Ep 76. Mark Duplass
b'Our talk with Mark Duplass\\xa0will take you about an hour to\\xa0absorb, and we sincerely hope\\xa0you will. But say you only have\\xa0about seven minutes, 13 seconds,\\xa0and access to YouTube. Watch his 2003 short\\xa0This Is John and you\\u2019ll have the CliffsNotes on\\xa0who he is as a filmmaker: A genius at distilling\\xa0our most towering personal fears, frustrations\\xa0and joys into one seemingly inconsequential\\xa0or silly event. The simple task of recording an\\xa0outgoing phone message becomes a study of\\xa0existential loneliness and self-doubt. The cold fingers-on-your-neck sensation comes when\\xa0you realize you know exactly how he\\u2019s feeling.\\n\\nAnother early Duplass trademark? The\\xa0entire cost of the wholly improvised film was\\xa0about three bucks. Duplass, along with his\\xa0brother and producing partner Jay, became\\xa0known for making studies of the human\\xa0condition that masquerade as movies; and for\\xa0making movies that fit whatever budget, props\\xa0and actors were available.\\n\\nTwo years later, Mark wrote, produced and\\xa0acted in his debut feature, The Puffy Chair,\\xa0which The New York Times called \\u201ca scruffy\\xa0little miracle of truthfulness.\\u201d It was a true\\xa0Duplass production \\u2013 highly personal, built\\xa0around a couple of props they already owned,\\xa0and featuring mostly their friends, who mostly\\xa0improvised the dialogue. Though it was seen by\\xa0just 25,000 people in theaters after screening\\xa0at Sundance, Mark and Jay suddenly found\\xa0themselves fielding calls from well-established\\xa0actors who wanted to be in their next indie.\\xa0Stars like Ed Helms, Jonah Hill and John\\xa0C. Reilly were fine swapping trailers for\\xa0couch surfing in exchange for a collaborative,\\xa0improvisational experience that used their\\xa0talents beyond saying a line and hitting a mark.\\n\\nMajor studios got interested, too. As the\\xa0movies and the budgets got bigger, Mark and\\xa0his brother sometimes struggled to walk the\\xa0line between commercial filmmaking and the\\xa0subdued, human and outright weird aesthetic\\xa0that set their work apart in the first place.\\xa0It\\u2019s a creative POV that feels as much a part\\xa0of who he is as what he does, and therefore to\\xa0be valued above any potential box office take.\\xa0And they largely succeeded in maintaining\\xa0that sensibility. \\u201cWhat\\u2019s intriguing about\\xa0Cyrus,\\u201d wrote Roger Ebert of Duplass\\u2019 2010\\xa0feature about an overgrown kid with creepy\\xa0mommy issues, \\u201cis the way it sort of sits back\\xa0and observes an emotional train wreck as it\\xa0develops. The movie doesn\\u2019t eagerly jump\\xa0from one payoff to another, but attunes itself\\xa0to nuance, body language and the habitual\\xa0politeness with which we try to overlook social\\xa0embarrassment.\\u201d\\n\\nJeff, Who Lives at Home, The Do-Deca-Pentathlon and Creep followed in quick\\xa0succession, all bigger, all largely well reviewed.\\xa0And all great for a Duplass, a guy who wants\\xa0beyond little else just to make films that people\\xa0see. Even so, he realized his and Jay\\u2019s approach\\xa0is not the stuff of which blockbusters are made.\\xa0Enter the golden age of TV, embodied in this\\xa0instance by Netflix. It\\u2019s a platform made for an\\xa0artist seeking creative freedom in getting niche\\xa0projects to a significant number of people who\\xa0are actually looking for something different,\\xa0and Duplass has taken full advantage of it. The\\xa0guys at Netflix are no dummies, either. \\u201c[Mark\\xa0and Jay] are singularly the most informed\\xa0and instinctive filmmakers and businessmen\\xa0in the industry,\\u201d says Ted Sarandos, Netflix\\u2019s\\xa0chief content officer. \\u201cThey know how to\\xa0get a film made, and they know how to get it\\xa0seen.\\u201d Probably why they now have a four film\\xa0production deal with the company, and\\xa0why Mark has become somewhat of a fairy\\xa0godmother to countless up-and-comers he now\\xa0helps. Consequence of Sound wrote in 2015,\\xa0\\u201cThe simple fact that with all of his success,\\xa0[Mark] still pushes tiny projects\\u2026 is proof that\\xa0he may be independent film\\u2019s most valuable\\xa0asset.\\u201d\\n\\nAmid all this, it\\u2019s easy to forget that on top\\xa0of all the writing, producing, directing and\\xa0mentoring, Duplass is a fine actor, earning\\xa0praise for his performances in many of his own\\xa0films, as well as others\\u2019, including Safety Not\\xa0Guaranteed, Zero Dark Thirty, The\\xa0Lazarus Effect, and TV series like The\\xa0League and The Mindy Project.\\xa0Not bad for a guy who early on almost quit in\\xa0despair of ever becoming a filmmaker. Yet he\\u2019s\\xa0said his questions about happiness and why it\\xa0can be so hard to achieve is a theme he continues\\xa0to explore in his work. Just our two cents, but\\xa0maybe it\\u2019s as simple as doing what you love. And\\xa0proving time and again that whether they cost\\xa0three bucks or $10 million, great stories are\\xa0always worth telling.'