Jason Reitman Talks Cigarettes
When director Jason Reitman sat down on the couch for our interview at the Park Hyatt, he was visibly tired. After spending the previous day in Miami and then attending a dinner in Washington DC, Reitman took the red-eye to Toronto an proceeded to spend the entire day fielding questions from reporters. Yet, despite his exhaustion, Reitman was quite enthusiastic to answer questions about his soon-to-be-released movie Thank You for Smoking. Jason Reitman definitely has a right to be enthusiastic. The 29-year old’s first full-length feature film — which premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival and has been gathering critical acclaim in the months since then — is a wonderfully-crafted satirical look at the world of political lobbying. Reitman himself doesn’t smoke, and admits that though “cigarettes are the sexiest topic,” Thank You for Smoking could have been about any of the large lobby groups that yield influential control in the American political system.
The Montreal-born director admits that though Stanley Kubrick was his idol, it was films such as Linklater’s Slacker, Smith’s Clerks and Anderson’s Bottle Rocket that showed him “what a comedy could be.” Having a film-maker father (the celebrated Ivan Reitman, who spent much of his early life in Toronto and directed classics like Ghost Busters) allowed Jason to get familiar with being on a movie set, which he claims can be extremely daunting for a first-time director: “It’s a circus. It’s actually no place to make a movie.”
Unlike other film directors, Reitman is in close contact with his audience. He maintains a weblog (set up by Fox Searchlight on Typepad) where he shares his experiences as the travels the continent promoting his film, even detailing his Oscar choices (which weren’t as astute as he had hoped) for this year’s Academy Awards. Yet, despite having this outlet, Reitman still found it difficult to effectively communicate through the blog, until he found another tool: “My little sister told me about MySpace […] I’ve got 80 friends or so already.”
Before I had to let him go for a screening of his movie and a Q&A session with college and university students from across the city, Reitman shared his reasons for focusing his Thank You for Smoking promotion tour on today’s young people. Growing up, Reitman was “infuriated” by being constantly told how to live, whether it was through people around him or the media, and was optimistic about the slightly younger generation than his own: “I feel you have a bullshit detector, and that’s what makes you battle-ready in the world of spin.” And what’s next from Reitman after this? “I like small movies: comedies that don’t have to apologize for themselves.” I know I’m already anxiously anticipating his next movie, but Jason, make sure you get some rest first.