Director Chandler Levack on Netflix’s ‘Roommates’ and Bringing Back the Big 90s Comedy

Filmmaker Chandler Levack saw the release of two of her films last Friday. One of which is Roommates, a both genuine and ridiculous Adam Sandler-produced comedy that’s now the no. 1 movie on Netflix. Levack’s other film, Mile End Kicks, opened in theaters to critical acclaim.

Ridley Scott and Steven Spielberg may have released two films in a year, but have they ever pulled off a Levack, releasing two movies on the same day? No, they have not.

Both movies feature an insightful playfulness into growing pains and disappointments along the way of self-discovery. Recently, Levack – a former music journalist – spoke with What’s On Netflix about making her two films.

Do you see any parallels between the two movies you have out now?

They couldn’t be more different. Mile End Kicks, I’ve been working on that film for 10 years. It’s a very personal story that’s based on my experiences as a young woman in music journalism. And then Roommates came together from beginning to end in 10 months, from when I first got signed on as a director to it literally coming out. It’s wild.

I guess if there are some parallels, maybe of socially awkward brunettes that are struggling with their identity at a young age. Finding their people, learning who they are, standing up for themselves.

How did you connect with the Roommates script on a personal level?

I think Jimmy and Cerea, the writers, are geniuses and come from SNL. They wrote the Domingo sketch and just have this wonderful voice. It’s funny, truthful, relatable and very Gen Z, but also, just hard-hitting jokes.

There was a period in the ’80s and ’90s when you had female directors like Amy Heckerling and Penny Marshall and Tamra Davis, who made Billy Madison. Women were really allowed to make these big-budget studio comedies. Not only are those movies rarely getting made now, but very rarely do women get to do those stories. So, it was a real honor to get to collaborate with Adam. He had a female director do Billy Madison, and now, we’re here.

What about Gary Marshall and Amy Heckerling influenced you on Roommates?

There’s a certain level of commercial gloss and production value to those films, but also, a raw honesty to them. There’s the ability to hit jokes hard and commit to them and do big set pieces. My first feature that Adam saw, I Like Movies, which was a tiny film that was mostly shot in a video store. And then this, all of a sudden, I’m lighting shit on fire and doing pyrotechnics and crazy crane shots and 300 extras at spring break. And so, I feel like he saw a potential in me as a filmmaker that I didn’t even know that I had. Because Adam was like, “Oh yeah, you can do this,” I was like, “Okay, maybe I can.”

How else did you and Adam Sandler connect creatively?

What was so nice was that Adam really gave me a seat at the table in terms of giving my creative input and allowing my instincts as a filmmaker to inform the script and the direction and casting and music, everything. He really trusted me.

He just loves his daughters too. I don’t know a lot of people, comedy icons of his stature level, that are making movies for young women and actively working with emerging female filmmakers, like he is with Happy Madison. He can do anything that he wants with his career, but he’s really invested in making films that his daughters can see themselves in and can relate to, that they find funny, emotional, and complex, that reflect their experiences.

Sadie was 19 and finishing her first year of NYU as we were about to shoot the movie. So, she was kind of literally living the movie as we were about to make it. It was really interesting, having a star that was really having the same experience as the main character.

You tell that story, but at the same time, you have a delivery robot as a supporting character as well.

I keep saying it’s somewhere between Lady Bird and Hubie Halloween. It was just a joy to make a hard comedy. I don’t feel like those movies get made anymore – really funny, audacious, crazy comedies that are going for it. To do that about young women in college, that’s so fun and so cool.

You come from a music journalism background. Does music shape at all how you see comedic timing?

It was so funny because I think Adam has such a musical background too. So he’d be like, “No, it needs one more frame.” And then I’d be like, “I think it needs three more frames.” He’s like, “Okay, do.” We would kind of figure it out together, but his sensibility is so strong, he can sort of play and edit a piece of music and his sensibility of rhythm and timing of a joke is really incredible.

And then we also did a lot of test screenings where we would film the audience and just see their reactions to things and see what they laughed at. I’d be like, “Oh, I think they’re not laughing because they’re confused.” And then we would recut something and then the second time we would do it, it would get a bigger laugh.

When you work on a film like Roommates or Mile End Kicks, how much is music influencing you?

I’m deeply obsessed with music. With Mile End Kicks especially, there’s a lot of songs that were written into the script from the very first draft that I was very, very lucky to get to feature in the movie. With Roommates, we wanted a great soundtrack of young music that our audience would relate to, that young people would think was good. And so, Sadie has an additional music supervisor credit because she made a really long playlist of songs that she loved. A lot of effective needle drops came from Sadie’s playlist.

There’s the wonderful song when she’s coming back from spring break and she’s really upset and emotional – it’s like a Blood Orange song with a million guest people on it. I was really excited about the UGK song when they first went into the frat party with all the Frisbees. I was like, “It has to be ‘International Players Anthem.’” That’s one of my favorite songs of all time. To get to feature it in a movie was a real delight. I love the Alex G song that we have in the movie.

Your other film, Mile End Kicks, features a very loving portrait of Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill.” An amazon album. What does it mean to you?

It was everything to me. I listened to that album for the first time when I was eight years old in my mom’s minivan and life was like, “Whoa, this is a prophecy from the future. This album was going to teach me what it means to be a woman or something.” I think it made me love music. It made me realize that I just love music.

It was always Alanis from the very beginning, but as the movie evolved, and the more I found out about Alanis’s backstory before Jagged Little Pill, the more I was heartbroken to discover that she was really taken advantage of by her male producers and collaborators.

I think everyone thinks of Alanis as fully formed, fully self-actualized, but Jagged Little Pill is really her understanding of what some traumatic events did. She’s tapping into this sense of rage. emotion, and really reclaiming her truth. And so, the more I found out about Alanis, it really helped me write a better script and a better character arc.

By the way, two movies on the same day is such an achievement. Congratulations.

Thank you.

What’s that like to experience?

I don’t know. I’ve been doing research and I think I might be the first person that it’s happened to, and I don’t understand why, but it’s really exciting.

Do you already have plans for celebrating opening day?

I haven’t even thought about it, to be honest. I know I’m going to do some Q & As at the AMC Burbank with Barbie [Ferreira], which is a total dream come true. I have no idea. Maybe I will get a frappuccino.

That’s a good way to celebrate. You’re admittedly obsessed with coming-of-age movies. What interests you in those stories?

When I was in middle school, I was so obsessed with popular culture, I wanted to watch every single teen movie I could get my hands on. Sleepovers where we would watch 10 Things I Hate About You, Never Been Kissed, and The Wedding Singer. I was obsessed with Dawson’s Creek from middle school to high school. And then I discovered movies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Say Anything, Pretty in Pink, and The Breakfast Club. It was just any movie about being a teenager that could show me what that was.

I remember watching Clueless with my grandparents. I begged them to let me watch it when I was seven years old. I remember there was all this drug use and stuff and I had to pretend to be shocked, but I was like, “I’m going to watch this 7,000 times.”

I also remember seeing the cover of Welcome to the Dollhouse in a video store and thinking it would be a cool teen movie.

Wow.

And then I was completely traumatized by it. I was like, “Am I Dawn Wiener? Is this what my life is going to be like?” So, it was a whole collision of different things.

Is it exciting to you that this weekend some teenagers out there will have the experience that you had with Roommates?

It’s mind-blowing to me. I mean, obviously I named my first film I Like Movies. I really love movies, and being a teenager was all about worshiping pop culture and wanting to watch every coming-of-age movie I could find. If there are any teenagers that watch Roommates and relate to it, that makes me so happy and emotional. I know how powerful that can be. I’d love to see people in college watching it with their roommates. That would make me really happy, too.