Sunday, August 30, 2009
A+E, Movies, Reviews

Taking stock

Demetri Martin discusses his new movie and working with Ang Lee 

BY BERT OSBORNE

Formerly a staff writer for "Late Night with Conan O’Brien" and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," and currently starring in his own Comedy Central series ("Important Things"), Demetri Martin makes an auspicious debut as a big-screen leading man in "Taking Woodstock," Oscar-winning director Ang Lee’s behind-the-scenes comedy about all the planning that went into the famous 1969 rock festival. Martin plays the real-life Elliott Tiber (nee Teichberg), whose floundering family business (a dilapidated Catskills motel) is in the right place at the right time.
 
The 36-year-old actor talked about the film during a recent interview in New York.
 

How daunting was the idea of starring in your first major movie, directed by Ang Lee, no less?

It all felt so new to me. I was mostly curious, but also a little concerned. How does this work? Would I be allowed to follow my own instinct, to improvise or mess around with the script? I learned fairly quickly, no, that’s not what he had in mind. It was very much a case of being true to the words of the script. I’d heard he had a reputation for being kind of hands-off in terms of his approach to actors, but he had a lot of specific ideas for me, performance and character details, and who was I to question or argue with him?

On what personal level did you identify with the character, if at all?

The only parallel I could really find was that we both grew up working in a family-owned business. I always tried to wiggle out of it, but I bused and waited on tables at my family’s diner up until I went to college, and during my summer breaks, too, which really tethers you to your family and makes it harder to break away on your own – all those feelings of obligation and guilt and family history or whatever, this idea that you sort of have to do it. At some point, you have to leave home and become an adult. Elliott wanted to go to San Francisco and hang out with his friends. For me, when I decided to leave law school and try getting into show business, it was a huge disappointment to everybody. They thought I was throwing everything away.

What did you learn from working with more experienced co-stars like Emile Hirsch, Imelda Staunton and Liev Schreiber?

If there’s one general thing, it’s what a skill and craft acting is, and how important it is to be present and connected and giving to the other actors. Even when you’re not speaking in a scene, there’s so much non-verbal communication involved. It’s like dancing with a partner. You don’t want to step on their feet or go too fast or have them doing all the work and dragging you along.

What’s next, in terms of whether to stick with your TV show or to pursue a movie career?

I’ve been doing stand-up for 10 or 12 years, and what’s really weird is that just in the last year or so, people are actually stopping me on the street. Now, all of a sudden, there’s this whole other thing happening that doesn’t have anything to do with the actual work. The more people seem to know about me and what I’ve done, the weirder it is. It almost feels like being under surveillance. After this movie comes out, who knows how many people will see it or like it, or how big it might be? I’m guessing a lot of people will be surprised, because it’s something so different for me. SP