Emma Stone and Teddy Geiger Interview
Did you know each other before this film?
Teddy Geiger: "Yes. We did a show that was a reality show on VH1 that was called In Search of the Partridge Family when we were 15."
Emma Stone: "When we were 15, yeah. That's where we originally met, so we've known each other over four years now, I guess."
What do you think about music from the '80s?
Emma Stone: [Laughing] "I appreciate that they were making it. I don't really listen to a lot. I mean, there's really some songs from the '80s that I love. We got to play one of them in the movie – In Your Eyes. That's a great one. That's classic. But I don't really listen to too much '80s music."
Teddy Geiger: "I wasn't really big on it until recently. I'm still not big on it, but I've been appreciating it more recently."
Your band's name in the movie is A.D.D. Can you come up with a good bad name for a band?
Teddy Geiger: "I have one - Brendan's My Brandon."
Emma Stone: "We saw Brendan Frasier last night, that might be why."
Teddy Geiger: "No, that's from last week - Brendan's My Brandon."
Is there a story behind that name?
Teddy Geiger: "Someone else has a friend that's just like my friend Brandon, and he said, 'Oh I have a friend Brendan...Brendan's my Brandon."
Did you write the songs you sing in the movie?
Teddy Geiger: "No, I did not. A guy, Chad Fisher, wrote those. But it was really cool because I was like, 'All right, I'm going to have to be singing these songs, I hope they're like cool songs…' And he wrote a bunch of really, at least I think they're really, cool songs. There was like what eight or nine songs that he wrote in like a month or something, so that was pretty cool."
Did you think about writing any music for the movie?
Teddy Geiger: "I did. There's just like issues in terms of they had kind of hired him on a salary and my publishing company was like, 'Well, you know…' so it was kind of like it would have been a hassle, I think, to get it to work out. And they were great songs so there was really no reason to try and push anything."
You're active in the music business right now. How accurate was the movie's portrayal of what's it like to be a musician?
Teddy Geiger: "In terms of them getting signed, it's like that little conversation and then like they're signed [in the movie]. I guess there's more to that sort of stuff but you know, you don't need to show that stuff in the movie. That would be a big boring scene. But that scene where the bus pulls up in front of her house and they load all the gear up, that's happened like 10 times at my parent's house. It pulls up and we pull all the music gear out of the basement and get on the road. So that's the one part you'd think wouldn't be very true to life. But that's it, that's one of the more accurate parts."
How cool was it to have Christina Applegate play your mom?
Teddy Geiger: "It was very cool. She did a good job as my mom, as well. She doesn't know my mom and she was very close to my mother, her mannerisms and all that."
They say actors want to be rock stars and rock stars want to be actors. Was that part of the appeal for you in taking this part?
Emma Stone: "It was definitely. I'm a big music fan, an admirer, so that was definitely part of the draw, getting to live that fantasy in a way while still acting. But I mean by no means am I about to release an album or anything so don't worry too much. [Laughing I'm never saying never - I'm saying I'm not about to."
Would you rather be a musician back then or a musician today with all the opportunities you have now?
Teddy Geiger: "I guess every musician looks forward to a point where they can just kind of make an album that truly is like a nice art album. And I guess you know in terms of like compromising and that sort of thing, I guess there's a lot more willingness to compromise now as I think there was…well I'm not even quite sure as in terms of the '80s, I think more prior to the '80s. But I guess '80s was kind of the beginning of that I think, that like really kind of design, like music designed to... Maybe it wasn't actually. I'm just talking now. [Laughing I guess there's always basically, there's always been music that's been kind of designed as it's easy to listen to and it's easy to remember and you know that sort of thing. What was the question now?"
Would you rather be a singer in the '80s or now?
Teddy Geiger: "I guess the cool thing about the '80s is the kind of like adventure in terms of, you know, people were very willing to use sounds that were completely ridiculous or whatever. There was a lot of stuff happening in the '80s and it's all over the place. I guess that's probably the coolest thing for me and that's what I like about it. Just kind of that like, 'Oh, what's this sound? Oh that's wacky. Let's use it anyways.'"
Emma, do you sing or play an instrument?
Emma Geiger: "I'm able to sing and able to fiddle around on bass, but I don't necessarily do it as a method of putting bread on the table. …I have sung before. I sang on Partridge Family and all that, but I'm a little tone deaf. I like to think I have pretty good taste when it comes to music and so when I hear my own voice a little off I'm like, 'Ugh.' It really bothers me because I like to listen to it, to good music. So yeah, I mean it's perhaps something I could dabble in eventually but for now I'm sticking to being a fan."
