Ang Lee’s latest film “Taking Woodstock,” chronicles a closeted-gay twenty-something residing in his parent’s upstate New York hotel who inadvertently sets in motion the generation-defining concert in the summer of 1969. It stars Demetri Martin as Elliot Tiber. Martin, a stand-up comedian, who until landing the leading role had only been in a handful of film scenes and was mostly known for his music-oriented stand-up routine, sketch writing gig for Conan O’Brian and his occasional appearances on “The Daily Show.” The comedian talked to the A.V. club about how he has the cultural phenomenon Youtube to thank for his landing a leading role in an Ang Lee film.
“They were developing a script and were thinking about casting, and [producer] James Schamus later called me at home. He has two daughters—they have a table in their home, I guess, where he can work on his computer and his daughters can do their homework. And he was working on the movie, and his daughter ended up showing him a clip of me on YouTube. And I guess he thought, ‘Oh, that guy looks like he might work.’ So I got called in for a meeting, and that led to an audition.”
“Suddenly I was cast in the movie, and I think I was the first person they looked at. It’s crazy. Suddenly, I found myself in upstate New York on the set of this movie, wearing clothes from the ’50s, playing this character, and I’m thinking, ‘Wow, this is a once-in-a-lifetime situation.’ I mean, I’ve been in maybe three movies, and I had about two scenes in each of those, tops. More like one scene. Yeah, I think I average a scene and a half per movie. And now I’m in this one and I’m in like, just about every scene.”
Martin, in a separate interview (via /film) delved into the personal journey his character, Elliot Tiber, living closeted in the the ’60s with his conservative parents.
“There’s a scene where I kiss a guy – the only scene where I have a real kiss – and I’m on a dance floor and these girls pull me in to dance with them in my family’s bar in the motel, and they pull me onto the dance and a girl plants a kiss on me and then I push away from her. And then a guy grabs me and swings me around and kisses me, and at first I pull back, like who’s kissing me? And then I see him and I’m like, ‘Oh my god – it’s you!’ and then I go back in for the kiss and it’s more passionate and it’s real and there’s a catharsis and everybody cheers.”
“Taking Woodstock,” which other than Demetri Martin stars Paul Dano, Emile Hirsch, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Liev Schreiber, and Imelda Staunton, among others. James Schamus scripted the movie; he also happens to be the CEO of Focus Feature. The film is set for a limited August 14th release date and is possibly screening at this springs Cannes Film Festival.
