While Nick Kroll may not be a beginner in the world of comedy, his new film “Adult Beginners” does mark the start of a new chapter in his career.
In a roundtable interview at The Liberty Hotel, Kroll talked about the film and his first experience both acting in a lead role and producing.
“You have to do everything for the first time at some point,” Kroll said. “This was a story that I wanted to tell.”
“Adult Beginners” tells the story of Jake, a self-absorbed entrepreneur (Kroll) who experiences a great loss with his newest product, “Mind’s-I.” Jake has nowhere to turn but to his estranged sister Justine (Rose Byrne), her husband Danny (Bobby Cannavale) and their 3-year old son Teddy (Caleb and Matthew Paddock). Not long after, Jake finds himself both taking on the role of Teddy’s nanny and re-evaluating his priorities in life.
The heartwarming plot focuses on sibling relationships and how they change with challenges of age, marriage and children. Between personal relationships with his three older siblings and a less than perfect night of babysitting, Kroll explained how he can relate to his character, Jake.
“I am the youngest of four kids … So I felt very connected to being that youngest brother who I think sometimes got away with stuff or, you know, didn’t do much of the heavy lifting within the family…” Kroll said with a laugh. “So I think I identified with that, and Jake is obviously trying to make this ‘Mind’s-I’ and wants to be a hot shot. And shit, I went and tried to make a movie.”
But he isn’t the only one who can relate to a character in the film. Byrne, he said, also found herself in the story.
“I think she identified with the siblings’ relationship,” Kroll explained. “She’s the youngest of four as well, so I think she connected with that element and there was just something that felt very familiar to her … as she seemed to have explained it.”
Kroll added that Byrne is “a pleasure to work with,” and “super f—in’ cool.”
Aside from Byrne and Cannavale, actors Jason Mantzoukas, Joel McHale, and Bobby Moynihan also appear in the film. Because of a low budget and limited flexibility within the filming process, Kroll explained that much of the casting process included calling a lot of favors on prior friends.
Rounding out the vision were director Ross Katz and executive producers Mark and Jay Duplass. Kroll gives credit to Mark Duplass, with whom he works on “The League,” with helping him to learn the production process. Writers Jeff Cox and Liz Flahive, who have two children together, turned that new knowledge into relatable content for the story.
“By the time we started shooting the movie, they had just had another kid, so they really were just keyed into that — slightly tired, overwhelmed, parents trying to work and figure out how to navigate all those things,” Kroll said. “I was really excited to have people like that … to make it feel more realistic.”
Regarding production, Kroll explained that having an increased sense of control is both a blessing and a curse. While he loves being more involved in the “sculpting” of the film, he said the most difficult aspect is “trying to navigate wearing so many different hats.”
Still, Kroll said he hopes to continue doing different projects and serving different roles. For him, more variety means more excitement, especially when the projects offer such strong insights into him and his audience.
“What was interesting about the story and what I think drew people like [Byrne] and [Cannavale] and [Katz] and everybody was like, ‘Oh, I have a sibling, I see what that’s like,’” Kroll explained with a laugh. “‘I remember thinking what a prick my brother was.’”
Adult Beginners opens at the Coolidge Corner Theater on Friday, April 24.
