The Bucket List - John Mayer and Justin Zackham Interviews
At the film's LA premiere, John Mayer says the tone of The Bucket List is what convinced him to contribute a song for the film. Bucket List writer Justin Zackham also showed up on the red carpet to celebrate the movie - and his birthday.
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Transcript: The Bucket List - John Mayer and Justin Zackham Interviews
Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the Los Angeles Premiere of The Bucket List.
Soundtrack Artist John Mayer
I imagine you get approached to do a lot of movies, don't you?
John Mayer: "I probably have been but I think in Hollywood scripts are so definitively either really good or not, that I haven't gotten the ones that really aren't. Like, anybody could read them and go like, 'Uh-oh, it's a space fantasy with cowboys and there's a love interest.' But this was really interesting and it felt very soulful, like it's the same connection. The tone of the movie is the tone that I like to have as a songwriter, which is, you know, deep. It has a depth to it."
Do you actually read the entire script through before you decide what you're doing?
John Mayer: "This was the only song I ever wanted to write for a movie, so this was one of the only movies I ever finished the script on. It's very difficult for me to engage my mind with something, and this was very engaging."
What's your favorite movie of 2007 besides this one?
John Mayer: "2007? I've got to give it to Bourne Supremacy, Bourne Ultimatum… What are they up to now? The Bourne Lamination?"
The Bourne Ultimatum. That was this year.
John Mayer: "Got it. There are different Bournes so much. The Bourne Ultimatum."
You're an action movie fan?
John Mayer: "I think it's more than an action movie, you know? Because sometimes I think that maybe I know how to karate, man."
Writer Justin Zackham
Justin Zackham: "I moved out to Los Angeles and as many people do, you sort of have an extended adolescence out here. You party. There's a lot of hot girls."
And hot guys.
Justin Zackham: "That's true. That's true. I'm sure a bunch of them are probably here. And I wasn't really moving forward. I wasn't doing anything. I sat down one day and wrote 'Justin's List of Things to Do Before He Kicks the Bucket'. And it was see the Taj Mahal, go to Mt Everest. Number one on the list was get a movie made at a major studio, which today I'm going to cross off – tonight, before I go to bed. So it was for myself as just a motivation technique. I put it up on the wall and a couple of years later just suddenly had the idea that why not base a film around this. I made it about two older guys, because they've had a life. For me, I'm 36 – 37, today's my birthday. They have a life of regret so it's much more poignant for them. And that was it."
How about getting Rob Reiner to direct it?
Justin Zackham: "It was arm wrestling. No, he tells the story. He got the script. They asked, 'Who would you like to direct this?' Rob was my first choice. So we sent him the script thinking maybe we'd hear something in a month or two. A couple of days later he called up and said, 'I'm on page 10. This is my next movie, if it's okay with you.' I said, 'You know, they're dying of cancer. You may want to read the whole thing.' And he said, 'No, no, no, no, no.' He had that much faith in it. And through him we got Jack [Nicholson] and Morgan [Freeman]. It was a year to the day that he first got the script that we ended up shooting."
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