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CHRIS ROCK on 'I THINK I LOVE MY WIFE'
Contributed by Michael J. Lee, Executive Editor
for Radio Free Entertainment
March 6, 2007
In the relationship comedy I Think I Love My Wife, a family man (Chris Rock) dissatisfied with his love life finds himself spending a great deal of time with a sexy acquaintance from his past (Kerry Washington), throwing into question his relationship with his wife (Gina Torres). As his newfound social life clashes with the mundanities of married life, he struggles between temptation and doing the right thing, all the while making observations about the pitfalls of relationships.
Chris Rock splits writing duties with fellow comic Louis C.K., and also directs, produces, and stars in this movie, which was inspired by a 1972 French film called Chloe in the Afternoon.
In this interview, Chris Rock talks about the making of the movie.
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The Interview
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MEDIA: You're the star, writer, producer, and director of this movie. Were you eager or apprehensive about taking on so many roles?
CHRIS: Let's see...You're essentially a producer if you wrote the movie and you're starring in it, so let's take out one. [laughs] It's like the only reason you take a producer credit is because if [the movie] won an Oscar, you would get the Oscar. Which ain't happening...But you know, don't leave no stone unturned. [laughs]
This movie was inspired by the 1972 French film Chloe in the Afternoon. Is it true you were obsessed with director Eric Rohmer's work and you have all his movies on DVD?
I do have all his DVDs now, but I wasn't obsessed at the time. It was just a movie I kind of like bumped into in a video store, and it was like, "Hey, this looks like it might be good." And I watched it, and I called [co-writer Louis C.K.], and he watched it, and we both kind of thought it could be pretty funny. You ever had that thing where you're in the passenger seat and you're pressing on the brake when you're driving with somebody? That's kind of how I watch movie sometimes. Like, "Ooo, that could have been real funny right there!" So I watched the original and I saw at least five, six spots for big jokes right away and said, "Hmmm...maybe I can do this."
Is that to say you didn't think the original was as good as it could have been?
No, the original was a masterpiece. But it's not a comedy. It's a masterpiece, but it's a whole other movie in this sense. It's like a cover song, you know? It's like, there's the Carpenters' "Superstar" and there's Luther Vandross' "Superstar." [laughs] They're both hit songs, and they have the same words, but they're totally different pieces of art. So this is that, you know? Luther did not like the Carpenters' record, he loved it.
How did you settle on the title I Think I Love My Wife?
You know, when you're trying to sell something to a studio, you gotta have the whole package down. I'm not one to pitch ideas. I always tell my friends, "Do you want to make a movie or do you want to make a deal? If you want to make a movie, we gotta come in here correct." So literally, we wrote the script, I bought the rights, I hired a photographer, did a one sheet that was pretty similar to the one we have, and had the name. And then you have the credits of the people you're giving the script to. So you give it to somebody at Paramount, it says "Paramount Pictures presents." So we went through all of that, and "I Think I Love My Wife" just seemed like a title that [got your attention], as opposed to some generic...You know..."Love Jones." What's that mean? I mean, it's a nice movie, but...you know. [laughs]
Do you feel this movie is written more for women or men?
The movie's just written by guys, so that's what it is. It's not written more for one or the other, to tell you the truth. In a sense, it's for the women, just because I always say Jerry Bruckheimer makes men relationship movies, everything else is pretty much for women. [laughs]
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What would you say is the central theme of the movie?
You know, the movie's almost not even about a marriage. It's about addiction, in a sense. You could replace the Nikki character and just make it cocaine, and all the decisions are the same. It totally makes sense. [laughs]
What does your wife think about the way the movie talks about marriage?
The movie's about marriage, but you've got to think about it this way: "It's not just about marriage, it's about relationships." Especially in America, in a country where you're not worried about food or shelter, you get bored with everything. Everything. All you guys, when you first got these jobs, you loved them. You loved them, and you called up people and you bragged and you had parties and you're celebrating. Now you're like, [groans] "They're flying me where? Who? Chris Rock? Okay. Morgan Freeman?" You could care less. And you fall in and out of love with this job all the time. And that's what marriage is--anything that's supposed to be forever, you know. [laughs] That's supposed to last more than a day. You're going to fall in and out of it. We get scared when it's a relationship, it's love. "What's wrong?" Nothing's wrong, it's just normal.
How did Kerry get involved, and how did you decide upon her for the role of Nikki?
A lot of women responded to the script. It was kind of cool. But I didn't want them. I wanted a fresh face, and she's a fresh face, and she's a really good actress, and she's very attractive. A lot of the younger actresses today, they just take off their clothes all the time. There's King magazine, and Maxim magazine, and all these bikini magazines or whatever. And I wanted to have a woman onscreen that once she didn't have any clothes on, it would be an event. [laughs] You can't say that about three girls, really. So it has to be an event. So when you look at her up there in that last scene in the lingerie, it's the girl from Ray. It's like, "Whoa, I never saw her like this!" Like you could feel it in the audience. Like, "Oh, sh*t!" Where if that was...some other girl who you've seen scantily clad, it wouldn't have meant anything.
Your character has a Viagra mishap and has to get a needle in painful place. Were you going for the most cringe-inducing, below-the-belt type scene you could think of?
It wasn't really that. Here's what it was...We were just going for the funniest scene, but we had set this realistic tone. So you couldn't have sex with a pie or anything, you know what I mean? It wouldn't have made sense in the movie. So if you literally Google Viagra and just go down to the side effects, you'll pretty much read the scene verbatim. Priapism and all those words are right there. We pretty much read the side effects and wrote the scene.
And that's really the cure? The needle?
[laughs] Yeah, it's not like something I made up. We did the research.
How did you come up with the idea for the musical number?
You know, it's just one of those things where I knew it was Fox Searchlight, which meant we don't have a lot of money, which also meant if the ending doesn't work, they're never going to shoot another one. So it just hit me one day. And I thought about it, and it's like, "Okay, let's try this." And it kind of worked. I knew we had to have a really satisfying ending, because I wasn't doing a movie with DreamWorks or some studio with a ton of money.
How do you want to divide your time between film and stand up comedy?
I try to keep it balanced. I mean, I don't do stand up all the time. I like to write an act, go on tour, and then kind of hang it up, and then wait for the world to change, essentially. So I'm about due. The world's changing, Iraq and all this stuff's happening.
As a director, where there days when you got all psychotic like your character in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, or did you keep it all low key?
It's all pretty low key. I mean, every now and then you gotta crack the whip and get things back on track. But yeah, I'm not that crazy.
This is your second outing as a feature film director, after having done Head of State. Was the job any easier this time around?
It's not that it's getting easier, but I'm definitely learning. The biggest thing I learned was I finally found a tone that works for me in movies. [laughs] It's a realistic tone. I don't need a hyper-reality anymore. Like the real reality is where probably the best humor is going to work for me. Like I wish I could film Head of State again. I wish I could direct that tomorrow. It'd be so much better. It'd be real!
Thanks for your time.
Take care.
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