This Friday, “Wanderlust” hits theaters nationwide. The comedy stars Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston as a down-and-out New York couple who flock to a hippie commune called “Elysium” in the Georgia foothills for a bold change in lifestyle. At Elysium, Aniston and Rudd go soul-searching by tripping balls on Ayahuasca tea, torturing themselves with veganism, and experimenting with free love. Last week, I got on the phone with cult directing/writing super duo David Wain and Ken Marino (of The State, “Wet Hot American Summer,” “The Ten,” and “Role Models” fame) to discuss their wacky new comedy.
Where did the idea for “Wanderlust” come from?
David Wain: Ken Marino and I were in The State together for so many years and it was like being in this rogue group of people that didn’t have a leader that we felt was going to change the world in some way. To some degree, all of the movies I’ve done have had some kind of relation to that theme. I also just specifically like the idea of commune living. It was just an area that I wanted to explore. Right around the time “Wet Hot American Summer” came out, I saw a movie called “Together” from Sweden about a commune in the '70s and I loved it.
Ken Marino: We always talked about what it would be like to write an ensemble movie that was based at a commune. I think one of the reasons we wanted to do it was kind of, not try to re-create “Wet Hot American Summer,” but like the communal like magical kind of experience we had behind the cameras on “Wet Hot.” We were all at this camp and we all hung out together and nobody left the camp. It was really kind of a wonderful bonding experience, so we wanted to do it in the middle of nowhere and shoot for six weeks again. So Dave had this idea about a commune movie. That kind of got the ball moving or rolling in that direction and then we were like “Okay, well we can't just write it about this crazy group of people at this commune, we need an in. Who’s our in?” That’s when the main characters George and Linda came to fruition.
How'd you research the commune lifestyle?
Wain: We started just by writing from our imagination what we thought would be a funny, interesting story about this commune — the way that we thought it would be. Afterwards, we started researching online and we interviewed people that had lived in communes and eventually we visited two different communes extensively and got to know a lot of the ins and outs of how it worked.
Marino: We visited a couple actually, one kind of heading down towards San Diego. We went there for a day and when we got there, it was so comforting and so nice. We felt like George did on that first night at Elysium. it was just relaxing and awesome. Why wouldn’t you wanna do that? And we went around and we picked berries from their farm and we ate the berries and we saw there they had a circle of check-in time where they talked about where they were at and played music and danced. We saw where they cooked and it was kind of this really wonderful communal vibe. So Dave and I at that moment were like, “We could do this!” This could be great just to drop everything and live like this. There’s such an ease to it. And then within 20 minutes of being in the car, we were like “no f*cking way.”
I just don't know if I have it in myself to do something like that. I think the people who do it are fascinating people and really interesting, wonderful people. They’re passionate. Our hope in this movie was even though the people who live at the commune — there’s kookier characters — we wanted to paint that commune world in a warm, alluring kind of way. We didn’t wanna make the LARPing a joke, we want to explore it an a way where you say, “I see why people do that. Sure there are goofy characters in that world but the world itself is a legitimate lifestyle,” you know?
Was there anything funny from your research that you felt you had to write into the movie?
Wain: A lot of it makes the movie. One of the things I remember is that if you want a new pair of jeans at this one commune we were at, you put your name on this list and you wait maybe for months while the person who’s in charge of jeans gathers enough funds and eventually goes out and gets some jeans for you. So even basic things are a shared effort. We also found a lot of very beautiful things about people living on these kinds of places, so we wanted to try to show the funny side of it at the same time.
Jennifer Aniston is awesome in the movie. What was it like working with her?
Marino: Jen? It was amazing. I’d never met her until we offered her the part. I‘d heard she was a really kind, grounded, wonderful person and I think she’s super funny. I mean I go back and watch “Friends” and her timing on that is impeccable. She’s just a good, solid, wonderful, kind, grounded woman and then she’s super talented.
Wain: Well, you know I have to say we just showed her the script and she was into it from the get go, so it wasn’t a hard sell for her. We were so incredibly pleased that she wanted to do it. I mean I’m sure some of it had to to with the fact that she knew Paul Rudd well from having done “Object of My Affection” and is friends with him and possibly also I know she had liked our previous film “Role Models.” So, amazingly she was game and jumped right in and was a great sport. She did a great job.
What was it like working with Jen on the psychedelic trip scene after the circle of trust? She makes a very convincing stoner. It almost seemed like she was she tripping on something hallucinogenic…
Marino: We doped her up for that one.
Just a massive drug cocktail and turned the camera on?
Ken: Turn the camera on. She didn’t know where she was. Her agent was on the phone with us the next day. They weren’t happy. [Editor's Note: He's joking.] No, you know, she’s just really funny, she’s really good.
Wain: Well you know the drug trip sequence actually we shot a whole bunch of stuff that’s not in the movie. She really went all out. The scene where she’s up on the branch in the tree, and she kind of did a lot of daring stuff. A lot of stuff we shot in the middle of the night because we needed it to be dark, so it kind of added to the trippy nature because everyone was so exhausted.
Alan Alda is awesome as this old, Allman Brothers groupie from another era. What was he like to work with?
Marino: We had our dream list for Linda and we had our dream list for Carvin. Jen and Alan were at the top of those lists and the fact that we got the both of them was quite exciting for David and I. Same holds true with Alan, like we assumed that he’d be like this great guy just kind of knowing his TV personality and seeing him in interviews and stuff like that. Meeting him, he was beyond that. Not only was he a super smart, super kind, super funny guy, but that dude can improvise like a motherf*cker. Like, that guy, he came in and he raised the bar. You don’t know if Alan’s gonna come and say, “Alright, I’m just going to do the text and that’s what I’m comfortable doing.” He came in and he was like, “Yeah, let’s play!” and then he did these runs. He and Paul did a run that literally was like a half-hour run where Alan would not let up about how money buys absolutely nothing. He was just perfect.
Ken, let’s talk about your character just a little bit, like did you know you wanted to play the role of the douchebag brother while writing it?
Marino: No, well when we wrote it Dave and I were in the same room and we kind of axed stuff out. Certainly that character’s voice comes easy to me. I don’t know why but it does, I’m not an a**hole, maybe I am, I dunno, but so a lot of those lines probably came out of my mouth. In the beginning, I wasn’t thinking of playing the part. Then when Paul had read it, he goes “Is Ken gonna play Rick? He should play Rick.” And that’s when I started thinking about doing it. But I think probably in the back of my head I always wanted to do it.
There's all sorts of full-frontal nud*ty in the movie. How long did it take to sort of warm up to it and get comfortable around so many nekked people?
Marino: There was the one day of the nudists. It was always a little weird when you have people standing nekked next to you because you know if they’re flaunting it too much, you’re like “C’mon, stop flaunting it. Just stand there nekked.” If they're not, they’re too embarrassed and then that reads on camera so you have to find people who are just kind of perfectly comfortable without making you uncomfortable. It’s odd. It’s weird to have a bunch of nekked people standing around you. Joe had a piece, so so it made everything kind of much more easy. Because now you’re looking at something that’s fake, which somehow made it better. Even thought it looked exactly like a phallus.
Wain: It’s amazing how you get used to things. Very early on in the shoot nobody even noticed anymore, and it just became a thing. in the first few days it’s like, “Oh, there’s nekked people or there’s somebody who’s got their clothes off!” We’d have to be very cognizant and all sorts of coverage and robes and everything, but very soon people were just like “whatever.”
There’s quite a few alumni from The State in “Wanderlust.” Was it nice to gather up the gang for this movie?
Wain: It is nice especially. What’s even nicer is that the gang sort of never pulled apart, we’re always working on each other’s projects, we’ve all remained close over the years. It’s just the greatest thing to be able to go back to the people that you started out with and know that they’re still the best at what they do.
On a last note: “Wet Hot American Summer.” Michael Showalter last week said that it was a go…
Wain: I cannot discuss aspects of it, but I can tell you that we are actively in the script and development and early prep process.
Something for everyone to look forward to post-“Wanderlust”?
Wain: Absolutely, definitely look forward to it. First thing you should do is go see “Wanderlust.” Next thing you should do is buy the “Wainy Days” DVD. Then you you should watch “Children's Hospital” and then you’ll probably get to see “Wet Hot American Summer [2].”
Any words of wisdom for the Bro community?
Wain: Listen Bros, this is the deal. As a Bro, ok? When you’re doggin’ a chick, do it under the sheets so that your roommates don’t get grossed out.
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