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Tuesday, Nov 10, 2009
Have you ever been in public eating something disgusting and felt embarrassed?
No, because the thing is, for me ... I still love ice cream. I love to get a banana split. I probably get two banana splits a year. And I'll eat Ben & Jerry's. But I used to sit down and eat a whole pint of Ben & Jerry's -- now I won't do that. But there are still things that I love to eat; I just don't overeat anymore.
How do you feel about having created something that's so personal? I'm sure a lot of people feel like they know you.
I think that allowed a lot of people to connect with it in a way that, had it not been personal, they probably wouldn't have. I think by letting my guard down and being so honest in the film in every way, you know, from how I felt to my relationship to everything, I think it made the movie much more credible. It's one of those things where suddenly everyone knows what's going on in my life. I mean, I got engaged and I'm walking down the street, and somebody says to me: "Hey, I loved your movie, and congratulations on your engagement!" And I'm like, "That's so strange." But luckily people like the movie. I don't have anybody come up to me and say, "I hate you, you made my kids hate fast food!" People are very appreciative and I guess that's fortunate.
You said in your book that when you came up with the idea, your friend said, "That's a really great bad idea."
Yeah, Scott Ambrozy, the D.P., said that.
Is that your mantra now?
A really great bad idea? Yeah, my goal is to fill the world with really great bad ideas.
So what's the latest great bad idea? The show?
The show is just a great sidestep into something new for me. I'm glad I didn't dive right into doing another movie. I'm glad I did the book and the TV show first. TV is a different animal because TV is so fast. We sold the show last February to FX, but we didn't go into production until January and now it's on TV in June. I mean, that's really quick.
That's crazy. So you're only in one of the episodes?
I'm in all of them [as a host], but I only participate in one. When I first went to FX with the idea for the show, I said, "Yeah, and in each episode it'll be me going through these 30-day journeys." And then Alex said, "No it's not." She said, "You're not going to have a girlfriend very long if you do that." And I said, "OK then, how about one?" And she said, "If you're going away for a month, I'm coming with you." So that's why we picked the minimum wage one, because then it was something where she's an actual participant in what's happening.
It really helped the episode to have her there.
Just like the honesty of the film, having us there as a couple really gave it more credibility and made it realistic I think.
When she got mad at you for spending $1.20 on some buns, it really highlighted how incredibly difficult it would be to try to navigate such an absurd, impossible situation with another human being. What surprised you the most about the experience?
For me, I think it was surprising just how difficult it was. Because you work so hard, and then it's like, "Wow, that's all I get paid? That's it?" You know, you're doing massive physical labor. The other thing was just how stacked against you the decks are in so many ways. To get assistance, to get help, just to get the things you need -- I mean, they're out there, but still, it's hard to navigate that system. And the greatest shock to me was, as much as you may think you're doing better, you're almost getting out of that hole, all you need is one thing to come along to set you back to square one. You're playing a giant life-size Chutes and Ladders. It's like, "Oh, Daddy's going down, down, down." And there I am, back at start, back at go. You go to the hospital and you may have saved a little money, but, oh great, now you've got to pay $1,500.
It's so incredibly expensive to be poor! And it's really inexpensive to be rich. Everything is free! When I started to have money in my savings account, my bank told me, "Oh you're a premium customer now. You don't have to pay any fees for anything. And you don't have to stand in line!" Meanwhile, people down the street are standing in line, waiting to pay $20 to get a check cashed.
It's so true. It's incredible how uneven the system is. You saw that when we had to pay a deposit just to get our electricity turned on. It was all because of where we lived [in a poor neighborhood].
Right! These people should give us a deposit, because ... they can't afford it! And then having to take cabs, not having health insurance and paying $500 just to step into the emergency room. It's incredible that people think of poor people as lazy, when you two experienced firsthand just how exhausting it is.
It's frightening. And you see these families ... The thing for me was all the people we met along the way: the people who are doing this every day, the people who are struggling through and working so hard. For me, when the month was over, I got to go away! But what about the people who don't get to do that? How are things going to change for them? I walked out of there saying, "Things can't stay the way they are, in this quote-unquote 'land of opportunity' that we live in. It shouldn't be like this."
