'Up in the Air' Director Jason Reitman Loves Austin
This year's closing-night film at Austin Film Festival was Up in the Air, the latest from director Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking, Juno). Up in the Air, which hits Austin theaters on Friday, stars George Clooney as a guy who's continually traveling for his job -- firing people -- from city to city around the country. He mentors young Anna Kendrick, and also has some entanglements with another frequent traveler, played by Vera Farmiga. It's a very entertaining movie -- and just received six Golden Globe nominations, as well as winning various critics groups' awards -- but I'll let Jenn Brown tell you all about it when her review appears on Slackerwood in the next day or two.
The AFF screening was at night -- the photo above is from the red carpet beforehand. Up in the Air cinematographer Eric Steelberg (who also shot Bandslam here in Austin) is on the left next to Reitman. Earlier in the day I got the chance to chat with Reitman for a few minutes about his film and other related matters. You can read that interview on Cinematical -- and I hope you do, since it was a very enjoyable and funny discussion for me.
That article doesn't include the last question I asked him, however. It was almost an off-handed question, I didn't expect much, and was amazed at that passion of his response. It was about Austin, and I'm so pleased to be able to share this with you (after the jump).
Jette: "Do you think you might shoot a film in Austin at some point?"
Jason Reitman: "I would love to shoot a movie here. This is a great town, and I've been looking forward to it. I've been on 11 flights in the last 10 days, looking forward to today. Being here and going to UT and talking, speaking at the Paramount, having lunch at the Salt Lick with the boys. I really love this city. I love music, and I love movies, and that's what this town is about.
"It was an Austin filmmaker that made me want to be a director, it was Richard Linklater. Seeing Slacker. It was reading Robert Rodriguez's book, Rebel without a Crew, another Austin filmmaker, that made me want to make movies too. So this town ... hopefully soon, because I think of the places I want to live, this is one of them."
In addition, Reitman happily praised Austin and its filmmakers that night in a lively Q&A after the AFF Up in the Air screening. My husband, who often uses post-film Q&As as an excuse to exercise his eye-rolling skills, agreed it was one of the better Q&As we've attended -- smart and funny. Reitman's movies are pretty smart, too. I hope we will see him in Austin one of these days shooting a feature.