The CU Independent recently had a chance to sit down with Steve Pink, director of the movie “Hot Tub Time Machine,” as he gave some insight into his directing experience.
CU Independent: You co-wrote and co-produced the movie “High Fidelity” and you directed the comedy film “Accepted.” How has it been different going from producer to director?
Pink: There’s no pressure when you’re writing and producing. You say, “Well I think in order to make the film great you should do this,” and then you leave, and they have to fucking do it. Mainly as a producer, in most cases, the hard work is before you get to the set. Producers do tons and tons of work and then they get to tell you what they think and work with you in making the film.
When you’re directing, for the day, you’re in control of the aesthetic. You make the final decision about what happens with everything, and I find that pretty exciting. Trying to execute something and making it even halfway decent is hard. Everything has to come together in terms of physical production. You have to get the actors there and you have to execute the script and tell the story and it has to be entertaining. If it’s not entertaining, you’re sunk. Everyone who’s on the set is making something worthwhile, in this case making something really [expletive] funny.
CU|I: Do you think audiences will be put off by such a ridiculous title, “Hot Tub Time Machine”?
Pink: As a director I was aware it was fucking ridiculous, the actors were aware that it was ridiculous—everyone was aware. I tried to execute a very coherent tone, where [the characters] are very real and the world around them was absurd, and most of the time it was really funny. And I think that was the goal of this movie, because it’s so ridiculous—it’s “Hot Tub Time Machine”—so I had to make it massively ridiculous but still make it worthwhile.
The tone I always try and strike is very real and very absurd. They have to feel the reality of their circumstances in a real way, even if they’re fighting aliens and pterodactyls and shit. All the good filmmakers make you feel the reality the characters are going through, no matter how preposterous the situations are.
CU|I: As a director, are there certain people that you like to work with on any movie?
Pink: You always want to put together a crew that you think will work well. Actors, to me, they just have to be [expletive] awesome. The guys we got, I think are great. I think casting is 90 percent of the work.
On the other hand, the writing also has to work. No great actor can save a terrible script, and no great script can save a terrible actor, so they have to work in concert.
“Hot Tub Time Machine” opens March 26.
Contact CU Independent Entertainment Editor Sebastian Murdock at Sebastian.murdock@colorado.edu.
