Thomas Schlamme

So n- off of me, and let's get the focus on you, how did you make the transition to directing, and was John Wells just welcoming and like, "Sure, we'll give you a shot," or what made you think you could-

Uh, it was more Tommy Schlamme actually.

When I started, uh, working as an AD on The West Wing, very quickly I went to Tommy and said, "I wanna direct.

That's sort of what I wanna do." And he said, "Great.

You know?

Yeah.

Uh, Tommy Schlamme was a genius-

Master

Not with Rob.

Um, but Aaron was in the room, and Tommy Schlamme was in the room, and a bunch of NBC people out in Burbank back in the magical days of the studios when this Warner Brothers was just hopping.

And it was just, it wasn't, you know, there are many, many times in theater and television where many of the roles I got were mostly because I was the last one standing.

You know, there were, like, seven callbacks or eight callbacks or screen tests or, and, um, and it take, I mean, it, it, it does take a certain amount, I mean, I think that's where a theater background comes in handy because it takes a certain amount of, um, gravitas to, like, not be, not get fatigued or not f- you know, flummoxed or get, get, um, thrown off by having to sustain, um, your performance time after time after time.

Yeah.The experience was just heaven, just honestly.

It, it, I mean, I have had the luxury of working, um, uh, not just with all the performers that you listed, but the people who really, um, gave me the shot, which would have been, um, you know, Martin Charnin and Charles Strauss and then Bill, Bill Persky.

And, uh, you know, Aaron is, i- and, uh, Tommy Schlamme, but m- mostly Aaron, I think was the final, had the final say.

And, um, I just really loved it.

This has far, far less of that.

What it made me wonder about was, you know, Sorkin has always really benefited from working with directors who I think really know how to make the best out of the kind of dialogue that he writes, right? Whether it's somebody like Thomas Schlamme, who he worked with on The West Wing, or somebody like Rob Reiner, who he worked with w- in The American President and A Few Good Men.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

It's like he knows how to write the film, but he doesn't know how to get his words from paper onto the screen in a way that's electrifying, like another director would do.

Um, Tommy Schlamme directed a bunch of The West Wing, and he's such an amazing visualist and such an amazing director.

I just wish Aaron had learned a little bit more from him as well.

That being said, I, I also get the feeling Aaron Sorkin must be amazing with actors.

It, really Sports Night.

Um, and it was Tommy Schlamme, uh-

Yeah

... who, uh, I, I, I was in charge of the talk part of the walk and talk.

A dark romantic comedy, yes, but the question was, did the public want this laid bare, stripped down version of Mike Myers? Well, more on that as well in a moment.

This film, this film was directed by Thomas Schlamme, who prior to this made a Holly Hunter film called Miss Firecracker.

Uh, he went on to be an executive producer of The West Wing, as well as a director of many episodes of Sports Night, another TV show made with his frequent collaborator, Aaron Sorkin.

This movie was not written by Aaron Sorkin, but instead by a writer named Robbie Fox, whose other credits include a string of films I've never seen, including Playing for Keeps and The Man from Toronto.