FAST TRACK is the first produced screenplay from the writing team of Dave Guion and Mike Handelman, who met at Yale and performed together in an improv comedy group.
They still sometimes improvise scenes together as they are writing. Handelman explains: "Some writing teams split up and divide labor but we have a much less efficient method. It's basically two minds doing the work of one."
As struggling comedians and screenwriters, Guion and Handelman had plenty of experience working as office temps. At the same time, they began to observe a phenomenon amongst their peers who were having kids.
"We saw a lot of women who were deciding to stay home with their kids and feeling a little bit trapped in that role. And it sort of occurred to us that there are these gender roles that we are all expected to live up to," says Handelman.
"We wanted to make a story about people who are kind of trapped in those roles and figured out a way to break out. And for the office stuff we used a lot of the absurdity that we had experienced," he recalls.
Guion and Handelman had an advantage as temps in that they never really cared if they were fired. "But we wanted to put Tom in a situation where he actually had to keep his job," says Guion.
As Zach Braff puts it, "I think the line that Sofia says to Tom is something like 'if you don't be the breadwinner, and provide for a family, then you're never going to see this baby again.' And she says it with a smile but I think he really does feel that his manhood is on the line."
Guion says they imagined "What if you started a new job and everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong?"
He continues, "As we started writing it we discovered that it was a story about two people trying to become adults and they had very strong and very rigid ideas about what that meant."
Producer Anne Carey adds: "I think it's about people realizing that they don't have to be just like their parents to grow up...you can grow up in a way that works for you. They believe they have to be a certain way now that they're parents and now that they're grown-ups. And they realize that they just have to be themselves to be good parents and good grown-ups."
Producer Anthony Bregman agrees: "There's definitely an aspect of this movie where it takes what society kind of sees as your automatic response to people, whether it's to a man's role in society, a woman's role in society, a man in a wheelchair and says, 'Well, wait a minute, let's really examine that and figure out whether our preconceptions about that are correct.' And that's what the movie tries to play with, and that's where the comedy in the film comes from."
Braff recalls going to see a big Hollywood romantic comedy and being bored by its predictability: "(As I watched it I thought), wow, I can't believe they're really hitting all those beats exactly at this time in the movie. And so one of the things I love about FAST TRACK is that it doesn't do that. It's very funny, and it's romantic and it's sweet. But it is a very quirky, odd grouping of characters telling the story."
Amanda Peet also found it interesting that the script showed a different version of a typical female character: "Not very many movies and TV shows show what it's really like to be a new mom...the negative aspects of a being a new mom. It's a comedy but I really appreciated the fact that my character isn't a supermom. (Sofia) is not a success at knowing how to sing the songs right and soothe the baby right and doesn't just love being at home and leaving her work. You know, she longs for her work. I really loved that about this film... I think in some ways it's more realistic than these happy new mom scenarios we see in most Hollywood movies."
FAST TRACK was only the second script that Guion and Handelman had ever written. New York production company This is that had bought their first script (another comedy called MONDO BEYONDO) and the writing team said they had another idea that they would like to pitch.
Anne Carey remembers: "The funny part of the story is that because David and Mike had never pitched anything before, they didn't really write it down. So when the deal was done and it was time to actually sit down to writing for Miramax, they didn't really remember what they had pitched."
In the process of filling in the blanks, says Guion, they generated a lot of material ("probably enough for three scripts). The development process took about a year. Fortunately, the team really liked working with Ted Hope, Anthony Bregman and Anne Carey of This is that.
"This is that is very loyal to writers and directors and their focus is really on the creative," says Handelman.
In fact, the company is known for some intense and edgy films, so a more commercial comedy was something different for them.
Anthony Bregman protests:
"This is as edgy a film as it can get. We're throwing a handicapped person down a staircase. We're showing why women shouldn't be taking care of babies, but men should, and that men shouldn't be working at jobs, and women should."
Anne Carey adds dryly: "And we wanted to work on a movie where we laughed, instead of all the other movies about dead children that we've made before."

THE DIRECTOR
Director Jesse Peretz became attached to the project and throughout the script's development, the producers and writers were convinced that Peretz was the only man for the job:
"He had the same sensibility and take on it that we did," says Guion. "He seemed to be aware that is the kind of script where the comedy often happens in the pauses between the lines, or in the background. He definitely got that there were some jokes that if you pushed them too hard, they wouldn't work as well. And there are few directors that are doing that kind of comedy."
Handelman adds: "From the first day, Jesse really understood that the film had to be rooted in reality, and things had to be done in a restrained and nuanced way."
Peretz says because he has done a lot of work in the advertising industry, the opportunity to poke fun at that was one of the things that attracted him to the script immediately.
He also just loved the writing:
"There was some way in which Mike and Dave had written this script that was the perfect combination of something more commercial than I had ever done, and a little bit broader comedy in terms of my film stuff. But at the same time, I thought it was incredibly smart and had these multiple layers in terms of what was going on emotionally as well as what was going on comedically. I could tell from reading the script that these were two guys who basically came from my same sensibility of what was funny."
He continues, "My thing is, even in a big, broad comic situation, to try to find the emotional reality to what's going on, and the kind of humanity or the sympathy in the character...even in their stupidest or most self-destructive moment...and (find) the comedy that comes out of that."

THE CAST
In FAST TRACK, a great script was made even better by its top notch cast. Producer Bregman makes it sound simple:
"Great material attracts great actors. We've found out with this and other projects that if you get the script to the right place, get the right director on it, and pull together a production that feels like it's going to be a really special movie, actors will come to it."
Zach Braff, who plays the hapless hero Tom Reilly, confirms the producer's adage to be true:
"Sometimes people say, 'Oh, do this because they're going to rewrite it' ... or, 'this person's going to be in it' or ... 'It may not be funny, but this director's going to be great.' And the FAST TRACK script was just something that - without any rationalizations or (promises) that were going to make it better - it was just plain funny on the page."
Peretz knew that one of the most important steps as a director was the cast the right people. He knew Zach Braff had the inherent qualities he needed for the role of Tom:
"Zach is a really facile comedian...he has a real intrinsic instinct of physical comedy. But I think he also has another quality (and this is something that I saw all over GARDEN STATE). Even in his most quiet moments, he has a real sympathy on his face. To me, that was a real priority in terms of the casting of the character of Tom."
Jason Bateman relished taking on the role of Tom's nemesis, Chip Sanders:
"It's a funny, funny character in the script and I did play a good guy on "Arrested Development," so it's nice to come out and play a blatant... (expletive)."
Peretz admits, "If anything, you know, what I was worried about in our first few days of shooting with Jason is just that there is something so likeable and magnetic about him, that he wouldn't come across as enough of a villainous character, to have the audience really rooting against him."
But as Mike Handelman observes, Bateman managed to draw you in yet be despicable at the same time: "In general Jason has a given a performance that is in a way a lot more low key than I envisioned, but as a result he has an excellent creepy energy."
Amanda Peet says working with Bateman was tough because she found it hard to keep from cracking up during their scenes: "He's so funny that he's one of the hardest people I've had to work with ... the most difficult. And I've worked with some great comedians. (When we were doing the scene together in the living room watching a movie), he started petting the baby and ... (she starts cracking up). "I want to be a proper actor and I want to be professional ... and I just really can't sometimes (around him)."
In general, says Anne Carey, it was fun to have Amanda Peet on hand: "In some ways, she has the straight part, but she knows how to be funny with it between the two guys."
Peretz agrees:
"Amanda is a really great actress, but I also think she's got incredibly astute comic instincts. I particularly love watching the way that she plays both of those at the same time. She really is fastidious about being emotionally honest all the time, and yet totally knows what she's supposed to do as a comedian."
Everyone was thrilled for the great actor Charles Grodin to return to the screen after a twelve year absence. Grodin's teenage son (who makes his screen debut in the opening restaurant scene) read the script and encouraged his father to check it out.
Says Grodin: "A funny script that has a strong emotional life is unusual. I thought it was extremely clever."
Bateman asserts: "Basically every time Charles Grodin opens his mouth is hilarious. He's the king of dry. I'm just very upset at him for being retired."
Anne Carey says: "Charles bringing his absolute dry, deadpan wit to the thing was just a pleasure to have around, because you never really knew what was going to come out of his mouth. And I think his ability to really play up his affection for Jason's character, Chip, and what that meant to the relationship that he had with Zach's character, Tom, also really helped fuel that rivalry."
While it seemed extremely effortless on set, the writers were impressed with how much thought Grodin put into his work in pre-production:
"Charles sat down with us for a few hours and went through every line and had basically given every single word a tremendous amount of thought," says Handelman.
He continues, "Charles Grodin has done this amazing thing of making his character incredibly funny but also incredibly heartbreaking."
Grodin was reunited onscreen with Mia Farrow, who plays his wife, Amelia. The two had not worked since 1967, when he played her gynecologist in the classic film ROSEMARY'S BABY.
Anne Carey laughs: "I will say one of the funniest things that happened on set was Mia Farrow humming the theme song of "Rosemary's Baby" to Charles Grodin while holding the baby dummy."
Mike Handelman says "It never even occurred to us that someone like Mia Farrow would play that role, so maybe we did not (initially) give it as much attention as we should have."
Dave Guion continues, "When we found out she was interested, the producers wrangled a meeting so we could talk with her, because she had some questions about the role. When we first met her, she brought up a lot of good criticisms about the character. But now that we had the chance to have her do it, we had to make it better."
"(Mia) really came up with the breakthrough idea of the character, which is someone who is constantly trying to do good, and it invariably backfires," explains Handelman. "And that idea sort of encapsulates what happens in the story overall."
Casting great comedic actors, like Saturday Night Live stars Amy Poehler and Fred Armisen, made even more of the small roles than was on the page, says Handelman.
For his cameo as a tyrannical boss, Paul Rudd was another example of taking a tiny part and making it great, says Guion: "When he came in wearing two earrings and this slicked back hairdo, we loved it. It was all we envisioned and more."
Handelman credits the director with fostering an environment to bring out the best in everyone:
"Jesse is very collaborative. You see it in the way he works with the actors, and also the fact that his last film THE CHATEAU came out of improv. I think he really likes that spirit where people are discovering things as they go along. He lets people explore, and that really worked for this."

SHOOTING THE FILM
FAST TRACK takes place almost entirely in Ohio, book-ended by an opening and finale in New York. However, in an interesting twist, the film was shot entirely on location in New York City.
Bregman says; "Making a movie that takes place in Ohio that shoots in New York actually is a really fun challenge. Most of us actually live in Manhattan, and we kind of see the same image of New York. And the reality of the five boroughs of New York is that you can pretty much make it look like almost any community in the U.S. And it was fun to kind of seek out these different areas that looked like, you know, Columbus, Ohio, the road to Columbus and, upscale suburbs and downscale suburbs and all sorts of areas (in the film).
Amelia and Bob's house was located in Queens, Tom and Sofia's house was in Staten Island, and many motorists may have been confused by signs that said "Welcome to Ohio" on a road near the George Washington Bridge.
The showpiece set of the film, the offices of "Sunburst Communications" was located in a warehouse in Long Island City, Queens.
"When we imagined Sunburst," says Guion, "the details were all different but the effect is exactly the same... a slightly off-kilter, slightly provincial attempt at being progressive."
The filmmakers had fun bringing Sunburst to life, a company described as "a holistic paradigm with a non-hierarchical management structure," quips Grodin, quoting one of his lines. He continues: "The place is run by somebody who's referred to as a visionary. One of my favorite lines is when I say to Zach, "You know, it's not always that easy to know what to say to a visionary."
Even with its seemingly ridiculous glass conference room (the "think tank") and proliferation of razor scooters and playroom aesthetic, "the design for Sunburst is actually not so different from the design of real life ad agencies and dotcoms," says Bregman.
"(The goal of these offices) is to create an atmosphere of goofiness, which presumably would kind of feed into their work. And because of all the dotcom and advertising money that went around, they were able to basically do exactly what they wanted. A lot of these companies in real life, feel like (or should I say felt like, because a lot of them are actually out of business now) giant amusement parks or play centers." He laughs, "And, uh, yes, that contributed to the dotcom crash in 2001."
Carey continues: "The other thing that was nice about the decision to go with that big, open space - because we have the character of Chip in the wheelchair - was that it gave us the ability to see across the room, and to have the fun of seeing him wheel from one end to the other and the mischief that he caused, as he could go in and around the place. And that was a real appeal to Jesse in terms of figuring out what the office and the set was going to look like."
In this film, Zach Braff gets slapped in the face with a pork chop, sprayed in the face with pesticide, knocked off his bike and beaten to a pulp by a guy in a wheelchair. But it wasn't that stuff that made the shoot challenging, he says:
"SCRUBS is a physical comedy every single day. If you look at the call sheet on a day of SCRUBS, it's like 'Okay, you're on fire. And then after lunch, we're going to throw you out of a plane.' So (the physical comedy) is what I'm most used to."
He continues, "I think the hardest thing of this movie has just been ...it's hot as hell in Manhattan. Making a movie in Manhattan in the summer sounds awesome in December."
"I think Charles Grodin wears sweaters in all but one scene," notes Anne Carey.
We can only hope that won't dissuade the comic genius from doing another film for twelve years.

THE FILMMAKERS
FAST TRACK is the third feature film directed by Jesse Peretz. His second film, THE CHATEAU, starred Paul Rudd, Sylvie Testud, Romany Malco and Donal Logue, and was theatrically released by IFC Films in 2002. The film was produced by Scott Macaulay and Robin O'Hara of Forensic Films for Greenestreet Films. His first feature, FIRST LOVE, LAST RITES, which starred Giovanni Ribisi and Natasha Wagner, was also produced by Macaulay and O'Hara. The film was released in 1999 by Strand Releasing after winning the Fipresci International Critics Award at the Rotterdam Film Festival.

Peretz co-created and directed the JIMMY THE CAB DRIVER spots for MTV. He has directed over 100 commercials and music videos through X-Ray Productions in the U.S. and Cowboy Films in the UK. Peretz won a Grammy for Best Music Video for the Foo Fighters "Learn To Fly" and a few years prior, he won an MTV Video Music Award for their "Big Me" video. Jesse has also won numerous awards for his commercial work. Earlier in 2005, Peretz directed "The Catch"- a pilot for a new JJ Abrams/Warner Brothers TV show.

David Guion and Michael Handelman met at Yale, where they performed together in an improv comedy group. After graduation, Handelman earned an MA in Philosophy and Guion acted in theater in New York. They re-convened as part of the four-man comedy group Circus Maximus, where they began writing sketch comedy. They soon turned their attention to screenwriting. Their first screenplay MONDO BEYONDO, is also being produced by This is that. Other projects include USED GUYS at Fox with Jay Roach producing and directing and Ben Stiller producing and starring, TOY STORY 3 at Disney, and NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH at Paramount with Scott Rudin producing. FAST TRACK is their first produced screenplay.

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