Leslie Mann Gushes Over Daughter Maude Apatow's Directorial Debut in 'Poetic License' | TIFF 2025 - video Dailymotion

Hollywood Journal

Director/Producer Maude Apatow, along with the cast of 'Poetic License,'  Leslie Mann, Cooper Hoffman, Andrew Barth Feldman, Cliff "Method Man" Smith and Nico Parker stopped by THR's TIFF suite at the 1 Hotel in Toronto to discuss making the film. 'Poetic License' was the first time Leslie worked with her daughter Maude in this capacity and says she was so proud of her daughter's skills as a director, her decisiveness and ability to create safe space for cast and crew.

Transcript

00:00Has anyone had a quarter, is anyone in a quarter-life crisis? Like, how do we get through?

00:04Actively.

00:05I don't know what to do.

00:10Trying to figure it out.

00:13I think you're on such a good path.

00:15It's going well.

00:16Yeah, from the outside it doesn't seem like that.

00:18I appreciate that.

00:19Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:20That's awesome.

00:21That's not how it feels, though.

00:22Not how it feels.

00:23It's turmoil.

00:24I don't know what to do.

00:25It all probably started on the set of this film.

00:27Yes, exactly.

00:28Yeah.

00:29Actually, yes.

00:30A little bit.

00:36What is it about this story that only you could do?

00:39I don't know if only I could do it, but I think I felt very connected to the relationships.

00:46I loved the family dynamic, and I loved Cooper and Andrew's friendship.

00:50I've never really seen a male friendship portrayed that way, and I liked that it was a quarter-life

00:57crisis and a midlife crisis sort of intercepting, and they're helping each other through it,

01:04and somehow it all worked out.

01:07But when I read this, it was very clear, and I felt like I had a good handle on the material, and that maybe I could pull this one off.

01:17Did you ever consider also acting in this?

01:20Or that was like, no way?

01:22Yeah, no way.

01:24Honestly, I have so much.

01:26After doing this, I was like, I don't know how people act and direct at the same time.

01:30Yeah.

01:31First of all, you're just so tired.

01:32I'm like, how do you look okay?

01:34How do you remember all of the things you need to remember?

01:36It seems so hard, so I have a whole new respect for everyone who's able to do that.

01:40Who did you have in mind first, like when you were reading the script, thinking about it?

01:44Who came?

01:45Who before me and Andrew did you think about to play these parts?

01:48Who of the group came to your head?

01:51Nico!

01:52It was number one.

01:53It was number one.

01:54What?

01:55It was kind of all one.

01:57I'm not going to lie.

01:59Did you know that?

02:00Wait, Brittany?

02:01It was.

02:02I love Nico, so I was a big fan of Nico.

02:05And when we first were talking about Dora, kind of before we had anyone set, I was on Nico's tail.

02:12I was trying to get Nico.

02:14And then, yeah, we auditioned a ton of people.

02:17And I think the duos, like Dora and Liz and Ari and Sam were like the most important.

02:23I think the movie kind of doesn't work if those dynamics don't work and the chemistry isn't there.

02:26And so we auditioned a ton of people.

02:29Andrew, I mean, you guys should tell this story because...

02:31We were filming Saturday night when we...

02:34And Cooper was on his way to hanging out with me when we got asked to do the chemistry read the next day.

02:40So we ran lines that night with Dylan O'Brien playing Liz.

02:44I was...

02:46How did you?

02:47A little disappointed that he didn't get the job.

02:49Leslie was great.

02:50Yeah, he killed it.

02:51He killed it.

02:52And that was it.

02:53We were already really close.

02:55We became really close on Saturday night.

02:56We wanted to stay really close.

02:58And so this movie felt like a gift as actors to get to play best friends with somebody that you already really connect to.

03:04And a gift as people that we got to keep being friends.

03:07Yeah.

03:08We did our chemistry read on Zoom.

03:10Remember?

03:11Yeah.

03:12And I was in my living room on my couch.

03:14And somebody was being loud in your house.

03:16Yeah.

03:17It was my grandson.

03:18He was being loud.

03:19He was like, be quiet!

03:21And then you come back to the Zoom.

03:23They were gracious enough to...

03:25Yeah, it was fine.

03:26I got the parts.

03:28Did either of you have hesitations about working together in this format?

03:33Well, I just want to be around Maude every day of my life.

03:37So I was thrilled to be able to do this.

03:40And she was forced to have to spend every day with me.

03:46I loved it.

03:47It was a great working relationship, wasn't it?

03:50Yeah.

03:51Wasn't it?

03:52I don't think...

03:53But beforehand, I mean, we haven't ever worked in this way together.

03:57No?

03:58Um, I was a little worried on the first day.

04:01Like, how is she going to be as a director?

04:04You know?

04:05Jesus.

04:07And then she was, like, just so decisive, super self-assured,

04:15and, you know, created a really safe space for all of us.

04:19And that's like a dream for a director.

04:22Yeah.

04:23I say well done to me.

04:26Yes.

04:27Congratulations, Leslie.

04:28Exactly.

04:29Congratulations, Leslie.

04:30Thanks, you guys.

04:31She's always finding a small little hidey hole.

04:33But it's so nice.

04:34She's in, like, a tiny nook with the thing,

04:36and then she kind of will disappear,

04:38and then when she comes back in, it's like,

04:39where do you keep going?

04:40Because everyone's in a video.

04:41Yeah, yeah, yeah.

04:42You know, open a closet, and she's in.

04:43Yeah, yeah, yeah.

04:44But when she comes out, she was so completely dialed in,

04:48always to what we were doing and what was working

04:51and what wasn't working.

04:52And so she would, like, rally back and forth,

04:54and at some point all of us would be like,

04:56okay, okay, it's time to shoot right now.

04:57Like, right now, right now, right now, right now.

04:58It was amazing.

04:59It was so cool to be, to have that level of collaboration

05:03so constantly.

05:04It was amazing.

05:05And the way you led the crew was just so beautiful.

05:07Yeah.

05:08It was an amazing group of people that she assembled, really.

05:09It's awesome.

05:10And it was, like, summer camp for you guys, right?

05:11Oh, my God.

05:12Yeah, it was so much fun.

05:13We had, like, a blast.

05:14Genuinely.

05:15What did you guys, what did everyone do for fun?

05:18And were you guys part of, like, knocking on the door,

05:21wanting an invite?

05:22Or were you like, no.

05:23Not invited.

05:24That is not true.

05:25That is not true.

05:26We invited you.

05:27Okay, that is crazy.

05:28You were like, we, we, no.

05:30Like, please come hang.

05:31Church and stay.

05:32And you're like, and we really respected you.

05:33You're like, I don't hang out.

05:34I don't hang out.

05:35I respected you instantaneously.

05:36Atlanta is amazing.

05:38Atlanta is such a cool city.

05:40There is so much to do.

05:41I love, like, kitschy stuff.

05:43Like, I love the Coke Museum.

05:44You know what I mean?

05:45But also.

05:46The Puppet Museum.

05:47Yes.

05:48The Puppetry Museum is amazing.

05:49I cannot recommend that.

05:50The Christmas restaurants.

05:51The Christmas restaurants.

05:53The Christmas restaurants.

05:54We'll find the craziest, most fun, like, Disneyland-esque.

05:57What's the, there's a restaurant, I think it was for infatuation.

05:59That's crazy because Leslie asked me about the strip clubs.

06:01Oh, yeah.

06:04We all did go to a strip club.

06:05Yeah, yeah, yeah.

06:06I did not like that.

06:07What was that called?

06:08What was that called?

06:09Magic City.

06:10No, we went to the Claremont, the Claremont Lounge.

06:11Yeah, Claremont Lounge.

06:12I stayed in the hotel above the Claremont Lounge.

06:14Oh, Magic City.

06:15Yeah.

06:16You hear some things.

06:17Yes.

06:18Stay in that hotel.

06:19We went to see, we were like touring, or scouting a high school.

06:24And they were rehearsing Hadestown in the theater department.

06:27And I was like, when's the show?

06:29We all went to see this local Atlanta production of Hadestown.

06:33It was amazing.

06:34Which was incredible.

06:35It was incredible.

06:36They killed it.

06:37They had swinging lights.

06:38They had treadmills.

06:39The production design was unlike anything.

06:41They get like pulled out from under something at one point.

06:45Yeah, the treadmills, the treadmills.

06:46It was like crazy.

06:47No, but the lights all swinging.

06:48Yeah, yeah, yeah.

06:49It was incredible.

06:50This is an ad actually for Decatur High School's production.

06:53Yeah, yeah, yeah.

06:54Oh, Hadestown is not playing at four performances, I think.

06:58Yeah.

06:59I just can't stop laughing.

07:00I feel like you posted a still of this or a picture of this.

07:02But when you guys are on the moped, how fast were you going on that?

07:08When you were...

07:09Yeah, how fast were you going?

07:10Was that an action scene?

07:11I'm so sorry.

07:12Andrew, how fast were you going?

07:13I felt afraid for my life.

07:15Andrew, how fast were you going?

07:16For real.

07:17It was fast enough.

07:18I'm so sorry.

07:19And it wasn't...

07:20Wait, hold on.

07:21I think that's so scarier about it.

07:22Wait, wait, wait.

07:23Am I crazy or is the shot of them two...

07:25That's not you guys on a truck?

07:26No, it is.

07:27No, no.

07:28The close-up was also on a truck.

07:30But there was...

07:31I'm just an uncoordinated human being.

07:35Terrible moped rider.

07:36And I had like, every other day, lessons with our stunt coordinator.

07:42Learning how to drive the Vespa safely.

07:44And in many ways, he became my new dad.

07:47And I...

07:49But getting on the back of the moped with him felt very...

07:54And nobody told you that you were going to have to do that right then.

07:57And I was like, oh, you didn't know this was happening.

07:59Okay.

08:00Well, here we go.

08:01And it was like this.

08:02Yeah.

08:03Yeah.

08:04I feel like...

08:05You did it though.

08:06It looks good.

08:07We got there.

08:08We got there.

08:09We got there.

08:10That's the double.

08:11We did it.

08:12We did it.

Leslie Mann Gushes Over Daughter Maude Apatow's Directorial Debut in 'Poetic License' | TIFF 2025

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended