Q&A: Mike Judge Hits Funny Bone With 'Extract'

Source: By CHRIS JANCELEWICZ

Posted: 09/02/09 3:09PM

Filed Under: Film

Most people associate Mike Judge with his hit animated series 'Beavis and Butthead' and 'King of the Hill.' They so quickly forget that Judge directed the hilariously funny 'Office Space' back in 1999, which became the impetus for shows like 'The Office'. He was also at the helm of 2006's 'Idiocracy', another film that may not have performed well at the box office, but developed a cult following in DVD sales and rentals.

If anything, it's obvious that Judge has his finger on the pulse of middle America. He can capture the essence of any work environment with ease, whether it's a propane dealership, a computer office, or as in his new film 'Extract', an extract factory floor. The movie follows the factory owner (Jason Bateman) as he tries to navigate his way through a rocky marriage, a dissatisfied set of employees, and the prospect of an affair.

With some great performances by Bateman, Mila Kunis as the scammer sexpot, and Ben Affleck as the long-haired advice-dispensing bartender, the film often plays like a slice of life rather than a comedy, but there are many belly laughs to be had.

AOL sat down to talk with Judge about 'Extract', his real-life inspirations for his work, and his future in the world of animation.

You have an incredible knack for capturing the workplace environment. Where do you get your inspiration for that?

I've worked dozens of jobs, all over the place. I actually worked at a factory that made guitar amps for a little while. I thought about how that blue-collar factory has its own unique set of characters, the way the cubicle world does.

A friend of mine started working at a parts warehouse, and he'd call me up and tell me about these people - specifically about this woman, who would just sit there on a stool with her arms folded and shaking her head at everybody. She had a Tweety Bird t-shirt on and a fanny pack...and when he told me about that, I knew exactly what he was talking about. You and I have seen this woman hundreds of times.

That's exactly like the woman in 'Extract'.

Yeah, and I started thinking about others...at the place I worked, at the factory, I overheard a guy say, "I'm actually in four bands right now." He's in the movie too. But I also wanted to do something from the boss' point of view. I'd never had anyone working for me, ever, until I did 'Beavis and Butthead', and then I had 35 to 90 people working for me. I suddenly became sympathetic to my old bosses, because these people don't appreciate anything, they take advantage of you, they fight with each other.

Where did the idea for using an extract factory come from? It's such a random idea.

When people asked me what I was writing about, and I said "a guy who runs a vanilla extract company', they started laughing. So I figured I was one step ahead. [laughs] My realtor in Austin [Texas] was driving me around, we were looking at houses. He pointed to one house and said, "That's where the Adams Extract guy lives." I just thought, wow. There's an item that's in every grocery store that no one ever thinks about. I also like watching bottling mechanisms.

Who doesn't?

[Laughs] When I was a musician, I always played with this guy who was sponsored by Miller Genuine Draft. He would fly us up to Milwaukee and I would go on a tour of the factory just to watch the bottles.

Your casting of David Koechner as the annoying neighbour was perfect.

You can get a lot of experiences from a movie. You can be terrified in a horror movie; you can get goose bumps, and what I wanted to do was make the audience react like that. I wanted them to go 'Arrrrgh!!' whenever Koechner was on screen. It was like, 'Man, I'm really glad I'm not standing there with that guy.'

What about Dustin Milligan? How did you come about casting that good ol' Canadian boy as the gigolo?

He came in and read for it, and I thought 'This guy is great.' For somebody to play somebody that dumb, they kind of have to be smart. That's what I found actually. He hit every beat perfectly, and he looked the part, 100 percent.

'King of the Hill' is done. 'The Goode Family' isn't continuing. Are you going to do anything in the future with animation, or are you going to stick with real-life movies?

I love doing animation, but I love doing it when it's homegrown. I like doing little things by myself. I don't think I want to go start another animated series, unless it was something that grew out of something smaller. I guess I could see doing some little short.

I'm crushed, you realize that.

[Laughs] Well, it could happen, if it happened the way 'Beavis and Butthead' did, where it was a short and it kind of evolved. Like, you know 'Adult Swim' on Teletoon? Stuff like that, it gives people a chance to play around without doing a 20-episode commitment, like the networks want it. That seems like that would be fun.

I was speaking with movie critic Richard Crouse about 'Extract', and we agreed that it didn't really feel like a comedy. Of course it was funny, but it was more like a slice of life.

A lot of my stuff hasn't been joke-oriented. 'Office Space' wasn't really either. I remember counting, and I think there were like three jokes in the whole movie. I mean, what a comedy writer would call a joke. That's why the casting is so important; when I write that stuff, especially for these smaller roles, it lives or dies by the performance.

Check out 'Extract', opening at theatres across Canada on September 4, 2009.