Alexander the Great: From 'Seinfeld' Star to Big-Time Director

Former "Seinfeld" co-star Jason Alexander just directed his first feature film, Just Looking, which opens this Friday. Just Looking tells the story of 14 year- old Lenny Levine (Ryan Merriman) who embarks on a summer vacation in Queens in 1955 with one goal on his mind: to see people have sex. The Crimson recently participated in a roundtable discussion with Alexander and with the film's writer, Marshall Karp.

The Harvard Crimson: Jason, how close to home does this film hit for you?

Jason Alexander: Not all that close. I knew the neighborhood, I knew the people they were my grandparents and my aunts. I didn't grow up with a Lenny and I had an attitude in some ways of being Lenny-ish as a kid, but it was not my heart and soul. But the element of the film that really got me is the father/son story that lies underneath. It's not so much Lenny looking for sexuality as Lenny looking for himself as a man.

THC: How was the casting process? The film deals with a touchy subjects-were the kids embarrassed about it?

JA: The girl who plays Alice had a big crush on Ryan, so she was all a twitter about their rather lengthy kiss. I don't think she had ever kissed a boy for that long, and I tortured them. I actually had more film than I needed, and I just let them keep going.

Ryan is the only story that is miraculous because we needed a Jewish kid from New York. We were in New York with a very low budget and we were looking at Jewish and Italian kids, anybody that had an ethnic look. But we couldn't find a kid that could act or was funny. Ryan is from Oklahoma and is not a Jew. We got avideotape from him early in the process and we didn't even open it. But then we had five days left and we didn't have a Lenny. So almost at the choke we said open the tape from Oklahoma. We quickly flew him out. He was brilliant, but he wasn't the character. So we crossed our fingers and threw him in with a dialect coach and 24 hours later the coach called and said "he's got it." Ryan is an idiot-savant, except he's not an idiot. He just knows how to act.

THC: Marshall, where did the idea stem from?

Marshall Karp: Actually it was during the writer's strike of 1988, when we couldn't write for money. So I could write for love and passion. I hadn't really written a feature that I would show to anybody. I'd written a lot of television. The idea comes from character, and remembering what it was like to be that age and how different it is nowadays. I thought there might be something interesting in a kind of timeless story about a boy who is discovering his sexuality in a time when once you discover it, what are you gonna do with it?

THC: This movie deals with the sexual growth of these kids with a lot of innocence. They talk a lot about sex but, as you said, they never contemplate actually doing it. Do you think this accurately portrays the community depicted in the film? Is it something you think might be a problem for kids in relating to this movie now?

MK: I think it very accurately portrays the time. Kids at 14 didn't do it. Back then, they didn't give out condoms in third grade. I think kids will look at this film today and understand that it is of another era. But they will also be able to relate because they're not necessarily any more sophisticated or emotionally equipped to handle it.

JA: Here's what it was, when we knew we were onto something. At the end of the film, when Lenny has read the sex book and he's showing off and he mispronounces fellatio and cunnilingus that's Ryan mispronouncing those words. We wrote it the right way, he just didn't say it the right way. And I said to the crew, "If anyone corrects him, I'll kill them."

MK: He did it in auditions and we said, "Oh my God, the kid is rewriting the script and it's better. It's funnier."

JA: By the way, the other kids on the set didn't go "Hey Ryan, it's fellatio!" They didn't know either, and these are pretty hip New York kids. They'd seen the pictures and they knew what it all looks like but they hadn't done it. And there's a quantum leap between knowing and being there. So for the kids that see the movie that are in that position, I think they get it.

MK: I still say cungoolius. After Ryan, I can't even remember the real word.

JA: Cungoolius is a much cooler word.

THC: Jason, how was the transition from acting to directing? Was it difficult?

JA: No, because I don't know anything about film directing. So I actually come at it exactly the same way I come at acting. I'm just doing it for a hundred people instead of one. The only thing I keep learning is where to put the camera. And to me, it's just guesswork. I come at it from a stage background and I go "What's the best seat in the house for this?" The camera for me becomes a dance partner to the actors. If I move a camera, it's because a character's inner life is moving the camera. The actor can give you the external, and hopefully the camera will give you the internal.

THC: How does directing fit in to your career?

JA: It fits in where it fits in. If somebody said you could be the most successful director in the world but you could never act again, I'd say "Pass!" But I gave up trying to orchestrate a career.

THC: Any projects on the horizon?

JA: The only thing I can tell you has to happen is that I know I'll pull a Michael Richards and do my own show, probably next fall.

THC: Do you have words of encouragement for Michael?

JA: Oh man, I'm watching Michael like a hawk. I want to see how beaten up he gets. I want to see how the networks treat him, how the audience treats him. Are they more forgiving because of "Seinfeld" or are they less forgiving because of "Seinfeld?" His idea is really good. I can watch Michael drink a glass of water and it's funny. So we'll see. I'm certainly glad it's him and not me.

THC: How much control do you have in developing that concept [for your show]?

JA: They can't make me do a show I don't want to do. It's the only place I can say that I'm king of the mountain. Anything that smells like "Seinfeld," they think will stink again. And they are probably more than willing to roll the dice. But, and this is probably also the only place you'll hear me say this-I'm doing another sitcom but not because I'm dying to create another half hour of television. I do it because it's a great enabler for other things I would like to do as well and because it's a great job to have as a father. So given that as the goal of its success, I will give the audience exactly what they want short of a George clone. But if anyone asks, will we see shades of George? You bet your ass you will.