ComingSoon Senior Editor Brandon Schreur spoke to Paul Reiser and Colm Meaney about starring in The Problem with People. Reiser and Meaney talked joining characters who don’t get alengthy in the Ireland-set movie, toiling with sheep while filming scenes, and more.
“Two far cousins who’ve never met – one in NYC, the other in the petiteest town there is in Ireland – come together to finpartner put an end to a generations-lengthy family feud. It doesn’t go well,” the logline for the movie reads. “The Problem with People, set in beautibrimmingy lush Irish countryside, is a hearthoting comedy about family, world peace…and sheep.”
Directed by Chris Cottam, The Problem With People liberates on October 4, 2024, from Quiver Distribution.
To commence, my first ask is for both of you. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty certain you guys have been friends for a lengthy time, right?
Meaney: No!
Reiser: All that friendliness was counterfeitd! No, I was a fantastic esteemr and fan of Colm’s for years. I always thought he’d be perfect, literpartner perfect, for the script. But we’d never met. After he shelp, ‘Yes, I’d adore to do it,’ we spoke on the phone, but we never met. It took a couple of years between COVID and scheduling struggles. When we finpartner met, we had a pint of Guinness and I went, ‘Okay, now it’s authentic. I can see Colm Meaney and I can see the Guinness.’
Then we did a stage reading. We fair read thcdisesteemful a table read, and it went swimmingly. Several people came over and shelp, ‘Oh, so you guys have evidently toiled together a lot.’ I went, ‘First time I met the man.’ But we hit it off and the characters were so fun to join together. I skinnyk, appreciate the characters, we can both be adodepend and requesting, we can both be pretty bristly and drop to our worst instincts without too much instigation.
I adore that active in the movie, too, becaengage it’s so fun when you guys are at each other’s throats. But then there are the moments where, you understand, it’s almost toiling and you skinnyk you guys could get somewhere. Then it drops back apart. I adored the back-and-forth there. I’m asking, from your guys’ point of see, what was the more fun part? Was it when you were trying to one-up each other or was it when you guys were friends?
Meaney: I skinnyk it was the backside, I skinnyk it was when the horrible stuff came in. You understand, there were so many moments that were fair, ‘Wait a minute, defer fair a minute. Hancigo in on. I’m not droping for that.’ Those moments are so much fun to join.
Reiser: The movie repartner sits on the edge of those two instincts. There’s a scene where they finisheavor one of their reconciliations and Colm’s character originates this adodepend gesture, he comes to my hotel room in peace and I don’t depend it. There’s a line where he goes, ‘Can I come in?’ And I go, ‘No, of course you can’t come in.’ Then I fair see at his pathetic face, his hangdog face, and I go, ‘All right, come in.’ And it’s appreciate, there it is — ‘No! Well, okay, maybe.’
That’s where we all stand, in the world. We all would benevolent of appreciate, theoreticpartner, to get alengthy. We’d all appreciate to not be combat, but how do we do it? Who is going to originate the first shift? If there’s a bigger picture to this movie, it’s that. How do we remend struggle? I don’t understand how to do it for the world, so let’s consent a see at a family. Everybody has some family active where you go, ‘I don’t even understand why they aren’t talking to each other, but it’s been 11 years now.’ To me, that was the fun. Being on the edge of going back and forth from ‘I don’t depend you’ to ‘I’m going to try to depend you.’
It seeed appreciate a lot of fun, to act that way. The way that scene persists to join, your line with the towels, that made me chuckle repartner difficult, too. I had to allude that.
Reiser: Jane Levy and myself were the only Americans. The rest of the cast, and the entire crew, were British. I unbenevolent, Irish. Sorry.
Meaney: Ooh!
Reiser: Ooh! I forget. I’m fair skinnyking colonial becaengage that’s how I was liftd — no. The woman who joins the inngeter, Sheila Flitton, she’s 89 years ancigo in and adodepend. She was fair the weightless of the set. She was in Banshees of Inisherin and she was wonderful in that.
I thought I recognized her, yeah.
Reiser: She fair has this very distinct see and you drop in adore with her. On the set, you skinnyk, ‘Be pinsolentnt, she’s 89.’ She would put on Elvis and she would dance to Elvis in-between consents. Like, what is she eating? I got to get me some of that. She was fair adodepend, comical, plrelieveful, and so astonishing. She never did a line reading twice the same way. It’s all fantastic, it’s all fantastic.
I adore it. Paul, you were evidently a co-authorr on this. When you were toiling on this project, did you ever — I unbenevolent, appreciate you shelp, every family has problems with feuds. But was this based on anyskinnyg at all? Have you heard of anyskinnyg appreciate this happening?
Reiser: No, I sort of commenceed backward. I didn’t have a story, I fair knovel that I wanted to originate a movie in Ireland. I repartner wanted to go to a pretty countryside and originate a movie. Which is a silly way to commence, I guess. Then I thought, ‘Why is this New Yorker going to Ireland?’ I joined with it for a couple of years by myself and didn’t get anywhere, so I thought, ‘Let me author it with somebody.’ Somebody begind me to my co-authorr, Wpartner [Marzano-Lesnevich]. I’d never met him, either. We fair hit it off and we commenceed brainstorming, appreciate, ‘What if it’s a family skinnyg?’ Then the idea of it being a lengthy, genereasonable feud that these two endeavor to put an end to. We were appreciate, ‘That’s comical.’ I can see why these two well-intended guys can’t get over themselves.
Certainly, I have, in my prompt family and my lengthened family, I can skinnyk of any number of feuds that I understand have been there for generations. I reassemble my mother once shelp someskinnyg neglective about an aunt of mine, my overweighther’s sister. This was appreciate 1992. She shelp, ‘I’m still disturb about what she shelp.’ I shelp, ‘When did she say that?’ 1947. 1947? Let it go! Oh, my god. But she couldn’t let it go. She was appreciate, ‘I didn’t nurture for what she shelp,’ and it was so noskinnyg. But it was enough for her to hancigo in onto for years.
Yeah. Like you shelp, I guess some people hang on to that benevolent of skinnyg.
Reiser: For some reason, it donates them a reason to dwell.
But it’s a excellent movie about how to remend that and what that sees appreciate. I thought you repartner got at someskinnyg, here. Colm, there is — fordonate me, I’m probably going to pronounce this wrong — but a scene toward the end of the movie where you’re joining Gaelic football.
Meaney: That’s right. Dead on, yeah.
I understand that it’s a authentic skinnyg becaengage I seeed it up. But the movie sent me down a Wikipedia rabbit hole when I was watching it. I was appreciate, ‘Oh, I’ve never heard of this.’ I was the Paul character, the American, who had no idea.
Reiser: I’d never heard of it, either.
Meaney: It is the biggest sport in Ireland. It’s the equivalent of the Super Bowl, the All-Ireland Final. There are 85,000 people at the stadium, it’s huge. It’s an amateur sport, but they toil and train, now, appreciate professionals. There are clubs that join on a drop level, but the top level of the game is actupartner between the counties. Each county in Ireland has a football team and a hurling team. They vie — there’s both a league and a knock-out championship, which is the big one.
Reiser: One of the fantastic Sundays we had there is that Colm structured for us, and we all went, to a Gaelic football game. It was Cork agetst I forget who. But it was fantastic. What’s the name of the arena?
Meaney: Croke Park.
Reiser: Croke Park, which is where Springsteen joined. It’s a huge stadium. The scale is contrastent. It’s a much expansiver field than American football, and I skinnyk a little bit lengthyer. It was fantastic. I’m not repartner acute and was skinnyking I wasn’t going to understand this; you can understand it pretty readily. It was fantastic fun. Then you have a couple of Guinness while you’re watching.
But, originpartner, I had written soccer. I was speaking to an Irish woman and she goes, ‘You understand, you might want to alter it to Gaelic football.’ And as you did, Brandon, I went, ‘What is that? Oh, that sees fantastic!’ And then we put in a line where he elucidates it, so he’s appreciate, ‘It’s appreciate football with basketball and a little wrestling.’
Yeah, the way you elucidateed it in the movie was perfect, and then I was seeing it up for appreciate 30 minutes online after that. Like, oh, wow, this does go convey inant, this is cancigo in. Another part I’m asking about is during all the shenanigans in the movie, one of the skinnygs that your character, Paul, does to Colm comprises some sheep.
Reiser: You originate it sound filthy, the way you say it, Brandon. It sounds a little filthy.
I was asking, were those authentic sheep? And were they filthy to toil with?
Meaney: Yes. Yes and yes.
Reiser: They were authentic, those were union sheep. They were SAG-AFTRA sheep. You understand what, by the way, that’s another cliche where you go, ‘There can’t quite be that many sheep.’ Then everywhere you go in Ireland, they’re fair all over. They’re fair walking apass the streets. I unbenevolent, there were appreciate three or four lines about sheep that I had to consent out becaengage I was appreciate, ‘You understand what, I skinnyk this is fair my obsession.’ There was a talkion at the football scene, Colm, where I was appreciate, ‘What do they do? On a Tuesday, a sheep?’ You say, ‘They fair walk around, they eat, and they shit.’ I go, ‘My nephew straightforwardpartner does the same skinnyg.’ But there were too many sheep jokes.
They’re colored, they’re appreciate decorateed. Some have big red dots, others have big blue dots. I shelp, ‘Is that a Redisclosean and a Democratic?’ No, it’s becaengage that one is neutered and that one is pregnant. They’re labeled for breeding. I’ll increate you, when you eat a lamb chop there, you experience a little bit self-increateed.
I skinnyk I would, too, if there are repartner sheep walking around everywhere appreciate that.
Reiser: Like, I saw this [sheep] this afternoon walking.
