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David Wain is no stranger to disrupting an unsuspecting comedy mainstream.
It challenged the status quo of what sketch comedy could be.
A Futile and Stupid Gestureis both your first biopic and proper period piece.
Is that what attracted you to this project?
This film felt like a real collection of so many things that Im already very interested in.
It was an amazingly appealing area to dive into.
Plus being able to work with this cast we assembled and this team of producers and writers.
It was just a very cool, nearly 10 years in-the-making process.
Stylistically,Gesturehas the Wain fingerprint all over it.
Theres the unconventional rhythms ofChildrens Hospitalas well as the more traditional comedy beats ofRole Models.
Can you talk about your approach for how you wanted to tell this story?
But yes, also building off things that Ive done previously and taking those in new directions.
Doing things likeChildrens Hospitalwas an amazing testing ground for trying different techniques in a relatively low-stakes way.
I also tried to make it feel like the magazine came to life in some way.
So if theres any feeling of that, then weve succeeded.
How did you assemble these players?
We had a great casting director, Allison Jones, helping us.
Like, Tom Lennon can channel Michael ODonoghue perfectly.
I love this cast a lot.
I think the group gelled in ways beyond what I would have ever expected.
More of the latter.
We certainly didnt want anyone to feel like were doing something they would be unhappy about.
I dont think anyone comes off horribly.
But it wasnt like we had an on-set consultant for Chevy Chase or something like that.
Why do you think the comedic sensibility ofNational Lampoonhas been able to endure as long as it has?
you’re free to never quite pinpoint how those things will evolve.
But these guys believed in something.
I couldnt think of a better way to sum up how I feel either.
Yet at the same time, what Im trying to create is something so purposely stupid and silly.
I think that that duality is what defines it and makes comedy exciting for me.
The States story so clearly parallelsNational Lampoons.
How much do you see yourself in Doug Kenney?
It was very clear that it felt like that same thing.
There were so many moments in our movie and their story that reminded me of The States story.
We were super confident and ballsy for no great reason.
But we quickly realized that we had to write something.
Its always that fear of Okay,Whats the next thing?
I related to that fear.
The whole ethos of theLampoon which was expressed again inAnimal HouseandCaddyshack was the slobs versus the snobs.
Its one of the driving forces of The State.
That was our thing.
Were gonna do our own thing, and its gonna kill, and were the best.
And thats just one of the thousand examples.
I think people will be surprised by the amount of drama that arrives late in this movie.
I will concede probably a fair helping of luck.
I believe thats a really important element of it.
Thats when they lose their way.
I also dont want to be the smartest one in the room.
I want to always be learning from people around me.
Photo by John P. Fleenor/Netflix.
Erik Abrissis a writer living in Los Angeles.
