Up In The Air
As in his previous two films, Jason Reitman knew that Up in the Air would hang on the bones of its tricky central character, a man who had to be charming, sharp and relatable while hiding an unrecognized sense of emptiness behind his confident swagger and his supposed joy at being “baggage-free.”
So, from the beginning, the story was written with Academy Award® winner George Clooney in mind. “If you're going to make a movie about a guy who fires people for a living and wants to live alone, he better be a darn charming actor.
“And there really isn’t anyone better at that than George Clooney,” Reitman explains. “The role was tailor-made for him and it was probably one of the most exciting moments of my life when he finished reading it and said to me, ‘Jason, it’s great.’”
Clooney has demonstrated a broad range in roles, from the smooth convict Ulysses in the Coen brothers’ screwball musical-comedy O Brother, Where Art Thou? , to heist expert Danny Ocean in Steven Soderbergh’s blockbuster Oceans Eleven and its sequels to his Oscar®-nominated performance as a “fixer” for a corporate law firm in Tony Gilroy’s thriller Michael Clayton.
Reitman says Clooney brought a diversity of shadings to Ryan Bingham, playing him with a humanity that keeps the character darkly funny without slipping into farce. “At a moment’s notice, George can jump right into any type of scene, be it emotional or comedic,” he says.
“George and I have a very similar comedic sensibility. We both believe comedy should be dealt with honestly, that you shouldn't try to make something funny. The writing needs to be funny, but the acting needs to be honest.”
Clooney also brought an air of excitement to the entire production. “He’s just a lovely guy to have on set,” Reitman concludes. “People say that a lot and you presume that it’s gotta be hype, but it’s not. He’s the real deal and he makes people comfortable. That was an enormous asset.”
Adds Ivan Reitman: “George has this wonderful charm and light humor about him so that he can take this man who finds himself in very serious situations and find just the right tonality to play that. He manages to be both a charismatic movie star and to carry as much weight as he ever has in a movie before. I think that’s a very exciting combination for people to see.”
Many were struck by the chemistry between the writing and Clooney’s delivery. “Jason is able to write dialogue that is sharp and cutting, yet has real soul, and that’s who George is,” sums up Jeffrey Clifford.
With Clooney cast in the main role, Reitman focused on the two unusual women who force Ryan to question the contours of his future as a perennial free agent.
For the vital role of Alex, whose elite travel program savvy seduces Ryan but who also triggers a desire for real sharing, he turned to award-winning actress Vera Farmiga, best known for her role in Martin Scorsese’s The Departed.
“The role of Alex is a tricky one,” comments Reitman. “This is the woman who captures George Clooney’s heart and she’s also a unique female movie character. Vera came at it perfectly, with such charm, beauty and, frankly, balls that you fall in love with her as she’s flirting over mileage status.
What I love about these characters, and about how the actors including Vera played them, is that you don’t judge them. They’re just real people.”
Farmiga was drawn both to the story and to working with Reitman. “The writing in this script was sharp as a tack, and the characters brilliantly edgy and witty,” says the actress.
“I think heroines in a Jason Reitman film are quicker, sharper, more intelligent and more eccentric than most other film female characters. And that’s what drew me to Alex. The film also has such poignancy and enormous social relevance.”
She also found it plain funny. “Jason knows comedy – it’s in his genes,” she says. “I had to trust him because I am terrified of irony, but he really has an excellent sense of how humor works.”
Naturally, she was not averse to a heated romance with George Clooney but, beyond that, Farmiga admits she was actually quite moved by the path that their relationship takes.
“Ryan thinks he’s met his match in Alex, a woman he doesn’t have to worry about, who won’t ask more of the relationship than what they have. She fits well into his philosophy of no attachments – only he’s the one who becomes attached.”
As for working with Clooney, she summarizes: “George was exactly the partner I needed because I have never felt as insecure as I did coming into this role. I had just given birth to my first child two weeks before my first costume fitting.
I really needed an ally and he was simply wonderful. The most attractive thing about him is his wit. He brings himself to this role, a wry, clever, cool, detached guy, and happily so. Yet he’s the consummate gentleman, extremely kind and loving. And there was plenty of laughter on the set.”
Just as Ryan Bingham meets Alex, another woman comes into his life – the young numbers-cruncher Natalie Keener, who arrives at Ryan’s company only to threaten the freedom of his hyperkinetic lifestyle.
It is Natalie’s budget-cutting idea to bring Ryan and his associates in from the road and have them work via remote video conferencing, a move that threatens to alter and complicate Ryan’s life and de-humanize the firing process even more.
But when Ryan takes Natalie on a trip to show her the ropes, she gains new insight into how profoundly unsettling and challenging the act of laying someone off can be, and it proves to be more affecting than she can bear.
Playing Natalie is Anna Kendrick, who became the second youngest Tony Award nominee ever when she was nominated as Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance as Dinah in the Broadway revival of “High Society.” She has since gone on to a range of film roles from her debut in Rocket Science to her participation in the Twilight film series.
“The secret is that I actually wrote Natalie for Anna Kendrick,” Reitman confesses. “I had seen her in Rocket Science, and thought she was simply incredible, different from any actress her age. And when she came in to audition for Up in the Air, she proved it. She has a completely unique voice that separates her from her generation.”
He continues: “I'm very proud of the character of Natalie, I think she’s different from most young female characters. Usually if you have a female character in her twenties, she’s some sort of romantic lead. But Natalie is an unromantic, business-minded, bull-headed young woman who reminds me of several women I adore, including my wife.”
Kendrick was equally taken with Natalie. “When I was first talking to Jason about the role, he said that it was based on several women he knew who feel frustrated because they’re always the smartest ones in the room. Natalie is smart but also uptight, uncomfortable in her own skin and socially awkward. Now, I don’t think I’m the smartest person in the room, but I did connect with the control freak aspect of it and I’m really an awkward person,” she laughs.
Kendrick was also intrigued by how Natalie tries to find within herself a person who can fire one employee after the next with business-like precision and equanimity. “Natalie is such a funny character but she doesn’t think she’s funny and she certainly doesn’t know she’s funny,” she explains.
“She so wants to be in control and she’s been thrown into a place where she isn’t. This is probably the first time she feels completely lost, and she starts to realize she really can’t do this job.”
During the firing scenes, the reality of the story had a deep impact on the actress. She relates, “I was doing one of the firing scenes and the woman that I sat across from told me that she really had just lost her job. It was uncomfortable and I didn’t know what to say to her. It really hit home that this was a reality for so many people.”
As much as she enjoyed the character, the irony for Kendrick being cast in this particular movie is that she finds airports a personal hell. “I hate them and I find no pleasure in flying. It was hilarious to me that we were going to be filming non-stop in airports. For me, that is the essence of losing personal control.”
She also had her concerns about working beside George Clooney, but those were quickly put to rest. “I was terrified, excited and nervous,” she says, “not just because it was George Clooney, though obviously that is intimidating.
But also I was so excited about the role and so dearly wanted to do well. Then I met him and understood why everyone had tried to calm me by saying, ‘You’ll be fine.’ He’s just a great guy.”
Jason Bateman, who previously portrayed the uncertain adoptive father to the unborn child in Juno, reunites with Reitman in the role of Ryan Bingham’s boss Craig Gregory. “Once I read the script, I knew that Craig Gregory was going to be a great character to play,” says Bateman.
“He’s your typical corporate bagman in suspenders, the kind of guy I hate. It is very indicative of who he is that over each piece of dialogue, Jason used his full name whereas in most scripts, you only see the first name. He is the prototypical guy you don’t want to work for – sort of a soul-less Darth Vader.”
Reitman was excited to have Bateman do something quite different in the role. “Jason has played a lot of smarmy roles but he came up with a new approach to Craig Gregory,” he says.
Bateman in turn notes that he, along with the entire cast, was inspired to explore the character through the prism of Reitman’s drama-comedy fusion. “Jason’s drama is filled with comedy, and vice versa, because he’s interested in real people with real problems,” sums up Bateman.
“His is a hysterical but heartbreaking kind of humor. Not a lot of people know how to do that but Jason is certainly one of them.”
Up In The Air is out now
As in his previous two films, Jason Reitman knew that Up in the Air would hang on the bones of its tricky central character, a man who had to be charming, sharp and relatable while hiding an unrecognized sense of emptiness behind his confident swagger and his supposed joy at being “baggage-free.”
So, from the beginning, the story was written with Academy Award® winner George Clooney in mind. “If you're going to make a movie about a guy who fires people for a living and wants to live alone, he better be a darn charming actor.
“And there really isn’t anyone better at that than George Clooney,” Reitman explains. “The role was tailor-made for him and it was probably one of the most exciting moments of my life when he finished reading it and said to me, ‘Jason, it’s great.’”
Clooney has demonstrated a broad range in roles, from the smooth convict Ulysses in the Coen brothers’ screwball musical-comedy O Brother, Where Art Thou? , to heist expert Danny Ocean in Steven Soderbergh’s blockbuster Oceans Eleven and its sequels to his Oscar®-nominated performance as a “fixer” for a corporate law firm in Tony Gilroy’s thriller Michael Clayton.
Reitman says Clooney brought a diversity of shadings to Ryan Bingham, playing him with a humanity that keeps the character darkly funny without slipping into farce. “At a moment’s notice, George can jump right into any type of scene, be it emotional or comedic,” he says.
“George and I have a very similar comedic sensibility. We both believe comedy should be dealt with honestly, that you shouldn't try to make something funny. The writing needs to be funny, but the acting needs to be honest.”
Clooney also brought an air of excitement to the entire production. “He’s just a lovely guy to have on set,” Reitman concludes. “People say that a lot and you presume that it’s gotta be hype, but it’s not. He’s the real deal and he makes people comfortable. That was an enormous asset.”
Adds Ivan Reitman: “George has this wonderful charm and light humor about him so that he can take this man who finds himself in very serious situations and find just the right tonality to play that. He manages to be both a charismatic movie star and to carry as much weight as he ever has in a movie before. I think that’s a very exciting combination for people to see.”
Many were struck by the chemistry between the writing and Clooney’s delivery. “Jason is able to write dialogue that is sharp and cutting, yet has real soul, and that’s who George is,” sums up Jeffrey Clifford.
With Clooney cast in the main role, Reitman focused on the two unusual women who force Ryan to question the contours of his future as a perennial free agent.
For the vital role of Alex, whose elite travel program savvy seduces Ryan but who also triggers a desire for real sharing, he turned to award-winning actress Vera Farmiga, best known for her role in Martin Scorsese’s The Departed.
“The role of Alex is a tricky one,” comments Reitman. “This is the woman who captures George Clooney’s heart and she’s also a unique female movie character. Vera came at it perfectly, with such charm, beauty and, frankly, balls that you fall in love with her as she’s flirting over mileage status.
What I love about these characters, and about how the actors including Vera played them, is that you don’t judge them. They’re just real people.”
Farmiga was drawn both to the story and to working with Reitman. “The writing in this script was sharp as a tack, and the characters brilliantly edgy and witty,” says the actress.
“I think heroines in a Jason Reitman film are quicker, sharper, more intelligent and more eccentric than most other film female characters. And that’s what drew me to Alex. The film also has such poignancy and enormous social relevance.”
Tagged in Jason Reitman