Demetri Martin takes some risks with ‘Dean’
Comedian wrote, directed and starred in drama about grieving and living in an emotional rut
Demetri Martin sought to tell a fish-out-of-water story with his first feature film, “Dean,” so naturally he steered the story of a New York illustrator in an emotional rut toward some sand.
Martin — who wrote, directed and starred in the comic drama — framed a wonderfully absurd visual worthy of Woody Allen, as his character Dean drags a large suitcase across a Los Angeles beach. He later doubles down on Dean’s indoorsy nature with a trip into the woods. Dean asks, “A hike ... what does that entail?”
“I think it’s fair to say both of us, me and Dean, are happier indoors,” Martin says. “It’s funny, I really like the idea of the outdoors. But I have no constitution for it. It worked, though, because telling this story, I wanted to portray a guy who was stuck in a way. Trying to go around grief or to escape it. And that state manifests itself physically when he’s outside.”
The tone of “Dean” will ring familiar to those who know Martin from his standup comedy. His approach to humor is arid, often with visual accompaniment.
In the film, Dean finds himself in Los Angeles visiting a friend and enduring a miserable job interview with a web startup called “Appar@ us” as a way of putting off processing the death of his mother and a busted
engagement. He’s become death obsessed, and is at odds with his father (Kevin Kline), an engineer who views grief as a problem for which he can calculate a solution.
Martin drew from his own life and work for the film, though cautions that it stops short of biographical.
“My dad was a priest, and we lost him when I was 20,” he says. “We had this great relationship. He was a funny guy who introduced me to Peter Sellers, ‘Saturday Night Live,’ things like that.”
Martin wields a recurring poignant touch using the departed mother’s voice in the film, which also was informed by his own experience after his father’s death.
“The whole thing was a shock to us,” he says. “Dad’s was the voice on the outgoing answering machine at home, this was 1994. And for at least another year, we didn’t change the message. That seemed like another death, taking him off. That was definitely in my thoughts when I was writing the script.”
The gravity of Dean’s situation is balanced by Martin’s understated humor, which occasionally spills into set piece comic moments: two awkward speeches at a wedding twist toward a pointless and funny conflict; and Dean’s interview at Appar@ us is cringe-inducing. “We sprinkle our love of storytelling into brand management, brand entertainment, brand loyalty,” says one of two startup bros. “What we’re doing is building a digital audience.”
But for the most part, Martin keeps the pace of the film measured, which mirrors his stand-up comedy.
“I’m not what you’d call a high-energy act,” he says. “I’m not one of those guys with lots of jokes per minute. I like all kinds of movies, but I do admire those with some patience. Movies by Hal Ashby or Alexander Payne. I had ideas about tone and pacing, but you always second guess yourself. ‘Is this lagging?’ But hopefully it created a little audience intimacy. It was a personal story, so I took a few risks. But it was low-budget, so the risk wasn’t gigantic. There was a lot on the line just for me, I guess. It was a stressful experiment.”
Martin, 44, has been doing comedy for nearly 20 years since he became a law school dropout. Early breaks included a stint writing for “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” and appearances on “The Daily Show,” where he was a “senior youth correspondent.” He made a half-dozen standup albums over the past 12 years, and also wrote and illustrated a couple of books.
“Dean” opens in theaters Friday. Martin will be in Houston later this month, unrelated to the film as part of his Let’s Get Awkward Tour, a string of summer stand-up dates with new material that will feed a future Netflix special.
He says he “had to learn a lot quickly to work in film. To convey ideas and show dramatic tension without overexplaining. But film is such an exciting medium to work in, even with the challenges. I hope I can do it again. I love movies. They’re still magical to me. It’s funny, the drawing and the writing and comedy and film, basically I’ve taken what I love and turned it into a job. That can be the bad side. You don’t want it to be like homework.
“Fortunately my wife, who’s not in the business, is a great balancing force for me. She reminds me, ‘This is what you wanted. Nobody’s making you do this.’ Which is helpful. I think, ‘Hey stupid, enjoy it.’ ”