Jay Roach’s films have made over $1.72 billion at the worldwide box office with his Austin Powers franchise alone generating $676.4 million globally
In recent years Roach has swapped hit comedies such as the Powers movies, Meet The Parents ($330.4 million worldwide) and Meet The Fockers ($516.6 million worldwide) for more socio-political films such as acclaimed Trumbo ($8.2 million worldwide) and HBO’s All the Way. The latter is about Lyndon Johnson, who became the U.S. President following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and his first year in office fighting to pass the Civil Rights Act.
As Emmy-nominated drama All the Way hits Blu-ray and DVD I caught up with Jay to talk about the film, the financial freedom of not having to worry about box office receipts and his plans for the future of the Austin Powers franchise.
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Simon Thompson: What do you think made Bryan Cranston perfect for this role in the HBO production of All the Way?
Jay Roach: It was a number of things. I came on to the project having seen the play with him in it and Bryan was already cast as Lyndon B. Johnson in the film. He’d won a Tony for his performance on Broadway and so there was really no need to look at anyone else, he was the perfect, and probably only, choice.
Thompson: You worked together on Trumbo as well. Was that coincidence or choice?
Roach: I was already prepping Trumbo, and said yes to Bryan being in it when I agreed to make All the Way. It was risky because I hadn’t even tested the water to see if I could work with him on a movie set and I had already agreed to collaborate on two projects. If the first one had gone poorly then it would not have been good. Bryan was amazing and it helped there were some similarities in the characterizations of both men – they were both larger than life characters with a lot of charisma, very articulate people. Bryan is way more than just an actor, he becomes a collaborator in every aspect of the story. Having been LBJ on Broadway, he already had a far better exploration of the character that he could bring to the new project and that helped me. Where he asked me for help was making his stage performance translate to film.
Thompson: You’ve worked together twice, both times you directing him in the role of a real person. Would you make it a trilogy for this creative bromance?
JR: That’s very funny but, in reality, we are actually looking for other things to do together. I don’t know what it’ll be but I would very much love to find something where we could do that. Once you have a great creative experience with someone you do want to try and repeat it. The characters we like are driven and passionate and charismatic but also flawed so we just have to find the right person, the right subject.
Thompson: Did you have any concerns about this film coming out in an election year?
Roach: We were conscious of the scheduling but it wasn’t actually aimed for that on purpose, it just timed out that way. In fact, a lot of my other films have timed out that way too, namely Recount and Game Change. It’s good to be part of the conversation at a time like this and I think it is healthy to raise questions about what leadership is and how a quest for power can affect what people actually do when they get in power. I think LBJ is a great example of someone trying to fulfill the promise of what government can do for people. We elect our leaders, it’s our government, we set it up and some of us spend a lot of time trying to discredit it, delegitimize our leaders and delegitimize having experience. In this campaign, having experience as a politician is seen as a negative by some people. LBJ had an overwhelming amount of experience and it gave him near superpowers in terms of getting actual legislation passed that would improve the lives of Americans. Experience, as a minimum qualifying thing, has apparently gone out of the window. When you look back at LBJ you think, ‘I would rather have a pro than an amateur.’
Thompson: You’ve made a string of very successful feature films that have made over $1.72 billion at the worldwide box office. With your work for HBO, does not having the pressure of needing box office success make the process easier or less stressful for you?
Roach: HBO has a unique way in how they evaluate the success of things and it gives the unique ability to make films that not everybody could make. It is definitely true that political films are somehow less commercial and studios definitely don’t make many of them because of that and the fact that people are apathetic about politics, unfortunately. It is work to watch a politically-focused movie but I think, as a filmmaker, you can work to make them more entertaining, you cast incredible actors and you work with incredible screenplays, it can be done.
Politics doesn’t have to be boring, political stories can be the most compelling. HBO can make more of them because they don’t have to worry about hitting a weekend box office number that justifies the work and they also don’t even really have to have ratings. The only requirement is that they have programs that are high quality enough to draw viewers and paying subscribers. That happens to overlap with what filmmakers want to do which is to reach as many people that might be interested in your project - you don’t have to do the lowest common denominator version because you have to make money. HBO do also market their product brilliantly too and so it is easy for the audience, the audience you want, to find it and they don’t have to use the same business model as the studios.
Mike Myers as Austin Powers in the third film in the series, 'Goldmember' (Credit: New Line/Warner... [+]
Thompson: You are one of a number of directors who have shifted from pure Hollywood comedies to films with more serious subject matters - Adam McKay is another example with The Big Short. Was making more political or socio-political films something that you have always wanted to do?
Roach: In a way, for me, it’s a return to how I started out. When I came out of film school I was writing mostly serious films and some of them were to do with politics. I got a lucky break with Mike Myers doing Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and that launched a whole other thing that I, frankly, didn’t expect to happen. I love comedies and I grew up on Monty Python, Mel Brooks, and Woody Allen but I was too anxious about the world and democracy being doomed, I didn’t really think I would be calm enough or light-hearted enough to do comedy and be funny. I have migrated towards being able to tell serious stories but with a light enough touch that I’m not preaching or boring people. I did The Campaign ($104.9 million worldwide unadjusted), which was a political satire. Even with Recount, I wanted to cast people who could handle absurdity and irony like Kevin Spacey and Denis Leary or Julianne Moore and Woody Harrelson in Game Change – dramatic actors who are very comedy capable.
Thompson: You mentioned Austin Powers and Mike Myers. 2017 will be the first film’s 20th anniversary. Do you have any idea about what you want to do to mark that?
Roach: That’s a very good question because I am aware of it but I haven’t thought about it too much. I had thought that it was a long time since but didn’t realize that such a milestone was coming up so I should start thinking about it a bit harder. Now you mention it, it hits me that 20 years ago we were in the middle of shooting and editing my first feature film. It brings back a lot of loaded feelings.
Thompson: The Austin Powers franchise was hugely successful and generated $676.4 million at the global box office, that's unadjusted for inflation. If you did want to revisit that, do you have a seed of an idea that you would love to see come off?
Roach: We are always talking about how we can keep it going. We have talked about different ways for Austin Powers to come back but we’ve never really clicked on anything that just seemed like it absolutely had to be done. We wouldn’t just want to do something that just exploited the whole brand. It would be fun to come up with something to connect back but I have no idea what that would be, I really don’t. There are so many different ways you could go and it might even be a whole other direction like an Austin Powers Broadway musical or an animated feature or TV show, there were plans for that at one time so you never know.
We did a trilogy before so if we did another then we’d have to be like Star Wars and launch something new. Mike Myers invented more than one incredible character like Dr. Evil, Mini Me, and that whole group so any one of them could have a spin-off or something but it would just have to be amazing. That has always been our rule, that when Mike comes up with something that he loves as much as he loves the original then we ‘ll do it. It’s really up to him, I’m just someone who was lucky to collaborate with him and bring his great characters to life. When he has the something that he thinks is good enough, I would happily join up and make it happen.
All the Way is available now on Blu-ray and DVD
All figures are not adjusted for inflation.
