All of our favorite movies are relationship stories.
When theyre good, theyre the best, but they hadnt been good in a while.
We dreamed of one day writing our version of one of those.
Credit: Chuck Zlotnick/Fox Searchlight
Then Neustadters relationship ended.
I was home, sort of reeling from that breakup.
I had rented this movie called32 Short Films About Glenn Gould.
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I quickly sort of compiled this email to Weber saying, I think I figured out our rom-com.
But that doesnt mean it isnt a romantic comedy.
Romantic comedies can be incredibly subversive.
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Were structure and gadget nerds; we like telling stories in unconventional ways, Weber says.
It came sort of from that idea where was the movie that would relate to us?
They were stuck on how to tighten it, but they got the answer when [spoiler alert!]
Chuck Zlotnick/Fox Searchlight
the girl who had broken Neustadters heart got engaged.
Without that I think we might have continued to be struggling and lost, he admits.
Without that they likely never would have gotten Webb, either.
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This ending really grabbed me and stayed with me.
The alternative approach, too, felt more honest to my experience than the formulaic rom-coms the writers lamented.
We wanted the hopefulness, but we also wanted ambiguity.
So theres an element at the end where, did he figure it out?
Is he going to make all the same mistakes again, or has he learned from this experience?
It was a coming-of-age story in a real way.
He wasnt observing the inner life of the Summer character.
(Sidenote: The films starsagree with this assessment.)
WAITING FOR A GREENLIGHT…
But I joke to my friends [that] the movie still hasnt been greenlit.
There was never a moment where they were like, Youre making this movie!
But somehow, at some point, theyweremaking it, and they needed leads.
That was not something any of us wanted to do, so the script was sort of languishing.
And we ended up hiring Zooey first and then very quickly thereafter hiring Joe, the director recalls.
Theres something about both of them that feels real.
I thought that was important to make the film accessible.
I think we were very lucky that the leads were two actors, Weber says.
I think its a very different movie if it was two comedians.
Its no longer fun and joyous.
It was one of the first things we talked about when we were putting pieces together.
Of course, in most movies, those scenes would be an hour apart.
When the day came, Webbs experience at IKEA was decidedlynotfun and joyous.
I went home and I threw up, I was so nervous.
EXPECTATIONS VS.
Reality sequence, the films three-and-a-half-minute thesis statement.
The now-beloved scene was added to the screenplay after Searchlight had already optioned it.
That happened every single Friday!
Everybody had to move within a very specific timeframe.
It became a dance, that sequence.
It became a piece of choreography, and it was imbued with humanity by those guys.
The dream of Expectations finally gives way to crushing Reality with a door closing on imaginary Summer and Tom.
I remember people suggesting that I cut to the full screen, but that felt violent to me!
DAYS OF AUTUMN
We know the fate of the films central love story.
But what about the couple it teases at the end?
All three filmmakers have different takes on whats next for Tom and Autumn.
I think Autumn designs the buildings and Tom does the interior decoration, probably, for Autumn.
And Neustadter, whose own love life got everyone here in the first place?
And better yet: I met my wife because she read the script.
We had a general meeting, because she wanted to know who wrote this script.
And we met and weve been together ever since.
Unlike Summer and Toms relationship, however, they agree that the timing was perfect.
Looking back on the Sundance premiere, Neustadter gets a little choked up.
