By Robert Goldrich

The National Board of Review highlighted several breakthrough performances in 2009, one of which was the feature directorial debut of Marc Webb on (500) Days of Summer. The film is energized by dance numbers, split screens, a Los Angeles backdrop, and dynamic, engaging performances by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel.
   While the movie, which premiered at the ’09 Sundance Film Festival, has been generally characterized as a romantic comedy, that description hardly does it justice in that there are so many other dimensions, including notably the sense of romance struggling.
    Fittingly, getting the opportunity to direct the film was a struggle unto itself for Webb, who previously was best known for his landmark music video work as well as a diversification into commercials.
    “I had to wage war to get the opportunity,” related Webb whose spot and clip roost is Hollywood-based production house DNA.
    “One of the good things about music videos and commercials is that I was trained to do the dog-and-pony show, to make people feel comfortable with what I’m going to bring to a project,” explained Webb. “I’ve been through the presentations, the pre-pro meetings. I think that proved to be a really key asset in making the executives [at Fox Searchlight] comfortable with me on (500) Days of Summer.”
    But while going from music video maker to helmer of a heavy dialogue, actor performance, character-driven feature seems on the surface an enormous leap, the reality is that the transition was anything but culture shock. Many of Webb’s videos have been heavily narrative and his rapport with actors translated well into taking on what he described as a feature that was “a coming-of-age story masquerading as a romantic comedy.”
    As it turns out, (500) Days of Summer is just the start of Webb breaking down barriers and moving into new arenas.
    Though he wasn’t yet at liberty to discuss it at press time, Webb has landed a blockbuster gig, the next Spider-Man movie. Certainly the success of (500) Days of Summer helped Webb garner the plum assignment, demonstrating his prowess in movie-making with a pop culture element while still staying centered on thoughful attention to character development.
    However, the diversification doesn’t stop at, though it has certainly been punctuated by, the Spider-Man coup. Webb recently wrapped his first foray into primetime sitcom territory with an episode of The Office.
    Furthermore, at press time he was in the midst of a Fox pilot for an hourlong drama series Midland (being shot by cinematographer Eric Steelberg who also lensed (500) Days of Summer and is profiled in this issue’s Cinematograhers Series feature story).
    At the same time, Webb still managed to recently return to his music video roots with a new Greenday video, “Last of the American Girls,.”
    The director also scored in the ad arena with an ambitious Allstate commercial campaign, including the anthem spot “Great Recovery,” conceived by Leo Burnett, Chicago.
    Webb observed that his acceptance by the advertising agency community has come around but perhaps more slowly than his reception by feature film industry decision-makers.
    “I’ve found it easier getting my movie career going than my commercials career in some respects,” related Webb. “They are different worlds. Agencies can be skeptical but not without good reason. I remember having trouble initially because I didn’t have dialogue on my reel or there wasn’t a car on my reel. But over time you can build trust. And the movie [(500) Days of Summer] now serves in a sense as dialogue on my reel.”

According to script    Webb observed that there are some similarities, though, in those “different worlds” of features and advertising. For one, the quality of the script, the quality of the idea, is essential.
    “I was very lucky in that the script for (500) Days of Summer was fantastic. And whether it’s commercials, features or TV, I’ve been well served by trying to work with writers and people who are smarter and more talented than I am. You learn so much from writers in particular. And I’ve also been well served by the joy I get from working with actors. I have a lot of respect for actors and that’s a bigger priority than the tone of the work. I find that the actor’s process isn’t all that different whether it’s comedy or drama. They’re always trying to find something real in performance, and to be in on that journey with them has always attracted me.”
    For instance, Webb reveled in his recent experience on The Office. “I’m a fan of the show and I wanted to re-engage in the narrative world in that it had been over a year since I shot (500) Days of Summer,” he related. “I wanted to re-prime that narrative pump. The cast of that show is unmatched. If you do your homework properly and support the actors, it’s pretty hard to mess up as a director. Everybody there is just so very good at what they do.”

Leap of faith    As for why he’s been able to broaden his wings and diversify so successfully into different disciplines over the past couple of years, Webb said, “It’s hard to tell, I don’t really know for sure. I think ultimately you have to give some credit to the people who hire you, who take the leap of faith and believe in what you can offer them, sometimes without seeing it exactly in your body of work. But they see the spirit of that work, the sensibilities exhibited in that work and give you the opportunity.”
   On the pragmatic side, Webb conjectured that his getting the chance to direct (500) Days of Summer also had something to do with the fact that “they knew they could get me cheap. And I don’t just mean my price, but also my experience making music videos which didn’t have expensive budgets yet still managed to tell a story and connect with viewers. I think they knew they could leverage that video experience and that it could translate into working well on a modestly budgeted feature.”
    Among Webb’s many lauded music videos are My Chemical Romance’s “Helena,” All American Rejects’ “Move Along” and Weezer’s “Perfect Situation,” all of which contributed to his earning director of the year distinction a few years ago at the Music Video Production Association (MVPA) Awards.
    “Move Along” additionally scored an MVPA kudo as pop video of the year, and a coveted MTV Video Music Award.
Webb’s filmography also includes short films, most notably Seascape which premiered several years back at the Aspen Comedy Festival.
In reference to his short form colleagues, Webb believes there’s “a rich pool of talent that hasn’t been fully tapped into. There are a lot of commercial and music video directors I deeply admire who I cannot wait to see make movies.”

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