CraveOnline: She’s the protagonist. It’s her fantasy that gets her into trouble. She acts on forbidden fruit.
Rob Cohen: Right, and to act on the forbidden fruit, to make it as potent a concoction as possible, is that he’s a guy who just pound-pound-pound-pound-pound, comes, and says, “Great, let’s watch TV.” Right? [Laughs.]
Right, that would probably suck.
It’s a guy who’s going to…
Cater to her needs.
Cater to her needs, give her all the oral sex she ever wants, really be on his knees in front of her and bring her on a ride with him.
“The key is not through the body, the key is through the spirt and intellect and humor…”
It’s interesting, you look at him and – no spoiler – he’s a maniac, but it looks like whatever is the nature of his psychosis almost has something to do with wanting to be the father, in a way? He wants to be good to her.
Yeah.
That’s what he wants. Part of almost feels like an act, how perfectly things are phrased, a lot of his come ons. He wants to have that effect.
When I was 22 or 23, I was out here and I was working at 20th Century Fox in television, and there was a woman who was a network executive at ABC. She was like 45, and she was overweight and she was not a beauty, but there was something about her wisdom and her fullness that I found so sexy. And I pursued her and pursued her and finally she gave in and I had a fabulous few month affair with her, and I learned so much. I’ll never forget, she said to me one night after I… Can I talk like this?
Sure, go ahead. If you don’t mind that you’re on the record.
Yeah, yeah. You know, I was down on her for hours. I just wanted to hear her have this pleasure, and I came up one night and she said to me, “Can I tell you something? And I don’t want you to take this wrong.”
She said, “Women don’t stay with the man who makes them come the most. Women stay with the men who make them laugh the most.”
Did you start making comedies after that? How did you respond?
Well, I suddenly had an epiphany, right? I’m 23 years old and I’m thinking, “As long as I do all this stuff I’m going to have women love me.” And she was going like, “No, that’s not the key.” The key is not through the body, the key is through the spirt and intellect and humor, and keeping things light.
“When you get a script you have to relate to it…”
I love that The Boy Next Door is based on a true story.
Yeah. It wasn’t based on me…! [Laughs.]
There’s a certain amount of informed experience.
When you get a script you have to relate to it, because you’re just going to go spend a year of suffering and pounding your head and frustrations and all the crap, and all the joy, that comes with making a film. You have to be connected to it. So when I read this, I went, I know why this kid would… Look, if Diane had looked like Jennifer Lopez it would have been even more understandable, but she was so potent to me because she was part Earth Mother, part witch, part lover…
There’s an ineffability to it.
Yeah, and I felt like I was dealing with something significant. You know, the girls I dated at Harvard, the girls and bimbos I was dating here, all felt trivial. But this felt like real life. I got so much from her, but I’ll never forget when she said to me. And Noah’s like that. He sees Claire in her absolute fullness and since every guy is a tad of a predator, right?
Eh, yeah.
He sees her vulnerability and he begins to believe that he is the right man for her, and he could make her happy. He could turn her life around, you know?
