411 Movies Interview: Adam Scott of August

Posted by Tony Farinella on 07.10.2008

411's Tony Farinella sits down with Adam Scott of August for an exclusive interview. August opens in New York on July 11th.

Adam Scott is one of the most versatile young actors in Hollywood today. In his career, he has worked on such films as The Aviator, Knocked Up, High Crimes, and Art School Confidential. He was also recently a part of the new film, Step Brothers, which stars Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. In my interview with Adam Scott, we talked about his new film, August, which opens in New York on July 11th. The screenplay by Howard A. Rodman focuses on two brothers, ambitious dot-com entrepreneurs attempting to keep their company afloat as the stock market begins to collapse in August 2001, one month prior to the 9/11 attacks. I hope you enjoy my interview with Adam Scott.


TONY: When you first read your character in the script, what were your first impressions of him?

Adam Scott: He's a very logical guy. He seems like he's a bit of the moral compass of the film and really trying to keep his brother's head on straight and trying to get the company through this tough period and just wants the company to survive. And he wants his relationship with his brother to survive as well.

TONY: I really enjoyed what you did with your character in terms of his physical appearance. How did you come up with the look of your character?

Adam Scott: It was a pretty even collaboration. I kind of based the character on my brother, not the bad fashion sense, but his moral clarity and his business sense. I really look up to my brother, so I was trying to do a tip of the hat to him, and he had a goatee in 2001, so I was trying to do that. I arrived in New York to rehearse with long hair and a beard, and then we just kind of took it from there, and I told the hair stylist to give me a haircut like I was going to Supercuts. I got that and then shaved the beard off into a goatee and found some glasses that I liked. And Austin and I just kind of figured it out and figured out the clothing. It was really fun.

TONY: I really enjoyed your relationship with Josh Hartnett in the film. I thought it was so fascinating, because you guys are sort of stuck together. If you were just business partners, it would have been easier to walk away from him. What was it like exploring that relationship?

Adam Scott: Yeah, that's really true. They're kind of bound together, no matter what. I feel like they've already been to the point where they were ready to walk away from each other, and they're just stuck together. But it's his brother, and he can't do anything about it. He's got to continue. And it's their business. They really have to make it work; they have no choice. But, yeah, when it's family, you really gotta stick together.

TONY: One of my favorite lines in the film is when you tell Josh Hartnett, "Just because I'm smart, that doesn't mean I'm stupid." I thought that line was really interesting, because your character doesn't need to brag about his intelligence. Where does that come from?

Adam Scott: I think that when somebody is smart like that, a lot of times people just assume they're socially not as sharp and maybe a little gullible. He's gone along with Tom on a lot of schemes, and it's gotten them pretty far, but now it's getting a little dangerous. And he doesn't know what's coming, but he knows that he needs to take a stand, no matter what, so he chooses to not go along with the latest scam of Tom's or the latest idea. He doesn't even know if it's a scam yet.

TONY: What was it like filming some of those scenes at the dinner table with the rest of the family? I really enjoyed the tension in those scenes.

Adam Scott: Oh, thanks. Yeah, they were fun to shoot. Rip Torn is a legend, and I was really excited to work with him, and he gamely answered all of my questions about Defending Your Life and Larry Sanders. He was really generous with his stories about that movie and that show. He's just amazing, so it was great to work with him. Yeah, that was just a little tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and it was hot and small and easy to imagine it being tense in there. It was not difficult ... it was easy to get that atmosphere going.


TONY: What kind of research did you do?

Adam Scott: Well, there was a lot of stuff to read, a lot of documentaries as well, about that period in time and about that business in particular. It was kind of the Wild West in a way. It was very unknown what they were dealing with and what was going to work and what wasn't, so everyone was just kind of flying by the seat of their pants. And, unfortunately, it didn't really work out for most of them. But for a lot of 'em, it did. I mean, you look at Myspace and Facebook and Amazon. A lot of the businesses that are now thriving, they wouldn't have been able to thrive without all these others to learn from.

TONY: What was it like watching Josh handle all of his different roles on set? He was also a producer on this film.

Adam Scott: When he was on set, he was really focused on just acting. He had a huge job to do, and obviously he did an extraordinary job with it, but I think most of his producing work, he tried to get out of the way beforehand, so when he was on set, he could focus on the role. But, yeah, he was really busy.

TONY: How does your character stay focused? He's not only dealing with his brother, but he's also dealing with a lot of issues at home.

Adam Scott: I think the character is a very reserved guy, and I always tried to be the rock in this partnership, so I think it's his way of dealing. A lot of it was just kind of how I thought I would deal with these situations.

TONY: What kind of audience do you think this film will find?

Adam Scott: I think it's a very entertaining mainstream movie with some very artful touches and an interesting character study. The appeal for this movie is very wide, and I think it's a good night of entertainment. It's emotional and interesting, because it's a little forgotten piece of history, very recent history.

TONY: In your career, you have played a lot of very unique characters. How do you find these characters? Do they find you?

Adam Scott: I just try and work from whatever has been written and try to find what parts of it I relate to, and then the parts of it I don't relate to, I try and figure it out. It's like a math problem. You try and figure out a way to relate to it and make it seem real, so it doesn't look like you're acting. I just try and work on it until I'm not working anymore, and that seems to be the most effective way in the end. I don't always achieve it, but it seems to be the most effective way to go about it.

TONY: If someone put together an Adam Scott film festival, what three films would you like to see featured at the festival?

Adam Scott: Well, I would certainly put August at the top of that list. Also, The Aviator and Step Brothers that's coming out later in July. It's a really great, hilarious movie.


TONY: As you look back on all the different characters that you have portrayed, which character are you the most similar to?

Adam Scott: I think there are lots of aspects of Joshua in August that are similar to me, but mostly similar to my brother. I also think there's a character in this Canadian movie I did called Who Loves The Sun, there's a lot of that character that's similar to me. And I think Palek on Tell Me You Love Me, the HBO show that I'm on, there are certain things about that character that are like me. I'm not quite as repressed as that guy, but there a lot of similarities ... just very subtle similarities.

TONY: What kind of work do you want to seek out in the future?

Adam Scott: Well, I've been in one action movie, but I would like to do more. Raiders of the Lost Ark is my favorite movie, and one of the reasons I wanted to do this is to run around and shoot a gun, so I just wanna do more of that. It's really fun, and I love watching those movies. I loved working on Torque, which is the one action movie I've done, but I would love to do more stuff like that, because there's still an eleven-year-old inside of me somewhere.

TONY: What was it like working on Boy Meets World?

Adam Scott: It was fun. I only did like three or four of those, and it was a long time ago, but it was totally fun. Everybody was really nice, and I was just starting out, so it was a great job for me. It lives on. I guess they play it on Disney Channel or something, because people are always asking me about it.