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# Poll raises the bar mighty high
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/poll-raises-the-bar-mighty-high/
- Published: 2008-02-22T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T18:38:56.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Entertainment, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless

*By TAYLOR VAN ARSDALE Special to the Daily Press*

Like most first time directors Jon Poll is concerned about how his film, “Charlie Bartlett” will be received, if it will find the right audience and garner success — but he needn’t be. His debut is so darn good the only dilemma imaginable is that he has unwittingly raised the expectation bar for whatever he does next.

When we speak, Poll is in Berkeley; Friday he’ll be at the Boulder Film Festival, yesterday it was Arizona State, the day before — Atlanta, jumping from town to town in a series of endless sneak previews and Q-and- A’s promoting “Bartlett” in what might be likened to a rock star’s nationwide tour. But, Poll aptly points out, “Rock stars aren’t getting up at 5 a.m. to catch a plane to the next city — sleeping three or four hours a night to talk to 20 people about a film.”

Poll’s an affable, extremely humble and funny man, who diligently spent his formative years gaining insight into his chosen field. In high school, when most kids, like the characters in his film, are trying to find themselves, Poll knew he would pursue a career in visual arts. Attending the Putney School in Vermont, which he fondly labels “a communist work school” Poll spent his 10-day “project week” taking photographs. Later, at USC Cinema he wrote, directed and produced an eight-minute short, “The Tree” which he blithely says, “... is about a homeless guy who lives in a tree that kills him.” The piece deals with themes of humanity versus nature; the tree doesn’t actually kill the transient until he defaces it. Poll’s short won numerous awards in seven countries including the Grand Prize at the Wattrelos International Film Festival in France.

Upon graduation, Poll worked for “a lousy low rent movie trailer company” whose owners, more interested in playing poker, allowed Poll to edit as many trailers as he wanted and thus provided him with invaluable, hands-on experience. At 27 he got his big break when he was bumped up to editor on the feature “Weeds” (directed by John D. Hancock and starring Nick Nolte). From there, he says, “I shifted my focus to editing full time as it was much closer to directing,” parlaying his skills to work with Danny DeVito, Peter Weir, Mike Myers, Jay Roach, and Judd Apatow, and modestly comments, “Hopefully I picked up a thing or two.”

Poll was working as an editor on Roach’s “Meet the Fockers,” when Roach noticed he was also functioning as a producer and graciously brought him on to co-produce. Poll also directed second unit, telling me, “I cast all the babies, trained them, and got to know the executives at Universal during the previews of the hundred or so visual effects shots.” He was then offered to executive produce Judd Apatow’s “40 Year Old Virgin,” which Poll likens to “big time film school.” He fielded studio calls, hung out on the set and really got a sense and taste for the best directing scenarios possible, which inspired him further.

After Roach pulled out of “Bartlett” he introduced Poll to David Permut and Barron Kidd, the producers who controlled the rights. “This was a movie that (Roach) was potentially going to direct and he sent it to me,” and Poll notes, “I owe Jay a lot.” Still, Poll had to pitch his take to the producers as any other potential candidate.

“Most of the time directors walk into pitch meetings and wing it,” says Poll, who had seven pages of notes, approaching it, “like a ‘70s movie with a little more lightness and warmth and heart.”

After meeting screenwriter Gustin Nash, who also responded to Poll’s enthusiasm and take, he thought they’d be well on their way, but “Bartlett” was turned down by every studio, with the resounding note, “Are you out of your mind? It’s an R-rated teen film with kids giving other kids drugs!”

For Poll, “Bartlett” was more than teen angst and drug use. He loves edgy films that deal with intense subject matter but laments, “Because of the way they’re made, and paced, they never reach a wide audience.” He also admits to enjoying blockbuster Hollywood productions, laughing in a theater filled with 400 people but he says, “Those types of films don’t leave you with a lot to talk about.” His goal with “Bartlett” was “to make a movie that straddled the fence a bit... something well-crafted, well-paced” while giving the viewer something to talk about on the way home.

While Poll is quick to point out that Nash wrote every word of the script, there are many scenes that were not in the original draft — like the nicotine patch sequence.

“That scene was very controversial … and many people wanted us to re-shoot,” says Poll, who thankfully fought against the changes. He wanted to incorporate a voyeuristic scene from Downey’s point of view that illustrated his mistrust for his daughter. Poll recounted some of his own memories to Nash, who then embellished and crafted a new scene. The biggest changes Poll brought to the film was “making it more feminine, focusing on the triangle between Downey’s character, Denning’s character and Yeltsin’s character.”

Up next... Poll read 150 scripts before finding Dylan Sellers’, “Something Borrowed” a broad sex-farce-body-swapping comedy that has the three elements that appeal to Poll, “humor, heart and something on its mind.” Currently in negotiations with Anna Farris to play the lead, Poll says he laughed his, butt off reading about a young 20-something couple on the verge of their nuptials that switch bodies. Several scenes sealed the deal for him, one in particular; the couple, now in each other’s bodies, are making out and things are getting hot and heavy when the male lead breaks away saying, “OK, OK, stop! There’s gotta be some ground rules here. There’s no way I’m sucking my own …” You guys can fill in the blank. In the meantime, be sure to check out one of the funniest, quirky, offbeat and poignant films I’ve seen in years … “Charlie Bartlett.”

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/022208-20_01.jpg)

UP AND GOING: Director Jon Poll (left) with Robert Downey Jr. (Photo: Photo courtesy Kimmel Entertainment)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 22, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/022208.pdf?ref=smdp.com)