The recently released CNN documentary I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not seeks to provide insight into the psyche of the eponymous actor and comedian. With that in mind, director Marina Zenovich had a major task set before her. Part of that process, of course, also meant that Zenovich would have to interview the now-82-year-old Chase. Zenovich recently opened up about that experience and, as she put it, that wasn’t “freakin’ easy.” However, that level of difficulty isn’t due to the reason some fans might be thinking.
Over the course of Chase’s legendary career, he’s gained a reputation for being “difficult,” as he apparently even irritated his Saturday Night Live co-stars. Zenovich also got a taste of the Vacation star’s occasionally blunt way of speaking while making the doc. Early on in the production, Chase even muses that the filmmaker isn’t “bright enough” to figure him out. Zenovich spoke to USA Today and revealed an expletive Chase threw her way, and she explained one particularly tiring aspect of it all:
He called me a bitch at a certain point, [but] everything with him is a joke. I have to have a thick skin, but when it’s over, I’m like eating a burger and fries because it’s not easy! It’s not freakin’ easy! You’re just completely depleted… You’re on, so it’s exhausting! You have to turn them on.
As someone who’s interviewed a fair amount of people at this point, I can understand why she found the interview to be “exhausting.” The Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic helmer isn’t referring so much to Chase’s demeanor here but more so to the fact that as an interviewer, she needs to conjure up enough energy to get him going. Such vivaciousness (among other things) is crucial for a great interview. At the same time, Zenovich also had to take part in a bit of a “dance” to get answers from her main interviewee:
So that’s why he’s opening up, but he’s deflecting and trying to shut down because he’s protecting himself, but he wants to open up! So it’s this dance, and that’s the beauty of making these films. It’s just trying to get at the humanity and trying to understand people. But it is hard.
Through I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not, Zenovich manages to cover a lot of ground. Her documentary chronicles Chase’s formative years, including the abuse he suffered at the hands of mother and stepfather. Of course, it also delves deep into his career, from his rise as one of the OG stars of SNL to his unceremonious exit from Community. Zenovich also recently explained how she had a hard time getting anyone from the NBC sitcom to be interviewed for the doc. (Eventually, series director Jay Chandrasekhar agreed to participate.)
In the end, Marina Zenovich does indeed believe she was able to get to the core of Chevy Chase (who also recently drew the ire of SNL alum Terry Sweeney). The seasoned filmmaker holds that belief, in great part, because she was able to dive into the comic’s backstory and unpack his personal trauma. I honestly can’t imagine speaking about such delicate subject matter with any celebrity let alone the Fletch star. So kudos to Zenovich for getting Chase to open up, at least to some degree.
