The Job
In a world of yes yes yes, no no no…
In a world of Super-budget militaries and ignorant,
un-educated consumers who fund them, while they watch
TV, shop on credit, and live almost exclusively on carbonated
sugar-water and hormone-laden mammal flesh…
There comes a time in every man’s life when he
must stand up, tell the truth, and take care of the
one thing that needs taking care of the most…
THE JOB
--Interview with Brett Gillen
by Cyndi Brown
What is “The Job?”
That, good friend, is what it's all about.
If I were to tell you now exactly what the task in
question entails, there would be no good reason to
see the film. No good reason for the movie itself.
No good reason to get out of bed on March 29th and
go to the premier. There is a website, however,
if you want to learn more. www.whatisthejob.com
To be sure, throughout the film, certain clues are
given as to what the job may be, but it isn't until
the climactic, final scene wherein the secret is revealed.
So stop asking silly questions. "What is
the Crying Game?" Come on, now. It's much
better to see the movie.
Smash Magazine: Is this your film-making debut with
Co-Director, Isaac Eddy?
Brett Gillen: Contrary to all evidence pointing to
the positive, no. Both Isaac and myself have acted
and been otherwise completely un-noticed in many,
full-length, Big Studio features, the names of
which are withheld due to their dubious standing in
even the most generous rankings of straight-to-video
productions throughout the last ten years. Isaac
won an award for his thesis film in college, but let's
face it, the amount of tuition his parents spent for
four years of that kind of silliness should at least
merit that. I studied Literature in another,
very expensive and elitist, New England College, and
wrote many papers on obscure, French novelists, none
of whom sold any books, and all of whom are dead.
Again, a great and enriching experience, but for all
intents and purposes, a complete waste of
time.
“The Job” is an ensemble work, wherein
each of the nine, performing, Las Vegas Blue Men are
represented by a character of their exact or opposing,
personal mask. It goes without saying, of course,
that Marcus Weiss is the star. Marcus, of all
The Nine, is without doubt, the greatest actor.
He, after all, spent his parents' hard-earned money
on drama school. He practically holds a PhD
in acting, having spent an untold enormity of time
and money in a variety of accredited and equally risible
New England institutions of higher learning specializing
in the Dramatic Arts. If only a piece of paper
could guarantee the Oscar. Still, there are
some courageous souls which follow this mine-filled
path to Show Biz success and Marcus is one of them.
Perhaps you've seen his car commercials. Perhaps
you haven't. The truth is, whether by virtue
of or in spite of his many, extremely expensive degrees,
Marcus is one of our great, National Treasures. His
day job, which he hasn't quit yet, is playing a Blue
Man in Blue Man Group, Live at Luxor. He
can be seen five nights a week at the Luxor Hotel
banging on drums, throwing marshmallows into other
peoples’ mouths, and practicing what has come
to be known as his Masterpiece, his Piece de la Résistance;
the Cap'n Crunch, Small Box Reveal. Even a man
such as myself, cynical to the core and rotten to
the very marrow of his actor-hating bones, must admit:
No one can touch his genius at this moment in the
show. For this reason, (along with the fact
that Marcus grew up in Switzerland and can do a
mean, Swiss-German accent), Mr. Weiss was cast as
the lead, "Maurice Maurice," an eccentric,
criminal mastermind who, (along with his right hand
man and guard-de-corps, "Zigmund," the fantastically
intimidating Russell Roy Rinker), brings together
seven, international criminals for one last, glorious
enterprise. High jinx, as you probably can imagine,
inevitably ensues.
SM: What do you hope the audience will come away with
after seeing this movie?
BG: A sense of profound de-marginalization, an aftertaste
of salty possibility, and an overwhelming feeling
of hey, if these guys can make such gargantuan fools
of themselves, so can I.
SM: Who is your personal favorite character from 'The
Job,’ and why?
BG: As a writer and a director, my favorite character
is “Humphrey Biensucé,” played
by Aurelien Bernard. The part is written to be played
with a thick, almost unintelligible French accent,
which Aurelien pulls off expertly, to the point where
you actually believe that he was born and raised in
one of those funky little towns in the South of France.
In fact, he actually grew up in Huntington Beach,
California and learned to surf before he could walk.
His normal hair color is bleached blonde and his normal
accent is so South Californian that barely any of
us can understand him anyway. “Dude, gnarly!”
“Totally stoked!” That kinda thing. It’s
really amazing to see the transformation.
As an actor and a producer, my favorite character
is “William Gatacrombie Budd,” or “Gates,”
as he is known in the film. The role is played by
co-director and cinematographer, Isaac Eddy. I’ve
always known Isaac to be a good actor, but his work
in “The Job” is simply stunning. I’ve
never seen anything like it on film. Such blistering
honesty, such heartbreaking restraint. It’s
a performance for the ages, and I am very, very proud
to be even remotely associated with it. I only thank
God it has been captured on film.
SM: Which character was most challenging to portray?
BG: Without a doubt, the lead role, “Maurice
Maurice,” played by Marcus Weiss. Not only did
Marcus take the words and the direction as given,
infusing them seamlessly with his own, unique life-force,
he did this in spite of the fact that he had spent
most of his young, adult life going to expensive schools
which specialize and give out ‘Degrees’
in this sort of chicanery. What with all the money
his parents had spent, we sincerely believed it would
be impossible for him to make the role believable,
let alone interesting. But he pulled it off. It really
is a remarkable performance, considering.
SM: What inspired you to make this film? Was it an
impulse decision, or something that you had been thinking
about doing for awhile?
BG: In January of 2004, for the first time in the
five-year history of Blue Man Group, Las Vegas, two
dark days were scheduled in a row. This never
happens. BMG plays almost continually throughout
the year, 7 days a week, and to this day, no one is
quite sure why these two days were scheduled with
no shows, but as it turns out, the two days in question
would prove to be, for lack of no better term, deeply
Faustian and literally wet with the creative impulse,
passionate sweat, and cheap, Mexican beer.
It's hard enough for three Las Vegas Blue Men to
travel together, let alone do anything after 7pm other
than play outlandish instruments and make a stupendous
mess, but for the entire cast to gather together and
spend a whole two days without donning skull-caps,
slathering on blue grease paint, and rocking the black
pajamas... it's almost unheard of. And so we
decided, impulsively, instinctually, to make a film.
Anthony Parrulli rented a cabin up at Mt Charleston
and I wrote a script. Isaac, who went to an
expensive film school in New England, agreed to shoot
the thing and edit it on his Macintosh computer.
Matthew Banks, meanwhile, was good enough to shed
all aspects of his previously immaculate reputation
as a sensitive artist and become the most degenerate
of womanizers, one "Cario Menolla Pentretti,"
Italian Sports-Car enthusiast and all-around, criminal
Sick-O. The stage was set for mayhem.
All that was needed was the cerveza.
SM: The character you play is “Lucky Pierre.”
Tell us a bit about him. Are there any personality
traits within that character that mirror your own?
BG: Lucky Pierre is a Frenchman, and a mid-level,
bank employee at Credit Lyonnais. What he lacks in
social status he more than makes up for by being a
wonderful cook and a shameless embezzler. I’m
not sure about “mirroring” my own personality
traits, but it’s safe to say that I have always
had an urge deep within me to speak only in French
and steal large amounts of money from faceless and
seemingly impermeable, multi-national financial institutions.
SM: Will you be submitting 'The Job' to any independent
film festivals?
BG: Yes, yes, yes. A resounding yes. CineVegas already
has a copy and Bobby Redford should be getting his
just as soon as we ship-out to all the brave souls
who pre-ordered over the internet. Not to toot our
own horn or anything, but there’s quite a buzz
in certain circles, and no one’s even seen the
script. I’m really proud of everyone involved,
from the casting agents to the P.A.s. It’s amazing
to know that no one ever leaked anything to those
vultures over at Entertainment Weekly. I look at it
as a testament to our artistic collaboration. Either
that, or the script really does suck. I guess we’ll
find out soon enough.
Along with extensive special features, the movie will
be available for purchase on April 1st, 2005, exclusively
at www.whatisthejob.com.
