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Tag: I Want You Back

  • Life-long fan of romantic-comedy genre:Charlie Day about latest film ‘I Want You Back’

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI:”Horrible Bosses” star Charlie Day says his latest film “I Want You Back” is a movie that harks back to some of the Hollywood classics that perfectly captured the essence of romance and comedy.

    Day, known for starring in the sitcom “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” as well as blockbusters like “Horrible Bosses” and “Pacific Rim” movies, said he has been a life-long fan of romantic-comedy genre, having watched beloved hits like “Sleepless in Seattle” and “When Harry Met Sally”.

    “I like the tradition of movies that it comes from.I love movies like ‘When Harry Met Sally’ and ‘Sleepless in Seattle’ and certain Nancy Meyers and Woody Allen films.I just like romantic stories.And I thought this film really captured the romance and the comedy quite well,” the 46-year-old actor told PTI in a Zoom interview from Los Angeles.

    “I Want You Back”, directed by Jason Orley, is a story of “real” and “down to earth” people, the actor added.”They were well-rounded characters.There was no sort of magic trick to the movie that made it exist.It was just a really sweet story about people who wanted to find love.In addition to that, there were some real genuine laughs on the page” he added.

    The romantic comedy, which started streaming on Prime Video from February 11, is about Peter (Day) and Emma (Slate), two thirty-somethings who have been dumped by their respective partners.They decide to team up to win their exes back by destroying their new relationships.

    Day said the film felt like the right opportunity at the right time as he was keen to take up roles that push him outside of his comfort zone.”I felt challenged by our director Jason in a good way.He was pushing me to be really vulnerable, grounded and real in a way that I just found exciting to get to do.I’d like to get to do more of it.I really hope that I get the opportunity to do more roles that push me even further outside what I’m comfortable doing and maybe that means less comedy and more dramatic things.I really want to challenge myself,” he added.

    The film presented Day with a well-crafted character in Peter, who feels stuck in his professional life and decides to do something about it.The actor said being complacent is a “pitfall that I can fall into at any stage of my life”.

    “I think it’s easy to get complacent.And I find that I do get complacent often and I have to push myself to take risks and try new things.Fortunately I’m able to do that.I’ve been able to have a good career and a good home life because of taking those risks, but it’s also easy to play it safe.It’s scary to put your neck out there, whether it’s a professional thing or a personal thing.It’s hard to take risks.I sympathise with anyone who is scared to do it because life is scary.”

    Asked about his thoughts on the concept of one true love, Day, who is married to actor-writer Mary Elizabeth Ellis, said he doesn’t believe in it.”I don’t believe in the idea of one true love.I think we are capable of so much love that we can love multiple people.Whether it’s our partners, our children, our family members or even just our friends.”

    “I think that one relationship can last a lifetime and when you look back on it, you can say, ‘wow, that was a real true love.’ But I think our love is multi-dimensional.” “I Want You Back” also stars Gina Rodriguez, Scott Eastwood, Manny Jacinto and Clark Backo.

  • Biweekly Binge: Bringing rom-com back

    In Jason Orley’s new rom-com I Want You Back, there is more than just the sum of those two parts – romance and comedy. Peter (Charlie Day in a very Charlie Day role) and Emma (Jenny Slate) are dumped by their respective partners for seemingly flimsy reasons.

    Emma’s boyfriend Noah (Scott Eastwood) feels that Emma, at 32, is glued to her daily rigmarole of a receptionist job, rooming with two law students, and has no real future in sight.

    And Anne (Gina Rodriguez) thinks of Peter much the same way, only that Peter has trapped her into that state of running on a treadmill which has held her from chasing her dreams of becoming an artist and touring the world to satiate her eclectic tastes.

    For both Emma and Peter, the axe falls on their head out of nowhere, rather than slicing straight through, it leaves a messy injured soul that they have to tend for themselves in excruciating pain.

    Of course, it is a rom-com, so they do meet by accident when they cry their hearts out in the stairway of the building their offices share. They strike up an instant friendship and become each other’s therapists and trusted safe spaces.

    Day’s bumbling, caught with his hands in a cookie jar look gels wonderfully with Slate’s awkward adult who had to put a brake on her life due to her father’s terminal illness. She cannot jump-start her life and Peter has given up on his dreams.

    I Want You Back, written by Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, is about thoroughly nice people caught in a situation meant for far messier people than them. That’s where the charm lies in this one, as Peter and Emma go through a cycle of out of character routines to break their ex’s current love lives.

    Through this journey, they find both redemption and a purpose including the realization that this is not who they are, and predictably, nor were their past relationships the perfect embodiment of the future they believed to be.

    The best part about I Want You Back is that it doesn’t forget that it is a comedy, not even for a minute. Its lines flow effortlessly, and Slate’s and Day’s performances impart a lightness even to the seemingly weighty scenes.

    In addition to the appropriate jokes, the film throws in a darker joke from time to time to keep things always interesting. The film doesn’t go for rom-com staples like very public recourse tying all the plots neatly or focus too much on the purity of eternal love or any of that crap reserved for lesser comedies. But its biggest winner is in the characterization.

    Both Emma and Peter get well-rounded arcs from their childhood up till their present-day life. Their conversations don’t always revolve around Noah and Anne. Sometimes it’s about their parents, sometimes it is about their work. It’s about their childhood and the dreams they had for their grown-up versions.

    Emma even strikes up a friendship with a middle schooler having trouble reconciling with his parents’ troubled relationship. I Want You Back rounds off more than just a love track and a comedy track, it gives us a gentle | story with superlative performances and doesn’t guilt-trip us into liking it. We like it for the adorable Emma and Peter. 

    (I Want You Back is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video)

  • I Want You Back, Amazon Original romantic comedy releases tomorrow

    Express News Service

    Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger first met in 2005 at New York University’s Tish school while pursuing majors in dramatic writing. They wrote their first script together in college.

    Today, seventeen years later, the writing duo has acclaimed titles—across television and feature films—such as  How I Met Your Father, This is Us and Love, Victor  (the spin-off series of Love, Simon), to their credit, and are now awaiting the release of their next feature, the romantic comedy, I Want You Back.

    Having worked together on numerous projects over the years, are they able to read others’ minds by now? Elizabeth laughs and admits that they do. “You spend so much time together that if your thought processes do not align, it’s not going to work, and you will end up disliking your life. It’s really important to our relationship that we stay aligned; we see each other as much as we see our partners. We are always in sync, and we enjoy it.”

    The acquaintance with each others’ writing styles doesn’t take away the element of surprise though. “There are always gonna be moments of surprises and moments that you don’t quite anticipate. We split our work into halves and work on it separately. When we combine them, it somehow feels like the same puzzle,” says Isaac.

    Their next, I Want You Back, is a romantic comedy about a man and woman who bond over the process of pursuing their respective exes—as the title alludes to—after experiencing painful breakups. The film has a host of characters, people who are based on those around the writers.

    “We take inspiration from ourselves… our friends, our mistakes, misfortunes…” Elizabeth shares, with a wide smile. “I think we are always—especially with a movie like this—aiming to make these people relatable. Hopefully, people will go, ‘I know that person!’ or ‘Hey, that’s my idiot friend!’. We want our films to portray the lives of our viewers and the people they know.” 

    At one point in the film, Jenny Slate’s character offers comfort to a perplexed child by sharing that adults are as confused and uncertain as kids. This line—which encapsulates the essence of the film—is inspired by the duo’s own experiences, while scripting the film.

    Elizabeth shares, “We wrote this movie while attending dozens of meetings, driving around the town, and making a ton of mistakes. The combination of trying to act like grown-ups who are in complete control of their lives while, in reality, having no idea about what’s happening around, is a prevailing feeling in the film, and I suspect we were in a similar zone while penning it.”

    Modus operandi varies from writer to writer. Some create characters first and spin the world around them, while others tend to cultivate characters from the milieu of the story. For Isaac and Elizabeth though, thanks to their working style, it’s a combination of both, with characters and their world coming to life simultaneously.

    “We spend a lot of time understanding the ideas and characters of the film. If it’s a comedy, we try to make each other laugh to figure out what makes the film and its characters interesting. We then map out the whole story, and as Elizabeth said, we write in two chunks. Once we get near the 100-page mark, we collate our parts and begin rewriting and polishing until we think it might finally look good.”

    Barring I Want You Back and Love, Simon, Isaac, and Elizabeth have predominantly worked in the long-format medium. “We love both features and series. There are some fundamental differences, of course—the pacing of the story and how long you live with these characters.”

    “There’s a satisfaction in telling a story in say, 90 minutes or two hours, where you have the opportunity to explore scenes and let every scene breathe, as opposed to a TV show, where you have to cram a lot into one episode. On the other hand, you also have to make a series that will have longevity and one that will allow you to spread the story in a completely different way. I think both have their own appeal; it’s just about tapping into different kinds of storytelling.” Isaac quickly adds, “This is why we do both; it’s fun to bounce back and forth.”

    The duo had a fruitful (read ‘hectic’) 2021, completing work on How I Met Your Father and the third season of Love, Victor. In addition to I Want You Back—which Isaac says was written a while ago and was waiting for the cast to fall into place—they have also wrapped up their work on the sixth and final season of This is Us.

    Speaking about their headspace when there are as many characters and storylines to keep track of, Elizabeth tells with a laugh, “Right now, yes, it is all a little crazy. I Want You Back has been with us for a long time, and we are now so close to people finally getting to watch it. It’s exciting that we are nearing the finish line. But yes, it’s all bonkers!”

  • ‘I Want You Back’ to release on February 11, 2022

    By Express News Service

    I Want You Back, a new comedy feature starring Jenny Slate and Charlie Day will be released on February 11, 2022, directly on Amazon Prime Video.

    I Want You Back will tell the story of two people who think they are having a great love life but, their partners leave them eventually. They cross paths and make plans to get them back.

    The film also stars Gina Rodriguez, Scott Eastwood, Manny Jacinto, Clark Backo, Mason Gooding, Dylan Gelula, Jami Gertz, Jordan Carlos, Isabel May, and Luke David Blumm.

    I Want You Back is directed by Jason Orley from a script by Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger. This film serves as Orley’s sophomore effort after his directorial debut with 2019’s Big Time Adolescence.

    Aptaker and Berger both wrote the script for 2015’s Love, Simon as well as several episodes of This is Us. The duo also co-created the Hulu series, Love, Victor.

  • Charlie Day, Jenny Slate, Gina Rodriguez team up for ‘I Want You Back’

    By Express News Service
    Actors Charlie Day, Jenny Slate, Gina Rodriguez, Scott Eastwood, Clark Backo, and Manny Jacinto have been roped in to star in the upcoming romantic comedy I Want You Back. The film will be directed by Jason Orley and written by This Is Us co-showrunners Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger. Production is slated to start early next month in Atlanta.

    “I immediately fell in love with Isaac and Elizabeth’s funny, heartfelt script,” said director Orley. The ensemble cast is rounded out with Jami Gertz, Jordan Carlos, Lauren Halperin, Midori Francis, Mason Gooding, and Isabel May.

    Amazon Studios starts production on the original film. “We couldn’t be more excited to see this amazing ensemble come aboard this fun and witty story that audiences will fall in love with,” said Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios. Behind the camera crew includes production designer Michael Perry, director of photography Brian Burgoyne,  editor Jonathan Schwartz, and composer Siddhartha Khosla.