Recently CL had a conversation with Ike as he shared his thoughts about comedy, politics and Thanksgiving. His responses have been edited for space and clarity.
You play the character Chris, a very opinionated man, but more talk than action. Is this character you?
I was definitely Chris for about a year running up to and a year after the election. I’m a little bit better now. I was swept away by everything, focusing too much on the news and not enough on my family or my work. Like myself, Chris was pretty insufferable, not the most pleasant person, but still he’s a good guy. Chris is the most liberal character in the movie, but he’s a coward. But if he’s the most liberal, and he’s always right, and behaves properly, and he’s brave and strong, it wouldn’t be genuine. I wanted to push people a little bit and make him more complicated, so he’s a liberal that’s ultimately proven right, but also exhibits bad behavior and cowardice. I thought that could be kind of funny.
What do you want the audience to do when they leave the theater?
First and foremost, I want the viewer to be entertained. The overall messages of the movie, for me at least, is that we have to do our best not to let these external forces control us. Sure, we can vote, march, protest, donate money, but we have an obligation not to let these forces permanently sever our family ties and personal relationships. That would make our bubbles smaller and thicker. I want to entertain people with this movie, but I also want to do some bubble-bursting.
Requiring people to sign loyalty oaths to support the president of the United States seems exaggerated. Are things that bad in the real world?
When I came up with the concept of the loyalty oath, I wanted something that on the surface seemed relatively innocuous. We have the Pledge of Allegiance, and our kids do that, what’s wrong with that? But, if you go a little bit deeper, you can argue that it opens the door to a totalitarian government. And the crazy part was that during every step of the way — writing, shooting, releasing — these things were happening in real life, indicators that were really centered around the word "loyalty." Our target was always to get this out around Thanksgiving 2018, so we knew we had a chance to give people that catharsis they’re looking for.
How much does your background in comedy and being an actor yourself inform your directing?
My improv training in Chicago really lets me understand the rhythms of comedy, which definitely allows me to hit some of the traditional comedic beats. Whether it was on Mad TV or The Mindy Project, to goof on people and to goof on ourselves is very freeing. I think you can see that in the DNA of this movie. I come from Chicago, and Chicagoans really like to laugh at ourselves and like people to make fun of us. That’s the key to satire, really sparing nobody, whether the president or my character who is a died-in-the-wool liberal. It just allows us to laugh at ourselves. Then we can deal with the stress. Acting appeals to me in that you're dealing with multiple filters: the writer’s word, the director’s direction, the editor’s eye. As a director, you can remove those filters, just take this crazy idea that was in my head, and that was irresistible. As a director coming from acting, there were obvious things like giving the actor context, keeping them in the moment, and making sure actors don’t have to wait once they’re on set.
How fun was it to make a movie planned around the Thanksgiving meal?
It’s Norman Rockwell meets Picasso’s "Guernica," a combination of Americana with tension and violence. I’m obsessed with food and get frustrated when I see movies with food and it doesn’t look good. I am a good cook and Thanksgiving is my biggest meal of the year. I was up at five that morning we filmed that scene, chopping herbs, basting turkeys and stuff. I wanted everything all beautiful, then just start to chip away at their comfortability [sic] level as the family begins to fight more and more. On the one hand, I give you a flower, then on the other hand, I punch you.
How did you balance the hilarious first half with the dark, scary second half?
It’s funny and it’s sad. There’s nothing more sad than sitting alone in your car with your Thanksgiving plate, and the fact that he’s doing it proudly, boasting about it, shows at that moment how small Chris is, how petty. But, anytime you can demand pie angrily, that’s a good place to be. It was important for me that we end the film on a somewhat optimistic note. Despite how people might feel today or yesterday or tomorrow, I still am optimistic about the country. I know it’s in a bit of a bind right now, and people are seemingly more divided than we’ve ever been, than at least in my lifetime. I just wanted Chris to be able to come home, see his wife, and connect, just eat his pie. Parts of the film are dark, and we do go to some places that make people a little uncomfortable.There are moments in my film that I find tough to watch myself.
Any favorite Thanksgiving dish you prepare?
I encourage you to try what I am about to tell you right now because it will change your life. I love stuffing. I make two kinds, the traditional, but I do one where I buy a bunch of pastrami, chop it up and sauté it with yellow mustard and sauerkraut. I use rye bread, mix it all together with Swiss cheese on top. It tastes like a Rueben sandwich. Then I make another separate stuffing that I don’t serve that night, but it bring out the next morning, crack eggs on it and put it in the oven for a stuffing omelet.
Ben Wiley taught literature and film at St. Petersburg College. At USF/Tampa, he was statewide Director of the Florida Consortium/University of Cambridge (UK) International Summer Schools. His interests are film, theater, books, and kayaking Florida rivers. He also writes the BookStories feature in Creative Loafing Tampa. Contact him here.
This article appears in Oct 18-25, 2018.
