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Interview: Director Seth Gordon

Filmmaker Seth Gordon knows comedy. In his feature film debut, Four Christmases, the director behind the fantastic documentary The King of Kong, takes a step back and lets the laughs take over. Gordon's a skilled director that allows stars Vince Vaughn, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Duvall, Mary Steenburgen, Sissy Spacek, and Jon Voight the space to act as crazy as they need to, and it makes for quite the Christmas comedy. Seth spoke to us about jumping from a documentary to a feature, channeling The Game, and making not just one, but four very memorable Christmases.

There's a real rhythm to the film. How did you choose to pace the film?

The original concept, to have these two go to all four houses in one day, was really strong. We definitely worked hard to have enough events at each house so the audience could feel like the film was moving forward. I think that part of what made it really work was the careful attention to the character arcs and what was driving the story for the two of them. That mainly includes the fact that they didn't know each other, the things they didn't know about each other, and how we would reveal those things they didn't know about each other. That's why the film has a real sense of forward momentum when you're watching it. Everything's new information, and we tried to deliver it in a way that would surprise you or make you laugh. You could have Vince Vaughn be grossed out about kids in a generic way, or you could have Reese get vomited on and Vince not be able to handle it. That's funny. [Laughs] It's just a fun way to deliver it. They are both so good at figuring out fun ways to tell the story. We worked really hard on the script for a couple of months, cycling through the script over and over and making it better. I think there's no substitute [for] that.

Since you did spend so much time refining the script, shooting must've been much easier.

Yeah, I had heard them read the script one hundred times. When we were on set blocking a scene, the lines were already a given so all we were worried about was, "How do we incorporate the other actors most effectively? How do we tell the story visually, in terms of blocking and everything?" But, it was never a question of, "What's the content of the scene?" We never found ourselves in a position where we said, "Why isn't this working?" That was all taken care of ahead of time. The screws were all tightened already.

The "divorced family Christmas" is probably the norm these days. In that respect, you definitely explore a very relevant concept.

That's what I loved about the idea and what Reese and Vince loved about it too. This is real. This is contemporary, as is a couple that isn't ready to make that commitment, in light of how their divorced families are. However, they're in a funny position, having to go visit all of those families. It's really contemporary and really real.

At each "Christmas," it's easy to see why the two main characters don't want to get married.

They don't want to repeat the patterns of their parents, and yet, the real hope that the movie has is the two of them are so good for each other that you want them to end up together through all of this.

Even though the film is very modern, it still captures the classic Christmas spirit. There's a warmth to it.

We definitely tried to balance both. I think that's what Jon Voight's house does. It reminds the audience of the point of all this, even though the people sitting around that dinner table are Voight's ex-wife, her current boyfriend and the complicated family puzzle that I actually think is pretty common.

It's comforting that everyone can be civil in that situation.

At the end of the day, family's really all you have, so appreciate it.

Well then there's also that fantastic line, "You can't spell families without 'lies.'"

That's always been in the script. That was really such a great turn of phrase. Vince Vaughn's delivery is great, and [Robert] Duvall's recall of the line is perfect.

The scene at Duvall's house was hilarious. What's the back story behind that?

It was incredibly fun to do! I studied architecture. That's my background and my degree. Maybe, to an unfair degree, it was really important to me that the physics be real, the geography be accurate, this be possible, and it could happen. So we made choices all along the way that all of this was possible. Even though we had to shoot it at five or six different locations, it was important. The exterior of the house was out in Shadow Hills. We had to build that shell of a house to do the stunt because a normal house couldn't handle the cameras and all of this gear. So that all had to be real. The inside was back on stage in couple of different places. It had to be very deliberate. However, with the way it all cuts together, you buy that this all could've happened. The cable snakes through the house and snaps off the wall, and it was really fun to do.

Was the jump from doing a documentary to a feature film seamless for you?

It was seamless in the sense that I didn't have the time to think about it too much. I just had to jump in. It was trial by fire for sure—baptism at the River Styx. [Laughs] It was just, "Go, go, go." You're either ready for it, or you're not. I felt like I had all of the support around me to make it happen, and I think we did. I think we've got a really fun movie on our hands here.

It's the perfect movie for this time of year, because people are stressed with the holidays, and they need that release.

It's great writing. That opening scene, "Bitch, I'm talking to you," that's all Vince. He wrote that, and it is funny. I've never seen anything like that. It is just great.

Well, it throws an element from The Game by Neil Strauss, and you wouldn't necessarily expect that.

We talked about The Game and how that allusion that we're making is a little bit of a commentary on where that stuff usually goes. I'm glad you caught that. Reversing the roles was another thing we discussed. She's so tough, and we haven't seen here that way. Conversely, we haven't seen Vince how he is in that scene either. It was just fun.

Did you have a vision for this cast when you first read the script?

It really was the perfect cast. We had the privilege of being able to work with some of the best of the best because Vince and Reese are so great that they attract such talent. Because we had such a clear understanding of what we needed for each of those roles, we were able to attract people that were perfect for those roles. Kristin Chenoweth as Reese's sister is perfect. It's believable. It's real. I think she executed it flawlessly. I think that each of the parents was right for what we needed. Duvall was so good. All of them were. There are five Academy Award-winners here. They're amazing.

This feels like a real family. You capture something very identifiable.

I think it's also because these actors are so good, and everyone can identify with this situation of having to go to the different houses and not really fitting in at each of them. One family is different from you in one way, but another family is different from you in a separate way. I feel like everyone can tap into it.

The sequence with the church Nativity play was hilarious, too. How'd that come about?

The actors really made that awesome. That wasn't in the original script. When we went through, that's an example of where we said, "It'd be really great to put them in a certain situation that really tests their relationship." What's the iconic mother-father-child situation? How can we put them in that situation and have it go badly? That's what emerged. That was all Vaughn. He was inspired by the situation and how it might go, and he really knocked it out of the park. He worked with the writers at the time and improv'ed through all of that. It was great.

It was another scene that's unexpected. The film's quite a journey.

We wanted it to move really quickly, and the characters cover a lot of ground.

What's next for you after this?

There are a couple of different movies. King of Kong was this documentary that I made. So the remake of that is in the works. Then there's movie called, The Only Living Boy In New York, which is a very great script that I hope we can make. Then there's another called Suicide Squad. That's about a heist at the Kentucky Derby gone wrong. It's a fun one.

In Four Christmases, did you cover a lot of improvisation?

Vince brings with him an energy and working style that keeps everything fresh all the time. Improv's a little misleading. It's not like, "We're in space!", then all of a sudden we change the mode. It's not quite like that. In every scene, the actors have to be present and ready because the way he might say something might be a little different than rehearsed or he might find a different turn of phrase. To accomplish it, it's not a completely different scene ever. It's always very similar. It's just the way he phrases his lines that can differ. A great example is the baby vomit scene. We couldn't rehearse the baby vomit because we didn't want to spoil it. We wanted them to experience it for the first time. When Vince saw it, he found it truly repulsive. It was never written that he would start gagging, but he started gagging. He went with it, and it feels so real. I think it's one of the funniest moments in the film. That's a great example. It was totally natural and real. None of us saw it coming. It doesn't change the scene, but it makes it fresh and present.

Coming off of a documentary, do you feel like you know how to give the actors space to naturally act like that?

I think that's part of why Vince had the idea of bringing me in, because I've obviously been in situations where I have no idea of what anyone is going to say. So I can really roll with the punches of having things change on the fly without freaking out about things not going exactly according to plan. Psychologically, I'm really comfortable with that. I think he had an intuitive sense that would be the case. It turned out to be a really good collaborative connection.

It must be comfortable for actors too because you let them react naturally.

My background is improv actually. So I'm really comfortable with finding stuff as we go and knowing when we're off course and when we're on.

You can't really plan true comedy either.

Hell, no! If you do, you ruin it. These guys are such awesome talents that they know when to engage that. We could just feel it as a group.

—Rick Florino
11.24.08