Current:Home > MarketsWill Sage Astor-In 'Dicks: The Musical' 'SNL' star Bowen Yang embraces a 'petty, messy' God -Stellar Wealth Sphere
Will Sage Astor-In 'Dicks: The Musical' 'SNL' star Bowen Yang embraces a 'petty, messy' God
Rekubit Exchange View
Date:2025-04-10 01:09:51
The Will Sage Astornext great cult classic movie might be this one, with identical twins, an eccentric mom and dad, a domineering lady boss, a flying vagina, sewer creatures and the Almighty.
“Dicks: The Musical” (in theaters nationwide Friday) is a polarizing, saucy and R-rated spin on “The Parent Trap” with F-bombs galore. It's "offensive, but also absurd and broad and silly,” says Josh Sharp, who writes and co-stars with Aaron Jackson. “Movies like this don't get made anymore."
Director Larry Charles’ musical comedy centers on Craig (Sharp) and Trevor (Jackson), two macho vacuum-parts salesmen who learn they’re long-lost brothers and seek to reunite their divorced parents, adventurously gay Harris (Nathan Lane) and tchotchke-collecting oddball Evelyn (Megan Mullally). Rapper Megan Thee Stallion plays Gloria, the guys' money-loving manager, and “Saturday Night Live” regular Bowen Yang plays the narrator, God himself, who plans to include what Sharp calls “this insane story” in the Bible. “It's just sort of the dumbest thing we could do.”
Are you prepared for “Dicks”? Here’s what to expect from the year’s most bizarre musical:
‘Dicks’ originated in the New York comedy scene
Sharp and Jackson’s original two-man, 30-minute, way-off-Broadway show was born at Manhattan’s Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in the 2010s. Back then, “the stakes were low,” Sharp says. "It really felt like we were (messing) around and nobody was watching.” Yang adds that he saw it “multiple times" and the show "became this touch point for a lot of queer comedians in the city.”
Jackson says they lost money on the show but by turning it into a movie – a much bigger lift – “we did get paid.” Sharp jokes: “I bought a boat for each of my six beautiful daughters.”
Bowen Yang plays the God of ‘Dicks’ as ‘a petulant gay guy in hot pants’
Bowen’s God is an omniscient narrator who ultimately becomes a part of the story, has several "fabulous" costume changes and is part of the big finale. “He’s just kind of observing, going 'That was fierce. Let's keep going,’” Yang says. Seeking an addendum to the Bible is “such a clever, simple, elegant way to make his presence have some stake to it.”
Yang definitely had a different take on the role, in contrast to actors like Morgan Freeman and Alanis Morissette. “There's an interpretation of God that people are afraid to sort of externalize, where he is this petty, messy deity," Yang says. "If he doesn't like something, then he'll flood the Earth or make it rain frogs, these really campy, gay things. And so, of course, he's this petulant gay guy in hot pants."
Bowen Yang on 'SNL':'Fuel up, do more' to fight racism against Asian Americans
Look out, Hollywood, here come the Sewer Boys
Everything from “The Rocky Horror Show” and “Book of Mormon” to old Gene Kelly musicals were influences. But Jackson looked to “Gremlins,” “The Dark Crystal” and “those ‘80s movies with very handheld, tactile, nasty little creatures” as inspirations for the Sewer Boys, Harris' little live-in beasties. That brought a throwaway joke in the original show to diaper-clad life in the film.
Sharp recalls when Lane first read in the script that their names were, inexplicably, Backpack and Whisper, he laughed for five minutes straight at the absurdity. “If you think that's funny, this film is for you. And if you don't, it's not for you,” Sharp says. “Go home and watch 12 hours of ‘Blue Bloods.’”
Megan Thee Stallion ruling the Oscar stage? 'Dicks' could make that happen
The conversation gets rowdy when awards season comes up: “Best actress for me and Aaron?” Sharp asks. “Do the Oscars still do Best Gay Guy Comedy Duo?” Yet “Dicks” has a legitimate shot at the best original song with its catchy, often ribald show tunes. Sharp wouldn’t mind seeing a nomination for Lane and Mullally’s heartfelt ballad “Lonely,” “which was a joke to us that in the middle of this gonzo film, you'd sort of have three minutes where you're like, ‘Oh my God, I sort of care for these people.’”
But we're all for potentially seeing Megan Thee Stallion strut and twerk at the Oscars doing her movie showstopper, “Out-Alpha the Alpha.” “She was very down to clown,” Sharp adds. “She came in the first day when we met her and she was like, ‘You know, people know I'm dirty, but y'all are dirty.’ ”
Musical creators hope 'Dicks' lets people find their 'tribe'
As "Dicks" goes wide, chances are conservatives and religious folk won't love the lyrics of the finale number "All Love Is Love" – especially with the use of a certain gay slur in the chorus. What Jackson's more interested in is "if it will make $1 or $2 billion," he says with a laugh.
"Honestly, in making this movie, we're only thinking about the people who get it and not the people who wouldn't," Sharp adds. "It's nice that you can find your tribe of comedy weirdos and queer people and outrageous people and fans of musicals and people drawn to the audacious.
"There's so many movies that are even wildly popular that are no one's favorite movie. So the idea that we could make someone's favorite movie is fun."
veryGood! (3122)
Related
- The company planning a successor to Concorde makes its first supersonic test
- American Climate Video: Fighting a Fire That Wouldn’t Be Corralled
- This satellite could help clean up the air
- U.S. Energy Outlook: Sunny on the Trade Front, Murkier for the Climate
- In ‘Nickel Boys,’ striving for a new way to see
- In a Race Against Global Warming, Robins Are Migrating Earlier
- Half the World’s Sandy Beaches May Disappear by Century’s End, Climate Study Says
- Arizona GOP election official files defamation suit against Kari Lake
- Dick Vitale announces he is cancer free: 'Santa Claus came early'
- A year after Dobbs and the end of Roe v. Wade, there's chaos and confusion
Ranking
- Tarte Shape Tape Concealer Sells Once Every 4 Seconds: Get 50% Off Before It's Gone
- Millionaire says OceanGate CEO offered him discount tickets on sub to Titanic, claimed it was safer than scuba diving
- Garland denies whistleblower claim that Justice Department interfered in Hunter Biden probe
- 'No kill' meat, grown from animal cells, is now approved for sale in the U.S.
- US wholesale inflation accelerated in November in sign that some price pressures remain elevated
- FDA warns stores to stop selling Elf Bar, the top disposable e-cigarette in the U.S.
- Go Inside Paige DeSorbo's Closet Packed With Hidden Gems From Craig Conover
- July has already seen 11 mass shootings. The emotional scars won't heal easily
Recommendation
Behind on your annual reading goal? Books under 200 pages to read before 2024 ends
Hailee Steinfeld Steps Out With Buffalo Bills Quarterback Josh Allen
The NCAA looks to weed out marijuana from its banned drug list
Huntington's spreads like 'fire in the brain.' Scientists say they've found the spark
What were Tom Selleck's juicy final 'Blue Bloods' words in Reagan family
Hailee Steinfeld Steps Out With Buffalo Bills Quarterback Josh Allen
U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high
Georgia police department apologizes for using photo of Black man for target practice