UDSKRIFT 🔗
WEBVTT
1
00:00:04.349 --> 00:00:08.169
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the latest edition of
2
00:00:08.189 --> 00:00:10.730
the Jake's Take with Jake Abellio-Sharp podcast. I'm your host,
3
00:00:10.779 --> 00:00:14.359
Jake Abellio-Sharp, the chief content producer and writer of jakestake.com,
4
00:00:14.460 --> 00:00:17.219
a pop culture entertainment news website. If you're watching us
5
00:00:17.239 --> 00:00:19.420
on YouTube, please give us a thumbs up. And if
6
00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:22.780
you're listening to our audio platform, please download this episode.
7
00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:25.480
Consider downloading all of our episodes. I really appreciate it.
8
00:00:26.030 --> 00:00:28.710
I am so excited to welcome this duo today. They
9
00:00:28.949 --> 00:00:30.489
are the creators of the.
10
00:00:31.059 --> 00:00:35.439
musical starring Will Brill, Jillian Jacobs, and Rob Lowe. You
11
00:00:35.460 --> 00:00:40.289
can watch this incredible dark comedy on September 18th, 2026 nationwide.
12
00:00:40.530 --> 00:00:42.570
So please help me welcome the director of the film,
13
00:00:42.590 --> 00:00:48.490
Giselle Bonella, and Alexander Heller, who wrote this film. Hello.
14
00:00:48.789 --> 00:00:52.070
Hello. Great to be here.
15
00:00:52.890 --> 00:00:56.299
Thank you, guys. This film was really good. It was
16
00:00:56.500 --> 00:01:01.189
so surprising. I was laughing, and I was like, dropping
17
00:01:01.229 --> 00:01:02.450
my jaw at the same time.
18
00:01:03.850 --> 00:01:04.359
Thank you.
19
00:01:04.689 --> 00:01:08.730
That's what we want. So how did the musical came
20
00:01:08.769 --> 00:01:09.109
to be?
21
00:01:11.310 --> 00:01:14.469
Um, well, we actually did a short film version of
22
00:01:14.579 --> 00:01:19.439
it together in film school. So, um, that is, that's
23
00:01:19.459 --> 00:01:22.340
sort of the Genesis of it. Uh, I feel like
24
00:01:22.359 --> 00:01:25.280
Giselle tells the story better than I do, but basically, um,
25
00:01:27.290 --> 00:01:29.079
I came up with the idea and I asked her
26
00:01:29.090 --> 00:01:30.859
if she wanted to do it and she thought I
27
00:01:30.900 --> 00:01:35.859
was a crazy person. And then a few months later
28
00:01:36.060 --> 00:01:40.439
called me after her breakup and was like, I feel
29
00:01:40.459 --> 00:01:42.780
like I get it now. It's time.
30
00:01:43.459 --> 00:01:44.500
It's time to team up.
31
00:01:45.120 --> 00:01:47.530
And we put our rings of power together and made
32
00:01:48.189 --> 00:01:48.629
the movie.
33
00:01:52.170 --> 00:01:57.980
It was nice to watch you tell that story for once. Awesome.
34
00:01:58.420 --> 00:02:01.379
Guys, so the Film Triangle focuses on middle school drama
35
00:02:01.400 --> 00:02:04.980
teacher Doug Leibovitz, played by the amazing Will Brill. Then
36
00:02:05.019 --> 00:02:08.780
you have Abigail Morris, Jillian Jacobs, and of course, Principal Brady, a.k.a.
37
00:02:08.860 --> 00:02:12.590
Rob Lowe. So how is this love triangle similar and
38
00:02:12.650 --> 00:02:16.509
different to other middle and high school movie dramas?
39
00:02:18.009 --> 00:02:22.789
Well, I feel... Someone I know in education said.
40
00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:30.379
In school it was like the stakes are so high
41
00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:33.120
or the drama is so high because the stakes are
42
00:02:33.180 --> 00:02:36.620
so low. And I really identify with that with this
43
00:02:36.919 --> 00:02:38.740
film specifically because they're like.
44
00:02:38.699 --> 00:02:42.750
So, you have so little power that the little power
45
00:02:42.780 --> 00:02:45.319
that you do have becomes extremely important to you and
46
00:02:45.379 --> 00:02:46.900
how you decide to.
47
00:02:48.129 --> 00:02:53.430
Maneuver it for your own agenda.
48
00:02:56.039 --> 00:02:56.699
Yeah.
49
00:02:56.719 --> 00:02:56.900
Yeah.
50
00:02:56.919 --> 00:02:59.030
We're playing like, I mean, we're, yeah, we're basically playing
51
00:02:59.060 --> 00:03:01.169
like a high low game the whole time, which I
52
00:03:01.210 --> 00:03:04.189
think is super fun. And I think, but in.
53
00:03:04.169 --> 00:03:07.650
Terms of relating it to like other, like, I don't
54
00:03:07.689 --> 00:03:09.930
know if we were thinking very much of the triangle
55
00:03:09.990 --> 00:03:14.020
specifically being like the high school element of it, but
56
00:03:14.039 --> 00:03:16.419
we talked a lot about movies like school of rock
57
00:03:16.840 --> 00:03:22.439
and election as these things where it's like, like Giselle says,
58
00:03:22.539 --> 00:03:25.409
where it's like, the stakes feel very high, even though
59
00:03:25.990 --> 00:03:28.330
it's in this like very low stakes environment.
60
00:03:29.849 --> 00:03:31.849
And then obviously we talked about the producers a lot.
61
00:03:31.889 --> 00:03:34.120
There's a sort of, it's not a triangle really, but
62
00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:36.199
a sort of duo dynamic.
63
00:03:36.620 --> 00:03:37.400
And yeah.
64
00:03:39.080 --> 00:03:41.080
I was about ready to say this because when I
65
00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:44.819
was watching the film and watching Doug Leibovitz, he reminded
66
00:03:44.860 --> 00:03:47.830
me so much of School of Rock's Dewey Finn with
67
00:03:47.909 --> 00:03:50.069
elements of the producers about Bialystok. So we're all in
68
00:03:50.090 --> 00:03:50.870
the same wavelength.
69
00:03:53.870 --> 00:03:54.409
Yeah.
70
00:03:54.449 --> 00:03:57.629
Well, Alex and I were reading, uh, the Mel Brooks
71
00:03:57.710 --> 00:04:01.219
autobiography when we were talking about the idea for the short.
72
00:04:01.639 --> 00:04:06.879
And I was just so inspired by, um, you know,
73
00:04:07.780 --> 00:04:12.560
just like the blade it when people use courageous acts
74
00:04:12.810 --> 00:04:18.529
for something for very, very silly reasons. I, that.
75
00:04:18.470 --> 00:04:19.589
Is my favorite type of comedy.
76
00:04:20.290 --> 00:04:23.850
And, um, you know,
Load full transcript
him being a World War II
77
00:04:23.889 --> 00:04:26.569
veteran and deciding that that was going to be his
78
00:04:26.610 --> 00:04:29.569
directorial debut and that he has the authority to make
79
00:04:29.610 --> 00:04:34.120
fun of that was just so brilliant for somebody in
80
00:04:34.220 --> 00:04:37.779
that era to pull off only 20 years after World
81
00:04:37.800 --> 00:04:38.300
War II.
82
00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:40.920
And like the fact that he had.
83
00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:45.259
Like a partner in Gene Wilder to be, to say like,
84
00:04:45.279 --> 00:04:48.920
if someone lets you make this film, I will be
85
00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:51.379
more than happy to be a part of it. And,
86
00:04:52.029 --> 00:04:54.730
And for us, it was like me as an American,
87
00:04:54.750 --> 00:05:01.009
as a brown American growing up, you know, in LA
88
00:05:01.050 --> 00:05:03.230
where we're like, oh, everyone, everyone just thought we were next.
89
00:05:03.250 --> 00:05:03.709
We were next.
90
00:05:03.730 --> 00:05:06.610
And there was this like paranoia of just like growing
91
00:05:06.689 --> 00:05:09.509
up in a world post 9-11 and how everything kind
92
00:05:09.569 --> 00:05:13.269
of changed. And, and that, and that, I don't know
93
00:05:13.300 --> 00:05:18.199
that the parallels between that and this kind of felt
94
00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:21.279
really genius on, on Heller's part with the script.
95
00:05:22.040 --> 00:05:26.040
And, um, and yeah, and, and it made me, it
96
00:05:26.060 --> 00:05:27.639
made me excited to take that risk.
97
00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:30.220
And it's like, if he was, if he was ballsy
98
00:05:30.259 --> 00:05:33.120
enough to take that risk for his first feature, um,
99
00:05:33.310 --> 00:05:34.199
why not take a swing?
100
00:05:34.250 --> 00:05:35.689
And so we did that with the short film.
101
00:05:35.709 --> 00:05:37.889
Yeah.
102
00:05:37.930 --> 00:05:41.240
I think there was a lot of, um, you know, if,
103
00:05:41.370 --> 00:05:43.889
if we, if we brutally messed up the short film,
104
00:05:44.389 --> 00:05:47.860
it would live on a database at AFI and nobody
105
00:05:47.879 --> 00:05:50.019
would ever see it. And it would, you know, so
106
00:05:50.600 --> 00:05:53.990
it's like, taking those opportunities when you have them and
107
00:05:54.009 --> 00:05:56.560
just being like, let's just go for it. And then
108
00:05:56.680 --> 00:05:59.399
we put a team together that was really awesome. And
109
00:05:59.540 --> 00:06:02.220
everybody was on the same page and, you know, we
110
00:06:02.259 --> 00:06:07.399
all fall marched, you know, behind Giselle's direction and like
111
00:06:07.560 --> 00:06:12.029
just into this, I don't know, uh, crucible of a
112
00:06:12.060 --> 00:06:14.750
crazy production. And then, uh, ended up with this short
113
00:06:14.790 --> 00:06:18.230
film that really helped us find the financing for the feature.
114
00:06:18.269 --> 00:06:20.529
And that was kind of like,
that's what opened the doors.
115
00:06:22.009 --> 00:06:24.139
I bet it was like, I would love to learn
116
00:06:24.180 --> 00:06:27.480
some of your favorite memories filming musical because I bet
117
00:06:27.660 --> 00:06:30.920
filming the scene where the actual musical take 9-11 musical
118
00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:34.819
took place was absolutely, it was very hard for people
119
00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:36.459
not to laugh, but to be shocked.
120
00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:42.189
I mean, yeah, I don't know, turning my head to
121
00:06:42.209 --> 00:06:44.709
the left and watching all of the parents with their
122
00:06:44.769 --> 00:06:48.589
phones out, like videotaping their kids doing this. It was
123
00:06:48.670 --> 00:06:50.779
just like, it was surreal.
124
00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:51.519
You know what I mean?
125
00:06:51.620 --> 00:06:54.879
Or like having a little kid in like a huge
126
00:06:55.079 --> 00:06:59.910
army backpack come over and be like, I can't, it's
127
00:06:59.949 --> 00:07:02.790
too heavy. It's like, you know, it's just crazy.
128
00:07:03.629 --> 00:07:06.029
Yeah. I think it was important for us to use
129
00:07:06.069 --> 00:07:09.610
middle schoolers as like a clear image of, of innocence
130
00:07:09.910 --> 00:07:13.430
to juxtapose like the violence of the events that they're reenacting.
131
00:07:13.970 --> 00:07:19.250
And I think that was, um, I think because we
132
00:07:19.290 --> 00:07:21.579
use the same department heads from the short to the feature,
133
00:07:21.600 --> 00:07:25.459
we were all like crying, laughing, making the thing. So
134
00:07:25.480 --> 00:07:29.019
we're like, as long as like other people find it
135
00:07:29.100 --> 00:07:30.860
funny as well, if they find it as funny as
136
00:07:30.939 --> 00:07:33.850
we do, I think we'll be okay. And like, I don't,
137
00:07:35.370 --> 00:07:37.230
I'm not, I'm not here to make something that everyone
138
00:07:37.290 --> 00:07:39.149
is going to love, but as long as like some
139
00:07:39.170 --> 00:07:41.769
people really like it, that's good with me.
140
00:07:43.699 --> 00:07:44.879
Oh yeah, I got to say this.
141
00:07:44.939 --> 00:07:48.110
It was really fun watching the scenes, like the rehearsal
142
00:07:48.149 --> 00:07:52.670
and watching Will Brill unravel throughout the movie. He did
143
00:07:52.689 --> 00:07:53.810
a phenomenal job.
144
00:07:53.829 --> 00:07:58.990
Yeah, Will's amazing. I think like that was huge for me.
145
00:07:59.089 --> 00:08:01.550
It was the person who's going to be carrying this
146
00:08:01.610 --> 00:08:03.569
film and be our lead. I knew it was going
147
00:08:03.589 --> 00:08:05.209
to be a really intense process because it was our
148
00:08:05.230 --> 00:08:07.790
first feature. We were only given, you know, 19 days
149
00:08:07.850 --> 00:08:10.779
to shoot it. I wanted somebody who was going to
150
00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:12.699
be a partner and who was game.
151
00:08:13.569 --> 00:08:14.790
For that challenge.
152
00:08:14.870 --> 00:08:17.550
And, you know, him coming from theater, he has such
153
00:08:17.569 --> 00:08:20.129
an incredible work ethic and there were always like things
154
00:08:20.170 --> 00:08:21.910
being switched around where like we were working at a
155
00:08:21.949 --> 00:08:24.230
school that we paid very little money for.
156
00:08:24.329 --> 00:08:26.170
And as a result, they would always double book us.
157
00:08:26.250 --> 00:08:28.910
And so they had booked these volleyball tournaments and most
158
00:08:28.930 --> 00:08:30.810
of our films takes place in a school auditorium. So
159
00:08:30.829 --> 00:08:34.269
we'd get kicked out of the auditorium as we were filming.
160
00:08:34.669 --> 00:08:36.679
And so a lot of our scenes were not, were
161
00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:38.360
like split in half where we'd have to come back
162
00:08:38.379 --> 00:08:39.169
to finish shooting it.
163
00:08:39.500 --> 00:08:41.600
And so our schedule was just always being shifted and.
164
00:08:43.070 --> 00:08:46.909
He just like basically had the whole film ready to
165
00:08:46.980 --> 00:08:50.220
go and was ready to like, he, he did so
166
00:08:50.360 --> 00:08:52.799
many incredible monologues in like one or two takes.
167
00:08:53.139 --> 00:08:54.059
It was pretty phenomenal.
168
00:08:54.100 --> 00:08:56.679
If I didn't have him, I don't think we would
169
00:08:56.700 --> 00:08:58.080
have made our production.
170
00:08:58.360 --> 00:08:59.740
We wouldn't have finished the film.
171
00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:04.460
And, and the way he just, yeah. I mean, working
172
00:09:04.500 --> 00:09:07.090
with the kids and everything, it's just like made everything
173
00:09:08.250 --> 00:09:08.970
so much smoother.
174
00:09:09.830 --> 00:09:10.129
Yeah.
175
00:09:10.250 --> 00:09:10.450
All right.
176
00:09:11.360 --> 00:09:12.059
Which is amazing.
177
00:09:12.080 --> 00:09:14.740
I really hope, I'm knocking on wood, that you guys
178
00:09:14.779 --> 00:09:17.659
get a lot of rewards your way, especially for Best
179
00:09:17.860 --> 00:09:21.360
Actor for Will and Best Director and Best Screenplay, because
180
00:09:21.399 --> 00:09:26.090
this was phenomenal. So before we wound up our conversation,
181
00:09:26.330 --> 00:09:29.590
I want to ask, why should my audience check out
182
00:09:29.789 --> 00:09:30.250
the musical?
183
00:09:32.009 --> 00:09:35.179
Well, if you like comedies, I don't think that there
184
00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:38.259
are enough of them, especially in theaters. So if you
185
00:09:38.279 --> 00:09:42.120
like comedies, you should check out the musical because you know,
186
00:09:42.220 --> 00:09:45.059
let's keep comedy alive and not just on streaming.
187
00:09:46.980 --> 00:09:48.639
I think, I think the theater is like the best
188
00:09:48.740 --> 00:09:53.440
place to watch a comedy. There's nothing more infectious than laughter.
189
00:09:53.990 --> 00:09:58.370
And I like that. That's, I don't know.
190
00:09:58.529 --> 00:10:01.419
I think that, it would be so, it's such a
191
00:10:01.419 --> 00:10:03.019
huge privilege that we're even going to theaters.
192
00:10:03.059 --> 00:10:04.039
I still don't believe it.
193
00:10:04.899 --> 00:10:08.870
Especially having made the short with Alex and my friends five,
194
00:10:08.950 --> 00:10:11.210
four or five years ago now and, and premiering at
195
00:10:11.230 --> 00:10:11.850
Sundance and.
196
00:10:11.809 --> 00:10:13.889
The fact that it gets to, you know, have its
197
00:10:14.029 --> 00:10:14.669
first run.
198
00:10:14.529 --> 00:10:18.509
To the public in theaters is, is, I just feel
199
00:10:18.529 --> 00:10:19.840
like the luckiest person in the world.
200
00:10:19.909 --> 00:10:23.059
And I hope people can experience.
201
00:10:22.659 --> 00:10:25.320
It in the theater and then, you know, rewatch it
202
00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:27.320
as many, I feel like comedy is the films that
203
00:10:27.340 --> 00:10:29.259
you always rewatch with your family.
204
00:10:29.299 --> 00:10:30.500
And I hope this becomes one of them.
205
00:10:30.519 --> 00:10:33.860
We're going to heal the nation.
206
00:10:35.500 --> 00:10:36.100
Absolutely.
207
00:10:36.179 --> 00:10:39.200
You have a nation for laughter, especially through our daughter,
208
00:10:39.259 --> 00:10:44.110
hopefully through kit, through performers and every, and guys got
209
00:10:44.120 --> 00:10:47.360
to say this. Thank you so much for, for taking
210
00:10:47.379 --> 00:10:48.850
time out of your schedule to speak with this. I
211
00:10:48.929 --> 00:10:51.389
really hope and pray that we get like another sequel
212
00:10:51.450 --> 00:10:54.769
or something like that, or maybe put it or put Elliot,
213
00:10:55.289 --> 00:10:57.070
I mean, Doug in another area.
214
00:10:57.090 --> 00:11:00.840
So thank guys.
215
00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:04.740
Thank you so much for Alex Giselle. Thank you so
216
00:11:04.799 --> 00:11:06.259
much for taking time out of your schedules to speak
217
00:11:06.279 --> 00:11:07.399
with me today. I appreciate it.
218
00:11:07.559 --> 00:11:08.860
Of course. Thanks for having us.
219
00:11:09.139 --> 00:11:09.340
No.
220
00:11:09.379 --> 00:11:09.639
Yeah.
221
00:11:09.679 --> 00:11:12.440
Thank you so much. It was great to meet you. Absolutely.
222
00:11:12.460 --> 00:11:14.519
And guys, thank you so much for watching. Thank you
223
00:11:14.539 --> 00:11:15.360
so much for listening.
224
00:11:15.480 --> 00:11:20.779
Until next time, have a great one, everybody. Goodbye!