Marshall Cook is a man who wears many hats. As you can see from this headline, Cook not only co-wrote the film, but produced, edited, acted, and directed as well. Did I mention he’s only 29? In this interview, Cook discusses trials and tribulations of working both in front and behind the camera, what it was like working with Andy Dick and other comedy greats in the film, and why the film’s subject is so close to home. Enjoy!
MakingOf: ‘Division III: Football’s Finest’ is based on your experiences as a quarterback for 10 years – how much of it was taken from actual experiences you’ve had versus additional fictional storylines?
Marshal Cook: It’s hard to say exactly, but a fair amount. The emotion of my character in the movie is where I was at in college. I definitely didn’t care as much as when I was in high school. I think it was a combination of my disappointing senior year of high school and the overall lack of enthusiasm for football at a liberal arts college (compared to high school where I thought it was the most important thing I could do).
Basically, I pulled situations from high school and college, and then heightened them for the sake of entertainment.
My first pass in college was a 30-yard touchdown on a broken play, and I did get yelled at for it. But I was never compared to Helen Keller (or Helen Yeller), and no coach has ever pulled a knife on me.
Though it’s a pretty aggressive comedy, the movie comes from a lot of real/grounded situations, conversations, themes, emotions, characters.
This is your first feature film and you’re not even 30 yet, how cool is that?
Very cool! Though believe it or not it took what felt like an eternity to get made.
Originally, the Yari Film Group optioned the movie and I was scouting Louisiana to shoot the movie when I was 25. Then it was in and out of option deals until I finally was presented the opportunity to shoot it in Los Angeles for 10 times less money than it was budgeted at. So I directed the movie in March 2010 (when I was 27), edited it when I was 28 and now it is coming out while I can still claim my 20′s.
It feels really good to get this monkey off my back and hopefully the next one will take much less time to get off the shelf…
It has to feel good, but you worked with some of comedy veterans, Andy Dick and Adam Carolla, on the film so it had to have been somewhat intimidating?
Yes, I’m very grateful for everyone’s involvement. Not just these guys but Sasso, Callen, Collins, Fitzsimmons, etc… They all make me laugh.
I think they are all funnier than I am, and that can be intimidating, but it’s not my job to be funny, it’s my job to help create and capture the funny.
I’ve worked with Andy on a few projects prior so I wasn’t intimidated. I was excited to see him bring to life the role I wrote for him. Andy has never been this prominent of a character in a movie, nor has he ever done a role like this, so I appreciated the dedication, excitement and talent he brought to the set every day. Andy was also very collaborative, while at the same time respectful to my role as the director.
Carolla, however was somewhat intimidating for me (at first). I’ve listening to a lot of his podcasts so I’ve heard his rants. I think his brain operates on a faster level than most humans, so me being 20 years younger and telling him what to do just doesn’t seem right even to me. But he was very cool on the set. He came in, made people laugh and was very approachable.
The hardest part about working with people you respect in comedy is making sure you watch them as a “director” and not a “fan” watching a show.
You co-wrote, executive produced, directed, edited, and starred in DIVISION III. This being your first film, how challenging was that?
It was hard, physically and mentally, but still fun. Kind of like playing quarterback, but for 16 hours a day for 22 days. Shooting the football action was especially challenging because I was doing my own stunts and I was exhausted. Plus taking hits in your 20′s feels a lot different than your teens. I was running on pure adrenaline and excitement most of the time. I don’t think I ate the first day of filming. People needed to remind me to take care of myself so I didn’t collapse.
What made it even possible was the support of the cast and crew. Though we were understaffed, the people who were there were tremendously supportive. We didn’t have any time or luxuries, but everyone was able to do their job and have a good time doing it. I always had extra eyes on the monitor (especially when I was in front of the camera). Andy Dick and Paul Henderson (writers) were always watching the scenes and throwing out suggestions on jokes. Tyler Hawes (producer) and Bernie Gewissler (line-producer) also did a good job of hiding me from major challenges or drama so I could just focus on what’s now and what’s next.
Production was like heaven. Post-production was hell. I didn’t want to edit the movie. I had to. We just didn’t have enough money. The editing was actually the hardest, and I did it on a macbook pro (laptop) attached to another monitor, so it was slow. I think I’m a good editor, so I knew I was more than capable, but sitting in front of a monitor for thousands of hours is not what I got into this business to do.
What do you enjoy best – being behind the camera or in front?
It really depends on the scene. I don’t have fun acting “dramatic.” Going to a dark place in my head isn’t fun, it’s work. Some scenes I really enjoyed acting in though. Scenes where there are just 2 actors and simple coverage, where I’m thinking less about the shot than I am the performance, I can enjoy the acting to the point where I’m just present in the scene and not “directing.” Acting is fun! The fact that some actors complain about anything is tragic. I had a lot of fun acting across Andy, Alison Haislip, Bru Muller, Paul Henderson and Greg Fitzsimmons. But if I had to choose, I guess directing is where I get the most fulfillment.
It appears as though films like ‘Major League’ and ‘BASEketball’ had a heavy influence on this film. Were there any films that heavily influenced you during the writing process?
I watched ‘Friday Night Lights,’ ‘Any Given Sunday,’ ‘Necessary Roughness’… Actually, I watched every football movie out there, including the Independent Christian movie “Facing the Giants.” I wanted to get away from clichés but within the sports genre (comedy or drama), that’s hard to avoid. They can’t be good the whole time or bad the whole time, and at the end they either win or lose. I learned very quickly that I wasn’t going to reinvent the wheel, but I didn’t want to directly “spoof” anything either. I think the tone relates more to the first Major League than any other movie because before they call wackier and went back to the minors, Major League was a comedy with dramatic elements, some good sports action and solid acting.
What’s next for you?
Hollywood Answer: I have several projects in numerous stages of development…
I mean, I do, but I don’t know what’s next. I have a few things I want to direct and a few things I want to produce and act in. Nothing I want to direct and star in right away…maybe in the future. I would easily take a job as an actor. What a luxury to be able to just act in a scene that someone else wrote for you and someone else is directing and handing off to someone else do edit and finish… I think a fair amount of them don’t know how good they have it.
‘Division III: Football’s Finest’ is out now on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital Download!
