Living in a Fantasy Land, with Jonah Feingold
Rom-com-versations is an interview series with people from the entertainment industry discussing all things rom-coms.
Hi Meet Cuties,
This week I had the pleasure to chat with writer and director, Jonah Feingold. If there are two things Jonah loves, itโs New York and rom-coms (sounds like we have a lot in common). Itโs no surprise that his debut feature film would be titled DATING AND NEW YORK starring Jaboukie Young-White and Francesca Reale. Jonahโs second feature film AT MIDNIGHT premieres on February 10 on Paramount+ and stars Diego Boneta and Monica Barbaro. Letโs nerd out on rom-coms!
๐ Naomi: What is your favorite rom-com and why?
๐ Jonah: It's hard to pick one, so I'm going to tell you four because there is a range. The movie that is the greatest rom-com made in recent time is WHEN HARRY MET SALLY because it is about relatable characters talking and getting to know each other in a wonderful city. It's just a movie that makes you feel warm. I look at a movie like THE APARTMENT, which is a Billy Wilder rom-com that certainly was a historically monumental film in terms of the way it looked at gender norms and deeper mental health issues within characters. If you look at the end of WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, they took the NYE ending from the end of THE APARTMENT. The movie that completely wowed me is LA STORY. It's a Steve Martin movie that uses wonderful magical realism, like a talking billboard sign, and the humor is on point. I didn't think you could be that truly comedic, genius funny in a rom-com. The last is THE HOLIDAY. I've seen the impact this film has had on the adults in my life and the more I watch it, the more I recognize what Nancy Meyers was going for with that old Hollywood energy.
๐ Naomi: I love the range. There is something incredible about how Nancy Meyers brings generations together. Since you know so much about rom-coms and you obviously have a breadth of knowledge, both as a consumer and a creator, when and how did you first get into this genre? What was the moment that you knew you wanted to work on these movies?
๐ Jonah: I saw a movie when I was young, called HOOK, and knew I wanted to make movies. I didn't know what that meant, but I knew I'd like to make films that had magic and everyday characters that believed in something more than their everyday life. In the same vein, my parents suggested I watch movies by Albert Brooks, Mel Brooks, Steve Martin, Nancy Myers, and Nora Ephron. I fell in love with them because rom-coms have a similar sense of magic and romanticism. It's not like I saw 27 DRESSES and said, "I need to go make a rom-com," I saw it and said, "Oh, what a wonderful film where you can have inherently funny scenes, but you can also dip into romance and into the extravagant." I think that is the rom-com genre. I am attracted to projects that are inherently romantic and are funny.
๐ Naomi: I always struggle with the term "rom-com." It feels like the word has so many connotations that precede it. There's such a wider net because of the two things that you said, which are human connection-- romance, friendship, even familial love-- and comedy, which makes us feel good and releases serotonin in our brains. Are your parents in Hollywood or are they filmmakers? It sounds like they have extensive knowledge of the industry.
๐ Jonah: They are not in the industry. I think parents in general know the movies they grew up loving and pass those down. My parents grew up watching Billy Wilder and Howard Hawks films. When you watch an older movie, you usually pick up on references to that movie that you've seen in modern films. In a way, everyone's just copying each other! But in regards to my parents, my mom is very creative and my dad is very technical. They have always been very encouraging of my creative outlet. For example, Iโm still quite dyslexic today, and when I was growing up I couldn't really read or write, but I loved watching movies. I also suffered from acid reflux growing up, but the way I had it, I couldn't keep my head up properly after meals when I was young, so I'd always have to go lay down after a meal and I would watch a movie, usually a Disney movie, a rom-com, or something to help me escape. I became very obsessed with characters; I dressed up as Captain Hook for all of the second grade. I was encouraged to tap into my creativity, which was very lucky for me.
๐ Naomi: Thank you for sharing that about your childhood. I think some of the most creative people often find their creativity in really difficult moments, and somehow manage to turn it into something to their advantage.ย
Speaking of which, let's switch gears and talk about your two movies. DATING & NEW YORK was your debut as a director, which you also wrote. For those that don't know, this film explores the challenges of online dating in New York. One thing Iโve been fascinated with is how technology is reshaping meet cute moments and the way that people come together. What about online dating did you want to highlight in this film that you feel like you hadn't seen in other rom-coms and how did you do that as a director?ย
๐ Jonah: One of the reasons I made the film was because I didn't think there was a movie that spoke to online dating in an honest way. I'm not sure I've ever seen a movie that highlighted an "I miss you" text. I wanted to explore that because people have come to terms with films not leaving the zeitgeist. I always was very frustrated when you would see a movie and someone got a text and in the shot of the phone, there's no history between those two people. If you're texting someone who's your friend, you're gonna have a history and that history is really important to the storytelling of the film. Then I asked, "What if we took the tone of a modern dating film, but delivered it in this very nostalgic classical package?" That's where the tone of DATING & NEW YORK came from. I just didn't see a movie that had people talking the way me and my friends talked in NYC. Some people criticized it by saying, "No one actually talks like this." Funny enough, Some scenes are verbatim from what I heard at a coffee shop one day. Some scenes are more inventive and are designed to have this escapist element. Some of the fun about going to movies is that the characters don't talk like you're supposed to talk. There was obviously the question about how do you get your first indie movie made and what does that look like from a production and storytelling standpoint? But the idea was to make a movie that felt like it was a hyper modern, yet timeless approach to the way dating is navigated with apps, texting, and a little bit of the magic of NYC.ย
๐ Naomi: What you said there with "modern yet timeless" is interesting. Instead of experiencing the first moments of attraction with someone at a bar, itโs in the moment of interaction trying to figure out the exact right sentence to type out next. How did you think about making this movie timeless and what are the elements that you think can make a movie about dating and technology more timeless for audiences?
๐ Jonah: I really love that DATING & NEW YORK will be time stamped with iMessage, Apple, and Hinge, and that's exactly the point. Things change and it will eventually become a period piece. I was a little obsessed with the aesthetic quality of the film that sometimes I didn't think about the characters of the film. In this film, you might notice references to HIS GIRL FRIDAY, Billy Wilder, Frank Capra, WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, and YOUโVE GOT MAIL through the use of backlight, glows around the faces, and a classical score. The way that the camera moves is incredibly intentional and stable. Even the opening title sequence and the choir were added intentionally to make it have an old school sort of feel. I think timelessness is ultimately enhanced by the characters. Milo and Wendy have a very modern leaning character arc, especially with the ending, so I do wonder how timeless they are. But it was always through the aesthetic approach that I was trying to achieve "timeless."
๐ Naomi: I love that because there is a specific feeling when you sit down to watch a rom-com and you see the opening scenes start to play with just the right type of music. I do think that is very reminiscent of the โclassics' and is a really important part of these films. Okay, I want to talk about AT MIDNIGHT, which premiered on February 10th, on Paramount+. There's a lot of nostalgia just in the trope of this movie, the forbidden love and the sneaking around between Sophie and Alejandro. But I want to focus on something really specific: an interview with Diego said that this movie is a "love letter to Mexico'' and that "Mexico is a character in this film" that we'll get to see through your eyes. What was the reason for the connection to Mexico? In what ways did you personify the country to be almost like a character in the film?ย
๐ Jonah: To clarify, I did not write the original draft. This draft was written by an incredible writer named Giovanni Porta, and then another incredible writer came in, Maria Hinojos, who actually plays the director of Super Society 3 in the movie. They had written a really great draft and when I got the job, the original producersโ Diego and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Josh Glick, Dave Bernon, Natalia Boneta, and Erรฉndira Nรบรฑez Lariosโ had all seen DATING & NEW YORK and loved it. So they reached out and asked me to do a director's pass on the draft. My job was to tailor the script towards the production logistics. In the same way that New York was very much a character in DATING & NEW YORK, Mexico was a character here. The thing that I was able to bring to the table is that I'm a very positive, optimistic person and I have no problem living in a fantasy land. I inherently romanticize everything and I wanted Mexico romanticized. For example, all the shots of the moon are CGI moons because I wanted the moon to be double the size with a specific glow. Even when they went to Mexico City, Diego, who's an incredible producer, was very adamant about showing Mexico City as the beautiful place that it is that inhabits artists and creative people. We shot at the famous architect, Luis Barraganโs house, which makes it easy to point the camera wherever you want and it naturally pops. I am also really related to both these characters. Alejandro, who is a hotel worker who wants his own hotel, is exactly who I was as a PA wanting to make my own movie. Sophie, who is struggling between a successful career and a romantic life, shares the same struggles I have everyday.
๐ Naomi: What I'm hearing is that there are two aspects to it, one is how do you create an incredible conduit from other creators that you're working with, and the other aspect is bringing your own personality, experiences, and lens into it. Also, it takes a multi-hyphenate to be able to do that. You've played many different roles within a production, and itโs cool to hear how you switch into those different contexts within a project.ย
๐ Jonah: The era of filmmaking I came up in, it was a one person band the entire time. I worked at Buzzfeed briefly and our job was to create a video and a half a week. The crew? You. You did sound, you did camera, you did the editing, you did the marketing, you made the thumbnails, and you navigated the comments. Shoutout to my mentor and group leader, Quinta Brunson, who's the biggest thing in television right now. She was the greatest at Buzzfeed. Her output was insane, she made quality work, and she has perspective. Now, she's the biggest showrunner on ABC, but I promise you she knows almost better than anybody else how to edit the scene and how to market the show. In the โ80s and' 90s, you could just be a director or just be a writer, but fortunately and unfortunately, we need to now learn everything. A movie like EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE only exists because the directors were so ingrained in the post-production process that they can execute their voice on a hyper-specific level.
๐ Naomi: So I'm curious, what's coming up next for you? How are you feeling about the movie coming out and do you have any projects in the works you can share with us about?ย
๐ Jonah: Truthfully, I'm feeling very nervous. I think about what if people don't like the movie? Do I think I'll ever make a movie again? Yeah, I do, but there is always some doubt on where it will land with audiences. But that's part of the job. You get on the ship and you know that there will be wind and you'll have to keep going. What I've learned from both of these films is that I really still love this space of romance and comedy, I really love shooting on location and in magical cities, and I would love to make another movie in New York. In terms of the types of projects I'm drawn to, it's ones that have different genres. AT MIDNIGHT has romance, comedy, action/superhero sequences, and Mexican family drama, which is a completely different tone shift. That's the kind of stuff that really excites me. The next thing I've written originally is a rom-com that takes place in New York about a tenant and a landlord, I call it "The Rent Controlled Rom-Com." I think all great rom-coms have these pairings of people who have the enemies-to-lovers type thing going on, and this one does a great job of that. There's a big twist and that's what I'm excited to try to do now. Sometimes you get to be attached to things as a director where you work with amazingly talented writers, so there's a couple projects I'm attached to in the rom-com genre that, hopefully with the success of At Midnight, will get some eyeballs and get made.
I hope you enjoyed this rom-com-versation! Be sure to watch AT MIDNIGHT streaming now on Paramount+!
xx,
Naomi