CraveOnline: I hope Will Forte gets some attention for his performance too. Were you surprised Payne cast someone more known for comedies in that role?
Bob Nelson: Not necessarily because of that, but just because Will probably wasn’t someone that would come to mind for this type of role, but I was thrilled. I had met Will Forte five years before that on another project that I was trying to get going and I thought he was one of the nicest guys I’ve met in Hollywood and I love to see when comics get a chance to show a little something different. When I heard it was going to be Will Forte, I thought that’s great. Even at that time I just imagined that he would know what to do. He’s a very smart guy. I knew that he would know to bring it down and to trust Alexander, and I’m equally thrilled with his performance. I’m really glad as the movie approaches release, because starting in Cannes and the first few months, some people weren’t even mentioning Will’s performance and there seems to be this surge in the last few weeks. People are starting to really realize what a great job he did.
I love when comedians go dramatic too, but every time they do, no one remembers that there was Robin Williams, Jim Carrey or Jamie Foxx. They all made the transition beautifully.
Yeah, I loved Robin Williams in Garp [and] movies like that. I guess Bill Murray is one of the biggest ones to break through, which is funny to me. I always thought Bill Murray should do a serious role and he finally got one and has done a few since. So yeah, I’m so happy for Will. I’ve met him several more times now since and he’s still probably the nicest guy I’ve met in Hollywood.
When you describe Nebraska as a buddy film, do you consider it a buddy comedy?
I come from a comedy background. I’d only written sketches and jokes up to that point, so I always wanted to try and write a drama. I also grew up with Horton Foote, Trip to Bountiful and Tender Mercies, those kinds of movies. I didn’t feel secure in just trying to write a straight drama like those movies so I thought, well, if I infuse it with humor, maybe I can feel my footing a little better. It just so happened that’s what Alexander was doing. I had only seen Election up to that point when it was optioned. About Schmidt was just coming out so I hadn’t seen that Alexander was kind of moving into that territory too of a little less satire and a little more dramedy.
Did you imagine David and Ross (Bob Odenkirk) stealing the compressor as a big set piece?
Funny you mention that, because when I came up with that, I can remember coming up with that scene and writing it. I felt from my comedy background that it felt like this could work. So that scene actually gave me a lot more confidence in writing the rest of it. It came pretty early when I was developing the script on my own. I just felt, well, now I can probably get away with some more drama as long as I have this little bit of humor coming up here to break the heaviness that’s starting to come up here on the story. That was a big thing for me. It gave me a lot of confidence that I could work in more drama as well. It works both ways.
It really worked for me that along the way, we find out from other people more and more good things that Woody has done. That really reframes the character we thought we met in the beginning. Did you find those along the way, or did you have a plan already and just decide when to layer those details in?
When I first started writing this, I didn’t know what I was doing and I had stopped. I basically had to plot the whole thing out, so yeah, I was looking for a way to reveal things that didn’t necessarily come from Woody saying them or David saying them. In the beginning, the thought was that they’re just on this road trip, but when I had the idea that they go through the dad’s hometown, I thought the things about the dad can be revealed in other ways and to other people.
I did want to make sure that all of the characters weren’t too one-dimensional. You can see a little bit in Woody and in Kate (June Squibb) and that David wasn’t just this softie as well, that he also had this other side. So yeah, that was very important when I was plotting it out that there were these slow reveals and that we would see people for their good and bad and for their generosity and also for their selfishness, just like real people.
When Kate defends him, that’s a great moment too.
Yeah, that was another scene, Kate was not supposed to be on the trip. When I first started writing the script, she was just in act one. I thought I have to find a way to get her to join them in Hawthorne. At first I was thinking, like I said, I fall back on comedy, but it turned out that by doing that, I could also use her for those scenes. That turned out to be a very crucial scene where she defends Woody and confronts the family members.
Did you always imagine Nebraska in black and white?
No, I hadn’t even thought about it. When I wrote the script, it probably wouldn’t have been a good sales tool if I had said it was black and white, but I didn’t even think in those terms because I wouldn’t have had the power to try to tell anybody that. But when I heard Alexander wanted to make it in black and white, it came out of the blue but I was thrilled. I watch Turner Classic Movies all the time still. I love black and white. I’m a big Billy Wilder fan. I have The Apartment on a loop just about all the time.
The first thing that came to my mind was that it’ll give it this timeless feeling. Someone pointed out something I hadn’t even realized, that in our film no one’s on a cell phone, nor a computer which puts it even more in that timeless mode. Now that I’ve seen it of course again, how could it be in color? Alexander has his vision in his mind and sometimes people just have to trust someone like him I think and give him that chance. He’s earned it. He’s spent 20 years trying to make these realistic films with real people, real storylines and he’s done very well. They’ve made money. Paramount I think realized that and gave him the green light to go ahead and shoot in black and white. I think it’s great.
Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline and the man behind Best Episode Ever and Shelf Space Weekly. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.
