Faster Filmmaker Q&A: “Up in the Air” Writer-Director Jason Reitman Answers Questions Even Dumber than the Usual Ones

Having diabolically used his father Ivan’s Hollywood connections to become a public apologist for nicotine-addicted Libertarians and twee-wisecrack-addicted hipster girls, writer-director Jason Reitman now continues to advance his mysterious agenda on behalf of frequent-flying, existentially challenged corporate hatchet men.

Reitman’s new film “Up in the Air” adapts Walter Kirn’s novel, stars George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick, and has the audacity to be very good. (Here‘s a review.) Well, we journalists have not stood idly by while this young upstart presumes to end any lingering unfounded doubts about his original talents. Yet our efforts to expose and subdue the man, through mutually dehumanizing press-junket interviews full of inane questions, so far have failed.

While on tour to promote “Up in the Air,” the filmmaker noticed some trends in our queries, and decided to map them out in a series of illuminating, and humiliating, pie charts. Obviously we are dealing here with a smart-ass of great subtlety and sophistication. To whom I say: Touché.

What’s more, even when faced with utterly moronic conversation, or seeming to reply to questions that he hasn’t even actually been asked, Reitman somehow maintains his poise and profundity. And so to you, reader, I say: You were warned.

Do you really expect us to believe this is all not just an elaborate excuse to get a look at Vera Farmiga’s beautiful nude body, even if only from behind and only briefly?

I was looking for something to write, because no-one wanted to make “Thank You for Smoking,” and I found the book at Book Soup, and there was a Chris Buckley quote on the cover. I read the dust jacket and it was about a man who fired people for a living, who collected miles religiously, and whose life philosophy was that somehow life would be better without anyone or anything, and I thought: This sounds amazing.

Sure. Anyway, she’s gorgeous, and also very appealing. So thank you for that.

I was happy that I had a film that spoke to the economy in a way that was different from the Michael Moore film, and in the year it was happening.

Me too. Now please tell us what other ideas most torture your soul.

Each of my movies has a question that I’m trying to answer. “Thank You for Smoking” had to do with being a Libertarian and having a heart and how those two ideas can coincide. “Juno” was all about the moment that you decide to grow up. And I made it right as I became a father. And this movie is about what you want to fill your life with. And how I want to connect or not connect with the world. Because it’s tricky. I’m very proud of my life. I have a beautiful wife, a gorgeous daughter, and obviously I love what I do. But I still walk through airports and get excited about the idea of disappearing. So why is that? And what is so enticing about slipping off and being completely unattached? And is it dangerous? Is it dangerous to be living in a time where you can feel as though you’re connected but you’re actually not connected to anyone? You can have a thousand friends on Facebook, and you can feel connected to people around the world, and you can show up in any airport and feel a certain sense of home because there’s always familiarity, whether it’s a Starbucks or a Hudson News or whatever bookstore, but you’re actually nowhere. You’re actually connected with nothing. And is there a danger in thinking that you’re more connected than any person has been in the history of man, when in actuality you are more disconnected than ever?

Are you asking me? How the hell should I know? You’re Mr. Oscar-buzz here.

I don’t really have an answer to any of those questions. I don’t try to give answers. And I think that’s something I try to do with my movies that’s hopefully a little different than other filmmakers. I find, too often, when I watch a movie, I find the director is telling me tell me so much what they think, and so much what they think is right, that it’s irritating. There’s no respect for my own thought process. My movies, hopefully, are more about being open-minded, and saying you shouldn’t tell people what to think. And rather just raise questions that bother me, so if people have the same questions, they have someone that they can connect to, and know that they’re not alone.

Does this explain your frequent casting of lovable character actor J.K. Simmons?

He’s my muse. Woody Allen and Hitchcock had all these beautiful women. I have J.K. Simmons.

Say something about making “Up in the Air” that, when taken out of context, might make you sound like a bit of a jaded Hollywood douchebag.

Sheldon [Turner] wrote a spec script that had been attached to a sale of the book. So I’ve never read his script. I just met him a few weeks ago for the first time. Nice guy. WGA obviously saw enough similarity that they gave him credit.

Great. Now talk a little shit about Michael Haneke.

Here’s the thing: I make indie-ish movies about tricky subjects, but I make them for an audience. There are certain directors who don’t give a shit about the audience. And that’s fine. There’s art films that are just like fuck you to the audience and they’re cool. I watched “The White Ribbon,” you know. “White Ribbon”: great movie. Hates the audience. Doesn’t give a shit about the audience. I make my movies for an audience. I want them to laugh. I want them to go on a certain experience. It’s not supposed to exist in a void.

Speaking of voids, just what are you trying to tell us about corporate culture, anyway?

There’s too many movies where they get away with saying, “Oh corporate culture is boring, and I wish I could go here and I wish I could do that.” And I don’t know. I think that’s easy. You know there was a line in “Thank You for Smoking,” the book: “Working for the Red Cross is easy. If you want a hard job, go work for big tobacco.” I guess in a certain sense that’s how I feel about making movies. I actually love corporate culture. I think people think I’m kidding. But on “Thank You for Smoking” and “Up in the Air,” these are my love letters to corporate culture. I love airports. Love corporate culture. My wife is a business-major corporate geek that I’m just so in love with. So yeah. Like the whole sequence when they go to the tech conference. Oh! I just eat that up with a spoon. The badges, the dress — I mean, I was so specific with my production designer and my costume designer on how this needed to look. I was obsessive about it, because I’ve been to some, and they are their own thing. I take great pride when business people come up to me and say, “That’s it, you nailed it. That’s my life. That’s my life when I travel. That’s my life at work, that’s my life when I go to these conferences.” And that makes me very happy. Maybe it’s because I never lived in that. I grew up in Los Angeles, in a show-business family.

What we should be asking is whether you and your dad actually hate each other and are just completely fucking sick and tired of hearing about each other’s movies, right?

The “Ghostbusters” stuff is strange. Like, it’s hard to imagine someone actually thinking I would direct “Ghostbusters” and do an OK job with it. It’s just so outside of my wheelhouse, so it’s strange to get asked that question. But people just want to hear the word “Ghostbusters.”

You’re just going through some kind of phase, aren’t you?

I’ve spent the last ten years, with my short filmmaking and my writing and these three films that I’ve made, hopefully establishing a career so that I can continue to do these movies. And I think the moment I decide to make a hundred-million-dollar movie, of any kind, you will know that I’ve either run out of things to say, or I’ve simply failed in my career choice.