“It’s Kind of a Funny Story” follows Craig, played by Keir Gilchrist, staying in a psychiatric ward, at what might first appear a quite trivial matter. He has the usual, if not slightly heightened, teenage issues of expectation, parental pressures, love and growing up. But also his volatile reaction to stress, and vivid dreams of suicide. At the ward he befriends Bobby, played by Zach Galafianakis, who guides him to find happiness and love with Noelle.

Neon Tommy reporter Ken Van der Meeren spoke with Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, who are the writers of the movie, and previously collaborated on the indie hit "Half Nelson."

Q: Who are you? How did you meet each other?

Ryan: I grew up in Northern California, Oakland, and moved to New York to study film at NYU where I met Anna, who was going to Columbia (University) but was taking a summer class. At NYU we worked on some short films together, and at that time, I was playing around with the script for "Half Nelson," and we began writing it together and made that movie, which was a critical success and got us an academy award nomination.

Q: Why did you decide to adapt Ned Vizzini’s book ("It’s Kind of a Funny Story")?

Ryan: We had a meeting in Los Angeles, with various producers, and with people for ideas for projects. Kevin Misher (the film’s producer), gave us the book “It’s Kind of a Funny Story," which we really enjoyed and found entertaining and provocative with serious themes, but handled in a very delicate and entertaining way. We thought we could see it as a movie, and wanted to make that kind of movie, so we did.

Q: It must be very difficult writing a comedy, and staying tasteful, when talking about mental illness and suicide, set on a psychiatric ward. What was the hardest part for you about writing this story?

Anna: It is a tricky balance to say the least, when talking about such a serious matter but to also find humor in them and their situation. Vizzini went through a similar experience as the lead character, Craig. And fictionalized his own biographical experience, and really told it so beautifully in his novel that we had to use that as a guide.

Q: What was your inspiration for Craig? What drew you to his character?

Ryan: It’s based on Ned Vizzini’s experience, what we loved about the voice of the character in the book is that he’s just a normal guy going through a hard time, but he’s really open to life; he didn’t let different classes, backgrounds or races affect him in this hospital. We were really moved by the character of Craig.

Q: In the casting process how did you choose Craig (Keir Gilchrist)?

Anna: We knew from the beginning that finding an actor for Craig was going to be our biggest challenge, we really wanted to sign someone who was the right age, someone who had the right feel, someone very natural and authentic, and we didn’t want a 20 year-old or 22 year-old playing a 16 year-old. We looked at a lot of people, and looked at a lot of audition tapes.

Q: The actors went to a ward (for their research), but you didn’t make Keir Gilchrist go to one?

Ryan: We didn’t make anyone do anything, they could do their own research as they choose, and Zach chose to go to one, and he played the character Bobby, who has been in and out of these places for years, so he should know a little how they are run. In Keir’s case as Craig, it is his first time in a place like this so technically the film didn’t prevent him from going to one but it seemed to make sense that this should all feel new and strange to him.

Q: Zach is the standout star of the film as Bobby, who quotes Bob Dylan's line, "if you aren’t busy being born, you're busy dying." How much of a coup was it to get Zach on board?

Anna: We were really excited that Zach was interested in the role. He read the screenplay to our previous film, "Half Nelson," and really liked it. But when he first showed some interest, we had only seen him in the "Hangover," and he played a fresh and out there character. We didn’t necessarily see the connection on how we wanted Bobby to be played. But looking back at a lot of his stand-up comedy, he had such an interesting dark sense of humor and when we met him in person, he was so charming and so smart, and so grounded and down to earth, that we thought if this guy could put in some of himself into the character of Bobby and combine it with his amazing comedy acting then we could do something really special and electric. And so we got really excited about the possibility of that, and the way Zach felt on really wanting to do something different.

Q: Bobby is a real mentor for Craig, how important was it to have chemistry between those two actors? Did they know each other before?

Ryan: They didn’t know each other before we started shooting, Zach is a very busy guy, he was just coming off a movie. We had been shooting a few weeks with the film when Zach came on board, he provided a new breath of fresh air and a new burst of energy from everybody. What it comes down to with their chemistry is that they both are really nice and kind, and smart people, when you get people that really respect each other, who can do good work but also have a good time, that leads to on set chemistry

Q: The love triangle is the fictional part of the story (Ned Vizzini made this part up), how difficult was it to write without making the story look fictional.

Anna: It was something that Ned fictionalized in his book, so it existed in the material. In the material that we were adapting, I don’t have that much experience being a teenage boy but Ryan really did. He could really relate to that kind of time and going after the girl, and brought a lot of his own memories in being a teenage boy into that process. I remember in one scene when editing, that he’s checking out his best friend’s cleavage and Ryan said let's add some sci-fi music like he’s really being hypnotized by this girl’s cleavage. It’s not something I got at first, but it ended up being really funny, and getting some essence of what it really means to be a teenage boy.

Q: There’s a line Craig says, "I’d figured you’ll tell me when you are ready" about your problems. Why didn’t you go deeper into the character of Noelle?

Ryan: When you have a 90-minute movie with a bunch of characters, you really want to focus and you want to pick a few. Yeah Noelle is one of the most important relationships Craig has in the movie but so is Bobby, and I thought the tone of the movie leans comedic and we didn’t have time to get into the seriousness of how complicated those issues are for Noelle’s character. I think if we spent more time on it, it would become a different movie.

Anna: We didn’t want to try and explain why everyone was there, we wanted the actors to work on their back stories and histories, and hope that would shine through in a more authentic way.

Q: What is the meaning of the film’s ending? What are you trying to convey?

Anna: This is a kid who went into this situation feeling life was hopeless and wasn’t worth living. He met a lot of people who are going through their own things and it really changed his perspective on his own problems. And he started to realize there was a lot to appreciate and he left the movie really excited to appreciate that. He doesn’t feel all better and doesn’t feel everything is going to be smooth. But he feels energized to go out and live his life.

Q: Why did you use set-pieces, such as the musical scene?

Ryan: In the book there is a reference to a musical sequence, but it was nowhere near as outrageous as ours. We just thought it was a unique opportunity to get in Craig’s head and have a lot of fun. And have one of the great all-time rock and roll songs play, and let the actors have a lot of fun with it.

Q: What makes this movie Oscar worthy?

Ryan: It’s ultimately not up to us to decide, if there was justice then Zach would get a nomination, but what makes something Oscar worthy is beyond my expertise.

Read the movie’s review here.

To reach reporter Ken Van der Meeren, click here.