Jon Poll has made a distinguishing career as an editor in blockbuster comedies such as Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers, the last two Austin Powers, and Scary Movie 3. After directing a second-unit crew in Fockers and being an executive producer of The 40-Year-Old Virgin, he got the chance to direct his first feature-length film, which is the high school prescription-drug flick, Charlie Barlett.
Even though he has been an editor for most of his career, Poll says, "I consider myself a filmmaker. I went to film school; I directed a lot for short films. But, I had a great career where I got to work on all kinds of entertaining films." Most directors do not really start directing films until they are in their 30s, so Poll's opportunity was certainly one that took a career to earn.
Yet, choosing to do Charlie Bartlett was no easy decision. Poll states, "I read a hundred scripts and I turned down a lot of things that were broad comedies that didn't appeal to me, and then I found something that I liked." Poll had a specific idea of a film he wanted to do. "I was looking for something with humor, heart, and something on its mind. I've been around directors enough to know that they have no life. If you're going to give it up and sleep for four hours a night for a year, you might as well care about it." With these requirements, Poll chose Gustin Nash's script, Charlie Bartlett, a teen movie that deals with complex themes of prescription drugs and the art of psychiatry.
The film's script had some business faults though; it is a teen movie that is clearly an R-rated script. The rating is not the result of language or nudity (although it has a little of both), but rather because the film shows kids buying, selling, and using drugs - something the Motion Picture Association of America doesn't take very lightly. How do you market a movie to teens who cannot even see the movie? Because of this dilemma, studio heads told Poll, "You're out of your mind. This is an R-rated teen movie. Not only are we not going to make this movie, but no one's going to make this movie." Yet Poll loved the script so much that he continued pursuing the film, and got an independent distributor to bravely fund the film and make it with a lower budget.
The film was set to be made, but then the question was who it will be made for. "It's the marketing dilemma for the movie. It's interesting because I always intended making a movie for teenagers, people with teenagers, and people who were teenagers. I hope that it plays fairly universal to people. We have to market a movie to young people and [the studio] is having to sell it and they're doing a good job with it even though it's tricky." Gustin Nash, the screenwriter who wrote every line in the film (something very rare in Hollywood), wanted a film that "teenagers didn't think is stupid and wasn't talking down to them."
In order to not "talk down" to teenagers, Nash introduced the entire concept of prescription drugs into the film, which plays a pivotal theme in the entire movie. A long line of kids line up to get an appointment with Charlie Bartlett, who is the school's self-appointed psychiatrist. He fakes mental illnesses to his own psychiatrists to get drugs for the kids in the school and increase his own popularity. Yet, "the movie is not intended to be an indictment of drugs," explains Poll. "One of my favorite scenes is where Robert Downey, Jr. tells Charlie that 'Look, these drugs help a lot of people.' My problem is when you take a kid who is playing a bunch of video games and eating sugar and you give them Ritalin because they are hopped up. This is a comedic part of the movie. I was concerned that psychiatrists and therapists would think we're treating them badly, but the response I've gotten is that Charlie is a pretty good listener."
Charlie's ability to listen to his peers is the central theme of the movie. Although the drugs do help certain people, the main problem with teenagers is that they need to be listened to, and no one is listening to them. "I liked Charlie Bartlett in the fact that despite it's a film about high school popularity, it's about someone who needs to listen to [Charlie] and is busy listening to other people."
The kids aren't being listened to in this film (and probably in reality too) because of their parents, who are also drugged up. Charlie's mother is doped up on all sorts of prescription drugs while Robert Downey, Jr., who plays the school's principal, is an alcoholic. When asked about this, Poll says, "I added to the original script the moment when Charlie's mother is at the piano in the first scene with Charlie taking a pill with her wine because I wanted to be clear that it wasn't the kids' fault. It was the adults bestowing this legacy on the kids." This seems to be the central theme of Charlie Bartlett; teenagers are metaphorically abandoned by their parents and they have no one to turn to, so they end up turning to Charlie and his supply of prescription drugs. What they learn is that they really just need to be listened to.
Poll compares this film's intent to Juno's. "Juno has come out and there are a lot of similarities. They are both smart films with a smart teen at their center that have a lot of grown-up issues at their core, and both aren't afraid to wear their heart on their sleeve. I hope we have 10 percent of the goodwill that Juno had.
"We're not a message movie. We're a movie that's out there for entertainment and we hope there's a little more to take in your doggie-bag afterwards," he said Well, let's see if that's the case, as Charlie Bartlett comes to theaters this Friday.
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