Home Performing Arts ‘Up in the Air,’- with Director Jason Reitman.

‘Up in the Air,’- with Director Jason Reitman.

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DIrector Jason Reitman
Jason Reitman

Director Jason Reitman (Juno, Thank You For Smoking) is no stranger to the skies himself. As his producer/father Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters, Junior) explained, “I share none of my son’s devotion to frequent flying and being on an airplane. About a year ago, just before Christmas, he flew to Chicago, picked up a pizza, and came back to Los Angeles. I said, it’s Christmas time, what are you doing? He said, I needed to maintain my airline status. And he did this flight, just to do that.”

And what kind of pizza would drive the younger Reitman to brave O’Hare and LAX in December? “Well, I didn’t do it for the pizza, I did it for the miles. I was on a mileage run in December because I wasn’t going to hit my status, so I flew L.A. to Chicago and back, but I picked up a Giordano’s pizza.” Reitman is serious about travel, and it shows throughout the film. An early shot features Clooney packing his bags with the precision of a game of Tetris. That analogy is Reitman’s, a likeable and energetic speaker who isn’t hard to imagine as the guy seated next to you on Jet Blue with a laptop and a neck pillow.

The movie is based on Walter Kirn‘s novel of the same name. Kirn is a writer who says he finds his inspiration all around him. “The most memorable person I ever sat next to on a plane is the man who inspired this movie. He is not someone whose name I know…. He had no apartment, he had a storage unit, he lived at Marriott hotels, traveled 300 days a year, actually enjoyed airport food, knew the flight attendants all across the country, knew the ticket agents at various airports, knew the security guards, and considered them his family, and I thought- Wow, I’ve discovered a new species of human being here, and a new environment. I felt like a zoologist finding a new monkey in the jungle, and so I was helpless not to write a novel. Now that guy disappeared again, but I obviously remembered him well enough to base a whole book on it.”

Perhaps Kirn should give Ira Glass a call- the This American Life host interviewed a man matching Clooney’s character’s job description in the 2008 episode titled Human Resources.

Official Up in the Air website
George Clooney in Up in the Air
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