Making the press rounds to support his directorial debut, “Poolman” Chris Pine stopped by Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast and tackled the toxic reviews that have greeted his film.
I had reported about the disastrous reactions for “Poolman” at TIFF. Toronto audiences are fairly forgiving, and they’re known to, sometimes, if they have to, champion mediocrity. Not here. There were plenty of walkouts at the premiere and soon a brutal review, from IndieWire’s Siddhant Adlakha, went viral claiming it was “one of the worst movies to ever play at a major festival, putting Pine’s position as Hollywood’s best Chris in serious jeopardy.”
Pine Tells Horowitz that “the film came out at Toronto and just got fucking panned…I tried to make a joyful film,” Pine continued. “With so much joy behind it, to then be met with a fusillade of not-so-joyous stuff…the cognitive dissonance there was quite something.
Pine says that it went as far as him talking to his therapist about how he wishes to mentally disown all of the negative reviews, but he stressed: “I fully own the deep hurt of that process.”
“Poolman”, which stars Pine, has him playing a pool cleaner in Los Angeles who uncovers a water heist conspiracy. The cast Pine has assembled here is actually impressive — Annette Benning, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Danny DeVito and Ray Wise.
Despite the vitriol, Pine says that, ultimately, after a brief moment of second-guessing himself, he’s not only at peace with himself, but also with the film which he is proud of:
I watched my film. After the reviews in Toronto I was like maybe I did make a pile of shit. I went back and watched it. I fucking love this film. I love this film so much.
The film, a riff on “Chinatown” and “Under the Silver Lake,” has been compared to the L.A. neo-noir works made famous in Raymond Chandler’s novels. Here’s the trailer
Last I checked, the film was at 20% on Rotten Tomatoes, and 25 on Metacritic. Apparently the idea for this movie started off as a joke between Pine and his co-writer Ian, while filming ”Wonder Woman 1984.” Now the film itself is a running joke, but probably not the one Pine intended.
Regardless of the toxic reactions his film has received, Pine says he’s found peace of mind and sees it as a glass half full kind of moment. In fact, he confirms that he’s already set his eyes in directing another film. Good for him.
It’s ultimately been the best thing that’s ever happened to me. It’s forced me to double down on joy and really double down on what I love most about my job, which you kind of forget.
Edward Berger seems to have settled on what comes next. His Lance Armstrong biopic, starring Austin Butler, is now holding casting calls, with production eyed for January.