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Demetri Martin goes from doing stand-up comedy to starring in the film 'Taking Woodstock'
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Demetri Martin
Demetri Martin could be the next Adam Sandler or Eddie Murphy. Or he could be the next Joe Piscopo or Roseanne Barr. Or the next Jamie Foxx or Robin Williams. Or the next Ellen DeGeneres or George Lopez. Martin is a stand-up comedian who’s made the transition into acting, and time will tell how well acting will pan out for him. He could end up being a movie superstar known mostly for comedies (like Murphy and Sandler), a has-been who flamed after a promising start (like Piscopo and Barr), an Oscar-winning actor who headlines comedies and dramas (like Foxx and Williams), or a dabbler in movies whose biggest success has been starring in a TV series (like DeGeneres and Lopez). The future is wide open for Martin.
For now, Martin is in the spotlight for his Comedy Central TV series "Important Things With Demetri Martin" and for "Taking Woodstock," the Ang Lee-directed movie about the legendary 1969 Woodstock Festival. Although Martin has had small parts in other films, "Taking Woodstock" marks his first starring role in a movie. In "Taking Woodstock," Martin plays Elliot Teichberg, an interior designer who reluctantly leaves New York City to help his parents, Jake and Sonia (played by Henry Goodman and Imelda Staunton), manage their run-down and financially troubled El Monaco motel in White Lake, New York, an unincorporated part of the rural town of Bethel. Through a series of events, the El Monaco ends up becoming the headquarters for Woodstock organizers during the festival, which Elliot (as the head of Bethel’s chamber of commerce) has helped bring to the farm of neighbor Max Yasgur (played by Eugene Levy) — despite protests from many of the locals who don’t want their area overrun by hippies.
The movie is based on the true story of Teichberg (who now goes by the name Elliot Tiber), whose "Taking Woodstock" memoir also details how he came to terms with his homosexuality, as well as how his journey out of closet began during the Woodstock era. When I caught up with Martin at the "Taking Woodstock" press day, he seemed to be handling this new chapter in his career with mix of wonderment and practicality. After all, Martin is someone who knows how unpredictable life can be, because he hasn’t taken a stereotypical path to showbiz: He’s a Yale grad who attended law school at New York University before dropping out to become a stand-up comic. A conversation with Martin is filled with fantastic memories and random observations that could only come from a truly talented comedian. Here’s what Martin had to say during the interview.
Demetri Martin and Eugene Levy in "Taking Woodstock"
You’re in practically every scene in "Taking Woodstock." How did you prepare for each scene, knowing you basically had to carry this movie as an actor?
For me, it was all new, obviously, so I was curious, a little concerned, but mostly curious in wondering, "How does this go? And how much do you get to follow your instincts? Do I get to improvise? Can I mess around with this? Can I do something funny here?"
I learned quickly that I wasn’t going to be improvising. They didn’t have that in mind. I’d be true to the words [in the script], and Ang had a lot of really specific ideas for me, so it wasn’t that hands-off. It wasn’t like, "Let’s just do it and see …" I would do it [a scene], and he’d say, "OK, you know what I want? Can you not like look up until this word?" So we’d do this scene, and he’d want me to look at the floor until a certain word and then look up.
He had much more to do with specific performance details than I thought he would, that he had in mind for my character. I wasn’t going to argue with him … And then I started to realize how much there was forethought in the composition, just like in how the blocking went. Because here were so many extras [on the set] that there was almost like a narrow path a lot of times that I could walk …
If you look at the movie, there’s a lot of [scenes of me] walking across things, like up the hill. So I’d get to the set, and there’d be this elaborate arrangement of Ang would be like, "Here’s what I want you to do. Walk up here, look at the food and be surprised." … And it would be like, "Action!" And I’d have to go do that, which is kind of weird, but it’s cool. It was a good lesson.
Ang Lee and Demetri Martin at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival
What was the rehearsal process like for you?
That was another thing. Each day, I didn’t know what scenes we’d be doing. There were times I’d be in a room with Ang, and he was doing a lot of different things during those two weeks. He was checking out wardrobe and locations, and they were figuring out all these things. But then there’d be pockets in the day where they’d be like, "OK, Ang’s ready for you. Just go in that room and he’ll be in there."
So all of sudden, I’m in a room with Ang Lee. And he’d be like, "OK, just go to page whatever and we’ll do this scene." So I do it and [Lee says], "Do it again, but I want you to be really afraid the whole time, OK?" So I do it afraid. "Now do it very loud." I think he was just trying to see what I could do, how much I could give him in different direction.
What was your audition like?
After I had a meeting with those guys, about a week later they said, "OK, we’re going to do a screen test with you. And you’ll get the sides from Avy [Kaufman], the casting director." She e-mailed me a PDF of four scenes in the evening, and the next morning was my audition. So that night I was reading the four scenes was like, "I’m not going to get this. This is impossible." So I just went and did it, and [Ang Lee] had a video camera. And he directed during the audition, so I would do it and as I was acting, he would just say things and I’d try to adjust. And a couple of week later, he said, "OK, you got it." I was like, "Really?" I was definitely surprised. Not like I was terrible or anything but I thought, "Wow! This is very interesting."
Demetri Martin at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival
Was becoming an actor something you always wanted to do or was it something you decided to do after you became a stand-up comedian?
I realized at some point along the way with stand-up that certain ideas I got were not a stand-up joke. You get certain ideas and you’re like, "I can’t really do that onstage," and then I start thinking, "You know what? Let me file that away, and that could be part of a story or a scene." So I thought, "Yeah, I could definitely make a short film and eventually make a feature or something." And so of course, I quickly realized, "Well, I have to be able to act if I want to do that. I’ve got to learn how to write a screenplay, and all that stuff."
I did get to do a few [movie] parts before this ["Taking Woodstock"] where I did one scene for one day. I did three or four different movies over the years. I got to be in "Analyze That," which is the sequel to "Analyze This." I auditioned for that movie once, because I was on "[The Late Show With David] Letterman" and Ellen Chenoweth, the casting director, saw me and brought me it. And [the audition] was on tape and it was like three lines.
But I remember in my scene, [Robert] De Niro is the gangster, and I say, "Hey this guy, Mr. Vitti or whatever, the director wants to see you." There’s a TV show within the movie, so there’s a guy playing a director. So anyway, long story short: I had to go get him [De Niro’s Paul Vitti character] and he doesn’t want to go to this meeting, so he blows me off and puts money in my hand. So in the script it says, "He puts the money in the PA’s hand" — I play the PA [production assistant] — "and the PA looks at the money and the scene’s over."
So before my audition, I was in the hallway, and I was going on tape, "What’s my move? How can I get this?" So then I figured it out: When he puts the money in my hand, I’ll look at the money and then I’ll look up and look worried." I don’t know if that’s why I got the part, but I figured out what I was going to do … And then they called me, "Hey, you got the part." And I was like, "Cool." So my first [movie] scene ever was with Robert De Niro. It’s crazy.
Eugene Levy and Demetri Martin in "Taking Woodstock"
What did you know about the Woodstock event before reading this script? And did you get to meet Elliot Tiber?
They had me meet Elliot, but at the same time they told me, "We don’t really want you doing an impression of Elliot. We’re trying to build this character here and serve the story we’re telling, but keep it true to the events as much as possible."
I knew about Woodstock through the music, as anybody from my generation would. My parents didn’t go to Woodstock. My family’s from Brooklyn. They’re Greek people from Brooklyn. I don’t know if I’m related to anybody who went to Woodstock, which is a bummer. I’d like to think that I kind of had this cool hippie lineage, but [I had] diners, I don’t know what else. Greek dances, I guess.
Jimi Hendrix [doing] the National Anthem [at Woodstock]. I think that’s just an amazing thing to watch. Janis Joplin. My first concert I saw was Sha Na Na … and they were there [at Woodstock]. I saw Sha Na Na when I was 6 or 7. My dad took me to see Sha Na Na … When I saw them I was like, "Oh my God!"
There are times that I remember how my brain worked as a kid. I was that person, but of course, I’m a different person now. I watched "Grease" the movie, and when you’re a kid — at least when I was a kid at that time — it just seems cool, because these are greasers. These guys are so cool with the leather jackets and the cars and stuff. I watched Sha Na Na. And I’d say to my Dad, "Why don’t people look like that anymore?" But I think the way I phrased the question was, "Where did the ‘50s go?" And he was like, "I don’t understand what you’re saying." "Where did the ‘50s go? Why isn’t it like that now?" And it was such a hard question for him to answer!
So it’s funny to look at Woodstock and be like, "Where did that go?" In doing research for it, you just think, "Man, I would like to think that I would’ve gone [to Woodstock] were I alive at that time."
Henry Goodman, Demetri Martin and Imelda Staunton in "Taking Woodstock"
The real Elliot Tiber was actually in his mid-30s during Woodstock, but in the movie, he’s in his 20s. What do you think about that?
That’s the funny double twist on this, because I’m 36, but on screen they have me playing a twentysomething-year-old, which people think I look like. So it’s funny that I’m actually the right age, but I guess the guy in real life was acting the way I was: 22.
You also have an interesting parallel with Elliot, because Elliot’s parents put pressure on him to help them with their family business of running a motel, and you used to work in your family’s business of running a diner. How did your parents react when you dropped out of law school and told them you wanted to go into show business?
It’s funny. Somebody asked me if in playing this character, did I draw on anything? And that was really the only parallel I could find. When I left law school, it was kind of a risk and a disappointment to everybody who raised me and cared about me. "What are you doing? You’re throwing it away. Finish the last year" — because I had one year left of law school. So I guess I could draw on that a little bit.
And the working for the family, I hadn’t thought of that. That is true. I worked at my family’s diner against my will up until I went to college. And then when I was in college [doing] summer jobs, I always tried to wriggle out of having to work at a diner. But if I didn’t have something, I’d have to bus tables or wait on tables and stuff. And yeah, there’s a similar thing for Elliot: this tether to your family. It’s part obligation and guilt and family history. They just assume you have to do this. You don’t get to go to San Francisco and have fun with your friends.
And at the same time, I don’t think you realize how much of it is you. You have to decide when you’re gong to break away. You have to become an adult. And it’s like shirking your responsibility of being an adult by blaming it on them [parents].
Mamie Gummer, Jonathan Groff and Demetri Martin in "Taking Woodstock"
You’re surrounded by a lot of colorful characters in the movie. What was that like?
It’s funny, once we got into production, I realized, "Oh, I’m kind of standing around here a lot." I guess it’s reactive in a lot of ways. I guess unwittingly, he does take an act and triggers a sequence of events … So I realized quickly as a new actor, if I could just be veritable and believable in this scenes, then great, I got through it. It’s cool to see Liev [Schreiber], it’s cool to see some of these guys on screen and to have been there. It’s interesting, because you really do have a front row seat to a performance. And then you see what they do. It’s different when it’s on a flat screen and magnified, as opposed to standing right in front of the person.
But for all of them, they all committed so well, and it was all believable. Imelda [Staunton] was particularly interesting, because she’s English and a stage actress — she’s done a lot of film, too — and she has this English accent, and she’s this very sweet, patient, funny person — truly the opposite of her ["Taking Woodstock"] character. And from the minute I met her, she was like, "Oh, Demetri!," as if we knew each other, and [she] hugged me.
And I’m thinking, ‘Oh, this is great!" Because your hear "Imelda Staunton," and I’m thinking, "Vera Drake," and she was really nice and told a lot of jokes in between takes and really funny. So seeing her on screen … when you slice away all the Imelda and you leave that character, you’re like, "Wow, that’s really cool." That’s a real skill, a real craft that people know how to do that. And Liev too. He’s so buff that I think he just made [his "Taking Woodstock" character] funny.
Demetri Martin in "Taking Woodstock"
How did you approach your character’s homosexuality?
That was a tricky thing where I was like, "I just want to be a real person." I know plenty of gay people who I don’t think are gay when I see them … I don’t have a gaydar. But it’s not like this cartoonish thing of being very effeminate or whatever people would caricature a gay person to be. I didn’t want it to be me in it, obviously, because I’m not gay, but I also didn’t want it to be cartoonish. You know what I mean?
What I did think was that Elliot was an awkward person. And often, I am awkward, so that’s where I think we overlap a little bit. He just seemed kind of slight in a way. It’s not particularly a gay characteristic, but composing a person, it’s like, "If it’s a gay man, this would be one component, but just let me figure out who he is and how all that is situated in relation to being gay. And more importantly, being gay and not wanting people to know it."
Ang and I talked about that. It wasn’t so much about being a gay man. It’s about being a guy who’s afraid to share something that is essentially who he is. And the real Elliot is not afraid. He came out of the closet and wrote a book about it and everything. But then you think of a guy who’s afraid: afraid of what his dad is going to think, afraid of what some anti-Semitic and homophobic townspeople are going to think. How does that manifest itself in how a guy moves? It’s like stinking at a sport or something, and you don’t want to have to run. Like if the ball comes near you, you’re very cognizant of your movement. There’s a real choreography to that kind of stuff. I’m totally new to that kind of stuff.
Henry Goodman, Demetri Martin and Imelda Staunton in "Taking Woodstock"
What did you learn from your "Taking Woodstock" co-stars who’ve been acting a lot longer than you gave?
I think if I learned one general thing is that when you’re not speaking in a scene, it’s so important to not only give to the other actor and be present and stay connected but to realize how much nonverbal communication there is in life. I’m just more of a verbal person. In stand-up, it’s about jokes and words and ideas. And of course, there’s a lot of nonverbal stuff that’s happening, but I’m not even that cognizant of it.
But with this [acting], each scene seems like a dance where you have partner, and you don’t want to go step on their feet or go too fast or have them dragging you or be selfish and they have to do all the work. The trick is to find the right balance. It seems like without knowing it beforehand, a lot of my favorite performances involve people creating a space between them and the other actor, so there’s something happening in the exchange, not in the person. Like, "He’s crying and screaming and oh my God, look at how mad he can look." But it’s more like what is it in relation to. Whether it was Liev or Emile [Hirsch] or Imelda, across the board … Jonathan [Groff] too. Jonathan was a first-time film actor, but he was such a very giving, good actor. I thought he was great.
Kelli Garner, Demetri Martin and Paul Dano in "Taking Woodstock"
What was it like filming the scene where Elliot takes LSD in a van with two hippies?
Ang hadn’t done acid, and of course, I hadn’t done it. We get to the day, and we’re standing there and we had all the props and it’s like, "OK, what the hell are we doing here?" But David Silver, who was the historian on the movie— I don’t know if I dropped acid and I don’t want to out him if he did, and I’m sure of he did, it was a long time ago — apparently, he was a colleague of Timothy Leary’s, so if he [David Silver] didn’t drop acid, it was probably the closest thing to it.
As a comedian, you’re always taking the piss out of things, so it’s funny to be in these earnest scenes where you’re lying there and breathing. And you’re hearing off camera, "Yeah, you should probably be worried about your limbs." "Where’s my arm?" I was like, "Oh my god, if some of my friends could see me right now they’d be like [he says in sing-song voice] ‘Asshole!’"
Demetri Martin in "Important Things With Demetri Martin"
What do you say to people who may be wondering if you’re going to leave your TV show behind to do movies?
I’ve been in this thing [stand-up comedy] for 12 years, so you have to figure for 10-plus years of experience in showbiz, you go in a small room, and maybe some people know you, and most don’t … In the last year-and-a-half or so, I actually go places and people stop me and go, "Hey, you’re that comedian Demetri Martin. What are you doing in Pittsburgh?"
So now all of a sudden, there’s this other thing that actually doesn’t have to do with performance and work, but it has to do with your relation to people who know what you have done. So to those people, I usually say, "Oh, so what do you know of what I did?" And the more they know, the weirder it is, because [it’s] like they keep me under surveillance. "Where did you see that?" "YouTube!" "I’ve got go. This is weird!"
It’s an interesting thing. I’m just at a new point with that stuff [more people recognizing me], and this movie will come out. Who knows how many people will see it or like it or how big it will be? I guess people who know [me from stand-up or my TV show] who see this movie, I guess they will be surprised, because it is different.
A lot of my favorite artists, if I looked at their whole career and had the benefit of retrospect, one thing they have in common is that they seem to have tried very hard to be true to themselves as they develop as a person. So that if it took them in a weird way, they just went with it, because that was the process they enjoyed and the work they enjoyed. And if they lost people along the way, it seems like they acted like they didn’t care as much.
Imelda Staunton, Ang Lee, Demetri Martin and Emile Hirsch at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival
Like who, for example?
Well, Bob Dylan, I think is one of the most dramatic examples. Like when he went electric … I think of Bob Dylan, the Beatles. I was watching this Dick Clark thing once; it was this old [episode] of "American Bandstand," and they had all the kids in the audience. It was black and white, and it was when the Beatles were debuting the music or video for "Strawberry Fields [Forever]." It’s so cool. So Dick Clark is sitting there with all these kids and they look all clean and straight-laced. And they know the Beatles as these mop tops and stuff. And they’re like, "OK, we have the new film here from the Beatles. "Strawberry Fields Forever." Let’s play it."
And the Beatles, they all have moustaches and they’re walking backwards, like really slow, and a guy jumps into a tree. It’s an amazing song, psychedelic. And they come back to all the kids, then Dick Clark’s like, "So what did you think?" And they’re like, "They looked weird!" … And you know, all those kids in six months all had moustaches. Can you imagine? That’s so cool to follow your heart. Granted, the Beatles are an easy example because, to me, they’re the best band ever.
Demetri Martin in "Taking Woodstock"
At what point did you think your family was OK with your decision to drop out of law school and become an entertainer?
Just at the premiere party for this movie. I was getting into a taxi once with my mom; she was visiting the city. I think it was a year-and-a-half ago, maybe last year. And she goes, "God, can you imagine if you were a lawyer?" And I was like, "I can’t believe you said that, Ma." They were so worried about me leaving law school, and it’s so funny that it got to the point where they couldn’t picture me as the thing they expected me to do. And it wasn’t like, "Wow, you made it! You got a trophy! Good job! You can pay your bills!" It was just her saying, "Can you imagine if you were a lawyer?" "Thank you so much."
What’s next for you?
Hopefully, "Moneyball" will come back. I’m supposed to be in that movie. I started writing the second season of my show. We’re working on that. And I’m writing a book. That takes a long time … It’s a series of essays and drawings.
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