“The Hollars”: Richard Jenkins (left) Sharlto Copley, John Krasinski.
John Krasinski was still toiling away for the Scranton branch of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Co. on the acclaimed sitcom “The Office” when he became attached to the dysfunctional family dramedy feature “The Hollars.”
He would go on to direct it, his second movie after his 2009 adaptation of David Foster Wallace’s “Brief Interview With Hideous Men,” but when he first signed on, it was only as an actor. He was seeking to expand his reach past “The Office” and was blown away by the quality of James C. Strouse’s screenplay.
“I come from a very tightknit family and a very loving family, and yet at the end of reading this script about a dysfunctional family, I thought, ‘Oh my God! That’s my family,’ ” says Krasinski, 36, during a recent phone chat.
Margo Martindale, whom Krasinski met on his first professional acting job while he was in college — a featured extra to her star in a Marshalls TV commercial — is Sally Hollar, the family matriarch whose sudden illness brings her wayward son (Krasinski) back to his suburban hometown. He’s a struggling graphic novelist with a day job in publishing and a pregnant girlfriend, Becca (Anna Kendrick).
His older brother Ron (Sharlto Copley, “District 9”) is unhappily divorced and living at home with their parents. Dad Don (Richard Jenkins) is in denial about the financial condition of his failing heating-and-plumbing business and terrified that he might lose his partner of 38 years.
“I attribute so much to Jim Strouse, who is able to write hairpin turns between emotion and comedy,” says Krasinski. “When you’re able to do that, it becomes real . ... There’s no swelling music behind the sad parts, there’s no big openings for these giant laughs, and other things. That’s not how life is. Bad things will happen without you being prepared. And good things will happen without you being prepared.”
“The Hollars” almost didn’t happen. The project fell apart, and it looked as if the film would never be made, but the financier thought to call Krasinski to ask if he wanted to buy the script outright and take on the project himself. The actor admits to feeling pressured to make a decision, but when he reread the screenplay, he was once more struck by its quality. He decided it was a movie that needed to be made.
And what a difference six years makes. Krasinski didn’t just take on directing duties in the interim, he also became a father when his wife, actress Emily Blunt, gave birth to their daughter, Hazel — the couple had a second daughter, Violet, in June — 4½ months before he started shooting “The Hollars.” Mirroring John Hollar’s situation in having a child changed the project.
“Having kids resonated with me 1,000 percent. The way I see it is had I made this movie five months earlier, it would have been a completely different movie, I promise you that,” says Krasinski. “To say that it was a different experience for me than from when I signed on as an actor would be the understatement of the year . ... All those big existential questions came into play, ‘Are you ready to be a parent? Are you a good enough person?’ ”
In a way for Krasinski, John Hollar and his career frustration represents the road not taken. As an actor and now, on various projects, a director, writer and producer, he’s been able to live the dream and reach a level of success denied to many who aspire to an artistic life.
He remembers making a promise to his mother when he announced he wanted to pursue acting that he would give it his best shot for 2½ or three years, but if it wasn’t happening for him in that time, he would pursue other opportunities.
Based in New York, Krasinski worked as a waiter, a daytime bartender, a theater ticket taker; he showed apartments, and in exchange for classes instead of pay, he cleaned a yoga studio. But he wasn’t getting anywhere as an actor. Two and a half years in, he called his mother and said he was giving up. It was September, and she advised him to give it until the end of the year. Three weeks later, he got “The Office.”
“I’ve been so lucky. It’s been such a lottery-ticket existence that I put myself into . ... This is what I want to do with my life. To not be given that would be extremely hard,” he says.