Ayala Cinemas Online Release
An eminently likeable actor, Steve Carell (“Crazy, Stupid
Love”) might not seem like an obvious choice for the controlling and obnoxious
character, Trent, in Fox Searchlight’s poignant, coming-of-age tale “The Way,
Way Back,” but that was part of the reason the filmmakers pursued him.
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| Photo courtesy of Fox Searchlight |
“Trent sets the tone for the movie,”
says producer Tom Rice. “He needs to be adversarial, but he has to have
enormous charm. You want a Trent you can believe a single mother wants to be
with. When we started talking about the character, we were thinking about going
in a very different direction for Trent. He was more of a beach bum, a ’60s
wannabe. Then we put together a list of some outside-the-box choices. Steve
Carell was at the top.”
Written and directed by Academy Award-winners Nat Faxon and
Jim Rash (“The Descendants”), “The Way, Way Back” is the coming of age story of
14-year-old Duncan’s (Liam James) summer vacation with his mother, Pam (Toni
Collette), her overbearing boyfriend, Trent, and his daughter, Steph (Zoe
Levin). Having a rough time fitting in, the introverted Duncan finds an
unexpected friend in Owen (Sam Rockwell), the gregarious manager of the Water
Wizz Water Park. Through his funny, clandestine friendship with Owen, Duncan
slowly opens up to and begins to finally find his place in the world—all during
a summer he will never forget.
“We were very excited to have Steve
play so against type. He had the courage to jump into the role, which might
have intimidated someone else. He did a wonderful job,” says Faxon.
Even in their first conversations, Carell had a firm grasp
on Trent’s character, according to Rash. “He immediately recognized the sadness
in this character. Steve understood that he starts and ends in the same place,
which makes him a kind of tragic figure, trying to be a better person, but
always failing.”
Carell appreciated what he calls the economy of the script.
“By that I mean that the characters are not over-explained,” he says. “You get
a strong sense of who these people are without having it served up to you in
the obvious ways.
“I was really intrigued by Trent on
paper,” he adds. “It would be so easy for him to just be a jerk, but I didn’t
think that was the best approach. I wanted to know why he acts the way he does
and part of the fun was finding that. He’s pretty humorless, very self-centered
and he wants what he wants, but I have a degree of empathy for the guy. I don’t
think he’s a villainous character and he can be fun to be around if he wants to
be.”
Trent thinks he is ready to settle down again and be part of
a family. “But he has these expectations that can’t be met,” Carell says. “He
gets extremely agitated when people don’t live up to them, especially with
Duncan. He thinks he’s helping his girlfriend’s son, Duncan, by being a strong
role model, but he’s actually being very detrimental.”
Duncan, says Carell, is a character that all sorts of people
will relate to as he struggles to find his way. “This kid is becoming a man
over the summer. He’s about to come into his own in very painful ways and also
very funny ways.
Trent’s
girlfriend is played by Toni Collette who Carell co-starred in the hit indie
comedy, “Little Miss Sunshine.” “I love working with Steve,” Collette says.
“And it seems to be our karma to be stuck in swampy, heated cars with rolled up
windows in the middle of the summer driving for hours on end! I was so excited
when I knew I was going to work with him again. He’s a very sweet, lovely
person and such a fine actor.”
“The Way, Way Back” is distributed by 20th
Century Fox through Warner Bros. and will be shown exclusively at Ayala Malls
Cinemas
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