It’s been 16 years since Mike Judge first burst onto the scene with “Beavis and Butt-Head” which debuted on MTV back in 1993.
The writer, actor, producer, director, composer, animator and musician, whose credits also include the cult hit “Office Space,” Idiocracy” and “King of The Hill,” has returned to the fertile territory of the American workplace with "Extract," starring Jason Bateman and Ben Affleck.
The Austin-based filmmaker chats with TheWrap about his home state's film prowess, independence and whether he'll ever make another animated series.
You’ve always valued your independence. How tough was it raising financing for “Extract”?
We went to these guys who have an investment fund -- I don’t know all the details -- and they were fans of my other stuff. We said, ‘We want to keep this low budget,’ and all we had was Jason Bateman attached.
They were interested, and we were all set to go when one of them lost a ton of money in the mortgage crisis, and then Jason was doing “Hancock,” so finally Miramax took on the rest of the budget in exchange for domestic distribution. So it all worked out.
You got a great cast. Do you write specifically with an actor in mind?
Sometimes I do. I began writing this a long time ago, then put it on the shelf, and then later when I saw Jason in “Arrested Development” I thought he’d be perfect, so I did a rewrite imagining him in the role. But everyone else, no. People came and read.
And you got a big star, Ben Affleck.
People forget that he started off in Texas with “Dazed and Confused” and (Richard) Linklater. The long hair really appealed to him.
You also have Gene Simmons, who’s so good as the sleazy lawyer. Any surprises?
I’d actually written in the script, “Joe looks like Gene Simmons, with a ponytail and a suit and tie.” And we read a bunch of people and then thought, why not go with the real thing. I hadn’t realized he was such a big reality star, but he was like “I’ll do anything you want.”
He was a total pro. He’s definitely a bit of a character, but he’s not out of control like some people I’ve met. We had 200 extras from a reform school on “Idiocracy” who were at a screening, and they were stealing stuff from each other.
You had well-publicized differences of opinion with the studio on how to market that film. Do you think studio executives are clueless for the most part?
It’s a weird thing. A lot of them are smart and went to Harvard and so on, but when there’s a lot of money on the line they get very nervous that they’ll get fired, and it just clouds their judgment. I’d probably be the same way.
It’s not an easy job, but hey -- it pays pretty good.
