BoxOffice® Pro - June 2010

ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE
Four SNL alumns plus Chuck and Larry’s
Kevin James is a proven formula
HI BOYS
Dugan has directed a half-dozen hits for
Sandler’s squad
Photos: Tracy Bennett
GO LONG
Director Dennis Dugan on
comedy, sports and his sixth
time helming for Adam
Sandler’s Happy Madison
Productions
You started as an actor—how did that
shape your directing?
It definitely did. I had to learn how to shoot,
how to hold a camera, editing, all of those
things. But the nice thing was I studied so
long being an actor that performance is a
strong card in my deck. And I just love doing
comedy, so that’s what I gravitated to once I
started directing.
This cast is huge. When you’re working
with so many different comedy styles, how
do you wrangle them so they’re all serving
the same movie?
There’s a specific way that we work
together. The script is written by Adam and
his collaborators and then I’ll give notes
on it, but we have a similar approach to
comedy: as crazy as it gets, we try to base it
in reality. We tell all the actors who work
with us that. Everybody can get as goofy
as they want, but we try to keep in all in
the same style, while giving everyone the
freedom to bring all the quirks to their
characters they want.. For instance, last
night [while shooting the upcoming Just Go
With It], it was Nicole Kidman’s first night.
The producer and the assistant director
said “Who do you want to shoot first?”
I said we should do Adam and Jennifer
Aniston first, and then we’ll do Nicole
after we’ve done their coverage. They said,
“Why? The light will be better if we do it
this way.” It may be better for the light,
but this is Nicole’s first day on a movie
that’s been shooting for 35 days and I said I
wanted her to be able to work on the scene
for a while when it’s just over her back so
she can see how Jennifer and Adam are
working and she can start to get into the
rhythm of the whole piece without having
to be on camera first.
I feel like a comedy director has an unusual
role. You’re given people who are already
funny, who have natural talents for humor.
Do you feel like your job is setting them up
and letting them run with it? Where does
the directing come in?
You hit it on the head. People ask, “How do
you corral these people?” You don’t corral.
If you’re smart, you don’t corral—you let
them run free. One of the tricks is you let
them feel as comfortable as possible so they
can be goofy. And also feel like they can flop
and not be judged or have their egos bruised.
JUNE 2010 BOXOFFICE 41