Jon Poll
Interview By: Andrea Tuccillo
AndreaTuccillo@TheCinemaSource.com
Jon Poll has been working in the film industry for over 20 years, yet Charlie Bartlett marks his first job as a director. He has previously used his keen cinematic eye as an editor on films like Meet the Parents and Austin Powers in Goldmember and as an executive producer on films like The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Poll brings this behind-the-scenes expertise to his directorial debut, a poignant comedy about a teenager who uses some very unusual tactics to become popular.
Rich kid Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) is sent to public high school for the first time and needs a scheme to make friends fast, before he becomes a constant punching bag for the school bullies. He begins holding therapy sessions in the boys' bathroom stall, lending his ears to troubled classmates and then 'prescribing' them medication to help with their problems. This makes him an instant hit with the student body and the beautiful Susan (Kat Dennings), and an instant headache for the school's principal played by Robert Downey Jr.
The cast of truly talented professionals which Poll has assembled make Charlie Bartlett's story all the more fun and touching to watch. 'I got incredibly lucky and as a first time director it really makes you look good when you have a cast like that,' Poll says.
And it certainly helps that Poll has genuine affection for his actors, singing their praises every chance he gets. According to Poll, the up-and-comer Anton Yelchin was a particular gift to the film. After auditioning 82 young men for the part it just had to be Yelchin, and the studio agreed. 'He is Charlie Bartlett,' Poll says. 'He's able to come in and be kind of an oddball outsider who's really smart and lives in this weird world and so you believe that he can go to this public school and not really realize what he's wearing and that gets him in trouble and he gets beat up. But then he ends up becoming, through his empathy and his ability to listen, he becomes a leader in the school and he gets the really smart girl who happens to be the daughter of the principal played by Robert Downey Jr.'
Yelchin accepted the challenges of his character and did anything Poll threw his way. 'I used to joke around that we could have a trailer that goes 'He sings! He dances! He cries! He runs around in his tighty-whiteys!'' Poll says. 'You know, he holds himself up against Robert Downey Jr. in some very intense scenes and he manages to win the heart of Kat Dennings'win the heart of Kat Dennings and lose his virginity as well! I think Anton is someone who we'll really hear about for a long time.'
Casting Downey Jr. as the antagonizing principal with issues of his own was a 'pinch me' moment for Poll. 'I got Robert Downey Jr. in my movie,' he says incredulously. 'Not only that but he's playing an authority figure for the first time in his life, a reluctant one but still an authority figure. And he's not a typical antagonist because his character, Principal Gardner, although he sees Charlie dealing drugs in his school, making fight videos, going after his daughter, breaking all kinds of rules, he sees a kid who reminds him of himself and he likes him. So, he's really torn and ultimately they both find a way to help each other in the film which was kind of fun as a director to take an antagonist and be able to twist it around like that.'
Downey Jr. proved to be perfect for the role in more ways than one. Life experience informed his character and brought something real and raw to the screen. 'The extraordinary value of Robert is that he's taking on a role that has some very specific mirroring of things that have gone on in his life, in his past, and he does it with great bravery and it's kind of a courageous thing to do,' Poll says. 'There's a scene in the film where he talks about life and what he's been through and I don't think that scene would have worked anywhere nearly as well with any other actor no matter how good they were.'
The other adult character in this film of mostly teenagers is Charlie's mother, played by Hope Davis. She's not exactly a traditional 'mom' and Davis was able to showcase her eccentric, comedic side. 'It's really unusual, I've been an editor for 20 years and just the way movies work is you cut stuff out of movies to make them tighter and better and flow faster,' Poll explains. 'There's not a single line of Hope Davis' that came out of this film.'
Not only was Poll wowed by the adult actors' nuanced performances, but he was especially impressed with the way his younger cast held their own against the likes of Downey Jr. and Davis. 'I'm very proud of the teenage cast,' Poll says. 'We had no 30-year-olds that were shaving four times a day, let's put it that way. Almost all of them were real teenagers and a couple of them were in their early 20's.'
Kat Dennings plays Charlie's love interest in the film, as well as the daughter of the principal. She plays it cool and tough on the outside, but inside she's struggling to deal with her father's self-destructive behavior. 'Kat Dennings, who I actually knew from The 40-Year-Old Virgin which I worked on, is just an amazing performer,' Poll says. 'I really knew I had to find a girl, a young woman, who could be strong enough that she could hold her own against Charlie Bartlett, let alone Robert Downey Jr. And Kat has a strength that not a lot of young actresses do. I have a 14- year-old daughter and I'm really proud of making the film for teenagers in general and for my daughter. And the fact that Kat is so self-possessed as a teenager I think is extraordinary.'
While Kat is a source of love and acceptance for Charlie, the character Murphey starts off as quite the opposite. Played by Tyler Hilton, Murphey is the bully who beats Charlie up for being different. Throughout the movie, though, Charlie finds a way to befriend Murphey and get him to show his softer side. The two become 'partners in crime', so to speak. 'Tyler Hilton's character Murphey really goes through some changes in this movie from being a scary guy to he becomes kind of a puppy-dog by the end,' Poll says. 'It's a very telling line he's got'I thank you [screenwriter] Gustin Nash'where [Charlie asks him] 'How did you get to be like this'' And he says 'Well, I got beat up by people like me.''
According to Poll though, Hilton couldn't be further from his character. Instead of turning people off like a bully might, Hilton actually found romance on set! 'He's probably the sweetest guy on earth and you'd never think he could play a bully but I think he's pretty scary and he did a great job,' Poll says. 'There's a fun little story'in the movie he ends up going out with a cheerleader which is quite a surprise that I'm now giving away in the film, but the character Whitney is played by Megan Park and it was a scene we shot on the very first day of shooting and that's when Tyler and Megan met and they are still together at least as of last week, in real-life!'
Sounds like a lot of good experiences came out of making Charlie Bartlett, even though Poll was understandably nervous before shooting. 'It's funny I tend to be very prepared and I tried to do that as much as possible and we worked on everything really hard,' he says. 'I used to have this little orange junkie Swatch watch that I wore only when I was on vacation, I called it my vacation watch. The first day of shooting I was just terrified, I thought, 'What's gonna happen'' And I saw it and I put it on that morning and I was like, you know what' These people have given me a lot of trust, a great script, an extraordinary cast, these really cool locations, a great crew'I'm gonna go get to make a movie. If I don't have fun I'm an idiot!'
