Whenever you get Bill Murray in a room, you can expect to see a pretty good performance. But add in his "St. Vincent" co-stars Melissa McCarthy and Chris O'Dowd, and the one-liners were flying fast during a press conference held at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, where the film came in as a second runner-up for the fest's People's Choice Award.
"If I can be very serious for a second ... I would," joked Murray, later saying, "We're performing for each other this morning. You're just stuck with us, but we're amusing the hell out of ourselves."
In the film, the legendary comedian stars as Vincent, a cantankerous Vietnam vet who begrudgingly agrees to babysit his neighbour's 10-year-old son (newcomer Jaeden Lieberher) for the extra cash. Along with a pregnant Russian stripper (Naomi Watts), Vincent becomes something of a mentor to the youngster, teaching him how to fight and gamble, among with a few other less-than-saintly life lessons.
Still, writer/director Ted Melfi and his assembled actors managed to stay at least a little on-topic during the ensuing discussion, and here's what we learned from the "St. Vincent" cast -- you know, besides the fact that they're all extremely funny.
This was personal for Melfi
"St. Vincent" marked the feature film debut for Melfi, and the Brooklyn native said that much of the script came from his own experiences, including the gruff but loveable Vincent, who was inspired by his late father-in-law.
"Even the bully storyline was based on the first bully I beat up in P.S. 132 in Brooklyn," explained Melfi. "Sometimes it feels a little like exposing a part of yourself, but I guess that's what you do as a writer. Everything comes from someplace personal."
"And if it doesn't ... I don't know how to write anything that doesn't. It's the only way for me," he admitted. But it was that personal connection that helped land his script on the Black List back in 2011, a list of the best unproduced scripts in Hollywood, and eventually get "St. Vincent" made. "Every part of it, except for the Russian prostitute, was from a personal story," Melfi laughed.
The cast went to a strip club for research
For that part, Melfi took his cast on a field trip, explained Murray: "We went to a Russian strip club. And Naomi met some Russian strippers."
"But Ted had me do that too, so I'm not sure what the point of it was," joked McCarthy. "It's something we all had to do. Jaeden spent two weeks there..."
"It's just a thing I like to do with the actors," laughed Melfi. But Watts credited that prep time with helping her find her character's Russian accent, saying, "It's almost easier to latch onto something once you have those strong sounds in your head."
It also helped them make sure that they got the wardrobe just right. "That was part of the fun in creating her, Daka. The wardrobe lady just had an incredible collection," said Watts. "It was so authentic from what we saw when we went to the strip club," agreed Melfi. "The pink velour sweatpants and then a fancy top."
Murray was inspired by family too
When it came to playing the grouchy pensioner, in a role that could very well net Murray his second Oscar nomination, the actor said that he drew from his own family for inspiration -- he just didn't realize it at first.
"Someone said to me, 'How much of your grandfather was in this?' And I went, 'Oh my God.' " And my grandfather is in this," said Murray. "My grandfather was a really funny guy. He was a guy who actually had a light-up bowtie and made it work. It wasn't too much when he did it, you know?"
"He had false teeth at the bottom; he'd pop his teeth out at little babies and make 'em cry and stuff. He was a fantastic man. A great man," he added. "He was just really funny." But it wasn't just his grandfather. Murray said that he also took things from his brother Brian Doyle Murray: "He can grouch a little bit. And he's in there too."
"I think we all pick up stuff from people we've seen and witnessed," Murray explained, especially with a character like Vincent. "Any day of the week you can find that guy walking in Queens or Brooklyn or Manhattan or Chicago. They're there," he said.
Newcomer Jaeden Lieberher impressed his co-stars
And while Murray's character mentors the young Oliver in the film, his then-10-year-old co-star revealed that the veteran comedian played a similar role on set. "I had to give a four-page long speech to a bunch of people. That was pretty nerve-wracking," explained Lieberher. So how did he get over the nerves? "Bill and I meditated," he said.
"Well, something like that," allowed Murray. "It wasn't serious meditation," said Lieberher. "We just put our heads down on chairs and then closed our eyes."
"What kind of director gives a 10-year-old a four-page speech to give in a movie? A sadist. A sadist and a monster," joked Murray. "And then shoots 51 angles of it, with tracking shots. Only a first-time director would do something so foolish."
"I wouldn't have done very well with four pages, and he did an extraordinary job," he added. McCarthy agreed, saying, "I know that at that age, I would not have had that concentration level. I was a complete spaz, so I was just impressed that he was in the scene and prepared."
"I think he gave an amazing performance for any age. And for this to be his first movie is pretty remarkable," she said of her on-screen son. Chris O'Dowd, who plays Oliver's Catholic school teacher, echoed those sentiments: "I think he did a beautiful job. And he was incredibly focused and hard-working."
Still, Lieberher may have done too good a job in O'Dowd's opinion. "At this point, I really just see him as competition," he joked. "So as much as I enjoyed his performance in this film, I truly hope it's his last."
McCarthy gets serious in the film
While audiences may be used to seeing Murray in more dramatic roles at this point, it's still a little surprising to see a talented comedian like McCarthy essentially playing the straight man in "St. Vincent." But the actress said she was drawn to Melfi's script, even if her part was more straight-laced. "I just thought it was a good character," she explained. "For me, I don't care if it's a drama or a comedy. If I like the people and the story, I'm in."
And as for getting to work with a comedy legend like Murray, McCarthy joked, "I've loved Jared for so long."
"I was way ahead of her on that," protested Murray. "I saw that one coming."
O'Dowd's character was originally supposed to be Italian
For McCarthy's "Bridesmaids" co-star Chris O'Dowd, his character was slightly more of a stretch than originally written. "I think the draft I read, he was an old Italian man. And I gave my best old Italian man," he laughed. "He's doing that in the film. He's playing Italian, but it comes off as Irish," joked Melfi.
The filmmaker, who was raised Catholic, said that he wanted to show the church in a more positive light through the easygoing Brother Geraghty. "I'm not a very religious person, but I think religion as a whole just gets beat up constantly. And we forget the fact that a lot of religion does good for people," Melfi explained. "I wanted to portray a different version of a Catholic priest. A more positive version."
"It was nice to play a man of God who doesn't prescribe religion," said O'Dowd. "Because it's very modern, and I have good experiences with priests in my life who were very charismatic and enigmatic and interesting men."
"I think Chris played an ideal of a priest," agreed Murray. "I think for me anyway, wouldn't you say?"
Murray still has fond memories of "Ghostbusters"
With the "St. Vincent" premiere capping a daylong celebration of Murray's films at TIFF, including "Ghostbusters," the iconic comedian shared a few memories from one of his most beloved movies, joking that it plays on a loop in his house.
"We would get in those uniforms and just walk into stores, people didn't know who the hell we were. And the cops thought we were sort of above them, that we had better uniforms," Murray remembered. "And we had the damn car, we never stopped at a stoplight."
But the actor ultimately attributes the film's lasting success to their cast and crew. "Working with that group, with Harold Ramis and Danny [Aykroyd] and Ivan [Reitman] and Annie Potts and [Rick] Moranis, these were all just people that you would love to be trapped with for a couple of months," Murray said. "You could go in there every day and just feel free to try anything you wanted to do and perform for each other. We just performed for each other all the time. And when you do that, it's a gas."
"St. Vincent" opens in theatres on Friday, October 17.
from The Moviefone Blog http://news.moviefone.ca/2014/10/16/bill-murray-st-vincent-naomi-watts-melissa-mccarthy-interview/
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