MB: ...my movie is called '20 Dates', and, basically it's this: I didn't have a girlfriend, so, I went out on twenty dates to find a girlfriend, and then I filmed the dates. So, that's what my movie is. I filmed twenty dates on my search to find a girlfriend.
PS: Well, I saw the movie and I liked it very much-
MB: Thank you.
PS: --and later, thinking back on it, it's presented as a documentary-
MB: Mm, hmm...
PS: ...and the thing about it is, I talked to somebody else who had seen it, and they were like, "No no no, it's a mockumentary, because it's completely aware of itself as a film, and there are some scenes that are-
MB: Let me talk about that, because there's never been a movie made like this, and so, it's hard to put it in a box and I'm aware of that. And I ask you, I mean, is '[The] Real World' a documentary or is it a soap opera? And so my movie is a comedy, it's a romantic comedy, and we did the same thing, in many ways, that 'The Real World' did, except it was the first time it had ever been done, for a movie. And what it was is I went out on twenty dates, I interviewed people about single life, I had 120 hours of real footage, and I went into an editing room with two editors and we were in there for one year. OK? And our goal was not to make a documentary. Our goal was to make the funniest, most entertaining comedy - romantic comedy - that we could. It just so happpens we only had $60,000 to make this movie, so our, our canvas that we had to paint on was 120 hours of real footage that we used to make this movie and to tell the story, which is a real story that happened to me, some really interesting and funny and amazing things happened within that time that I filmed it. So I didn't plan any of that, it happened.
PS: It's so amazing, it really is hard to believe.
MB: Isn't it? Yeah.
PS: I think-
MB: --and I can say "Isn't it" because it's not like I'm sitting back saying, "You know, I wrote this wonderful thing..." [laughs] I mean I, I lucked into it.
PS: That's the way it happens sometimes.
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MB: Yeah.
PS: I was thinkin' about it, you know, it's so like, deceptively simple. You're trying to accomplish two things at once. [MB laughs] Two of the hardest things in your business. Trying to break into the movie business and also trying to find yourself a girlfriend.
MB: Right.
PS: And you did it at the same time...
MB: Well, the thing is...and what's interesting to me is that at the beginning of the movie I say I'm gonna go out on twenty dates to find a girlfriend and I'm going to film those dates and sort of kill two birds with one stone, as you say. But, I mean if you were to put a gun to my head at that time...Actually, I probably would run away. But, if I had to answer what was more important at the beginning of this movie? To make a movie or to find a girlfriend, I mean, all honesty, it was to make a movie. And I thought, you know, I'd make a mean little, vicious comedy about dating 'cause I'm not really gonna find anybody. And it's probably gonna have a slightly depressing, cynical ending; but everybody who's single and is dating will understand, and that'll be the movie. And a couple of people will see it in Hollywood and that'll be okay, 'cause it'll open up doors for me to, to make other movies, hopefully. And then, as John Lennon said, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans", right? And what happened is, I actually met this incredible woman and she actually agreed to go out with me, and, we kinda fell in love. And, all this at a really weird time in my life, where, which was when I had two, like, creepy guys following me around with a camera...a lot like that guy [my cameraman]. And to have gotten that on film is really interesting because what started off as a mean little vicious comedy about dating all of a sudden I'm wandering around this, like, sweet, romantic comedy. I'm livin' it and I'm shootin' it and I don't even know anything about romantic comedies, OK? I don't go to romantic comedies, and here I was living it and shooting it. So, it was really, it had nothing to do with what I did. It was just lucky that I happened to stumble into it. And it's what makes this movie enjoyable to audiences, to a much larger audience than I originally thought it would be.
PS: So, you're saying it worked so well...[lost my train of thought]...You've heard the quote that love always happens when you're not looking for it.
MB: Mm, hmm.
PS: But you were looking for it-
MB: --and trying to film it. [laughs] You know, I made this two years ago, so I didn't even hear of anything called 'The Truman Show' or 'EdTV'. Like I told you, I was inspired by 'Real World' and MTV. I knew it could be done. I'd seen a documentary called 'Sherman's March', which partially takes place here in Atlanta. And also I was very much inspired by Albert Brooks's first movie, called 'Real Life', which was a mockumentary. And so that's when I thought maybe this might be an interesting project. And by the way, a mockumentary is something that's entirely scripted and you hire actors and you shoot it in a documentary style, to make it pretend documentary, like '[This Is] Spinal Tap', which is the-
MB/PS: --greatest mockumentary of all-
PS: --time.
MB: Every mockumentary is compared to that. So, no, I mean, if it seems like this has too neat a Hollywood ending or twists and turns like a regular movie, yeah, I did that on purpose 'cause we spent a year in the editing room to figure out how we were gonna take 120 hours of footage and stuff that really happened to me and tell it in a way that you would enjoy. So, it should feel like a movie. It is a movie. It just so happens that it was shot originally like a documentary. Do you have a girlfriend, by the way?
PS: No, I don't. [changing the subject] There are a few--
MB: --Really? You're a good-looking guy. What's wrong with you? What's the matter with you? Do you wear those clothes on dates, is that why? [I let out a hurt groan]
PS: There are a few-
MB: [to my cameraman, John] Do you have a girlfriend, over there?
JM: No.
MB: 'Cause you guys spend all your time down at the TV station. Well, one day...
PS: There's a few instances where you've got friends and supporters and whatever doing little interviews in the movie, and they pretty much call you a jerk. That's why you couldn't get a woman before Elisabeth [the woman he falls in love with in the film].
MB: Right.
PS: Were you filming those, or did you have someone else do it?
MB: No, they were talking to me. It was sit-down interviews and we would talk to each other.
PS: [with a smile] And they just called you a jerk to your face.
MB: Well, you know, all my friends are a bunch of wise-asses and evidently, I, you know, insult all my friends - in a loving way - and they shoot back at me. And, they're actually pretty funny. And I thought, "Hey, you wise guys, you think you're so funny, you think this is easy making this movie. Why don't you come down, I'm going to interview you, and let's see how funny you are on camera." But I thought a lot of them would actually clam up, but actually they went on for hours and hours and hours highlighting my faults. [laughs] But, on the other hand, you know what, it occurred to me and, actually, my editors pushed this: Why try to portray yourself as a really nice guy? I mean, that's not real, but also it's not interesting, you know? And the rule in the editing room was: If it's funny, it's in. And I think by, by showing faults, and if you get through the humor, they're saying some true things about me...my faults are no different than yours or...well, he has different faults [again picking on my cameraman]. But your faults are no different than mine and that's what makes you want to come along on my journey. You don't know me, but you're watching, and you're told that I'm like this, and I'm like that. And you're like, "Huh, he's a little bit like me" or "I know a guy like that". And so we come along. And I think it makes it funnier and much more interesting, and you actually start rooting for me to do well and not blow it because you're not really rooting for me, you're just rooting that, if you were in the same situation, you won't make the mistakes. So I think that's why the movie's enjoyable. But it is weird going around the country saying, "Come see my movie 'cause I'm a idiot and you'll get a laugh out of it". But, if you're desperate...
