We are DANIELS (directors of Swiss Army Man & Possibilia & Turn Down 4 Wut & $tuff) AMA!

Hey Daniel how does this work?

Good question, other Daniel, I have no idea.

We're so good at this.

Thanks for your quick reply. I am having so much fun Daniel.

Can we get an estimated date for Blu-ray release? I need to own Swiss Army Man!

Also, how difficult was it to film the scene with Radcliffe as a jet ski?

Thanks!

Blu ray is this fall. Oct or something. Nothing official yet though. We don't even know!!!

Here is an article about filming the jet ski scene. spoiler alert: it was so hard. http://www.moviemaker.com/archives/series/how_they_did_it/swiss-army-man-fart-powered-jet-ski-corpse/

When you do release the Blu-ray, can you include a Swiss Army Man action figure with it? I am NOT kidding! How awesome would that be??

We've been wanting an action figure for years! Anyone who has hook ups with toy companies hit us up!

When filming Swiss Army Man did you ever just stop and think "holy fucking shit I can't believe we're actually making this movie"? It was one of my favorite movies I've seen this year.

LITERALLY EVERY DAY.

I think it's why we made it though. Create a world where we can all believe anything is possible.

Hey guys, I loved Swiss Army Man and I've been addicted to its soundtrack lately. The music is a huge part of the way the story's told throughout the film, while writing the script was it always planned to be like that? Or did it come naturally while working with Andy Hull and Robert McDowell?

It was always planned to be a cappella + instruments found in the woods. We always wanted Hank to be the unreliable narrator and him singing was a natural extension of that.
But oh my god did Andy and Rob blow our minds and knock it out of the park and take the idea to a whole new level. We rewrote scenes just to feature more of their music.

Is it true that you guys want to Reboot White Chicks? Please say yes

Ever since the blogs started picking up on that, its' been a crazy bidding war between all of the studios and financiers. We honestly don't know which path to go on. We can't sell out and lose the integrity of the project, but a story like this requires a decent budget. I'm almost scared to make it because its such a revered classic.

I CAN'T TELL IF YOU'RE KIDDING

What is your favorite scene? (so we can try to do it justice)

What can Daniel do that you can't?

too many daniels in the world. Clarify your question pretty please.

Hey guys! I'm sure with Swiss Army Man now, you guys are taking a lot of meetings. What scares you and excites you about moving to the big leagues of movie making and Hollywood?

We've been so swamped with press and the release of the new interactive thingy that we haven't taken many meetings... yet. But we did meet the Russo Brothers last night!?
Scary Part: what if they offer us 1 million dollars to make something lame? We used to be the underdog. Now we're not first time feature directors....
Exciting Part: the cantaloupe cucumber sorbet that came with dinner last night. It was crazy good.

What gave you all the first big break on music videos? I imagine there was a brief period of struggle before you were submitting treatments for Lil Jon.

No struggle at all. Lil Jon saw Kwan dancing at a concert and he just dropped the mic, walked up to him, and gave him thousands of $$$.

The other version of the story is that we had countless little breaks over the course of the past 6 years. Every vimeo staff pick. Every project that got greenlit. The biggest breaks were meeting each like minded member of our crew. We work with the same people over and over a lot. And it makes the struggle way more manageable. [when we first started, we pitched 100 videos and got them all rejected for creative or budget reasons. That was the hardest year... 2010 I think]

Are you mostly interested in continuing with original concepts for your next feature(s) or are there any existing properties you'd like to work on?

If they ever decide to make a film out of the DC Comics series Doom Patrol, I can't think of anyone I'd trust with that more than you guys.

Goat Simulator

YO. What was it like to take Swiss Army man to the Sundance Labs? Like.... what actually goes on there? What advice did you get?

OH MY GOD what a huge question. We could talk for days about it. Which is also what we did at the labs. Talked about our movie for days.
Screenwriters lab: 3 hour feedback sessions one on one with crazy writers and directors. They contradict each other. Some of them are encouraging. Some of them hated our movie.
Directors lab: shoot 4 different scenes from the movie with a tiny crew and no budget so you can practice and get feedback on the execution of it all. 4 weeks of this!?

SCHEINERT: One thing I learned was that even the most successful filmmakers have dumb ideas all the time. And they work really really hard and are filled with self doubt as they make something. The process demystified the film industry for me.

I would love to know who hated it.

That's also great to hear that established people don't just spit out gold all the time. that their process is as weird and as fumbling as anyone else's

Mike White! Haha. He was the hardest meeting we had. We thought he'd love it cause he's an incredibly funny writer but we just spoke past each other and had to give up on our session early.

Then, when we were really frustrated and angry we came up with some great ideas.

THEN a year or two later Mike emailed us out of the blue and wrote us the sweetest letter about how frustrated he was with himself for not being helpful. How proud he was of us for making it anyway. It was so humble and wonderful. Sums up the rollercoaster of this whole experience.

How did you react to all the different theories people were formulating about the movie?

We love it. Someone describe the movie as a rorschach test of sorts and we love that metaphor. What you see in the movie depends on who you are. Boy, girl, ashamed, arragont, cynical, optimistic, etc... (but the right interpretation is [SPOILER ALERT:] it was all in OUR heads! Nothing was real. Nothing is real. There is no Daniel. Okay bye.)

Hey guys! Love your stuff.

You said something really interesting in the Vimeo podcast, that when you pitch your take on potential projects, you make your pitches 'compromise-proof', ie: If someone removed your weird conceit, it wouldn't work at all. I like this a lot. How do you do this for projects that are intended to be little more traditional and less impressionistic?

Haha, that's such a good question. I don't think we even know the answer to that. When an idea is "compromise proof" it usually means there is something that is nontraditional at its core, and to remove it would be to kill it. Obviously you can apply this to non stupid/crazy films like our own. We just haven't figured that out yet. I guess even the best "more traditional" films have something at its core that is so unique that most films would shy away from. The good ones make that unique thing the REASON the film exists.

Do you think interactive video is a niche fad, like Choose Your Own Adventure books, or a new medium that Hollywood and fans will truly buy in to?

We actually made Possibilia because we had the same feelings that interactive video might be a shiny new fad. We are always attracted to things that seem hard, and we wanted to see if we could create something that didn't feel like a gimmicky choose your own adventure- and instead a deconstruction of how interactive films made us feel. It makes us feel stressed out and overwhelmed by too many choices, and so we wanted to create a story that reflected that feeling, so that the viewer experience would inform the story. For some people its too much, for others they really get it. I think the only way its going to really catch on is if adventurous filmmakers continue to dive in and find new ways to look at how interactivity effects story telling (especially in a way that would differentiate it from video games)

Absolutely loved the film, can't wait to see what you guys do next. Is there still any way to get one of those Manny towels or any other merch?

Suck up to A24. They have all of them.

Hey guys. Just wanted to say thank you for "Swiss Army Man". Best movie of the year. In fact, after all was said and done, I saw it seven (!!) times. Brought all of my film major friends to it.

So. Just curious. How did the story evolve? It's full of lyrical, allegorical beauty. And farts. Is the final story version on the screen the same story that went through the first draft?

Also, what are the chances that the soundtrack will be submitted for Oscar consideration?

And lastly, is Hank okay?

Thanks for the AMA. May you never be trapped on your own private escalator. Don't ever let the stage lights hit you on the head. ;-)

7 times!? Holy cow. Thanks for that ticket $$$

• the story changed so drastically from the first draft. We did 5 or 6 drastic rewrites and tons of little rewrites in between. In the first draft Hank was rescued from the island at the end of the movie by a cruise ship or something. haha.

• the oscar campaign begins TODAY

• do YOU think Hank is okay? I think he's doing okay. (Paul Dano decided that after lots of therapy and repercussions Hank would become a summer camp counselor 5 years later for some kids camp where everyone pretends to be pirates or something.)

How do you find the balance between sincere and saccarine?

We try to entertain ourselves. Without being exclusionary. It's a constant battle. And some folks still feel excluded despite our best attempts to make populist weirdstravaganzas.

Hey Daniels!

Congrats on Swiss Army Man... It's the bees knees.

I'm dying to know how/what/where Shane Carruth was brought on board for that role?

Keep being so awesome that it makes me angry!

He just showed up on the first day of shooting! It was terrifying.

We had met him briefly before because he was working with some of the same financiers we were working with, but we had no idea was coming to watch us work. But because he was around and we needed a small role to be cast, we ask him if would be down. This whole film was kind of surreal like that.

Thanks! and stay angry!

He was just around because he was working with one of our producers. We were terrified when he showed up on set. Then we asked him to be in it. And he said yes. haha.

Hello Daniels! I'm a film student who is about to start school in the east. I noticed in an interview that you two also started your careers over here. What was the transition like to California? Were you easily able to make connections before you moved over or did you have to move out there and figure it out as you went? I'm a little worried about not attending USC :/

Hey man, good news! Location and school doesn't matter! One of us Daniels actually got rejected from USC! Even our film school wasn't the best. But luckily we met a lot of wonderful people who we still collaborate with today. Best thing I learned while in school was not to compare myself to the other students at my school, and instead compare myself to all of the students on the internet (the world basically). I could be making the most interesting stuff in my class, but I realized it wouldn't matter if I couldn't hold my work up against the best stuff on the internet. Once I learned that, it terrified me into trying to be the best I could be.

The transition was interesting. I got an internship and temp job at Dreamworks Animation which was really amazing, but also way to cushy for a 21 year old. Luckily a video we had made for free while in school was getting traction on the internet, and we had a record label reach out to us to do music video for them in New York. So quit my temp job at Dreamworks and decided go full time into music video freelance directing. It was equal parts thrilling and miserable. And we thought about giving up a lot. But we kept making stuff we were excited about even when no one else wanted it, and somehow we survived those first couple of years.

How many hours of foley sound work was done for Swiss Army Man? How many of those hours were fart related?

The sound design and soundtrack were stellar and my Fiancee and I were brought to tears because of your movie. Thank you so much for letting us fart in front of each other with no reservations.

Congrats on your farty fiance!

The sound design was a huge part of the post production process. We put in lots of the farts and spent tons of time trying to make them sound authentic and not cartoonish. Then our sound design team built out key sequences for a month while another team of foley artists did all the backgrounds at the same time. We had like 100 layers of sound for certain scenes. There were something like 14 simultaneous fart tracks during the opening jet ski scene. The sound design company: Unbridled Sound murdered it.

We are getting married in four weeks and our wedding party is walking out to "Jurassic Park". Suffice to say after seeing Swiss Army Man we switched it to the version in the film. Because if you don't know Jurassic Park, you don't know shit.

That's amazing! I'll have to tell our composers!

How did you go about discussing the characters with Dan and Paul without feeling too...overbearing? Like, you wrote this script over a couple years so clearly you knew those characters well so how did you stage discussions that would allow your actors to create their own ideas about the characters without too much of your own opinions put in?

The crazy thing was these guys were on a ton of films and we were directing our first one ever, so in a lot of ways we trusted them to make a lot of their own connections and know which questions to ask. They asked a lot of questions and that was the best time for us to redirect anything that felt off or misguided. It felt a lot better than just dumping all of our thoughts on them all at once. But we also sent them fun things like music the characters would listen to or books they would like, or sometimes we even referenced reddit threads that they should read (you meet the most interesting specific characters on reddit.)

Besides the time traveling beyonce video... what is your favorite concept that never came to be?

hahhaa. siiiighhhhhhh. a moment of silence for that beyonce video treatment.

We once pitched an idea for Kendrick Lamar's "Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe" where Kendrick is so stressed about life and whatever so he sits down in a lazy boy, and leans back, but then keeps leaning back- forever.

What's the best way for an editor to meet directors?

I don't know....
Edit something really really well and put it online. It's important to be looking for people you think are like minded and talented. Great collaborators are invaluable. Don't just seek out established people. Find the guy at the cafe and make something together.

on Reddit AMA's

Hi I'm Daniel.

[deleted]

One of us very religious growing up. In someways Swiss Army Man was a product of me realizing as an adult that I no longer believed in God, but still wanting to see the world as beautiful. Learning that there is no line between the sacred and the profane was a big part of that.

Thanks for the AMA!

thanks for the AUIQAGUC (ask us interesting questions and give us compliments...)

Dan Kwan, how do you feel about the recent trend for diversity in Hollywood, regarding Asian American representation?

DK here. Man, its so crazy. I spent most of my life hating the fact that I was asian, so I basically tried to ignore it. But then we did Turn Down For What and one of the surprising reactions on youtube that kept coming up was something along the lines of "haha, he's asian" because people weren't ready to see a super sexualized, boner driven asian male in a hip hop video and it really shook something up in me and sent me down an race identity rabbit hole.

I'm a lot more aware of the part I can play in furthering representation of minorities in the stories we tell because I once humped a TV for Lil Jon. Pretty crazy.

I'm really excited to write stories specifically for asian american roles (our next potential film we are writing will be centered around an asian american). Because looking back on it now, I think the reason I had so much self-loathing is because of media portrayal. I always grew up thinking I was a side kick and not the protagonist. Anyways, I'm just rambling now. I'm just excited about all of the conversations that are happening now.

Daniel Scheinert here:
As a white male I think I'm the authority on the subject. And I say it's no big deal. Trump 2016.

DS: Just read Kwan's answer. It's better. Please ignore me. - the sidekick

Hey guys, I've been so blown away watching your progression as filmmakers. The first time I saw Swiss army man was at the friends and family premier at the arclight, which was a wonderful experience. Do you find that your abilities in the VFX and practical fx realms make your film significantly cheaper to make? I have noticed there is a pretty big disconnect between the importance of VFX on a given job, and it's representation on set. Does this also make it easier to sell your pitches even though they are VFX heavy?

Yeah some of the best advice I can give to filmmakers starting out is LEARN VISUAL EFFECTS, even if its the most basic understanding. It will make things cheaper, it will make you shoot faster. Even films that don't feel like VFX shots have a ton of VFX shots (watch any of Fincher's latest films). You will fix things that would normally cost you a ton more money. You will find short cuts that would other wise cost you a ton of time. Also, to your question about representation on set, knowing how VFX works also creates a shorthand with the VFX supervisor on set, and sometimes even eliminates the need for one. I learned everything I know about After Effects from youtube videos, it's available to everyone. It is so worth the time investment. Swiss Army Man was an indie film with 250 effect shots. We ended up doing 150 of those ourselves, and the rest (harder ones) we had Method studios do. But its what made the film possible.

What kind of drugs were you on when you conceived of Swiss Army Man?

None. It's kind of funny that people think weird movies are the result of drugs. The opposite is true for us. We make weird movies instead of doing drugs.

Actually, Kwan started smoking weed because of the movie. To deal with stress. And it helped.

The one scene in Swiss Army Man that we came up with while high was Hank in the real world looking out the window. We added that scene in post production because when we tested the movie folks were too confused. So trippy right? Dude looks out window!?!? total stoner stuff bro.

Hello Dannys, How did you guys finance your films before you began getting projects that were fully funded? Ie (assuming): Dogboarding, Happy Holidays, etc. I ask because I made my first short last year for $1,900 and while it gained a lot of traction/a staff pick it also nearly bankrupted me and as I move forward I'm having trouble figuring out where to look for any sort of financing. Thanks babes. Film if you're interested:https://vimeo.com/129033960

Hey Dan! I can't wait to check out the film, congrats on the vimeo staff pick. Vimeo staff picks are the only reason we are where we are now in our careers. This is a tough question. Our early stuff was done out of frustration because we couldn't find anyone to give us money to make stuff, so we would look around and ask what do we have right now that will cost no money so we can just shoot right now. So most of our early short films (and our first music video) cost around anywhere between $50-200 each. It was really hard and it was really frustrating, but it really paid off in the end. A video commissioner at Sony/Columbia records saw our silly little experiments and gave us a chance on a pretty big music video and kick started our careers.

I remember I spent a couple thousand dollars on a film in college, and it came out terrible. And I realized I never wanted to do that again.

Basically, keep making things, make them for even less, eventually someone is going to take a chance on you. Hope that helps.

What advice would you give to somebody who'd like to become a director?

How did you guys start directing?

I'm really looking forward to seeing Swiss Army Man, btw.

Make stuff and follow your skills wherever they take you.
What do you like doing and what are you good at?
We never knew we'd be directors. We tried animation, acting, editing, business school and directing ended up suiting us.

Well I enjoy and I'm pretty good at photography and I'm okay at creative writing.

That's what it seems to be like for a lot of directors, as far as I've seen. How did you go from editing to directing? Connections from it? Thank you so much.

We just did all of it and waited for someone to pay us. We made stuff. We helped other people make stuff. The transition from one role to the other is you mind!!!!

Thanks so much for making Swiss Army Man. All of my friends have been talking about it--we think in a decade or two, it's going to be remembered as one of the most important films of the 2010s.

Question: you have such a unique vision & Swiss Army Man was an original script. Do you think you would ever want to bring that vision to an adaptation or sequel? If so, any particular properties you would love to try your hand at?

Adaptations and sequels are scary. There is a fanbase expecting something. And suddenly it's your job to decide what to change and what to keep the same. Sounds scary and out of our league for now. But I imagine as we grow up we will change as people cause that's how human life works right... we'll see!

[also I'm a little frustrated sometimes that every movie has to be based on something. You don't need to option existing IP or some article to write a relevant story. It's weird.]

Hey guys. Swiss Army Man is a masterpiece! Do you have any other projects in development, and will it be as weird as Swiss Army Man? Thanks!

DS - We're working on a new script. I want to call it HOTDOG HANDS but Kwan thinks that's a dumb name. It's about how it's hard to do your taxes.

How do you feel about YouTube? and do you think it can emerge as a serious player in the film industry?

DS - It already has become a serious player as far as I can tell. There are millionaires making movies on there. I don't like the design of the website and all the annotations and ads personally. But I love increasingly accessible stories.

Swiss Army Man was an incredible experience for me in the theater. You guys made the most refreshing movie I've ever seen. Do you hope that your film shows filmmakers that they should think outside the box more, especially when most big (successful) movies usually don't do anything as risky and out-there as this film?

Yes.
A movie can be anything. And risks are fun to take!

What's your favorite animated movie? Have you guys ever considered incorporating animation into films?

we love animation. Draw so much inspiration from there.

Favorites: Princess Mononoke / Rejected / World of Tomorrow / Bottle / Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs / The Eagleman Stag

After watchhing the trailer for Swiss Army Man I can't escape the thought that its about a man going mental on an island alone. What should I do?

Go watch it! There's a lot more.

What is your favourite type of cheese?

Scheinert: fermunda cheese

DK- String Cheese when I'm editing. Boursin with Garlic and Herbs on picnics. That stuff literally tastes good on anything.

When did farts and erections come into it? (Ignore the hidden pun.)

Farts were part of it from Day 1. Bones came a little while later.
Some days we tried to ignore the farts etc... and we wrote a drama. then we realized the farting jet ski didn't belong. So eventually we had to lean into the scatological, embrace it, and we realized the meaning of the film was buried within the farts and boners and shits and tears and sweat and everything else we're ashamed of.

How did you get such a quirky film produced?

We started with little quirky films. Then bigger ones. And bigger ones. And along the way we found people who believed in our movies as much as we did (producer jon wang, DOP larkin seiple, AD jesse fleece, production designer jason kisvarday) so by the time we got to this big long quirk fest we had a resume and team and we just had to patiently ask financiers who was ready to take a calculated risk with us. [also it didn't hurt that Turn Down For What was a big viral hit]

What was it like directing a corpse?

depressing.

Do you have any directorial advice?

Make stuff. Discover your style as you go. Take risks. Don't take advice from first time directors too seriously. Get mad at some haters and prove them wrong. Have fun doing it because everything is forgotten.

Do you two ever fight when working together?

Our process is one big continuous constructive argument.
So many little fights.
Never anything truly hurtful and when we get close to that precipice we count on each other and collaborators to keep us in check and tell us to CHIIIIILLLLL.

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR SUCCESS! Were you worried that some of the more quirky elements of Swiss Army Man might be off-putting to more conservative viewers?

Of course. The scary challenge of the movie was: how do we make a movie about the most unpalatable content as palatable as possible?
We're still trying to get the word out that our fart movie is made for people who hate farts. An olive branch from the out of the closet weirdos to all the in closet weirdos.

How did you get around the festival circuit? What was it like doing that?

We did Sundance this year. And sold the movie there. And didn't do the 'circuit' much other than that.
It was crazy. Celebrating the movie at the same time that we were selling it was a real trip. It was an incredible experience. Met so many awesome encouraging fans but also got kicked in the nuts by the press with the mass walk-outs rumors. It was work but we wanted to play. haha. We've done a few festivals since then and it's pretty fun and more low stress. But a24 didn't want us doing too many cause it's like giving away tickets to the movie when you play lots of festivals you know? We gotta make that $$$

Regarding your music videos, which band or artist was the best to work with? Also, which music video was the most fun to work on?

favorite artist to work with...: Tenacious D was surreal cause my high school self was FREAKING OUT. But that's true for Shins too.
obviously we've become best buds with Manchester Orchestra now. They are so great.

favorite to shoot: Turn Down For What was so fun to film. Cause the whole crew was crying laughing at Kwan.

What was the last thing you ate?

DS - Instant Ramen with some corn and peas and an egg. Working lunch. :)

What's your worst experience on set? Love y'all!!

Stunt man cut his arm on our Don't Stop music video. And a neighboring property owner blocked the exit road and demanded more money. :) FUN [don't recommend shooting in Piru, CA]

Ooh! Where are your favorite places to eat in LA?

We live in Highland Park so a lot of our answers will be Mexican restaurants in that area.

DK: Bestia has this amazing bone marrow gnocchi that makes me want to die, Boiling Crab is a fun crazy mess, we get soon dobu in this korean restaurant in the Little Tokyo Marketplace (same place we shot our Battles music video), Huarche Azteca, Kitchen Mouse (dope veggie spot) DS: Bacao Mercat, Delia's, Silver Lake Ramen

Daniel, do you feel like your relationship has changed for the worse or better since your foot has been in other Daniel's butt?

Scheinert: That was visual effects dumb ass.
What actually happened was I stared deep into Kwan's butt crack while holding his hips so he could pull against something, and I accidentally glimpsed parts of him I never want to see again. And I think we are stronger now because of that journey. Great question.

Did you really direct that Nike commercial? Who is doing the voice over?

Yeah.
Some guy named Oscar Isaacs (but we didn't meet him. He was in a recording booth in england working on this upcoming sci fi movie about space wars)

What was your favorite item of clothing in high school?

Hahah. I was so into emo/punk when I was in high school so I have way too many embarrassing favorite items of clothing. I wore a lot of girls clothes that I would alter. I had a black pea coat that I stole from my older sister and replaced all of the buttons with different colors. I wore it every winter for most of high school. Man, now I'm getting a kick out of imagining all of the kids who used to call me homophobic slurs in high school watching Swiss Army Man.

(other daniel:) You wore that pea coat in college too! I remember that thing.

Are you planning on doing a commentary for the movie?

Already recorded it!

We were pretty exhausted from talking about this movie for a month straight during the press tour, so I have no idea if its any good. sorry in advanced if its boring!

We did one. It's silly and fun. We invited some crew members to come with us so you get commentary from us and our sound designer and production designer. There's all sorts of special features coming.

Loved Swiss Army Man and your latest Possibilia short! What projects do you have coming up next?

Scheinert is showing an interactive documentary called The Gleam at Sidewalk Film Festival in a few weeks. So he's working on that right now.

Kwan is getting married. Full time job.

After that stuff we're hoping to write stuff and do short form stuff this fall.

I'm (Dan Kwan) and getting married, and that's been a massive undertaking :p

But besides that, we're excited to experiment with short films and music video agains because its so much forgiving of experimentation. Long-term we're working on a sci-fi script. Who knows when we'll shoot it though.

How did you guys do the floor transitions and special effects for "turn down for what"?

Mostly its practical effects done by our production designer Jason Kisvarday. We built breakaway props and threw shit everywhere.

Then the hardest visual effects were composited by our friend Zak Stoltz.

Hi Daniels,

you are my hero(es?). how do you know when it needs to be more weird and when you do say no this is too weird? For instance: How do you keep your voice when you're working with big brands like Nike?

We add more weird when we're bored or are feeling dishonest.
We take away weird when it's alienating and it hurts the story.

But it's obviously a gut thing. and some folks think we hurt our stories.

And we're working on that balance as we write, as we shoot, as we edit, every day arguing about where a scene lands on the spectrum.

Scheinert: With nike it's debatable how much of our voice is in there. I see it as a combination of voices not nearly as personal as our other work. And I am glad that from day one I was expecting that.

The tone of Swiss Army Man constantly oscillates between the absurd and the sweet. How difficult was it to maintain that balance and how much of that - if any - was brought in by the work that Dan Radcliffe and Paul Dano did?

Also, how did you guys get Shane Carruth?

God, that was the hardest thing about Swiss Army Man. There weren't many things we could reference for what we were trying to get at and so we felt like we were always making it up as we went, and trying to go with our gut. Radcliffe and Dano were incredible and understood tonally what we were going for and its hard for me to imagine this film with any one else. In our heads, the more sincerely they performed every insane thing we asked them to do the funnier it was, and they gave us exactly that. They are two beautiful boys, and we were so lucky to have gotten to work with them.

I work in a really quiet office with one bathroom. The other day, I was pooping, and was sure all of my coworkers could hear me. I felt ashamed, and then I remembered the saga of Manny and Hank, and I didn't feel so bad. Thank you for that.

Anyway, what is making you happy right now? Shows, podcasts, books, new restaurants, ANYTHING

It's natural.
"Fart proudly." - Benjamin Franklin

SCHEINERT: TV: Nathan for You Food: eggs in the hole Alcohol: Mezcal Books: Visit from the Goon Squad

Guys, I loved Swiss Army Man. I assume spoilers are not off limits, so, here are two super-spoilery questions: (1) Did Hank kill Manny (backstory)? (2) Is the island at the very start "the end" in Hank's mind (i.e. a mental state of utter despair, depression, desperation)? Because I'm of the opinion that he was behind the house the entire time -- never on one island and then, shortly after finding Manny, another.

1) I don't think Hank killed Manny. I hope not. That would be fucked up.
2) The island can be real or fake depending on your feelings as a viewer. Hopefully his emotional journey is clear even though the reality of the story is cloudy. That was our goal. He was undeniably emotionally lost.

Where did the idea behind Swiss Army Man come from?

It's a collection of so many ideas it's hard to say. You could spend a semester of college debating where ideas come from. But we like to describe ideation as 'idea sex' cause you just communicate with other humans until your ideas mush together and something makes you go: AHA! For some reason, years ago, Kwan pitched a farting jet ski corpse as a short film we could shoot at my friend's lake house and our brains went: AHA.

I loved your Olympics spot.

Curious: Was that shoot more expensive than Swiss Army man?

Thank you! and Yes!

Do you guys think you'll return to the music video space soon? Or are you moving in a different direction?

Hopefully very soon! Just waiting for the right song and idea!

First off, I seriously want to thank you for making one of the most creative and entertaining movies I've seen in years! It was absolutely incredible.

My question: What was your intent for the ending of the movie, or did you purposefully leave it open to interpretation for the audience?

Edit: HEY I FORGOT MY NAME IS DANIEL TOO!!!!

We are find with all interpretations. Someone described the movie as a rorschach test of sorts and we love that metaphor. What you see in the movie (specifically the ending) depends on who you are. Boy, girl, ashamed, arragont, cynical, optimistic, etc...

But for us we wanted it to be a hopeful ending. Hank overcomes his shame. Hank inspires Manny to fart too. Manny inspires THE WORLD.

How long did it take you guys to get tired of Damn Daniel memes?

What is Damn Daniel?

John Williams’ JURASSIC PARK theme makes two small, yet profound appearances in SWISS ARMY MAN; was this particular piece of music your first/ only choice for the film? Did you have an alternate piece of music in-mind for if there were issues securing the track?

Thank you so much for SWISS ARMY MAN, it's my favorite film in three years!

Haha we tried so hard to come up with alternates because there was a 90% chance that John Williams would not allow us to use the theme. Every time we thought we had another theme that would work, we realized it was another John Williams song.

We picked the song because Scheinert has this problem where whenever he is pitching a dramatic moment to me, he'll sing a song along to give me an idea of what he's going for and he always defaults to two songs: the Jurassic Park theme, or Kiss From a Rose by Seal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yivLt9cTaio

Hi Daniels!

Two questions:

• With a lot of your projects (Interesting Ball, Broomshakalaka, Possibilia) you like to take the initial idea to its extreme conclusion. Do you find yourself scrapping projects if the initial idea is not able to grow and transform in this style?

• You see a lot of shorts being made to specifically showcase vfx and others structured like sketches with a punchline ending. I feel like you guys have been able to blend a distinct style of vfx, absurd humor and surprisingly rich narratives. Is there any advice you would have on how to balance these different traits and not having a project feel like it is just trying to do one thing?

1- That's interesting, we don't think much about why we abandon projects. I don't think we scrap ideas because we can't make them grow, in fact I think usually when an idea doesn't feel like it can grow and go any further, we like to take that challenge and prove ourselves wrong. In fact I think we scrap ideas when its too easy to grow and transform them. We like narrative challenges, and ideas that are constantly challenging us from start to finish are the ones that get done.

What's your favorite classic movie, and why is it "Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit?"

Oh man, I used to think it was so good. We just rewatched it recently and uf. We looked it up on rotten tomatoes: 7%

I'd have to say a three way tie between Groundhogs day and The Sandlot and maybe Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Hello Daniel, since swiss army man was such great success, do you feel a lot of presssure for your next project?

It was simultaneously a great success for some and a massive let down for others. So we only feel pressure from half of the world, and the other half of the world has really low expectations so that feels pretty great.

Is it ever difficult splitting each paycheck? Do you split 50/50 on everything John/Paul style or does it vary per project?

Mostly 50/50. It's tough, but when we were starting out I was living in a garage and ate tacos every day. So we made due. We make a little more money now, so its not as bad. We're just excited to be making things and surviving.

And please don't ever compare us to John/Paul. Too scary. :p

What was it like working with Shane Carruth? You guys fans of his films?

He is nice.
We love his movies.

Do you remember competing/participating in Campus MovieFest while in college?

Scheinert - Yeah. My movie "Danger High Voltage" was selected to screen at the national competition and then they changed their mind and didn't screen it. Haha. It was a fun experience.

Hi Daniels! First off, I loved Swiss Army Man. In a world of recycled movies and generic blockbusters, I'd love to know what inspired you guys to tell this story, as it it such a refreshing and unique story. Also, was Radcliffe and Dano your first choices? Great casting. Thanks!

We were inspired to make this movie by lots of things. But especially the crazy awesome movies of the late 90s that have mostly disappeared in America these days: Being John Malcovich, Amelie, Fight Club, Life Aquatic, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine, Princess Mononoke, Wet Hot American Summer (artsy movies that are simultaneously really accessible and populist)

Also the characters evolved over the years and we joked about casting lots of people. But they were the first people we offered the roles to. First choices. We are $O $O $O $O lucky.

Movie was awesome, like rightly and truly great.

My question, how was working with Harry Potter? Did he ever bring up defeating Voldemort, or was he pretty humble about it.

Also, bonus question. Did Hermoine ever stop by? No? ok...

I would love to meet Harry Potter. And Hermione.

Have you ever wanted to make a movie about the use of over abundant Kudzu and it's effect on the world?

Hi Jonathan.
Yes.
-smackwhiskey

How do you guys come up with your ideas and where can I buy that acid?

Never tried acid.
We mostly make crazy movie instead of drugs.
We come up with our ideas with a simple math problem:

[What would be fun to watch] + [what would be fun to make] - [can we get money to do that?] = movie idea

How many puddle-tail-wag-blows does it take to punch a hole in drywall?

Puddle has never punched a hole in drywall.
But dry wall once punched a hole in his tail and we had amputate some of it.
You probably already know this.... Ned?