The Number 23
Schumacher on The Number 23
“A lot of them in the movie are real,”
said Schumacher. “There is a website where people for years have been
taking photos of the number 23 all over the planet. Why they do this, we
don’t know, but I mean, you’ll see there are a lot of great
photos of it. Some of them are in the movie.”
In fact, Schumacher has his own number 23 connection. “I was really
excited and it was about midnight and I’m brushing my teeth and I’m
thinking, ‘Boy, I’ve made a lot of movie. This would be my 20th
movie and Jim and I have been wanting to work together [again].’ And
I thought, ‘Gee I wish it was number 23’ And I’m brushing
away and then the other side of my brain goes, ‘What about your three
television movies? Wouldn’t this be your 23rd directing job?’
As the number drives the film’s characters to pick apart a murder
mystery, Schumacher had to handle more practical issues of movie thrillers.
“I didn’t want to spend the whole film with everybody on computers
and cell phones, because it’s not about that. It’s about these
characters. Also I felt that Walter and Agatha, she has her own business,
she’s the center of that, and he’s chosen a life where there
isn’t a lot of stress and aggravation from people. They have a very
safe life where they don’t have a lot of friends. So I didn’t
want to make the movie be about technology and I didn’t think that
they would have to embrace all of that. There are actually people who refuse
to have those things in their life, because they want less stress in their
life. And I just didn’t want the whole movie to be about that, because
it’s about the people in it and not about those things. Also having
done a whole movie in a phone booth with seven thousand phones, and cell
phones, I wanted to do actors’ acting and not ‘Hello, yes,’
and then cut to the other person on the phone, ‘Damn it, my battery’s
not working.’ But it’s a great question.”
The Number 23 will also go down
as one of Jim Carrey’s “serious” movies since he’s
not cracking jokes, but Schumacher makes little of that. “I have
never known or worked with anyone who’s a comic genius, which I
definitely put Jim in that category, that doesn’t have the most
private, introspective sides. If anybody in this room thinks that comics
are happy, believe me the degree of their comic brilliance is based on
truly being so over sensitive and understanding and seeing everything
in life, and dealing with the darkest parts of life with humor. And also,
I think that’s an old-fashioned concept because I think in old Hollywood
they would stick people in a compartment and that’s what they did.
You were a sex symbol, you were the character actor, you were the funny
man, but I think that Woody Allen and Eddie Murphy and Steve Martin and
Robin Williams certainly have managed to show many sides of their artistry
and the audience has not only embraced it, but I think encouraged it on
many levels. And the first movie I ever saw Jim in he was a teenager and
he did a movie called Doing Time on Maple Drive, where
he played a teenage alcoholic in the suburbs. It was a very intense role.
I knew him to be an actor before I ever went to see his stand up, which
was equally brilliant, and I think it just depended on where your opportunities
were.”
The Number 23 opens to theatres February 23rd. Ooh, spooky.
For the trailer and more movie info, go to The
Number 23 Movie Page.
Stay tuned for updates.
|
Add to Heffee!
