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Your new movie Check Please!
- in a few words, what is it about?
Check Please!
is
a not so romantic comedy about the morning after of a blind date turned
hook up. Is any of Check Please!
based on personal experiences? And your personal worst (blind) dates? I
wish it was based on personal experiences… haha. I would have great old
man tales to tell the hot nurses at the convalescent home. The idea
originally came to me in two parts during 2016. First witnessing and
overhearing a very awkward and brutal blind date at a Starbucks. The man
kept trying to talk himself up about how “awesome he was” and the
woman was totally not feeling it. She kept twirling her hair and glancing
at her cell phone. (Other)
sources of inspiration when writing Check Please!?
The
second part of the idea was after watching the Judd Apatow comedy feature Knocked Up. There is a scene in the film between Seth Rogen and
Katherine Heigl the morning after their characters hooked up after just
meeting the night before. I love the awkwardness of that moment. Everyone
has that one story of the “morning after”.
So I wanted to switch it up a little bit and have it be about two
dudes who hook up the night of the blind date and the morning after just
to find out one of the dudes is actually straight. My goal was to go
deeper into the moment of awkwardness and disappointment using my shock-and-awe style of comedy. Do
talk about Check Please!'s
specific brand of humour! Someone
online said it perfectly the other day: “Meisenheimer takes rebounding
from a relationship to the next level in his comedic short film. His shock-and-awe style comedy is sure to bring laughs and even unwanted
introspection.” It’s definitely cringe humor at it’s best. (Smirks)
Cringe humor... it's perfect. With Check Please!
revolving solely around two people sitting at a table, how limiting was
this for you from a director's point of view? And what can you tell us
about your overall directorial approach to your story at hand? I
enjoy limitations and restrictions. The challenges make me figure out
different ways to solve problems creatively. So basically, my main
concern, as a director, was to keep the pacing and the timing of the
comedy visually entertaining. Which I felt myself and cinematographer
Niklas Berggren (Nite Nite,
Faithful) [Niklas
Berggen interview - click here] pulled off pretty well. Then in post
production, the editor Chester Finney (Confidential Informant) tightens up
some of the gaps. You
also play one of the leads in Check Please!
- so what did you draw to bring him to life, and did you write him with
yourself in mind from the get-go? Yes!
I love comedy. The last seven years I’ve been making my bread and butter
as a comedian and comedy writer. A lot of people compare me to John
Belushi or Chris Farley which is nice but I feel like my comedy is way
more R-rated.
Your character's lines
are very much on the cringeworthy side - now honestly, how much fun was it
to blurt them out anyways? And how hard was it to not burst out laughing
from time to time? I’m
pretty sarcastic and snarky as a person. So, getting the chance to be
politically incorrect and have no filter was a blast. I definitely broke
character a few times and chuckled to myself. We had one outtake where I
didn’t know I said “I love penis flavored foods” and Shane Ryan goes
“Oh really?” In the corner of my eye I see the cinematographer (Niklas
Berggren) and assistant camera operator (Akira Hayakawa) laughing. I got
annoyed and was like “what the F?!? You guys ruined a take.” Then
Niklas calls me over and shows me what I said. Lolzzz! You of course also have to talk about
your co-star Shane Ryan [Shane Ryan
interview - click here], and what made him perfect for the part? I
wrote the character with him in mind. I’ve known Shane for years and
even acted in a couple of his projects. But I never got to work with him
as an actor. He’s actually a pretty good actor and I'm surprised he
doesn’t get cast in more projects. He was hella good in “Samurai Cop
2” and I've heard he was amazing in The Interrogation of Cheryl
Cooper from filmmaker Albert Pyun. What made him perfect for the role
is his reputation as a controversial underground filmmaker who pushes the
envelope. That's how the media portrays him. A lot of people don’t know
he’s actually hella funny in person. A
few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
It
was great! It was very laid back and fun. I’ve worked with everyone on
the crew before so it went smoothly. Niklas Berggren as the cinematographer, Akira Hayakawa as the assistant camera operator, the
sound guy was a long time friend from Northern California, Stevo Ng and
the gaffer/grip Eric Milzarski, I worked on a few projects with him too. The
$64-question of course, where can your movie be seen? Right
now sending it around the film festival circuit and then hopefully will be
ready for the public to view in June on Funny or Die. Anything
you can tell us about audience and critical reception of Check Please!
yet? The
critical reception has been really good so far. They really dig the
performances and the cringeworthy sense of humor. Audience reaction has
been pretty much the same too. I’m very happy with the response. Any future projects you'd like to share? Acting
- wise, I will have an recurring role on a comedy webseries that starts
shooting in early February called My Daughter, Karl from
Richard Eick, Max Giorgi and Kyle Crosby of Channel D Productions. I’m
also currently in pre-production/raising funds for two short horror
films and I should be directing my first feature by this summer. Your/your
movie's website, Facebook, whatever else?
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If
people really dig this movie they might really enjoy some of my older
comedy shorts here at
www.youtube.com/chadmeisenheimer
Also if they want to stay up to date with me or my other work they
can follow me on Twitter @ChadMeise or on Instagram @TheChadMeise Anything else
you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? Sure…
Keep
laughing, don’t get offended and life is just too short to sweat the
little stuff.
Also: Support Indie Film !! Thanks
for the interview!
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