Why screwball comedies?
Well, I guess it’s a certain amount of nostalgia. I grew up watching those movies. I was lucky enough to have my mother take my sister and me on Friday nights to see the American Film Institute in Washington, D.C. Long before kids stayed at home and watched videos, we went and saw black-and-white movies. I grew up with a great love of that form and later studied it quite extensively on my own, reading about how they made the movies and who the filmmakers were. I’m curious with how this film will do because it’s a form that’s hard to pull off, and I don’t know if even I did it as well as I should have. It’s a tough form in a time when we have so many problems, y’know? The fact that I decided to do a screwball comedy when we’re faced with this horrible war in Iraq and the rise of the Christian Right and all that stuff, I hope is not a mistake on my part. I hardly think so. We all need a good laugh during times like these, and besides, weren’t the screwball comedies a direct response to t
