'Little Brother' Interview: J. K. Simmons

J.K. Simmons in ‘Little Brother’. Photo: Gravitas Ventures.

Opening in theaters, digital and VOD on September 17th is the new drama ‘Little Brother’, which was directed by first time feature filmmaker Sheridan O’Donnell and stars Daniel Diemer (‘The Half of It’), Philip Ettinger (‘First Reformed’) and Academy Award winner J.K. Simmons (‘Whiplash’ and ‘Juno’).

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with J.K. Simmons about his work on ‘Little Brother’, how he got involved in the project, the subject matter, approaching his role, phone acting and why he likes working with young filmmakers like Sheridan O’Donnell, as well as his reuniting with director Jason Reitman on ‘Saturday Night’ and portraying comedy legend Milton Berle.

Related Article: J. K. Simmons Talks ‘You Can’t Run Forever’ and ‘The Accountant 2’

J.K. Simmons in ‘Little Brother’. Photo: Gravitas Ventures.

Moviefone: To begin with, I understand that director Sheridan O’Donnell first contacted you to be an executive producer on the project and you replied, “I just act,” so he offered you the role of Warren Duffy. Is that your recollection of how you got involved in this project?

JK Simmons: Well, yeah, that’s my recollection of my response when anybody asks me to do any kind of grownup job, producing, writing, directing at any of the above. It seems like I should have segued into that by now, being an elder statesman in this business. But I don’t have the tools for anything other than the one thing that I’ve been working on for 50 years now, trying to get better at pretending to be other people. So, a mutual friend, Greg Lavoie had introduced us and sent me this screenplay, and obviously I connected with it. I’d forgotten that we had that discussion at all, but I think it was one of those, he wanted me to be the voice of the father and be an executive producer on the film. Then at the time, the father was just a disembodied voice on the phone, which was an interesting concept because it created a sense of distance between father and sons. But then as he developed, Sheridan, I think expressed this well, and I’m going to fumble at it, but he created the characters and then found himself following them on their journey. I think as that journey was developing, he decided that he wanted to see the father and get at least a little bit of the perspective from the dad’s point of view.

MF: What was your first reaction to the screenplay and the way Sheridan handled the subject matter?

Simmons: Well, I was profoundly impacted by it. I think unfortunately in the 2020s, most of us have been affected by suicide, by mental health issues with friends and loved ones. It’s unfortunately a very relatable story in that way, and certainly came organically from Sheridan in a way that he wanted to pay tribute to a friend that he lost to suicide. Then it’s always interesting to me, and this is how you know that you’re destined to be a filmmaker and a writer and director, and why I know that I am not, for someone as young as Sheridan to be able to write a character of this father. Obviously, the movie is about the two brothers and the road trip and their constantly shifting dynamic. It’s brilliantly done as we see them struggle with everything they’re struggling with, with each other and themselves, and we see them revert to age nine and eleven at times. But for him to have the sort of maturity and insight to write from the parents’ point of view, and we also see Polly Draper as the mom, is to me, a task, a feat, a talent that I marvel at.

MF: Can you talk about your approach to playing Warren and could you relate to the character as a father yourself?

Simmons: I mean, it was 100% straightforward because, well, as I said, Sheridan understands family dynamics and knew how to portray it or how to put it on paper for us to portray it. I’m in between generations, between the stoicism of the greatest generation and my kids’ generation where everyone is constantly talking about their feeling’s ad nauseam. I certainly feel that dichotomy within myself, and I think most of my friends who are of my generation feel a similar thing. So that dynamic I find interesting. When later in the film, I’m having one of the phone calls with Daniel Diemer, who by the way, was on the phone for all those calls, which is so helpful in playing all those scenes rather than having an AD off camera. That was huge. Thank you again, Dan, for doing that. It was the scene later where he confesses to his youngest son something that he probably has never voiced to anybody, that he’s lost. He’s supposed to be able to fix it and he can’t. Any dad knows what that’s like, whether it’s obviously on a smaller scale or on a dramatic scale.

(L to R) Daniel Diemer and Philip Ettinger in ‘Little Brother’. Photo: Gravitas Ventures.

MF: Marlon Brando once said that “phone acting” is the hardest type of acting someone can do on film. Do you agree with that and was it helpful to have Dan on set for those scenes?

Simmons: Well, 90% of the challenge was overcome by Sheridan and Dan just saying, let’s get Dan for the day and have him stand by on the phone. I mean, Marlon Brando was a pretty decent actor and a pretty insightful guy. One of the very first movies I did was a movie called ‘The Mexican‘ with Brad Pitt. Despite the fact that 60% of my stuff was cut from the movie, one of the things that we did in that film, I was at home in New York, they were shooting in the middle of nowhere in Mexico, and they asked me to set aside a day to be the voice on the other end of a phone call because Brad was shooting a scene at a payphone on the side of the road. I hadn’t been doing films for that long. I thought, well, yeah, of course that makes all the sense in the world, and we did it. Then God bless Brad, two months later we’re doing my side of the phone call, and Brad came in for the day and did his end of the phone call live because I mean, it’s so elementary and so helpful, and just makes a better movie. So, in the 22 or three years in between there, I don’t think I’ve ever done that on a phone call. So, to be able to do that again, have the phone call happen live was very helpful and I suggest that to all directors.

MF: You’ve worked with quite a few young directors in the past including Jason Reitman and Damien Chazelle. What do you like about working with young directors and what was your experience like collaborating with Sheridan O’Donnell?

Simmons: Well, I mean, of course everybody’s a young director now except Clint Eastwood, who I also recently got to work with (‘Juror No. 2‘). But the thing is, at least from my perspective, because I’m not a film buff or a cinephile, I did theater for 20 years and segued, and so I respond to what’s on the page. I had no idea when we were doing ‘Whiplash’ or when I was doing ‘Thank You for Smoking’ or when I was doing this film, ‘Little Brother’ with Sheridan. I don’t know if they can bring it from the page to the stage or not. I just know that they’re wonderful writers and I’ve maybe had a conversation or two with them, and I know they understand these characters and of the human condition and of life, and I just hope that they know how to put it together. Then I hope that some studio doesn’t step in and edit it badly. I’ve been fortunate in many cases with that, and less fortunate in some cases with things that haven’t gotten lifted off the page in the way that I personally envisioned them or hoped that they would be. But this is, it’s wonderful and visually fantastic, but more importantly to me, it’s a character movie. It’s all about these two brothers, and I come in and add my little complications a few times. But it’s just a beautiful, mature, harrowing and at times funny movie about real life stuff that unfortunately far too many of us are finding ourselves dealing with.

J.K. Simmons as Milton Berle in ‘Saturday Night’. Photo: Sony Pictures.

MF: Finally, ‘Saturday Night’ just premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. What was it like reuniting with Jason Reitman and how did you approach playing legendary comedian Milton Berle?

Simmons: Well, reuniting with Jason is always a treat. Since the first couple of films, it’s mostly been a cameo here and there. He was again, referring to ‘Whiplash’, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. He’s the reason I ended up doing ‘Whiplash’ because he and Helen were producing and suggested me to Damien (Chazelle) for that. As far as ‘Saturday night’, and I’ve said this before, it’s not a question of Jason offering me something. It’s a question of Jason assigning me something in most of his films, and it’s always fun. In this case, it was inordinately intimidating playing a real person and an iconic guy. I was relieved when I started expressing that my fear of the whole thing, because anybody like 10 years younger than me or more, was like, “Wait, who now? Who are you? Milton, who? Never heard of the guy.” If they had heard of the guy, they were like, “I couldn’t pick him out of a lineup”. That combined with Jason, and it was a similar thing in a way, with Aaron Sorkin on ‘Being the Ricardos’. They both kept preaching in slightly different ways. “Please don’t try and be an impressionist. We’re not looking for that. We’re not looking for Rich Little. Find the core of who this person is based on what’s on the page there”. Of course, all of us, and all the younger actors who were playing iconic characters of a younger generation that everybody does know, did lots of research. I learned things about Milton Berle that I didn’t know, and they plopped a wig on my head, and I tried to find that sweet spot in between getting a flavor of the guy without trying to do some sort of slavish impersonation.

What is the plot of ‘Little Brother’?

After his most recent suicide attempt, Pete (Philip Ettinger), a neurodivergent man, reluctantly travels back home with his younger brother Jake (Daniel Diemer). As they drive across the American West, they attempt to reconcile past traumas and forge a new bond.