AFM: Jennifer: You mentioned that you really related to the script. What was it about the character of Kate that got you hooked?
JC: It wasn’t solely Kate, it was how it all fit together. It’s really deceiving because you feel like you’re on skis, skimming just the surface of it and then by the end of it, you’re dumped into lake. You know what I mean? (she laughs) – but in a good way. It truly felt like a slice of life. I feel like the best meals in life are the ones that you actually cut into beautiful pieces and that you take your time to chew and taste. This movie delivers a beautiful entrée and not like in bigger movies where they feel like they have to give you something to celebrate.
JC on working with Alex: The fact that this guy (Poe) wrote something because it was calling him to be written and that he risked his relationships, his finances to get it done. How can you not respect that? And for me to be asked to be a player, I’m still very impressed. Read the rest by clicking the link below...
AFM: This was the world premiere of Ex-Girlfriends and at the IMAX, no less, how was that for you?
AP: It was pretty amazing. When you start to make a movie, the prospect of watching with an audience is so far off and finally getting here was really satisfying. It was especially fun to see people so engaged with it. I had conversations afterwards with people talking about their own relationships and their own problems and what the movie brought up for them. It spurred some fun conversations.
AFM: I love that your character is so open emotionally, flaws and all. He shares all the secret things we do after a break-up like the burning of old letters and pictures where we usually see these types of things with female characters. Would you say that this movie came about from past experiences?
AP: I definitely took my inspiration from things that happened. I mean a lot of it is based on experience, then of course some things have to change in the writing process to make it actually more true to the core idea. In real life experiences there are all these crazy things that are totally contradictory and in the writing process I wanted to keep contradictory confusing elements. They (the characters) do all kinds of crazy stuff that I feel we do in real life; makes it more identifiable.
Alex: You directed, wrote and starred in this film. As your first feature what did you think about doing all three at once?
AP: I just thought it would be fun! (He laughs) I just wanted to have all the fun. As a writer you see the director having fun. As a director, you see the actors having fun. I just wanted to do it all.
I’ve kind of done it with other films in the past and I work with a tight team of collaborators. So I felt like I had other eyes watching what was going on, taking care of keeping everything balanced so I could take on those other roles without compromising the final product.