美国国家公共电台 NPR They've Got Spirit, Yes They Do: Christopher Guest Rallies His Team For 'Mascots'

They've Got Spirit, Yes They Do: Christopher Guest Rallies His Team For 'Mascots 2'

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What "Best In Show" did for dog shows and what "A Mighty 4 Wind" did for folk music, the new Christopher Guest mockumentary "Mascots" does for, not surprisingly, mascots.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "MASCOTS")

CHRISTOPHER MOYNIHAN: (As Phil Mayhew) My name is Phil Mayhew. In my pretend life, I am a real estate appraiser 5, but in my real life, I am Jack 6 the Plumber 7, official mascot 1 for the Beaumont College football team. It is truly a dream come true for me.

SIEGEL: Phil Mayhew or Jack the Plumber played by Christopher Moynihan is one of the contestants 8 in the World Mascot Association Championship. So is Cindi Babineaux played by Parker Posey. She represents Amelia Earhart College, whose mascot is Alvin Armadillo, or so she thought until the judges told her otherwise.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "MASCOTS")

MICHAEL HITCHCOCK: (As Langston Aubrey) Miss Babineaux, a formal complaint has been lodged 9 against you. It has come to our attention that your college basketball team is nicknamed the Leaping Squaws, which means that your character is in violation 10 of rule 11-B which states mascots cannot represent or be associated with anything offensive based on race, creed 11, gender 12 or sexual orientation 13.

PARKER POSEY: (As Cindi Babineaux) Well, I'm an armadillo, and the team isn't called the Leaping Squaws anymore. It's - that was, like, a hundred years ago or something.

HITCHCOCK: (As Langston Aubrey) Unfortunately it is still on the internet.

SIEGEL: "Mascots" is a very funny movie, and Christopher Guest, who directed and with Jim Piddock wrote "Mascots," joins us now. Welcome to the program.

CHRISTOPHER GUEST: Thank you very much.

SIEGEL: When did you see the comic possibilities of people who put on animal suits or dress up as Spartans 14 and Trojans and lead the fans in cheering?

GUEST: Today was the first time I...

SIEGEL: (Laughter).

GUEST: No, I - several years ago, my son was a mascot for his - one of his teams in school. And he was in a suit, and he said I look like a chicken, Dad. And I said, well, it's actually a hawk 15. You're a hawk. And I - that was the first time I got any first-hand knowledge about this hidden world - literally 16 hidden world.

And I became interested in the idea that people are performing in front of large crowds sometimes, but they're not seen and completely anonymous 17. And it's a strange paradox 18 in show business to have that dynamic. And that became interesting to me - the lives of these people outside of the suits.

SIEGEL: You mean they're not seen because they're inside the hawk suit that looks like a chicken or whatever (inaudible).

GUEST: Correct. They're inside whatever animal they are or whatever object they are. One wouldn't know. Even the parents of that person wouldn't know who was in there unless they were in the locker 19 room afterwards I guess.

SIEGEL: Where you have been finding comic possibilities for some time now is in the form of the behind-the-scenes documentary in which people try to explain themselves to an often merciless camera. Can you ever watch a documentary anymore? Can you...

GUEST: Well, it's almost the only thing I do watch. And it - for some reason, it doesn't - I just look at them as documentaries. I don't have an issue even though I've chosen this faux documentary format 20 for a long time, since with Rob Reiner and Harry 21 Shearer 22 and Michael McKean. We did "Spinal 23 Tap" a long time ago, and that seemed to be a good format to work in for me.

SIEGEL: There are a lot of actors in "Mascots" who are familiar to people who saw "A Mighty Wind" or saw "For Your Consideration" or "Best In Show," and you have a troop here, it seems. Is it fun being together with these people, or is it all business when you're making a movie? And...

GUEST: Well, it is a lot of fun. These are very, very gifted performers. The films are improvised 25 films based on an outline. In this case, Jim Piddock and I wrote this story. And the outline - it's very strictly 26 enforced. But these are great improvisers. And I've been fortunate to be able to work with them.

So yes, it's a combination of a family reunion. And it isn't looked at as a laugh fest essentially 27 when you're on the set. People do take what they - the scenes seriously, but it's a lovely thing. It's like having a great band of musicians together. I guess that's the best analogy.

SIEGEL: And I mean when they're improvising 28, how many takes do you - does it usually take for your actors to improvise 24 and get it in a way that you like?

GUEST: Well, it is an unusual way of working. It's not conventional. Again, they have back histories of their characters, where they went to school, what happens in every scene. We don't rehearse either, so this really does require that the people in the scenes jump in. And I would say maybe two takes.

SIEGEL: But when you see a take that you like, it's not that it is precisely 29 what you had imagined and written out. It is - it's something that you just like. It works. I mean it...

GUEST: Well, it's a combination of things. The facts can't change. They - it's very strict in the line of what happens in every scene. It's just that the words haven't been written down, so the people are who they are. What happens in the scene has to happen. It can't go in different directions. It's the way they do it. I would say that 90 percent of the film that doesn't have to do with pre-assigned things like that is - they're improvised.

SIEGEL: I'd like to ask you about another side of your life that's just very intriguing 30...

GUEST: (Laughter) Oh.

SIEGEL: ...One that is completely unfamiliar 31 to most, to the vast - the hugely vast majority of people in the English-speaking world. And that is your identity as the 5th Baron 32 Haden-Guest, holder 33 of a hereditary 34 title that was I guess created - was it created for your grandfather?

GUEST: Yes. I would disagree. I think most people live that life...

SIEGEL: (Laughter).

GUEST: ...In fact, and I wouldn't even leave you out. I would say that people just haven't checked their mailboxes. I think most people live that life in much the same way I have. It's one of those - my wife calls it the lord thing, not to be confused with the other lord thing.

It's an odd oddity. I spent several years at various intervals 35 sitting in the upper house of Parliament, and then the hereditary peers were told to leave, which was a good thing. I had a dinner date anyway.

SIEGEL: (Laughter).

GUEST: And so I took my robe and my - and I left in a huff, literally, as Groucho would have said.

SIEGEL: So now you just don't take part in it, or you...

GUEST: Well, I can't. I can't take part in any way because the hereditary peers are gone, and I can't have lunches there anymore. And I - there was something quite endearing about that. I would run into people in the hallways.

You have to walk on the red carpet. And one day I was walking and - lost, actually - walking around in a circle. And a man who worked there dressed in what you would think of as footman's clothing said as I passed him, perhaps my lord would like a compass.

SIEGEL: (Laughter).

GUEST: And it really was as if that person had been cast perfect timing 36 as - just as I passed him. And people would say to me, I knew your grandfather here. We were at Oxford 37, and (mumbling). And they would fade away, fall asleep. There were - it was interesting. I'm glad I did that for a bit.

SIEGEL: Christopher Guest, thanks a lot for talking with us.

GUEST: Thank you very much.

SIEGEL: Christopher Guest's new movie is called "Mascots." It's out now on Netflix.