Genre: Other

Features Mansome is the latest documentary from filmmaker Morgan Spurlock. Morgan's past films include Super Size Me, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden, and this year's Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope. We had an opportunity to chat with Morgan about Mansome, which touches on the male image, and what it means to be a man in today's society. I thought this was a very interesting topic for a documentary, do you mind first sharing how the project came to be? The whole idea for the film came a conversation I ended up having with Will Arnett and Jason Bateman where we were having lunch and we just started talking about the ridiculousness of manscaping, and kind of what has been happening with men today. We laughed about all the things we could put in the film, and after about two hours we just said we have to make this movie. The film is structured around a day at the spa with Jason Bateman and Will Arnett, is that conversation all it took for them to get on board themselves? Yeah, after that lunch they were just like "we would love to make this movie with you". We literally laughed non-stop and thought it would be a fun way to talk about this issue. Talk about what it means to be a man, about masculinity, and do in in a way that would be really accessible. And we knew that with the reach that we all had, we could probably get some cool people to be in the film. You start calling some folks and tell them that you're making a movie with Will and Jason, and you get a lot of people interested. So we were really fortunate. What were your personal views on a man's grooming habits before you shot? For me I was always, and still am, somebody who doesn't spend too much time getting ready or getting dressed up. I usually get up and am out the door in about 20 minutes, so I don't think it changed the way that I do things too much. Although I did get a pedicure as part of this movie, and that was probably one of the greatest things I've ever done in my life. Really? I've never had one! Yeah, it was just, my feet have never felt softer than they did after getting that! Well, I guess if you go your whole life without and then go for it... Yeah, they definitely had a lot of mileage to work with. Given your research throughout this movie, going back 10-15 years what would you say caused this sort of ripple-effect change in the male image? What made men become a little bit more comfortable? You know that's a good question, I think it's a few things. I think that there was a real kind of commodification and industrialization of manhood. Once they saw how much money there was to be made by getting men to buy products, I think that was a big one. I think there was a shift in a lot of the magazines, the Men's Health's, the GQ's, where the men featured in those magazines were men that were much more clean shaven, in great shape and taken care of. Suddenly men had to start dealing with the same types of things that women had been dealing with for decades. These types of body images, of inadequacies, so you have these guys who are suddenly now looking in the mirror and feeling the same thing women have felt for a long time. That "I'm not good enough", "I'm not pretty enough", "I'm not handsome enough", I think that's been a really interesting twist that's happened. Yeah, absolutely. One term, or philosophy, that I kept hearing thrown around in the film was "confidence". That's right. You kind of see different perspectives in the film. One being the Zach Galifianakis-type who's confident enough in his looks to not have to take those extra measures. Or the type of person who is so confident in their looks that they feel comfortable doing those types of things. Yeah, or someone like Ricky [Manchanda, a professional clothing buyer interviewed in the film], who if he doesn't do these things will lose confidence. Ricky takes two-plus hours to get ready before he leaves the house, spend who knows how much money every month on his clothes, his face, on the things he has done. It's incredible. Yeah, and he was comfortable admitting that. Right, and I really have a lot of respect for Ricky for that. That he was willing to go on camera and talk about this type of body image that he's dealing with, this type of imperfection, that he doesn't see himself as being perfect. It all stems from him when he was a kid, of being what he felt was an outcast. Being this young Indian kid growing up in Jersey, he felt like he never fit in, he didn't look like everyone else, and now here he is as a grown man still trying to do everything he can to be what society deems as normal and attractive. You touched on how you guys were able to extend to a lot of different cast members to interview, a lot of whom are famous comedians [Paul Rudd, Adam Carolla, and Judd Apatow are among the many contributors]. What makes you take a more comedic, light-hearted approach not only in this film, but most of your work? I think that one of the mantras that we have here, and that I have believed for a long time, is that if you can make someone laugh, you can make someone listen. I think that through humor you can reach a wider audience, people are able to let their guard down. You start paying more attention when you're laughing, and you don't realize you're actually taking in a lot of important information. What's that saying, "you lure more flies with honey", so we try to make things as sweet as possible, but our honey is actually honey-flavoured spinach. While talking to various people, were there any particular products or grooming habits that caught you off guard? I mean, I think Fresh Balls [a cream that does pretty much exactly what the name implies] is a pretty spectacular product that that I had no idea existed. I remember telling Meri Haitkin, one of the producers on the film, "there's gotta be some great products out there that no one has ever heard of", and we found great ones. We found Mantyhose, and the fact that Mantyhose exists is ridiculous. We found all of this makeup that they're creating now just for men. But when we found Fresh Balls, that was just unbelievable. Meri walked in holding a printout from their website and just said "look what I found!", and the next day we were shooting with them in Las Vegas. It's amazing what they have created, their cornering the market on fresh genetalia [laughs]. Did you try it out yourself? You know, I don't really have that problem. I tried rubbing it on my hands, and it's amazing. It comes out as a cream, so you think it's going to be greasy, but the minute you put it on your hand it turns into almost a talcum powder. You rub it on your hand, and it becomes dry in an instant. So for people who have a problem down there, I can only imagine how great this must be. Well good, I hope they do very well. Yeah [laughs] What kind of documentaries or projects have you been interested in lately? What do you take inspiration from? There are so many filmmakers that I admire and respect. Steve James, who did the film The Interruptors last year, he also did Hoop Dreams , I think he's just an incredible filmmaker. Errol Morris, I'll watch anything he makes. Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky who did Metallica: Some Kind of Monster , they made my favorite movie of all time which is a film called Brother's Keeper . There's a lot of folks that I continue to look up to and admire, so I'm happy that I can get out of bed every day and continue to make movies. I feel incredibly fortunate to continue to do what I do. Absolutely, well you're very good at it. Thanks man, I appreciate it. There was one scene early on in Mansome where you shave off your own moustache, and your son was none too pleased. Did the moustache make a return right after? Oh man, it started growing back the next day. After he made me wear a fake moustache all day long, I went home that night and said I have to grow this out immediately. So within days it was already starting to come back, and he was much happier. One last question, are there any future projects down the line that you can tease us with? Yeah, we're working on a TV series for CNN. It's going to be called Inside Man , it'll be a show where we look at different kinds of social issues and economic problems in America. I'll immerse myself in different kinds of subcultures and explore a different side of America that we normally never get to see. When we made 30 Days a few years ago, there were different people who were the filters, and the great part of this show is that I'll be the filter in every single episode. I'll be the person who immerses himself in the story, in these people's lives. I think people are gonna dig it. Mansome is available to watch on Netflix, or various On Demand services.