Comedian/actor Mike Birbiglia cemented his position as an up-and-coming director after his 2012 debut film, “Sleepwalk With Me,” nabbed an Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. Earlier this year, Birbiglia revealed that he was on track to adapt another one of his stand-up shows, “My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend,” into a movie, which he believed would transform into an entirely different movie upon release.
Recently concluding his comedy tour where he performed “My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend,” Birbiglia spoke to various sites about the continually-evolving screenplay, and what audiences could end up seeing. Birbiglia has described “My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend” as “incredibly optimistic which I think is rare in comedy.” Just wrapping up a 70-city tour, he isn’t planning on stopping before jumping into the script for the adaptation. He admits that he’s written at least two drafts of the script, but still has a fear that it won’t translate to the screen and might be better off as a comedy routine. Regardless, he will be taking some downtime before filming: “Now that this show is done, it’s going to clear my brain for the next six months for what’s my next movie and what’s my next show.”
With his need to cleanse between stage and screen, how is that affecting the drafts he’s been working on? “At this point, I’ve written two or three drafts of the screenplay. I’m adapting it in a loose, loose, loose way. In some ways you can say it’s an entirely different movie that I’m writing. Like with ‘Sleepwalk With Me,’ we changed the names of the characters so that we could take liberties,” he explained. “I feel like with this one, I have restructured everything entirely — what the characters do, how the love interests meet each other, everything. By the time I end up finishing it, it might just be a completely different story.”
Birbiglia feels he’s at an “artistic crossroads” with “My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend,” having changed over a quarter of the show since it’s off-Broadway run, which could be reflected in the script. “Every night I’m looking for ways to try something else. That informs the film process as well.” There’s still no word on when the script will move to the shooting stage, but with Birbiglia finding a moment to breathe after his tour, it’s only a matter of time before he puts out another foray into comedic brilliance. [SplitSider/Film.com]