‘Paddleton’: Director Alex Lehmann On Rooting For The Underdog, Grief & Working With Ray Romano [Interview]

How much of Ray and Mark’s interactions were improvised?

All their interactions, pretty much, were improvised. There were a couple bits that we’d come up with in rehearsals in preparation for the film, and in some writing. The ostrich bit was something that Ray pitched to us on the phone. Those guys are ridiculously talented, so you make sure the cameras are pointed at them and you let them do their thing. You don’t get in the way of one very funny guy who’s created a whole sub-genre of storytelling, and a great actor, and a great writer, and then another dude who’s one of the most brilliant comedians of our time, who put together nine seasons of entertaining families, and adults, and kids.

I’ve got a 50/50 narrative-documentary background, so I really try to rely on that documentary side as much as possible. Be present and aware of what’s working, and keep chasing that throughout a scene or throughout a movie.

Both of your narrative feature films could be considered buddy comedies. Do you have any particular favorite buddy comedies of your own that you enjoy?

There’s that foreign film called “Elling.” It’s hilarious and super sweet. This isn’t a deep-dive, but “Dumb and Dumber.” I was a kid when that came out, but that completely changed my world [laughter]. It’s underdogs, and they’re hilarious. And the original “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.” I love buddy comedies. I love people who get each other so much and also get at each other so much [laughter]. That’s love.

How did your professional relationship with Mark Duplass begin?

Mark was an actor on “The League,” and I was a camera operator on it. And on the side, any hiatus week we had, I would be flying myself out to Boston to make this documentary called “Asperger’s Are Us.” I was making this movie on a credit card and all my spare time. And he caught wind of it. And he asked me if he could watch it. And then, he came on board to help distribute it and get it out into festivals. We spent a lot of time [sharing] our love for introspective films and sensitive stories and books. We just related on that, which was a nice recharge when everybody else around you is making hilarious fart jokes.

Do you have a favorite Duplass Brothers film?

I really like “Jeff [Who Lives at Home]”. That was one that really did something for me. I had only seen one or two of Mark’s movies at the time that “Jeff” had come out. I wasn’t completely aware of the Duplass Brothers brand or anything. That movie just spoke to me separately. And I was like, “Wait a minute, the guy that is on The League made that?” That’s how I started talking to him. And then, I realized how much else he was doing. I love a lot of what they do.

You mentioned “Blue Jay” was a six-and-a-half-day shoot. How did you and Mark manage to pull off such a unique production from pen to paper to principle shooting?

That was a treatment. There were even fewer actors than there were in “Paddleton.” It was really just Mark, and Sarah [Paulson], and Clu [Gulager] for one scene. It’s a really simple story that we just plowed right through. It felt right from the beginning, and there weren’t as many tangents that we explored. We were chasing one really strong feeling of nostalgia, the gas in the tank for that one. And everything just clicked. It feels like so long ago, and it was only a few years ago. But that’s all a haze. So, I’m sure that I’m making it sound like it was all easy, but it was probably scary when we made it.

What’s next after “Paddleton?”

I’m always going to be most in love with simple relationship stories between two people. That speaks to just who I am at parties because I’m not joking around with a group of people. I’m just going to corner one person and overshare my feelings and make a few awkward jokes to get out of it at the end. That’ll always be where my heart is. There’s always some documentaries that I’m making on the side as well. But probably no death [laughter] for the next one. Well, there’s an animal that dies, but no people die [laughter]. That’s all I’ll say. Although, it’s sadder that animals die than people. I don’t know. Shit. Maybe I shouldn’t do death at all [laughter].

“Paddleton” streams on Netflix beginning February 22, 2019.