Were you looking to combine elements from your previous movies into “Alex and Emma?”
No, I wasn't looking to do anything like that. What attracted me to this was the process of writing and how I have gone about doing the work on my films, which is to take what's happening in your real life and let that inform the work. Many times the work can then inform your own life. That's what I was attracted to by this material.
I made a lot of romantic comedies and they're very hard to make. It's hard to find something that's different, that does it in a different way. And I thought, "What a unique way of telling a romantic comedy story." It's almost as if you're a magician doing a trick and then telling the audience what you're doing while you're doing it. Hopefully they still enjoy the trick. That's what this was.
Do you think people will compare this to "When Harry Met Sally?"
You just did. I think they will. They're really not the same at all. If you want to compare this to any movie of mine, it's essentially the exact same story as “The Sure Thing.” It's exactly “The Sure Thing,” there's no difference. You've got a guy who is chasing after a fantasy when the person he really is in love with is right there in front of him the whole time.
Women in my movies are all the same. Their guy is always the guy who draws outside the lines. The woman is the one who is more together, more grounded, more centered. That's the way I am with women so I have my characters reflect that. I generally feel that that's true. Women are more emotionally grounded and centered than men.
Is it dangerous to have a character critiquing the story while the story's going on?
Yes, I think it is but that's the high-wire act of this thing. That's what's kind of fun for me. He actually makes changes based on her. She says, “Guy with thin mustache. I don't want a guy with a hole in his teeth who's whistling...”
Is this a difficult exercise to put your leading man through, having him play two characters?
Luke [Wilson] had the easier job than Kate [Hudson]. Kate had 4 different characters. Actually, she had five different characters. Even though the Anna character is similar to Emma, it's slightly different. Luke is almost a direct extension of who he is. He's playing the character just a little more formally than he did in the contemporary setting. Plus, there's a lot of dialogue, a lot of scenes with two people in one room talking. He said when we first started rehearsing, “I'm not going to be drinking beer after work on this picture. I've got to get my act together to know what I'm doing.” I think there's more dialogue in this movie than he's had in all his other movies put together.
NEXT PAGE: Reiner on Casting Kate Hudson, Luke Wilson and Sophie Marceau
