Lake Bell often uses the creation of a script as a form of therapy. One such therapy session based on her own investigation of the subject of marriage gave her the inspiration to write “I Do … Until I Don’t.” The feature film — also starring Ed Helms, Paul Reiser, Mary Steenburgen and Amber Heard — opened Friday.
“I Do … Until I Don’t” is a light romantic comedy about three couples living in Florida who get talked into being in a documentary about how marriage is a concept that should be abandoned. Bell started writing the script at a point in her life where she was very cynical about marriage. She had become convinced that making a lifelong commitment has become almost too overwhelming.
“It’s a lot to ask couples to say they will stay together until ‘death do us part’ when we are going to live to be 90 years old,” Bell says of her past views on marriage. “If you are going to die at 45, then it’s fine.
“When the concept of marriage was created it was a business contract. And, now it’s become different. I used to be outwardly unromantic with all the mooshy, gooshy stuff and was desperately hoping to be proven wrong about my theories.”
The proof she was waiting for came when she met Scott Campbell. Bell calls meeting Campbell and their marriage in 2013 the “antidote” to all of her negative feelings about romance and marriage. She learned that there is something very brave and bold in making a long-term commitment to someone else.
Bell now sees marriage as a privilege to get to age with someone no matter how long the commitment.
Although Bell started writing the script for “I Do … Until I Don’t” long before she met Campbell, her original idea was to make the story a romantic comedy. She knew that the documentary part was always a way she could put forth the negative feelings she had at the time.
“At the time I was writing it, I was fantasizing about the hope that a long marriage would be possible,” Bell says. “That was a private feeling I wanted to investigate. Then after I met Scott, it became more of an outward feeling that I do believe in forever unions. A marital partnership can be meaningful and robust and essential.”
All Bell has to do is deal with the fact that her husband is sleeping with the producer, writer, director and star of “I Do … Until I Don’t.” That’s because she’s all four.
“This way gives me a lot less people to wrangle,” Bell says.
“I Do … Until I Don’t” is the second time Bell has taken on the multi-hyphenated credit, having done the same with her 2013 feature film directing debut, “In a World.” Before then, Bell had written and directed a couple of short films but most of her credits has been in TV shows like “Boston Legal,” “Miss Match,” “The Practice” and “Surface.” Her work in feature films includes “Over Her Dead Body,” “What Happens in Vegas” and “No Strings Attached.”
Doing it all
Since director Bell has seen all the work that actor Bell has done, it was an easy decision for her to cast herself in “I Do … Until I Don’t.”
“As a director, casting is deeply important to me,” Bell says. “If I wasn’t right for a role, I just wouldn’t put myself in it because it would be bad business for me as a director. But when I happen to be right for something, it’s easier for myself to do it.
“But doing all of it is a tremendous amount of work and you don’t sleep a lot. You have to wear comfortable shoes, have a sense of humor and a lot of faith in yourself at the same time.”
It should not be a surprise that back when Bell was merely the writer on the project, she heard her own voice when she was writing the character that she would eventually play. To be fair, she heard her own voice in every character, even the ones that eventually went to male actors.
Bell is confident that as the director she would not have a problem telling herself that the acting isn’t right or the story needs work or the production is running behind schedule. And she can do all that without having to make a conference call.
That helped because “I Do … Until I Don’t” is really two films in one. The main part is the story of how the three couples are dealing with love and marriage from very different viewpoints. At the same time, Bell had to write and direct the footage being shot as part of the documentary that is the thread that ties all of the stories together. Bell’s skill as a writer and director come through as both parts of the film look completely different.
The key for Bell was preparation.
“In thinking about the personality of the documentary, it was important that it had a very different visual tone but still made sense within the creative parameters of the film,” Bell says. “It was something I worked hard with my (director of photography) to make sure we could not only have a different palate but have a different visual movement and framing to give the documentary.”