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- [00:09]
A
This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. In the new comedy film Splitsville, two couples are on the rocks. One is going through a divorce. It was her idea. The other is ignoring his wife and troublemaking kid. But they have an open marriage. Did I mention that? The couples are friends. And the soon to be divorced guy seems sleeps with a wife in an open marriage. Chaos ensues that challenges the future of both friendships, both of their marriages, and leads this to a huge physical altercation between the two of them. The fight scene alone is worth the price of admission, a Hollywood Reporter review said. Divided into several chapters, named after stipulations and a divorce agreement, Splitsville starts off with lots of absurdist comedy, then settles down into its second half to explore the ripple effects of the dual breakups. Splitsville is now playing in theater. Joining us now to discuss the film is the director and screenwriter, Excuse me, Michael Angelo Covino, who plays Paul, the slightly shady real estate guy. Hi, Michael.
- [01:12]
B
Hi. Nice to talk to you.
- [01:15]
A
Nice to talk to you as well. And also joining us is screenwriter Kyle Marvin, who stars as Carrie, sort of the nice guy teacher in the film. Nice to meet you, Kyle.
- [01:23]
C
Nice to meet you too. Thanks for having us.
- [01:25]
A
So, Kyle, you wrote this film together. Tell us one thing that was important to the two of you that made you in the screenplay since the very beginning, ideas of Splitsville. One thing you knew had to be in the screenplay.
- [01:41]
C
Yeah, I mean, I think we were talking a lot. You know, there was a lot of conversations going on amongst us and our friends just in terms of relationships and the sort of ever evolving landscape of love. And I think one of the things we talked a lot about was, you know, we all talk about it, we're all intellectual about it, but there is a question of like, what would we do if actually faced with, you know, one of the scenarios that we talked about, and I think that was really a starting point for us was when my character comes to find solace in his best friend and his wife who are in an open relationship. And then I sleep with my best friend's wife. And his reaction was just physical, not even something he could verbalize. And as soon as we knew that that was a, was a perfect setup or a perfect way to explore the dynamics of those relationships, we were like, we have to, we have to do this movie, Michael.
- [02:35]
B
And we wrote, and we wrote, there will be a 10 page fight scene after that.
- [02:41]
C
That is exactly what we wrote.
- [02:43]
B
It was, we said, and we'll write a ten page fight Scene. And they won't talk. They're just gonna fight.
- [02:48]
A
All right, we're gonna get to the fight scene. I was gonna save that for later.
- [02:51]
B
But that was the original idea. That was our first sort of kernel of an idea that got us really excited about making this film.
- [02:58]
A
Tell me more. Explain to me how a film came out of a fight scene.
- [03:03]
B
Well, I think we. I think we loved. So. So we have a sort of passion for certain type of movie, you know, and they were made a lot in the 70s and sometimes in the 90s, but they.
- [03:15]
A
You're listening to all of it on W. Did you. Can you hear me?
- [03:19]
C
I'll take up where he left off.
- [03:21]
A
You do that. And he'll fix his.
- [03:22]
C
He'll fix his mic, he'll fix his phone. I was saying. Yeah, he was sort of saying, we love films from the 70s that have this sort of absurdist look at love and relationships that take. That take a sort of grounded approach from characters, but then really goes kind of wild. And it was something that we loved was to try and set up real stakes and real characters who. Who are struggling with, you know, real problems and then proceed to give them sort of absurd, ever escalating, absurd circumstances that they have to work their way through.
- [03:55]
A
How did you map out the scene? The ten minute scene?
- [03:59]
C
Oh, I mean, that was the easiest part. We just, you know, we were both the writers of it and we knew each other were going to be in it, so it just became sort of an escalating list of things we wanted to do to each other. So Mike would say, you know, I get to punch you. Then I'd say, great, then you're falling downstairs.
- [04:15]
B
And then I would say, and your eyebrows get burnt off with a flame torch.
- [04:22]
C
So it just escalated naturally, I think.
- [04:24]
A
When you were writing the scene, were you serious about them fighting or did you want to insert comedy in it as well, Kyle?
- [04:32]
C
Well, that was the whole point of it, is that the thing we found the most interesting was that these are two people who love each other. They really foundationally love each other and they've known each other forever and they probably fought as kids. So I think part of the fun of doing a fight scene like this, aside from the fact that we love physical comedy and wanted to weave it inside the fight, we wanted to sort of explore what it was like for these two friends who kind of love each other and understand each other, but are sort of losing control, you know what I mean, of their emotions and their bodies.
- [05:06]
A
Michael, your character, he just kind of loses It.
- [05:09]
B
Yeah.
- [05:10]
A
You expect him to sort of have an intellectual idea about it, but no, he just loses it. Why does he lose it?
- [05:17]
B
Well, I think we present. I think we identify and recognize characters in life who seem overly confident in certain ways or seem to have it all figured out. And then I think we all can relate to that sort of going out the window. And sometimes our child's, like, impulses coming out or, you know, jealousy or very primal urges and experiences sort of come to the surface. And that felt very human and very, very identifiable. Like. Like I. I knew that character and I understood that experience of, like, you know, over intellectualizing something, even convincing myself, you know, lying to myself about something and then finding out that, you know, what. Maybe. Maybe that's not the truth, or I can't handle it, as I said I could.
- [06:04]
A
How would you describe your character, Paul?
- [06:08]
B
I think he's a great guy, but. But. But that's because I can relate to him. And I think it's because I. I really understand where he's coming from. But he's, you know, he's chasing a dream. He's.
- [06:21]
C
He's.
- [06:21]
B
He's a guy who's, you know, he's in over his head in real estate and is chasing a lifestyle and a dream and a. And something that maybe is somewhat unattainable, but he thinks is attainable. And it all sort of comes crashing down on him. And I think the reasons why he's doing it maybe are purported to be one thing out of the gate where you think he's just this showy, obnoxious, overly confident guy. But, you know, by the end of the film, I think you realize that it's all built. It's like a house of cards built around insecurity. And I think there's something really beautiful in that because we see these sort of machismo men in life, you know, acting a certain way. But I can say with a fair deal of certainty that there's a ton of insecurity under all of that.
- [07:03]
A
And Kyle with Carrie, when the Goldendoodle came out, I'm like, of course he's got a golden Doodle. He's the Golden Doodle in many ways.
- [07:13]
C
Yeah, exactly. I am the dog. I think one of the funny things about that is I personally own a golden doodle. And it's a running conflict Mike and I have.
- [07:21]
B
He carries it that way.
- [07:22]
C
He carries my dog that way. Sort of like a baby on my hip. And so we had to put it in the movie. It's funny because we went to the, you know, the dog trainer and said, hey, this is how I want to carry the dog. And she was like, no dog would allow you to carry it like that. So we had to go through this elaborate training with this dog to try and get him to be okay with me scooping him up and carrying them around for minutes like a baby.
- [07:45]
A
How would you describe, though, Carrie?
- [07:48]
C
I think Carrie. I think Carrie is trying to make it work. And I think he looks around at all the things in his life, and he's not aware that things are tough or that the people around him aren't exactly who they say they are. But I think he's looking for the best in the world. And by looking for the best, I think he hopes the world will work out for him. And in our film, I certainly think it does.
- [08:13]
A
A new comedy film follows the chaos unfolding between two couples after a man sleeps with his best friend's wife after his wife asks for a divorce. It's titled Splitsville. It's playing in theaters now. My guests are director Michael Angelo Covino and co writer Kyle Marvin. Michael, how important was it to you? This is for both of you, actually, but I'll ask you to start. Michael was class in this film.
- [08:38]
B
Interesting. You know, I think that there's a satirical element to this film that is maybe on the surface, but kind of gets overshadowed by the craziness of the plot and the characters and things that are happening. But I think it's. It's just there. I mean. I mean, you know, these are people who are aspirationally, you know, trying to live in a house that they can't afford in the Hamptons and that with a. With a home that they can't afford in, you know, maybe the suburbs. And. And there's a clear distinction, and everyone's sort of chasing something. Everyone is sort of looking at life as saying maybe a little bit of the grass is always greener. And I think, you know, by the end of the film, I think these characters, they might recognize that the grass is still always greener, but they've come to accept that they're gonna stay on their side of the fence in a way or that they're gonna be happy with what they have in life. And I think, yeah, that's something that I personally can relate to.
- [09:37]
C
And for my character, you know, I'm not as wealthy. You know, I don't quite have the aspirational house that Mike's character does, but I think part of that class is it happens everywhere. You know what I mean? The dynamics of love and jealousy and relationships sort of span all cultures. It was one of the interesting things. The film premiered at Cannes and was one of the fun things we experienced in that theater where you had people from sort of all over the world and all different experiences, all laughing in unison at the buffoonery unfolding on screen. And I think it really goes to show that it is a universal. It is sort of a boundary spanning dynamic.
- [10:22]
A
Yeah, Kyle. I felt for Carrie because they go to the fair and he can only afford so many balls when he's trying to win the goldfish. And this guy's like, yeah, give me a. Here's a hundred bucks. I can win as many goldfish as you want. And poor Kerry has got this moment of like, hey, what's wrong with me?
- [10:41]
C
I mean, I think that's more of a condemnation for fairs than the pricing. The pricing of an affair is against everyone, let's be clear.
- [10:50]
A
That's true.
- [10:51]
C
I mean, I think, you know, we love those dynamics. And I. Part of the thing we love the most is making really well defined characters and then just putting them through the ringer. One, because we like it as performers. But two, because I think audiences are really entertained by seeing how far we can push our characters, all of our characters, to the sort of brink.
- [11:14]
A
Michael, you directed the film and direction is choice after choice, decision after decision. What is a choice that you made that you thought that was hard to make, but it worked out?
- [11:30]
B
That's a great question. Well, you know, I think the tough part with a film like this is we set out to make a film that deals with very human emotions with sort of very realistic performance. And, you know, choice after choice, we decided to put in sort of big comedy set, you know, slapstick comedy and set piece and set pieces that potentially could dismantle the emotional sort of through line of the film. And so. But those were easy choices because they were. They're so entertaining and they're. And they're so fun. So, you know, I think a choice that we made that was a difficult one that we could have abandoned was probably to put Kyle on a roller coaster with 10 bags of goldfish to try to hold onto them.
- [12:19]
A
It doesn't go so well.
- [12:21]
C
No, no.
- [12:24]
A
I want to talk to you about your fellow actors, Adria Arjone and Dakota Johnson, who star as your wives in the film. Kyle, tell us something unique that each of them as actors brought to their roles.
- [12:37]
C
Well, you know, I distinctly remember one of the early. One of the early days was a car scene between Audrey and I, and she is, she is just so wild and free and there was sort of this wild. I don't want to spoil it, but it's a pretty dynamic car sequence and in it she sort of goes crazy. And it was a moment where I thought, oh my God, this girl can both deliver emotion and then right away just bring absolute chaos. And I loved it so much. It was so interesting and dynamic. And Dakota, you know, Dakota does something really powerful and she's got a dynamic that's I think, really for me as an actor, acting across from her allows me to just sort of settle in because it's so honest and she's so present in the scenes. For me, it was a gift to be able to work across from her.
- [13:34]
A
Michael, what are the ways that you helped your co stars as well as actors that you were directing, do their best work?
- [13:44]
B
Well, I think, you know, Kyle and I have, over the last two films we've made together, started to develop a specific tone in comedy. And I think I would define that as, you know, no one is in a comedy, you know, and so, so, so. And Dakota and Adria both understood that because that's how, that's who they are as performers. And so they fit right into sort of our, our sandbox in a way where, you know, Dakota is so quick and so dry and so sharp, but she doesn't know how to be. She can't be dishonest on camera. She doesn't have it in her. She'll not say the line before. She'll say a line that she doesn't buy or believe as the character. And so for us, everyone sort of needs to believe the situation they're in and the. What the character is going through and just experience it in earnest. And then the comedy emerges out of that rather than winking at the camera, playing it for a joke, trying to sort of be funny. And so in a way that they brought that to the, to the film and I sort of reinforced it as we started making the film, which was just like, there is no pressure to be funny. This isn't a comedy.
- [14:56]
A
Kyle, did you ad lib at all on set or was this strictly scripted?
- [15:00]
C
I mean, there's always room, there's always room for a little bit of ad libbing. I think our approach is to try and make the script as airtight as possible. And because Mike is so specific with his camera work, there isn't room to do what. What sometimes happens on a comedy set where there's sort of two cameras rolling and you just Start making jokes, really, because the camera work is so specific and so dynamic. Everything is timed specifically. So there. There's room for small pieces of, you know, ad libbing or. Or if you come up with something interesting. But really, I think the freedom of the improv, if you will, is really just timing to sort of land lines in a way, or with a little bit of a pace that feels unusual. And that unusual sort of pace provides the comedy as far as the way I see it.
- [15:51]
A
Let's listen to a little bit from the film Splitsville. This is early in the film, and it opens with Ashley telling Carrie she wants a divorce. And Julie confides in Carrie that she suspects her husband may be sleeping with other women rather than spending time with his family. However, they agreed to this open marriage. So let's listen to this clip explaining the relationship between Paul and Julie to Carrie. It's from Splitsville.
- [16:19]
B
I read a book.
- [16:20]
A
It was an article.
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B
Whatever. We're open.
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C
Are you guys with me right now?
- [16:27]
A
We are not monogamous. He can do what he wants, and I don't want to know about it unless I do want to know about it, in which case I would ask and he would tell me everything.
- [16:41]
B
Mm. Yeah. It's not like we're dating other people. It's not polyamory. We're not reinventing the wheel. I don't have another family with like another fish tank.
- [16:49]
C
This is blowing my mind.
- [16:50]
A
We're just realistic. You know, we love each other and that love is physical and emotional and spiritual, and the emotional and the spiritual are more important. So we're a little bit more flexible with the physical.
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B
You're very flexible with the physical.
- [17:09]
A
I do Pilates.
- [17:10]
C
Okay, hold on a second. Whose idea was this?
- [17:16]
A
Both of ours.
- [17:16]
C
Okay, you're telling me that if she goes out, finds someone, and they hit it off and then they decide to go do some doggy style in the back of a pickup truck in a parking lot somewhere. You're. You can handle that.
- [17:31]
A
That is really romantic.
- [17:33]
B
If she can handle that, I can handle that. Okay.
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C
What if it's someone you know?
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B
I don't care who it is.
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A
Really?
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B
Yeah. Why would I care? I'm like a self realized individual.
- [17:46]
A
There's so much in that clip. The first thing is I read a book. It was an article.
- [17:53]
B
That'S an ongoing joke through the.
- [17:55]
C
Through the movie.
- [17:57]
B
My character doesn't really read.
- [17:59]
A
Doesn't real. Not really. He really doesn't.
- [18:04]
B
But I think we all can relate to that in some ways. And I know that sounds Horrible. But, like, everyone's look, you know, our time is just consumed in crazy ways. So we. We all take shortcuts. We're listening to audiobooks. We, you know. Anyway, I read books, though. I promise.
- [18:18]
C
I think it's funny, too, that people, you know, get the audiobook Cliff Note version of a very deep conversation like open relationships, and just takes the Cliff Notes from it and tries it out in your heart.
- [18:33]
A
Do your characters believe that an open marriage is a good thing, this positive thing, that it can be done? What do you think, Kyle?
- [18:42]
C
My character, I think, certainly does. I think my character thinks that, you know, whatever way makes people happy is the way that should be traveled. And I think for my character, he's just looking for a way to find meaning in a relationship with someone that he loves and. And that's the most important thing.
- [19:04]
A
Or his dog.
- [19:05]
C
Yeah. Or just his dog.
- [19:09]
A
Or just with his dog. Michael, what is your. What does your character think? Does he believe in an open relationship?
- [19:15]
B
No, I don't think so. I think my. I think my character is sort of a hopeless romantic who really is genuinely in love with one person, but, you know. But has created a sort of a bit of a mousetrap for himself. You know, he's. He's created all these complications because he's in over his head. And I think that that's. That's the. The exciting thing is, is people. People are in characters who present themselves as one way but really have something undisclosed underneath, and they're lying to themselves and their partner.
- [19:50]
A
Kyle, what has been one of the best compliments or some feedback that has stayed with you from this film?
- [19:58]
C
To be honest, the best feedback ever is sitting in a theater with a bunch of people and hearing them laugh. I mean, to me, that's. I know Mike said we treat it as a drama and we're serious, but under it, we know we're making a comedy. And I think having people laugh wildly together in. In a group setting in a dark theater, to me, that's the greatest compliment I could ever. I could ever receive.
- [20:22]
A
How about for you, Michael?
- [20:24]
B
Yeah, I mean. Well, I would. I would agree with that. Just because I feel like the reason why we. The reason why I. And I think we, you know, wanted to do this with our lives and make movies is. Is because of comedies that we watched growing up and the infectious nature of that and the. The power of laughter in unison, getting lost in a world and swept up and surprised with laughter. And so I think that because theatrical comedies have sort of. There's been less and less over maybe the last, you know, eight or 10 years. That felt like a bit of a revelation to us to be able to make something where we could sit in the theater and it's just, you know, people laughing so much that they're missing lines and plot and dialogue in between, like, so they have to go.
- [21:14]
A
They have to go see it again. That's the best part about it. The name of the movie is Splitsville. I'd like to thank Michelangelo Covino and co writer Kyle Marvin for joining us. Thanks. I really loved your movie.
- [21:27]
C
Thank you so much.
- [21:27]
B
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- [21:59]
A
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B
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A
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