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Did you train at a restaurant for your role in the film?
I came and worked with Leguizamo at the restaurant he was working at. Roy Choi, the chef who is one of the producers on this film, helped to get the chef culture right. Most chefs are disappointed with how their world is depicted on the big screen. And so he was present at every step of the way, whether it was the script or my training or the way the food was presented in the movie. He sent me off to a crash course of traditional French culinary training, so that I could gain experience about what my character was supposed to do in the film. And then I did prep work in his kitchens. I worked with him for almost three months.
I’ve also hung out with chefs. What I like about them is that they’re very confident, and don’t apologise for their individuality. In fact, they play it up with their tattoos, hair, and experiment with their personas. And having a guy cook for you is incredibly intimate, flattering and emotional. I already knew the basics of cooking and I love reading books on cooking, watching culinary shows, so I had good knowledge of it all as I’d done a lot of research while writing it. But writing a cook- book is totally different from actually working in the kitchen.
One of the big themes of the movie is the creative process as it manifests through food. Where did the inspiration to use the food culture come from?
I think the food came first, because I’ve been fixated. You have to really find something you would be happy to obsess over to make a movie, ‘cause you have to live it’. We shot the film in a month, the whole production must have taken a little over a year. As a director, you have to be able to pick something that excites you enough that you can breathe it, you know, everyday, and make a million different decisions about it and love it. And food was something I just really thought was very cinematic. I wanted to do something about that world, especially with this rockstar chef culture. I wanted to make something that’s my vision and also satisfy the audience the investors, reviewers, online bloggers, commenting on your stuff and being sensitive, but also being bold.
Scarlett Johansson and Sofia Vergara seem perfectly cast for the roles that they played.
They were. Sofia was somebody whom I didn’t know personally, but as I wrote the role it was very clear that she was perfect. She was the first person I met and we worked around her schedule with the show. I knew Scarlett from Black Widow and she’s just really super-smart and cool and that both she and Downey (Robert Downey Jr.) agreed was a big favour. This was not a high-paying gig by any stretch. It paid as little as the guilds would allow to get it made.This is a dream cast. You know, Bobby Cannavale, I didn’t think I could get him to agree. I’ve been wanting to work with him for a long time. And Leguizamo, both of them being New Yorkers, and me too, really added to the rhythm of the dialogue in the kitchen— it was such an important part for me to get that right. To keep it humorous, but also a little rough around the edges.
The film took on the structure of the classic road trip. When did you decide that would be the structure and where did that inspiration come from?
That’s an interesting question, because when I started writing it, I thought, I could stay home and really celebrate Venice and the culinary culture in California and Los Angeles. And then, like everything else I’ve written without a structure, I ended up on the road. The idea was to take the truck on the road with the cameras and going from town to town and really filming in the real environments. And just getting the authentic backdrop and music was great.
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