A runaway hit at the Sundance Film Festival, where it played to standing ovations, the film strikes a nerve with everyone who's ever been awestruck by how their muddled families seem to make it after all.

While this is their first film, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris have collaborated on 75 projects over the years in film, television, commercials and music videos. They begin their careers creating and directing the pioneering MTV show, The Cutting Edge. They have directed award winning videos and documentaries for musicians such as REM, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane's Addiction, The Smashing Pumpkins, Macy Gray, Janet Jackson, Oasis and The Ramones.  They have also worked extensively in television. They directed episodes of the sketch comedy series, Mr. Show With Bob and David for HBO. And they produced the documentary The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years, for New Line Cinema and Jane's Addiction's GIFT for Warner Bros. Music.
They live in Los Angeles and have three children.

How did this film come about?

Dayton: "The writer, Michael Arndt was the guiding inspiration for us. The script came from life experience and even though outrageous things happen, the goal for all of us was to do something that was truthful and that wasn't out of the realm of possibility. We wanted to keep it in the real world."

Do you think the story does ring true?

Faris: "It felt real to us, we have a family and similarly crazy and absurd situations happen all the time to us."

Dayton: "It was incredibly funny as well as being truthful, I liked the rebellious spirit it has and the fact that every character had a dream, resonated with us. The characters did not feel as though they were simply in service of the story. They seemed to have real   dreams outside the confines of the story and they live in the world we all live in. Also it was not a music video vehicle."

You have been offered a range of films to direct in the past, what was it that stood out about this one?

Faris: "We both felt that we just had to see these characters come to life on the screen and we have never had that powerful feeling before while reading a script. Mostly, we had an overwhelming feeling that we had to make the film."

What would you say the movie is about, how would you describe it?

Faris: "It is hard to describe, we feel it is different but why is it different from every other family road trip movie? It is difficult to put your finger on what makes it bankable as well as unusual but I think it is both of those things. It is a complex messy concept with wonderful characters and that is what we love about it. We have had great feedback so far."

Faris: "What appealed to us about the film is that it is a lot about the value of loss. We are such a winner oriented society, specially in America and we thought 'what about all the people who are not winners, the people who are not super famous and wealthy � in the winner category?'   I feel like this movie celebrates the value of doing things for pleasure and without an end result. We like the fact that there are surprises too, even at the end."

Dayton: "The first line of the film goes: 'there are two kinds of people in this world, winners and losers. ' And we saw that as the framework for the film and then we reveal that you do not have to follow that framework; you do not have to be in the 'contest' in life, in order to be happy. When we talked to the cast, we described this film as a story   about looking at life as a contest, versus looking at life as fun and pleasure. The message is that you can just enjoy life, you can just do what feels good, without judging yourself or letting other people judge you."

Can you talk about each of the talented stars of the film and what they bring to the movie?

Dayton: "I think that in general we chose people who you might not expect to see in these roles. That means that there is a distance between what is expected of these characters and who these actors are and what they have done in the past. So Toni Collette plays an American mom. She can do anything as an actress and we felt that   she would provide a fresh expression of the essence of this kind of modern day mom. She does an amazing job."

Faris: "She has played mothers, but this one is very different. She has a large unwieldy family. Toni has such depth as a person and you get the sense of a really strong person and great integrity. That is what we wanted. We didn't want the mom to appear as though she was about to fall apart at any moment. She is actually the strongest and most together character in the film. You identify with her. She is smart and capable and makes good choices. She supports everybody in the family for who they are. Toni really understands this character. She has a big heart and she is a very open person and in the film, that comes across."

Dayton: "Greg Kinnear is one of those people who can do drama and still has an innate ability to be funny. When we first meet Richard in the film, we do not want the audience to know how successful or unsuccessful he is. There are certain actors who are more predictable. When you see them on screen you say 'ah that is the loser, that is the sad guy'. I will not mention names. But Greg is not like that; he has great energy and versatility. Richard is a classic American entrepreneur. He is struggling to achieve the American dream. Like everyone else he has been told 'if you do what you are supposed to do, you will eventually win.' But the fact is, he might not win. He might dream of being great, but he may not be great � enough. So that was a tough role because he is the least likeable character and has to overcome the most."

Dayton: "Steve Carell is intelligent whatever he does, he brings an intensity and respect for the character."
Faris: "It is never a clich�.
Dayton: "We were very excited about asking him to do this and when we met him, it was so clear that he was eager to do it and that he had great ability. We saw his other movies and we saw him in THE OFFICE (TV show). But meeting him was the clincher. He is really warm, intelligent and down to earth. He doesn't need to be funny every five minutes and he is not a 'needy' comedian." 

Faris:  "Alan Arkin is a hero of ours, he's wonderful. So of course we were thrilled to have him. And   we did a huge search for the little girl's character Olive, before choosing Abigail. We spent two years because we knew we had to get it right. We ended up finding Abigail who is from New York and she just is Olive. She is just what we needed for that part. She is a natural, genuine performer."

Dayton: "Then Paul Dano was someone who we saw very early on and we knew we wanted him for the part, but we were waiting to get the movie 'green lit' and Paul kept getting older and older each year. We would meet him and think to ourselves 'thank goodness he still looks young, he still has pimples'. There was something about him that we loved. He is pretty quiet, he is an introverted kid but there is a lot going on in his head. You look at him and you know that he is an interesting guy."

How significant is the theme of beauty pageants?

Faris: "I think the beauty pageant is the context in which we see Olive's real beauty. We see how innocent and natural she is, she is still a kid unlike the other little girls who have had their childhoods taken away from them in many ways. They are acting like robots. So a beauty pageant is the ultimate contest in which you are being judged for what you look like, rather than who you really are." 
Dayton: "Olive provides such a contrast from the typical little girls who enter these bathing suit competitions, who have been so groomed. Olive provides a contrast because she is a natural little girl. But our goal as filmmakers is to remain neutral. There are issues in this film, but we do not make judgments, we want people to come to their own conclusions."

What are the challenges and pluses of working together as directors? This is your first film though you have worked together for years of course.

Faris: "He talks too much (laughs)."

Dayton: "We have worked together for a long time and we were collaborators first before we became a couple. Having years to build working habits together has been really important and valuable."

Faris: 'It was really just an extension of what we have done before. I think for the movie we were probably more prepared than we   are for most things, because we had spent four years thinking about the film and planning and breaking the scenes down. We would read the scenes together because there are two of us. We could act out everything and play different parts so that we could explore the material fully. We were always on the same page on the set and it worked well."

There were rave reviews for the movie at the Sundance Film Festival, what was that like?

Dayton: "The best thing was that we had finished the film a couple of days before the screening so we had never really seen it with a large audiences before then. And it was so satisfying to hear people laughing a lot and really enjoying the movie. We have been promoting the film across America doing Q and As in every town and people fall forward in their seats laughing, it is so exciting to see the kind of response and so satisfying to see how much they like it."

Do you worry about how well it will do?

Faris: "There was a lot of fear to start with, but we have had such a positive response that we are more relaxed now. For us anyway, we are happy that we got to make the movie that we wanted to make and if it does well � that is great. Now after four years working on it, we are feeling a sense of accomplishment. It is a bit like sending your kid off to college. You have done all you can do to prepare them for the world, then you have to wait and see."

What is next?

Dayton: "We are working right away. We have a Red Hot Chili Peppers video coming out but we are really searching to find our next film. We are taking our time to find the right project."