Church also found a lot of enjoyment in developing the character’s signature flakiness. “The thing about Jack is that he truly believes everything he says in the moment,” the actor explains. “Wherever the winds of change blow him, he lands and then he’s like, `Wow, this is such a profound existence,’ when it may be diametrically opposed to where he was the day before. I think we all know people like that. But Jack is so convinced of the truth of his emotions that it throws everything about his life up into question. On this trip, he starts to question all of his values, which 48 hours earlier, were his entire life!”
Ultimately Church believes both Jack and Miles are irrevocably changed by their trip, although not in any pat and clear-cut way. “I think both Jack and Miles learn some profound lessons, even though their journey takes some dark and absurd turns,” Church observes. “They learn something about each other and about themselves and then they just go on. I like movies that give us those real-life moments.”
When Church and Giamatti met, the instant chemistry between them had all the comical and poignant hues for which Payne had been hoping. “Typically when you’re casting a buddy movie, you have the actors audition together,” notes Payne. “But I didn’t happen to get these two together to test their chemistry, I just banked on the fact that it would work out -- and it did. Thomas and Paul are both extremely funny people in real life, and their senses of humor and understanding of their characters clicked wonderfully together.”
Before production started, the relationship was road-tested when Payne and co-producer George Parra put Church and Giamatti together in a Saab for three 10-hour days of driving shots.
“Half-way through the first day they didn’t want to leave the car and all you could hear was laughing and joke telling. It was like they’d known each other for 20 years,” recalls Parra.
Summarizes Giamatti: “Thomas and I immediately had that friendship chemistry. He’s one of the funniest, smartest people I’ve ever met and we got along right away, which is exactly what we needed to do to make these characters feel real and alive.”
That chemistry also needed to extend to the two women who cause Miles and Jack to take a romantic detour: the oenophile waitress Maya and the alluring wine pourer Stephanie. Payne met with many actresses before finding the right one to play Maya, but he says he knew almost as soon as he met Virginia Madsen that she was perfect for the role. “I’ve always liked her,” he says of Madsen. “Then, when we were auditioning actresses for the part and I was going through names and 8 x 10’s with the casting director, he said, ‘Look at this picture. Look at her eyes. Doesn’t it look like she’s kind of been through it all?’ And I said, ‘Yes, let's bring her in.’”
The deal was sealed shortly after. Says producer London: “Virginia's incredibly beautiful, lovely, warm and genuine and these are all very important qualities for Maya. Her soulful and authentic warmth is what made the chemistry work immediately with Paul’s character. You could see how, given this particular set of circumstances, she could really feel his heartache and pain.” For Madsen, the script was a distinctive departure from anything else she’d ever read. “There are parts of it that are so funny they make you cry and other parts are so sad they are very funny,” she says. Most of all, she was drawn to Maya, a single woman character who is anything but a cliché. “Maya is unlike anyone I’ve played before,” she says. “I especially liked that she isn't all torn up by life. She’s been through a big transition but she’s begun again. She’s certainly been tossed around a bit, had some hard knocks, but she hasn’t given up. She’s simply realized she’d rather be lonely than with a jerk.”
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