It was fun to put words in the mouths and have conversations that in real life didn’t happen – probably wouldn’t happen. As hard as it is to make a movie, it’s easier than changing life sometimes and talking to people and saying what you want to say to people. It was very exhilarating and even cathartic to have this written.
I shared it first with my wife and she validated that I wasn’t nuts, that there was something there. Then literally the next person that I called was Peter Falk. He read it and he was reading it obviously as a decision to make it, seeing if it interested him. He called me in the middle of it and he said [imitating Falk’s voice], ‘I’m on page 46. Let’s do it.’ I told him that if I knew I only had to write 46 pages, I could have saved 8 years (laughing). I would have been done somewhere in the ‘80s. And so then that gave me the confidence to think, ‘Okay, he likes it.’ That was a big benchmark when Peter liked the script. It didn’t matter the personal nature of it. How much of it was personal didn’t matter. The fact that it read and held together as a story and it interested him, that meant the world to me.”
Paul Reiser on Not Sharing the Script with Peter Falk Early in the Process: “The first couple of times in my life I bumped into him, I was already planning this but I never mentioned it to him. When I bumped into him a few years ago, right before I started writing this, I went to see him in a play. I went backstage to say hello and, ‘Gee, you were great in the play.’ He said, ‘Listen, I love what you write. You should go write more.’ I’m thinking, ‘You have no idea, sir. You have no idea what I’ve been thinking.’ But I took that as a sign to get it together and quit stalling.
But no, I figured if I ever mentioned it to him he’d say, ‘Great. Let me see it.’ He’d either say, 'Hey, get lost. Don’t bother me,’ or ‘Let me see it.’ I’d say, ‘Well, not today. Give me two years.’ So I figured why not just wait until I could say here it is. And it worked. We didn’t have time to think about it. He read it and liked it immediately, which was a dream for me.”
On Keeping the Faith: Reiser admits he worked on the script off and on for 20 years, however he says there really never was a point during that time when he doubted the movie would get made. “It was actually quite the opposite. I said, ‘Boy, I believe in this. Every time I think about it, it just feels compelling. Every time I see Peter Falk in the movie I think that would be great. We’d be fun together.’ Anybody I told it to they’d say, ‘That’s great. Let’s see it.’
I always believed in it. It’s the only idea I ever had that withstood so much time, you know? There are other ideas that you have and then you lose interest or they just go away. I never thought that this wouldn’t be good. I just thought, ‘Hey, the only thing stopping you is you. Sit down and write it.’
I’d distract myself until finally it was a combination of things. The show was over and I had time on my hands. I had taken time and played and just relaxed. But then the thing is that you discover you’re getting older. Peter and I are both getting older and you want to make this movie, make it now.”
Did the Story Change Much from the Original Idea to the Finish Script?: “It’s funny. That’s a good question. In many ways it’s very much the same movie I always had in mind. That he’s going to show up at the door and say that mom left, and then we’d somehow hit the road. For years I said, ‘Well, where are they going? And if they’re really looking for her, how could they have a leisurely time?’
I couldn’t figure out the mechanics of it. So I always put it away and had confidence in it. But I realize now that because it took so long, it’s a much better movie than it would have been. In the original draft I was 27 and Peter was 55 in the script. That’s not the same as a guy in his 40s and a dad in the end of his 70s. It’s a different point in both our lives. And in all the years I started writing it, in that time I lost my dad. I got married. I had kids of my own and that absolutely changes your entire world. I think most significantly having kids of my own. It’s hard to write a movie about fathers and sons when you only know half the story.”
Page 2: Paul Reiser on Choosing a Director and Sharing the Screen with Peter Falk
