Tagline: Nothing burns like an old flame.
The Ex – Fast Track movie storyline. Tom Reilly (Zach Braff) and his wife Sofia (Amanda Peet) are in for some major changes now that they have a newborn. As a lawyer, Sofia has always provided a comfortable living while Tom has contributed love, support and the occasional paycheck. When Sofia decides to be a stay-at-home mom all that changes.
Tom moves the family to Ohio to work for his father-in-law (Charles Grodin) as an ‘Assistant Associate Creative’ for “Sunburst Communications.” His boss Chip (Jason Bateman) happens to still carry a torch for Sofia from their high school days. Each time Tom gains some ground at the firm, Chip wheels in and steals his thunder. Dirty tricks and sabotage abound creating an atmosphere of fierce paranoia that eventually threatens Tom and Sofia’s relationship. Chip will stop at nothing to see Tom defeated while no one but Tom can see Chip for the evil genius he is. Through it all Tom’s esteem is depleted, his manhood challenged (by a surprisingly large adversary) and he’s watching his family slip away.
The Ex is a 2006 comedy film directed by Jesse Peretz and starring Zach Braff, Amanda Peet and Jason Bateman. The film had a wide release planned for January 19, 2007, and then March 9, 2007. It was originally promoted under the working title Fast Track. It was released on May 11, 2007. Co-stars include Charles Grodin (his first film appearance since 1994), Donal Logue and Mia Farrow.
The film opened at #12 at the U.S. box office, earning $1.4 million in 1,009 theaters in its opening weekend. The film went on to gross $3,093,394 in its nine-week theatrical run in the United States.[24] In other territories, the film grossed $2,085,246 making its total worldwide gross $5,178,640.
About the Production
THE EX marks the first produced screenplay from the writing team of Dave Guion and Mike Handelman. After meeting at Yale, the two began performing together in an improv comedy group which later proved to be the inspirational setting for their unique writing style.
Using their improvisational skills and building on them to incorporate their real life experience, Guion and Handelman began work on THE EX. Acting out the scenes before the words hit the page, provided an early self edit that many writers do not incorporate into their work. “Some writing teams split up and divide labor but we have a much less efficient method. It’s basically two minds doing the work of one,” explains Guion.
Where did their inspiration come from? Well, early on in their careers as struggling comedians and screenwriters, Guion and Handelman embarked on the route that many before them have taken and garnered experience as office temps. As temps, Guion and Handelman had the advantage of not caring if they were fired, “But we wanted to put Tom (Zach Braff) in a situation where he actually had to keep his job,” says Guion.
It was also here that they began to observe a popular shift amongst their peers who were starting families. “We saw a lot of women who were deciding to stay home with their kids and feeling a little bit trapped in that role. It occurred to us that there are these gender roles that we are all expected to live up to,” says Handelman. “We wanted to make a story about people in those roles who figured out a way to break out,” he recalls.
As Braff puts it, “There’s a line that Sofia (Amanda Peet) says to Tom which is something like ‘if you don’t be the breadwinner, and provide for a family, then you’re never going to see this baby again.’ And she says it with a smile but I think he really does feel that his manhood is on the line.”
Delving further into the society imposed gender roles, Guion and Handelman used their “role” playing to put the next scenes in motion and incorporate all of the problems that can come when you follow the mold. THE EX provides the backdrop for a larger discussion about sticking to the assigned plan that has been set before you by past generations and how, adding in the complications of daily life, things can go south real fast. Bring an ex-boyfriend or girlfriend to the mix and let the games (and the comedy) begin.
Guion says they imagined, “What if you started a new job and everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong?” He continues, “as we started writing…we discovered that it was a story about two people trying to become adults and they had very strong and very rigid ideas about what that meant.”
“I think it’s about people realizing that they don’t have to be just like their parents to grow up…you can grow up in a way that works for you,” says producer Anne Carey. “They believe they have to be a certain way now that they’re parents and now that they’re grown-ups. They realize that they just have to be themselves to be good parents and good grown-ups.”
Producer Anthony Bregman agrees, “There’s definitely an aspect of this movie where it takes what society kind of sees as your automatic response to people, whether it’s to a man’s role in society, a woman’s role in society, a man in a wheelchair and says, ‘Well, wait a minute, let’s really examine that and figure out whether our preconceptions about that are correct.’ And that’s what the movie tries to play with, and that’s where the comedy in the film comes from.”
With the romantic comedy at such a height of popularity, it’s a challenge to provide moviegoers with a story that will break the mold, be irreverent and still manage to have a good balance of comedy and story, especially one that many people can relate to. Braff recalls going to see a big Hollywood romantic comedy and being bored by its predictability: “[As I watched it I thought], wow, I can’t believe they’re really hitting all those beats exactly at this time in the movie. And so one of the things I love about THE EX is that it doesn’t do that. It’s very funny, and it’s romantic and it’s sweet. But it is a very quirky, odd grouping of characters telling the story.”
Amanda Peet also found it interesting that the script showed a different version of a typical female character: “Not very many movies and TV shows portray what it’s really like to be a new mom – the negative aspects of a being a new mom. It’s a comedy but I really appreciated the fact that my character isn’t a supermom. (Sofia) is not a success at knowing how to sing the songs right and soothe the baby right and doesn’t just ‘love’ being at home and leaving her work. You know, she longs for her work. I really loved that about this film. I think in some ways it’s more realistic than these happy new mom scenarios we see in most Hollywood movies.”
THE EX was only the second script that Guion and Handelman had ever written. New York production company “This is that” had bought their first script (another comedy called Mondo Beyondo) and the writing team said they had another idea to pitch which provided another unique spin on the expected Hollywood plan.
“The funny part of the story is that because David and Mike had never pitched anything before, they didn’t really write it down. So when the deal was done and it was time to actually sit down to writing, they didn’t really remember what they had pitched,” recalls Carey.
In the process of filling in the blanks they generated a lot of material “probably enough for three scripts,” says Guion. The development process took about a year and in that time, they developed more than their script but a lasting relationship with the producing team of ‘This is that.’ “They’re very loyal to writers and directors and their focus is really on the creative,” says Handelman.
The company is known for some intense and edgy films so THE EX seemed like a perfect fit complimented by irreverent comedy that is recognizable in modern society. “This is as edgy a film as it can get,” states Bregman. “We’re throwing a disabled person down a staircase. We’re showing why women shouldn’t be taking care of babies, but men should, and that men shouldn’t be working at jobs, and women should.”
Carey adds dryly: “And we wanted to work on a movie where we laughed, instead of all the other movies about dead children that we’ve made before.”
Who was the one man for the job to helm this new take on the dictates of society with a comic flair? Director Jesse Peretz became attached to the project and throughout the script’s development, the producers and writers were convinced that Peretz was the one to get the job done. “He had the same sensibility and take on it that we did – what happens in the pauses between the lines, or in the background,” notes Handelman. “He definitely got that there were some jokes that if you pushed them too hard, they wouldn’t work as well. And there are few directors that are doing that kind of comedy. From the first day, Jesse really understood that the film had to be rooted in reality, and things had to be done in a restrained and nuanced way.”
Peretz admits that because he had done a lot of work in the advertising industry, the opportunity to poke fun at that was one of the things that attracted him to the script immediately. He also just loved the writing. “There was some way in which Mike and Dave had written this script that was the perfect combination of something more commercial than I had ever done, and a little bit broader comedy in terms of my film stuff. But at the same time, I thought it was incredibly smart and had these multiple layers in terms of what was going on emotionally as well as what was going on comedically. I could tell from reading the script that these were two guys who basically came from my same sensibility of what was funny.
My thing is, even in a big, broad comic situation, to try to find the emotional reality to what’s going on, and the kind of humanity or the sympathy in the character – even in their stupidest or most self-destructive moment and [find] the comedy that comes out of that.”
For THE EX, a great script was made even better by its top-notch cast. Bregman makes it sound simple, “Great material attracts great actors. We’ve found out with this and other projects that if you get the script to the right place, get the right director on it, and pull together a production that feels like it’s going to be a really special movie, actors will come to it.”
Braff confirms the producer’s adage. “Sometimes people say, ‘Oh, do this because they’re going to rewrite it’ or, ‘this person’s going to be in it’ or ‘it may not be funny, but this director’s going to be great.’ THE EX script was just something without any rationalizations or promises, that were going to make it better – it was just plain funny on the page.”
Peretz knew that one of the most important steps, as a director was to cast the right people. He knew Braff had the inherent qualities he needed for the role of Tom. “Zach is a really facile comedian and has a real intrinsic instinct of physical comedy. But I think he also has another quality – and this is something that I saw all over GARDEN STATE. Even in his most quiet moments, he has a real sympathy on his face. To me, that was a real priority in terms of the casting of the character of Tom.”
As Tom’s nemesis Chip Sanders, Jason Bateman relished taking on the role. “It’s a funny, funny character in the script and I did play a good guy on ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, so it was nice to come out and play a blatant… (expletive).” “If anything, what I was worried about in our first few days of shooting with Jasonis just that there is something so likeable and magnetic about him that he wouldn’t come across as enough of a villainous character, to have the audience really rooting against him,” Peretz admits. Handelman notes that Bateman managed to draw you in yet be despicable at the same time. “In general Jason has given a performance that is in a way a lot more low key than I envisioned, but as a result he has an excellent creepy energy.”
Working with Bateman was tough for Amanda Peet because she found it hard to keep from cracking up during their scenes. “He’s so funny that he’s one of the hardest people I’ve had to work with – the most difficult. And I’ve worked with some great comedians. When we were doing the scene together in the living room, watching a movie, he started petting the baby,” which caused her to crack up. “I want to be a proper actor and I want to be professional and I just really can’t sometimes around him.”
But Amanda was able to hold her own with Jason and Zach. “In some ways, she has the straight part, but she knows how to be funny with it between the two guys.“ Peretz agrees, “Amanda is a really great actress, but I also think she’s got incredibly astute comic instincts. I particularly love watching the way that she plays both of those at the same time. She really is fastidious about being emotionally honest all the time, and yet totally knows what she’s supposed to do as a comedian.”
What was needed to round out THE EX’ family was the mother and father that would provide the comic compliment to each scene. Everyone was thrilled for the great actor Charles Grodin to return to the screen after a twelve-year absence. Grodin’s teenage son Nick (who made it a real family affair and makes his screen debut in the opening restaurant scene) read the script and encouraged his father to check it out. “A funny script that has a strong emotional life is unusual. I thought it was extremely clever,” says Grodin. “Basically every time Charles Grodin opens his mouth it’s hilarious. He’s the king of dry. I’m just very upset with him for being retired,” remarks Bateman.
“Charles brought his absolute dry, deadpan wit to the project and it was just a pleasure to have around, because you never really knew what was going to come out of his mouth. I think his ability to really play up his affection for Jason’s character, Chip, and what that meant to the relationship that he had with Zach’s character, Tom, also really helped fuel that rivalry,” adds Carey.
While it seemed extremely effortless on set, the writers were impressed with how much thought Grodin put into his work in pre-production. “Charles sat down with us for a few hours and went through every line and had basically given every single word a tremendous amount of thought,” says Handelman. “Charles Grodin has done this amazing thing of making his character incredibly funny but also incredibly heartbreaking.”
With his return to film in THE EX, Grodin was reunited onscreen with Mia Farrow, who plays his wife, Amelia. The two had not worked since 1967, when he played her gynecologist in the classic film ROSEMARY’S BABY. Carey laughs, “I will say one of the funniest things that happened on set was Mia Farrow humming the theme song of ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ to Charles Grodin while holding the baby dummy.”
To further the comedic genius reflective of the cast, actors like SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE stars Amy Poehler and Fred Armisen were signed on to “make even more of the supporting roles than was on the page,” says Handelman. For his cameo as a tyrannical boss, Jesse Peretz reunited with THE CHATEAU cast member, Paul Rudd. The beauty of Paul’s casting was that he takes the role from the paper to screen, magnifies it and makes it his own.
Says Guion: “When he came in wearing two earrings and this slicked back hairdo, we loved it. It was all we envisioned and more.” Donal Logue, as the head of Sunburst Communications, and Amy Adams, as the Baby Circle leader, add to the fun with their modern takes on running a business (who wouldn’t love a YES ball?) and raising a baby respectively.
Handelman credits the director with fostering an environment to bring out the best in everyone. “Jesse is very collaborative. You see it in the way he works with the actors, and also the fact that his last film, THE CHATEAU, came out of improv. I think he really likes that spirit where people are discovering things as they go along. He lets people explore, and that really worked for this.”
About the Production
Taking place almost entirely in Ohio, THE EX book-ends with an opening and finale in New York. Oddly enough, however, the film was shot entirely on location in New York City. “Making a movie that takes place in Ohio that shoots in New York actually was a really fun challenge,” notes Bregman. “Most of us [on the production end] actually live in Manhattan, and we see the same image of New York. And the reality of the five boroughs of New York is that you can pretty much make it look like almost any community in the U.S. It was fun to seek out these different areas that looked like Columbus, Ohio, or the road to Columbus and upscale suburbs and downscale suburbs and all sorts of areas.”
Amelia and Bob’s house was located in Queens, Tom and Sofia’s house was in Staten Island, and many motorists may have been confused by signs that said “Welcome to Ohio” on a road near the George Washington Bridge.
The showpiece set of the film, the offices of “Sunburst Communications” were located in a warehouse in Long Island City, Queens. “When we imagined Sunburst,” says Guion, “the details were all different but the effect is exactly the same – a slightly off-kilter, slightly provincial attempt at being progressive.”
The filmmakers had fun bringing Sunburst to life, a company described as “a holistic paradigm with a non-hierarchical management structure,” quips Grodin, quoting one of his lines. “The place is run by somebody who’s referred to as a visionary. One of my favorite lines is when I say to Zach, ‘You know, it’s not always that easy to know what to say to a visionary.’”
When it came to design, Peretz was confident that Production Designer John Paino could really go all out. “It’s rare that you work with a director who gives you the freedom to ‘go nuts’ with such an important setting, but Jesse was very generous and encouraged me to make the place fun and over the top,” says Paino.
“I loved collaborating with Paino,” said Costume Designer John Dunn. “He’s got a good grip on the absurd and we worked closely to create the look of Sunburst in particular. We knew we were going out there a bit design-wise and wanted to create a cohesive universe for all the chaotic mayhem in this movie.”
Even with its seemingly ridiculous glass conference room (the “think tank”) and proliferation of razor scooters and playroom aesthetic, “the design for Sunburst is actually not so different from the design of real life ad agencies and dotcoms,” says Bregman. “The goal of these offices is to create an atmosphere of goofiness, which presumably would kind of feed into their work. And because of all the dotcom and advertising money that went around, they were able to basically do exactly what they wanted. A lot of these companies in real life, feel like, or should I say felt like, because a lot of them are actually out of business now, giant amusement parks or play centers.” He laughs, “And, uh, yes, that contributed to the dotcom crash in 2001.”
Paino adds, “The idea is to impress a client with an ostentatious display of showmanship – and flaunt the spending of their big fees. That’s what we tried to do, but keep it down a tad – this was Ohio, not New York or Los Angeles.”
“The other thing that was nice about the decision to go with that big, open space – because we have the character of Chip in the wheelchair – was that it gave us the ability to see across the room, and to have the fun of seeing him wheel from one end to the other and the mischief that he caused, as he could go in and around the place,” remembers Carey. “And that was a real appeal to Jesse in terms of figuring out what the office and the set was going to look like.”
“I wanted to put a ramp around the conference room for Chip but also I thought it would heighten the absurdity of the office in that people had to spend a few minutes going up the thing to get into a room that should normally take a second to enter,” notes Paino.
Using such a unique workplace meant it was essential that the employees were in harmony with their domain. “The costumes I did were totally influenced by the actors cast to play these various nutcases,” notes Dunn. “I believe actors bring their individual confluence of characteristics, both physical and psychological, and I like to build their character’s look on who they are and, particularly in this case, their ‘off-beat’ interpretations of their parts. Even in high comedy you don’t want to dominate an actor’s work with ‘look-at-me’ costumes.”
Although Chip unfolds as a complete scam artist it was important not to tip off the audience immediately. Dunn worked closely with Peretz and Bateman resulting in the idea of dressing him with the American, Ralph Lauren-style of ultimate success. “This type of faux-classiness that Americans have blindly admired for generations provided Chip with the cover to fool his fawning co-workers and former sweetheart,” notes Dunn.
Chip may have seemed like the most challenging character to play but Braff also had to lend himself to moments of purely physical communication. He gets slapped in the face with a pork chop, sprayed in the face with pesticide, knocked off his bike and beaten to a pulp by a guy in a wheelchair. But it wasn’t that stuff that made the shoot challenging.
“’SCRUBS’ is a physical comedy every single day. If you look at the call sheet on a day of ‘SCRUBS’, it’s like ‘Okay, you’re on fire. And then after lunch, we’re going to throw you out of a plane.’ So the physical comedy is what I’m most used to”, admits Braff. “I think the hardest part of this movie was shooting when it’s hot as hell in Manhattan. Making a movie in Manhattan in the summer sounds awesome in December.”
The Ex (Fast Track) (2007)
Directed by: Jesse Peretz
Starring: Zach Braff, Amanda Peet, Jason Bateman, Donal Logue, Fred Armisen, Mia Farrow, Paul Rudd, Yul Vazquez, Amy Poehler, Yaffit Hallely, Marin Hinkle, Josh Charles
Screenplay by: David Guion, Michael Handelman
Production Design by: John Paino
Cinematography by: Tom Richmond
Film Editing by: Tricia Cooke, Jeff McEvoy, John Michel
Costume Design by: John Dunn
Set Decoration by: Kate Kennedy
Art Direction by: James Donahue
Music by: Ed Shearmur
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual content, brief language and a drug experience.
Distributed by: The Weinstein Company
Release Date: May 11, 2007
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