While you’re not getting the full flavor here — we were taken off guard and spent most of it howling laughing — the post SXSW Q&A for “Cyrus,” the new Duplass Brothers’ comedy for Fox Searchlight starring John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill & Marisa Tomei was seriously hysterical and perhaps one of the funniest post Q&As we’ve ever attended (Hill kept referring to it as the “worst Q&A of all time,” but it was seriously a side-splitting riot — unfortunately we missed recording the first half we were so busy laughing).
We saw the film and Q&A earlier in March during the SXSW Film Festival — yes, we’re more than a little late about posting this — and the funny, sad, disturbing and touching picture has really ended up being one of our favorite films of the year thus far (read our review).
“Cyrus” centers on a recently divorced guy (Reilly) who meets the woman of his dreams (Tomei), but then meets her son (Hill) and soon discovers their unhealthy, co-dependent relationship. And while we didn’t catch all the Q&A (our camera kept crapping out), we did manage a couple of fun moments that are worth watching if you’re fans of any of these talented people. This writer’s camera work is generally good, but we occasionally turn Paul Greengrass on you when we get caught up in the moment.
The quartet, Mark and Jay Duplass, Reilly and Hill spoke about the inspirations for “Cyrus,” working with cynical Hollywood crew people (skeptical of working with indie “mumblecore” filmmakers), improvisation that illuminates an “emotional truth” and delivered a lot of amusing anecdotes and playful digs at one another.
Cartman from “South Park” was not the inspiration for “Cyrus.” The SXSW audience asks “terrible questions.”
John C. Reilly gives advice to new, young filmmakers and lauds the honest Duplass Brothers approach.