First-time director Krasinski speaks about 'Brief Interviews'

The Daily got a chance to interview actor and director John Krasinski over the phone about his new independent film based on David Foster Wallace's novel "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men" (1999). Krasinski touched on what inspired him to write the screenplay, what it was like being behind the camera for the first time and what he hopes audiences will take away from the film.

Question: So the film is based on the book by David Foster Wallace. What was the inspiration behind adapting the novel into a screenplay?

John Krasinski: I actually did a stage reading of the book in college. And without being overly sentimental, it was actually the moment I decided to be an actor. Getting to be a part of something so emotional and so powerful, it basically was the reason why I've been trying to do it ever since, just so I can give other people the opportunity to feel what I felt that night, which was pretty powerful. It's a very provocative book and it makes people talk. And so that's the number one thing that I hope for this movie: that it just gets people talking.

Q: In Wallace's collection of stories, we never actually know who is conducting the interviews. Why did you choose to give the interviewer an identity in the form of Sara Quinn? And what was the significance of making her a woman?

JK: I don't know why, but it always rang true from the moment I read the book that she was a woman. When I actually spoke to David Foster Wallace, he basically said that he figured she'd be a woman that was doing her dissertation at some Ivy League school and she's interviewing these guys or something. And then I said, "Hold up, that's exactly the screenplay that we wrote." It was definitely one of the best moments of my career to hear that we were not only on the right path, but seemingly heading right down the way that he wanted to.

Q: Unfortunately David Foster Wallace passed away last fall. How did you feel about releasing this film after the death of the author?

JK: We had finished the movie before he had passed away. To lose the potential to read more words that he would write is devastating. I mean he is by far one of the greatest writers we've ever had. This movie has and always will be a fraction of the imagination inspired by his work when you read him. This is just a doorway to hopefully get more people to read his work. But again, it's scary when this is the only David Foster Wallace movie out there thus far and it definitely has added pressures. But at the same time, I hope that I just did the book justice.

Q: Why did you decide to play the character of Ryan instead of another one of the other hideous men in the movie? Was he the one you'd read in Brown during your stage reading?

JK: I actually wasn't supposed to be in the movie at all. I actually was envisioning just writing it and directing it because we had such great actors. And we had somebody fall out unfortunately two weeks before we were supposed to shoot the part. And it's such a big part. So the only thing that I had was that I had read the book 150 times, so because I was a book nerd for this book, the producers thought that I understood the tone and how the movie needed to end, and [could] get all of that dialogue in my head fast enough. So that was it, there were no other reasons.

Q: This is your directorial debut and of course you're popularly known as the character of Jim from "The Office". What was it like being behind the camera for the first time? Do you find one job to be more challenging than the other?

JK: Directing's real tough. It's also extremely thrilling. I've never been the actor who's always wanted to be a director. In fact, this could be [the only movie I direct], you never know. But I was surrounded by a team of people that not only do I think are the greatest, but they actually are the greatest. The guy who shot the movie for me, [cinematographer] John Bailey is probably one of the top people ever to be in his field. He's such a phenomenal friend, such a phenomenal talent, and he really guided me the whole way. I basically was a glorified cheerleader coming in very excited every day to be there, getting the actors excited and the crew excited. But when it came back to focusing and making big camera choices, he was right there helping me the whole time, and I could never thank him enough for it.

Q: What kind of response were you hoping to get from the audience with this film, and do you expect the response to be very different from men than from women, or is it just basically getting a dialogue like you mentioned earlier?

JK: I think it's just a dialogue. You know when we did the reading at Brown, it was very polarizing. It's a very provocative thing I think. Some people are really totally blown away and moved by it; other people found it frustrating. Whether or not you like the movie, David Foster Wallace has the ability to write such great stuff that I just hope that you take it in, and I hope that you take in the movie and let it percolate for a while. Then whatever decision you make, the greatest compliment you can give to anyone is that you actually took the time to ingest the movie and the experience and make a decision.

Q: The film has quite an impressive cast. What was it like having to direct so many different actors?

JK: I was basically a glorified audience member. I got to sit behind a little, tiny TV with earphones and basically get my own free show. These guys were so incredibly talented that I think that it was like an acting clinic. When I was writing the script I actually had most of those people in mind, because at the time I was still waiting tables. And when I was writing, I was going to the theater and going to see indie films, and so all those people [I cast] were the people who were inspiring me while I wrote it. They all immediately signed on and knew exactly what we were trying to do with the movie, that it would be a very different movie than people were used to. In representing themselves as these men, it would only pose to represent different factions of the male psyche and the vulnerabilities and insecurities. No one guy was actually a real person or somebody that we could all adhere to completely, but basically when you add them all up there's definitely a lot of truth to what they're saying.