Winners’ Press Conference interview with Adam McKay & Charles Randolph for Adapted Screenplay
Q. So very first, very obvious question, how does it feel?
CHARLES RANDOLPH: We're exhausted. We literally had the WGAs in LA
last night, we got on a plane, left early, arrived at 4.00 and rushed
--
ADAM MACKAY: This is our love for the UK right here. No sleep, jet lagged.
CHARLES RANDOLPH: We had to go into bathrooms at Heathrow and spot
wash and -- no, we didn't do that.
ADAM MACKAY: A tramp's bath is what Charles calls it.
CHARLES RANDOLPH: They don't say spot wash in this country.
ADAM MACKAY: It was thrilling. It's always so strange to hear your
name out of the blue, you feel like you're shot out of the cannon, for
BAFTA and this long tradition and how much respect we have, it was
amazing.
Q. Can you talk about the genesis of this project, Adam we'll start
with you, you read the book by Michael Lewis. Charles, what was the
start for you?
CHARLES RANDOLPH: I got the book not longer after the book came out,
I think in galley form even. Maybe it had just been published. From
Brad, Dede and Jeremy, plan B and wrote a draft which I was very proud
of, the studio said very nice things about it and then quietly put it
on a shelf and told me to go away. Until, you know, Adam McKay came
along and solved a couple of very important key things and got this
fantastic crew together and, you know...
ADAM MACKAY: It was a bit of a chocolate peanut butter kind of thing
where Charles has a different style to me and the combination of his
script with my script I think kind of made this movie have the wheels
that it has. We've been talking about other projects to do together
and I call it the e-date collaboration, we only met on the Internet
and now we're actually meeting in person, look how wildly indifferent
this crowd is. She cares.
CHARLES RANDOLPH: Are you being paid to raise your hand right there?
Q. Congratulations. Christian Bale famously always kind of goes
method when he takes on a role. What did that mean when he was
filming The Big Short?
ADAM MACKAY: It was amazing. You talked to him about the character, he went and met with Dr Burry, he took his clothes. We actually had signs and books and materials from Dr Burry's real life. He insisted on having like little marks on his skin that Dr Burry had. It was like the greatest Christmas present ever when you show up to your first day of shooting or for the screen test and you see Bale with this fully realised amazing character. I mean, that's why I really wanted him because I knew his ego is so healthy, he doesn't need to be handsome movie star guy, he can just do what works. He was incredible.
Q. You're famous for a lot of improv, was there a lot in this one or
did you stick to the script?
ADAM MACKAY: We didn't do as much as the comedies where we do a crazy amount but I loved the Jared Vennett one that Ryan did --
CHARLES RANDOLPH: Adam is so collaborative he'll take notes from
anybody. The character that Ryan Gosling is playing, the man he is
playing, the real guy has notes on the script, right, so he calls Adam and says, you know, I got some notes and, you know, and one of them is these people you got me hanging out with, I don't hang out with those people. I have fashion friends. And Adam cut to --
ADAM MACKAY: I just told him, whatever complaints you have, tell me and I'll have Ryan Gosling say them to camera and he's a wall street guy so he took a long pause and said, how is this guy F'ing with me and we did, we put it in the movie, it was improv but a different type of improv than we've normally done.
Q. Fantastic. On that note, congratulations once again.
