female division of Will Ferrell and Adam
McKay’s production company (she would
later come on as producer for the film).
The first draft was quite different from
the film that we ended up with, but at its
core was a very intense friendship
between two young women and their
decision to leap into unknown territory
together. And it was a story about
smart girls who weren’t trying to pretend
that they’re not smart. I loved that.
Reading that original idea and knowing
that we could tell a story that was
about celebrating female friendship and
smart women, but also exploring that
phase of adolescence where the stakes are
so high, that was when the light bulb
went on for me.
When I originally pitched it to
Annapurna Pictures I wanted to make
the Training Day of high school films.
I wanted it to feel like the most intense
buddy-cop story, because the thing with
buddy-cop stories is that it’s literally life
or death. It’s often two very different
people in the same car, who are devoted
to each other to the point where they’re
willing to take a bullet for one another.
High school is like war. You find your
buddy on the battlefield, and you
get through it with them. Without
them you feel lost, and with them you
feel invincible.
My original look-book was quite
bizarre because it had lots of pictures
of women on the battlefield, actually
fighting in Afghanistan. And then lots
of pictures from cop movies like Lethal
Weapon and Beverly Hills Cop. If you
saw that look-book now you’d wonder
how the hell it formed the basis for
Booksmart. That core idea is still in there,
but I wanted the script to evolve to a
place that acknowledges that adolescence
is complicated and the stakes are so high,
and that it’s fucking hard to be that age.
I was at my house in Brooklyn when
Megan Ellison at Annapurna called me
to say that she would be delighted to
make the film. It was really emotional
because Megan had been a supporter of
mine from afar for a long time, since
I had a role in Spike Jonze’s movie Her,
which she had produced. I was so ready
to make this film, though, that it felt like
I was going to tell the story no matter
what. If Megan had said no, I’d have
found a way to convince her.
I think that’s an essential part of
making a film: you have to feel that
regardless of being given permission,
you will tell this story.
AFTER WE’D BEEN given the
official greenlight, we needed to begin
rewriting the script — that’s when I met
and hired Katie Silberman (who wrote
I kind of felt like a general, ready to
go into battle with an incredibly well-
prepared army that I had assembled.
The shoot was just 26 days long, so
we really had no choice but to be
extremely prepared.
Every department on the film was
so inspired by the story of these two
girls. Our production designer, Katie
Byron, built every layer of this story
in a way that was infused by her own
experiences. I was so moved by how
inspired she was. The same went for
the camera department and our
cinematographer Jason McCormick,
who was finding ways to tell the story
in a way that was beautiful.
So many people tried to warn me
not to make comedy beautiful, because
you end up sacrificing laughs in the
name of style. But I was adamant
that we were going to make this film
beautiful. I mean, look at what the
Coen Brothers have achieved. The
Big Lebowski was a huge inspiration
for Booksmart in several ways,
including visual style. I deeply admire
the Coens for proving comedies
can be stylistically specific. I knew
I wanted my film to feel lush,comedy movies Set It Up and Isn’t
It Romantic) to come on board and
collaborate with me on the new
incarnation of Booksmart. It was
immediately clear Katie was my
dream partner, and has now become
a lifelong collaborator. We’re working
on another script together now.
Once the script was close to
production-ready, I began assembling
the team to shoot the film. I hired my
DP, production designer, assistant
director, and line producer. We
got to work making the dream
a reality. Eight weeks and
several adventures later,
we shot the movie.
On the first
day of filming,
I was blasting
music (it was all
Kendrick Lamar
and Lizzo during
the shoot), flew out
of bed at 5am and
drove to work like
a kid heading to
their own birthday
party. But I wasn’t
nervous. In fact,Top: Back to
school with Dever
and Feldstein:
“Every day
I was blown away
by their skill.”
Below: Launching
Booksmart
at SXSW on
10 March.