Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Interview with A.C.O.D. star Adam Scott

The man is everywhere these days.

Adam Scott (as Carter)
Adam Scott (as Carter)
Movie

A.C.O.D. *

thumbnail

<em>They fuck you up, your mum and dad/ They may not mean to, but they do./ They fill you with the faults they had/ And add some extra, just for you.</em> British appeals-court judge Lord Justice Wall once quoted that bit of Philip Larkin to a couple fighting over custody of a nine-year-old. A.C.O.D., which stands for Adult Children of Divorce, serves as a comedic expansion on the theme. Adam Scott plays Carter; they had to call the cops at his ninth birthday party, so fiercely were his parents fighting. (Scott comes across as a more likeable, less wounded Ben Stiller; he’s fun to watch, but the extra woundedness would have helped here.) Carter is keeping his shit together, but when his man-child younger brother decides to get married, he sets out to get Mom and Dad to attend the wedding without killing each other. Complications (copulations) ensue.

Find showtimes

Matthew Lickona: What did the script do right that attracted you to this project?

Adam Scott: I thought it was really funny. I thought it was kind of a new, untapped genre — the divorce comedy. I hadn't really seen that before. I also liked the character, how he was sort of a very grown-up control freak who sort of devolves back into a kid over the course of the movie. Usually, what you see in movies is sort of the opposite. I thought it was structurally interesting and really funny.

ML: Speaking of the character: I have a friend who says it's difficult to make a character out of a crazy person — to avoid just disappearing into the neuroses. Could you talk about the challenge of that?

Scorched earth.

AS: I don't think the character was crazy. Slowly, I think, he becomes more and more neurotic about his place in the world, the effect his parents' insane divorce had on him and his behavior and his life. But I'm not sure he's a crazy person.

Sponsored
Sponsored

ML: Some people might say he moves in the opposite direction, toward letting go or getting over his neuroses — by the time he's going through the box of his childhood stuff...

AS: By that point in the movie, I think he's starting to get a little bit of perspective on it, but that's more toward the end. I think that on the journey there, he becomes more and more neurotic, kind of caught up in his past and all of the things that sort of bother him that he didn't realize were still bubbling beneath the surface.

ML: Would you say this film tends more toward farce or black comedy?

AS: I'm not sure it's either farce or black comedy. It's not a particularly dark movie, so maybe more farce. But I'm not sure it's either.

Hey look! Mom burned Dad's face out of this photo!

ML: One thing I couldn't figure out was how seriously the film itself took divorce.

AS: Well, I think it's a comedy, and it's a comedy about divorce. I think the stakes of the divorce are pretty clearly laid out, because we're seeing the effects of the divorce twenty years later on. So I think in the context of the movie, the characters take it pretty seriously, because their lives are pretty screwed up by it. But it is a comedy, so it's trying to, you know, make it funny as well.

ML: I ask because of that bit during the credits, where you have all those crew members saying "I am an adult child of divorce" or "I am not an adult child of divorce." Was it something that got talked about on set? Was there a feeling that you were opening up some new vein of conversation?

AS: I don't know if it was necessarily opening up a vein. But it was the subject of the movie. I think everybody had a shared experience — a lot of people in the cast and crew had some experience of divorce, so people were certainly talking about it.

ML: Were there particular comic actors who, when you were younger, you looked at and said, "That's what I want to be like" or "That's the arc I want to follow"?

AS: Well, not as far as emulating a career exactly. But growing up, my guys were always Steve Martin, Albert Brooks, and David Letterman. They were my favorite guys and they still are. I still think those guys are just the funniest.

ML: What about their humor made them work so well for you?

AS: I don't know. Everybody's different. I think it's whatever just really makes you laugh. And I've never laughed harder than while watching Letterman on TV or watching Albert Brooks and Steve Martin movies, or listening to them doing standup. That kind of shaped me in a lot of ways.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Morricone Youth, Berkley Hart, Dark Entities, Black Heart Procession, Monsters Of Hip-Hop

Live movie soundtracks, birthdays and more in Balboa Park, Grantville, Oceanside, Little Italy
Next Article

The Fellini of Clairemont High

When gang showers were standard for gym class
Adam Scott (as Carter)
Adam Scott (as Carter)
Movie

A.C.O.D. *

thumbnail

<em>They fuck you up, your mum and dad/ They may not mean to, but they do./ They fill you with the faults they had/ And add some extra, just for you.</em> British appeals-court judge Lord Justice Wall once quoted that bit of Philip Larkin to a couple fighting over custody of a nine-year-old. A.C.O.D., which stands for Adult Children of Divorce, serves as a comedic expansion on the theme. Adam Scott plays Carter; they had to call the cops at his ninth birthday party, so fiercely were his parents fighting. (Scott comes across as a more likeable, less wounded Ben Stiller; he’s fun to watch, but the extra woundedness would have helped here.) Carter is keeping his shit together, but when his man-child younger brother decides to get married, he sets out to get Mom and Dad to attend the wedding without killing each other. Complications (copulations) ensue.

Find showtimes

Matthew Lickona: What did the script do right that attracted you to this project?

Adam Scott: I thought it was really funny. I thought it was kind of a new, untapped genre — the divorce comedy. I hadn't really seen that before. I also liked the character, how he was sort of a very grown-up control freak who sort of devolves back into a kid over the course of the movie. Usually, what you see in movies is sort of the opposite. I thought it was structurally interesting and really funny.

ML: Speaking of the character: I have a friend who says it's difficult to make a character out of a crazy person — to avoid just disappearing into the neuroses. Could you talk about the challenge of that?

Scorched earth.

AS: I don't think the character was crazy. Slowly, I think, he becomes more and more neurotic about his place in the world, the effect his parents' insane divorce had on him and his behavior and his life. But I'm not sure he's a crazy person.

Sponsored
Sponsored

ML: Some people might say he moves in the opposite direction, toward letting go or getting over his neuroses — by the time he's going through the box of his childhood stuff...

AS: By that point in the movie, I think he's starting to get a little bit of perspective on it, but that's more toward the end. I think that on the journey there, he becomes more and more neurotic, kind of caught up in his past and all of the things that sort of bother him that he didn't realize were still bubbling beneath the surface.

ML: Would you say this film tends more toward farce or black comedy?

AS: I'm not sure it's either farce or black comedy. It's not a particularly dark movie, so maybe more farce. But I'm not sure it's either.

Hey look! Mom burned Dad's face out of this photo!

ML: One thing I couldn't figure out was how seriously the film itself took divorce.

AS: Well, I think it's a comedy, and it's a comedy about divorce. I think the stakes of the divorce are pretty clearly laid out, because we're seeing the effects of the divorce twenty years later on. So I think in the context of the movie, the characters take it pretty seriously, because their lives are pretty screwed up by it. But it is a comedy, so it's trying to, you know, make it funny as well.

ML: I ask because of that bit during the credits, where you have all those crew members saying "I am an adult child of divorce" or "I am not an adult child of divorce." Was it something that got talked about on set? Was there a feeling that you were opening up some new vein of conversation?

AS: I don't know if it was necessarily opening up a vein. But it was the subject of the movie. I think everybody had a shared experience — a lot of people in the cast and crew had some experience of divorce, so people were certainly talking about it.

ML: Were there particular comic actors who, when you were younger, you looked at and said, "That's what I want to be like" or "That's the arc I want to follow"?

AS: Well, not as far as emulating a career exactly. But growing up, my guys were always Steve Martin, Albert Brooks, and David Letterman. They were my favorite guys and they still are. I still think those guys are just the funniest.

ML: What about their humor made them work so well for you?

AS: I don't know. Everybody's different. I think it's whatever just really makes you laugh. And I've never laughed harder than while watching Letterman on TV or watching Albert Brooks and Steve Martin movies, or listening to them doing standup. That kind of shaped me in a lot of ways.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Extended family dynamics

Many of our neighbors live in the house they grew up in
Next Article

The vicious cycle of Escondido's abandoned buildings

City staff blames owners for raising rents
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader