‘You’re Not Bright Enough’: Chevy Chase’s Snark Sets Tone For New Documentary

Marina Zenovich, the director of the upcoming documentary “I’m Chevy Chase, and You’re Not,” said she felt relieved when the actor made a snarky remark early in filming.

Zenovich told Variety that she wanted to explore Chase’s notoriously bad reputation in Hollywood, noting that multiple colleagues have gone on record describing him as mean and hard to work with. She said an early exchange with Chase gave her the opening she was looking for.

At the very beginning of the documentary, Zenovich can be heard off-camera telling Chase, “I’m just trying to figure you out.”

“No sh**. It’s not going to be easy for you,” he replied.

“Why is it not going to be easy?” Zenovich asked.

“You’re not bright enough. How’s that?” Chase said, then smiled. 

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“I’d never done an interview where someone was so rude to me,” Zenovich told Variety, saying she was relieved he behaved that way. “But I was so worried going into that first interview with him about how I was going to say to him, like, ‘Everyone thinks you’re an a**hole.’ I thought if I did, he would throw me out of his house. So the minute he said that to me, I had a way in.”

“I wanted to figure out who was the real person behind the conflicted, guarded and somewhat fragile man we see on camera,” the director continued. “What was behind the surface of his slightly intimidating superstar bravado? Was there any self-awareness there? Having interviewed Chevy at length, I have to say that yes, it’s all there – and a whole lot of pain and heartache too.”

While many of Chase’s co-stars refused to be interviewed for the documentary, including almost everyone involved in the NBC sitcom “Community,” several shared insights. Zenovich spoke with the actor’s friends and family, as well as celebrities including Mike Ovitz, Dan Aykroyd, Beverly D’Angelo, Goldie Hawn, Lorne Michaels, Ryan Reynolds, and Martin Short.

The documentary airs on CNN on January 1. It explores Chase’s career, beginning with his breakout role on “Saturday Night Live” and on through three failed marriages and drug addiction.