In Filmmaking, What a Difference a Friend Makes

By Ellen McCarthy
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 27, 2007

Great, so, we're on the line with that smiley guy Paul Rudd and Ken Marino, his co-star in the new '70s-era indie flick "Diggers."

Thanks for taking the time, guys. Okay with you if this is recorded?

Rudd: "Sure. Absolutely."

Marino: "Okay with you if I take my pants off?"

Of course. Just do us a favor and make sure we know which of you is speaking, okay? It can be hard to tell over the phone.

Marino: "I'll do the entire interview in an English accent, just so you know."

Rudd: "Awww, I was gonna do a bad cockney accent."

Marino: "You do a highbrow English accent, and I'll do cockney."

Rudd: "All right. Care for a spot of tea?"

Marino: "Nowwww thanks. Got a tummy ache."

Yeah, okay. We're on minute 2, and that list of earnest interview questions has already hit the trash can. Clearly it's playtime for Rudd and his buddy, which is what it is as often as possible these days.

"One thing that has happened for me in the last few years is working with people more than once and developing friendships," says Rudd, who first entered public consciousness with roles in romantic comedies such as "Clueless" (1995) and "The Object of My Affection" (1998). He has recently turned up in a string of flicks that have just a little less romance and a lot more slapstick: 2005's "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," for example, and "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy," released the previous year.

"Certainly with comedy, a lot of it's about timing and playing off one another," Rudd says. "So if you know each other or you're friends with each other or have a similar sensibility . . . I think it makes the scene funnier. I don't know. You're just playing off of your friends, like people do in real life."

"Diggers" (see review on Page 35) paired Rudd and Marino for the first time since the two starred in 2001's "Wet Hot American Summer."

Marino: "From the moment I met Paul, we got along. I mean, from what I remember, I was pretty much drunk the whole time."

Rudd: "He had me at a very slurred 'Hello.' "

So anyway, when Marino took his first stab at screenwriting, he thought immediately of Rudd for the lead. The "Diggers" story is Marino's own, or at least that of his family. A drama cut with sharp one-liners, the film follows a group of clam-digging guys on Long Island, N.Y., that is being undercut by a growing clam conglomerate. The same happened to Marino's father, grandfather and uncle, who all had to find new lines of work in the late 1970s.

"I think the goal for the rest of my life is to try to create projects with my friends and put them out there," Marino says.

"We'll see if we can kind of keep this whole thing going," Rudd adds. "Of making things that we actually like and seeing if we can get somebody to give us money to make them."

They're on a roll at the moment. The two, both in their late 30s, are talking about forming a production company. And after "Diggers," Marino co-wrote a movie called "The Ten" that Rudd produced, and together they filled it with a Hollywood who's-who list -- most of whom also happened to be friends or neighbors. (Partial cast list for that one, expected to be released in August: Winona Ryder, Rob Corddry, Gretchen Mol, Liev Schreiber and, of course, Rudd and Marino.)

And the genesis of "The Ten," a collection of intertwined stories based on the Ten Commandments?

"We looked up -- on the computer -- the Ten Commandments and apparently there's a list of them. So we decided to write a story about each one of those things," Marino says. "And then somebody later told us that that was from the Bible and we shouldn't have done that, but it was too late."

Rudd: "Was that Google? Or Wikipedia?"

Marino: "Wikipedia. We went to Wikipedia."

Rudd: "The Internet is fascinating."

Marino: "Yeah. Yeah. I found out how tumors grow."

It's amazing, actually, that these two -- and the rest of their buddies on set -- end up getting enough done to produce full-length feature films. They're giggling and absurd and hilarious and, you mention, awfully reminiscent of junior high boys screwing around in the basement of somebody's parents' house.

Rudd: "And in the last several movies I've done, it is no different than junior high boys in a basement."

Marino: "Less Penthouse magazines just kind of opened up on the floor."

Rudd: "And we have a camera in front of us, and we're a little old, so it isn't cute anymore. It's sad, really. Pathetic."

Well, we're not here to judge. Just tell us what comes next for the two of you.

Rudd: "We're writing a movie about how tumors grow."

Marino: "And I'm actually getting a tumor removed."

Okay, great. Thanks, guys -- it's been a real hoot.

Marino: "Can I put my pants back on now?"