HOLDEN ONTO A HERO
Talking with Charlie Bartlett director Jon Poll
By Robert Newton

“What attracted me to the movie after reading a hundred scripts,” says editor-turned-producer-turned-director Jon Poll, “is that the humor in it is so truth-based; what I love about it is that this odd bird makes choices that are not all perfect, but all come from a place of sincere honesty.”

In Charlie Bartlett, the 40-Year-Old Virgin producer’s first turn calling the shots as director, teen rebel Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) realizes that there is money in selling his behavioral medications to his classmates. Beyond the immediate reward of quick cash, he discovers that he genuinely enjoys helping people, setting up shop in a school bathroom and hearing the woes of the school’s troubled teens.

“We live in a world of a lot of cynical, clever, smart filmmaking – of films that are ‘Tarantinoesque,’ if you will,” he explains, “and here we come with this character not afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve. Ultimately, people relate to that kind of character and situation. It’s not a bold choice, but it’s a different one in today’s climate.”

The film is a sort of post-Prozac Nation ‘80s style teen movie, though Poll does not quite agree with the more-than-occasional comparisons of Charlie to one legendary ‘80s movie antihero, who was a sort of Holden Caulfield for the video age.

“It’s interesting – the comparisons to [the character of] Ferris Bueller come up more than expected. I have a great respect for John Hughes, and I take it as a compliment, but Ferris was never on my list of influential characters and films, and there was never a connection for me. I can see how some people might make the connection, though, as both kids are manipulators and movers-and-shakers. Tone-wise, Harold and Maude was more of an inspiration.”

It was writer and fellow first-timer Gustin Nash’s job to make the story resonate more than would just an oversimplified one-line TV Guide blurb, like “A high school student sells drugs and gets popular.”

“Ironically, we were trying to make an original movie, and along comes Gustin, touching on all the issues, emotion and humor, all at the same time. It’s not straight comedy, it’s not a gritty indie, but a little bit of everything.”

At the heart of it all, of course, is Charlie, played by the incredible 18-year-old “Huff” star Yelchin, who has been cast as science officer Pavel Chekov in “Lost” creator J.J. Abrams’s 2009 Star Trek prequel.

“Anton was amazing,” Poll recalls. “People would ask me, ‘Who do you see as Charlie in the movie?’ and I’d always answer, ‘Bud Cort a couple of years before Harold and Maude.”

In that Bud Cort is now 40 years too old for the role, Poll had to cast someone who embodied the same kind of fresh-faced enthusiasm.

“I sat down to lunch with David Duchovny, right after he had read the script and worked with Anton in House of D, and the first thing David said to me was, ‘I love how honest and optimistic Charlie is,’” Poll says. “He offered Anton up right then and there, and even though we heard 82 different young actors for the part, nobody had the ability to portray Charlie’s depth and be all the different elements that Charlie could be. It was a pleasure to sit back and watch him as he created these great relationships with the other characters.”

There is one relationship that Charlie has, however, that is most essential, but it was with a character that has no screen time and no lines.

“In the initial script, Charlie’s father [who is in prison] did exist,” Poll notes when asked of the temptation to stunt-cast the role, “but we chose to take him out of the movie. It was an idea that [mentor and Meet the Fockers director] Jay Roach helped me get off the ground. We decided not to show Charlie’s father at all; the movie’s about Charlie, and living without a father propels him through the story in a different way than if we introduced the guy. Not having him there also makes it clearer that Gardner is a surrogate father of sorts, keeping the focus on that triangle much stronger.”

The mostly-all-teen cast has a couple of veterans in its mix, namely Hope Davis (The Hoax) as Charlie’s rich, prescription-addicted mother, Marilyn, and dynamic veteran Robert Downey Jr. (Zodiac) as Mr. Gardner, Charlie’s high school principal.

“Robert was an inspiration for me and the kids. He’s a generous person on the set all the time. His biggest contribution was not so much his fantastic performance, but how he helped in the mixing of tones – you don’t want to be too jokey in a serious scene and vice versa. He never said no to trying anything, and really threw himself into the role.”

Even though this is Poll’s first film as a director, he has been working as an editor and producer for the last 20 years (and his father is veteran Lion In Winter producer Martin Poll), so his pitch to the money guys was not entirely trial-and-error.

“Part of our initial pitch was that Charlie Bartlett is that it is a film not only for teenagers and people who are parents to them, but also everyone who was a teenager themselves. When we played the festival circuit, we found all ages and genders have found ways to relate to the movie, because in the end, it’s a film with something on its mind that we hope will touch people, as well; we want people to leave the theater after the show feeling a little better, maybe listening a little more to their kids, and adopting parts of Charlie as I have. I certainly hope that I can continue to approach life in a similar manner to Charlie, and find the honesty and optimism to move my life forward as he does. After all, I’d often joke with Gustin, ‘There’s a little bit of Charlie Bartlett in all of us.’”•••