tell the stories that we do, including this movie about the making of a movie. What intrigued us about “The Disaster Artist” was not the inside baseball of making a movie. When we read the book, it was the relationship that jumped out at us. We wanted to explore how this friendship was a little dysfunctional at the start, then was tested and ultimately solidified.

SN: Michael and I have a mutual attitude towards happy endings, in that they’re bullshit. The story hasn’t ended yet, because it doesn’t end, really, and at best, all you can hope for is that it will continue in a positive direction. You hope that everything will remain as good for the characters as it is prior to the fade-out. That’s really the best thing that you can hope for. There are no guarantees. The ending of “The Graduate” is my be-all and end-all. Every time I watch it, I come away with a different attitude towards what is going on there. We are always trying to replicate that kind of ending, where you find yourself debating it on the ride home. That’s all we want to do.

Here is a trailer for The Disaster Artist:

For the rest of the interview, go here.

For my May 2013 interview with Neustadter and Weber, go here.