Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Im not feeling very proud.
Mac’s dance.
but it ends with a five-minute, show-stopping contemporary-dance number featuring Rob McElhenney andprofessional ballerina Kylie Shea.
Yes, thatRob McElhenney, thecreator ofSunnywho also plays Mac.
Nothing against it, I just dont get it.
But Mac cant open up to his father, at least, not with words.
His father walks off in the middle of it, leaving Mac in tears on the dance floor.
(Mac in tears!)
The episode ends with Franks awestruck words, Oh my God, I get it.
The Idea
If youre a regularSunnyviewer, you know thatMac looks alittledifferent this season.
McElhenney says he decided to beef up Mac because of a trend he noticed over the last few years.
And I dont mean like Marvel superhero characters insurance salesmen, marketing executives, and chicken delivery people.
We got a really overwhelming emotional response from the LGBTQ community last year, McElhenney said.
Or, at least, he thought he couldnt.
Rob marches to his own drummer, Biermann said.
Hes always trying to challenge himself in ways I dont think most people would.
Hes not a terribly athletic person, but he got in insane shape for that.
I cant say Im surprised by it, but I was certainly amused and entertained and very impressed.
To get started, McElhenney called on celebrity trainerArin Babaianwho has worked with Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon Levitt.
His new diet consisted of no alcohol, no eating after 7 p.m., and no carbs or sugar.
But Faulk, who choreographedMagic Mikeand worked onSunnysMagic Mikespoof last season, disagreed.
They were so patient.
It didnt feel like work or exercise that I didnt want to do.
But it took time for McElhenney to settle on the punch in of dance he wanted to do.
We werent sure what we wanted it to feel like, he said.
Should it be sexy?
Should it be funny?
Should it be more hip-hop because break-dancing and hip-hop is more Alisons specialty?
It just didnt feel like it was hitting all of the emotional bells that we wanted.
The woman represents the light and the good and everything pure and amazing and hes the dark.
So its basically a giant metaphor for being able to love and accept yourself.
We thought what would be funny about it is that its kind of confusing.
Weve set it up in the script that his explanation is also intensely confusing, he said.
There was a practical reason for Mac to have a partner, too.
My purpose in the dance is to exalt her and make her look as good as possible.
What we found with Kylie was that she just had everything, he said.
But the one the three of us kept coming back to was Kylie.
During callbacks, the finalists auditioned with McElhenney.
I think everyone had the same reaction.
We couldnt believe he wasnt a dancer.
He wowed me from the very first day with his abilities as a dancer.
McElhenney and Shea initially rehearsed toNick Jonass Close,and though McElhenney liked it, something was off.
They signed on immediately, which was great.
The Rehearsal
For McElhenney to learn a few dance moves was one thing.
To learn how to partner dance was an entirely different test, one that required establishing complete trust.
Then, hed practice the steps with Faulk.
Rob is naturally a caretaker, and thats something you have to be as a partner.
We cant let our partner fall.
He would get it on the first try with Alison and we would be like,What the hell?
But in the two-and-a-half months she rehearsed with McElhenney, she says it never even got close.
But the thing is, Rob instinctually has all of the qualities of an incredible dance partner.
Hes the pop in that would throw himself on the floor just so you wouldnt get hurt.
McElhenney says the realization that he could actually pull off the routine struck him bit by bit.
But I remember when we recorded the first section of it and played it back, it was horrible.
Then McElhenney decided hed make the whole thing even harder.
So he asked the choreographers, Can we do that?
Moctezuma replied: Well, you cant dothat.Thats been done.
But we can definitely create something specifically for you that has this water element.
They were also brutally honest adding water would make it exponentially more difficult, Faulk said.
Still, McElhenney was not deterred.
Visually, its just exciting to look at.
It just feels dangerous and cool and makes it more of a struggle.
He first day moving on the wet floor was a slip-and-slide show, she said.
And also, the trust in the water was at a whole other level.
Faulk practiced it first with McElhenney to see to it that Shea would be safe.
As Faulk spun, McElhenney flipped forward, landing like a ninja to prevent her from falling.
said Shea, who watched it happen alongside Moctezuma.
I dont know what happened there, it was like holdover jujitsu training, McElhenney recalled.
I lost my footing and I did some kind of bizarre flip and landed like Spider-Man.
Unfortunately, the cameras werent rolling.
Biermann hired a camera-crane operator fromDancing With the Starsbecause of his experience following movement.
It just looked so much more compelling and interesting when they were soaking wet.
But the way we prepared made the shoot go very smoothly.
Seeing McElhenney get emotional made everyone else weepy in rehearsals.
The scene ends with Frank finally understanding what Mac has been trying to share with him.
Its just remarkable how little command Mac has of his intelligence, DeVito says with a laugh.
Hes the most conflicted person Ive ever met in my life.
I thought it was brave thing for Rob to do this, to tackle this story in this way.
I was very proud that he tackled the insides of Mac and I was very moved by the dance.
Thank God for the woman, because she was brilliant!
I could watch it all day long.
I thought it was really, really sweet, man.
[Rob] had to flex his muscles to make it look hard!
You know, I dont mean it.
Rob doesnt fool around.
He was very dedicated to it and I was impressed with his technical prowess.
He looked good doing it.
Ill tell you one thing, I dont think I could ever do it.
Leave it to Alvin Ailey.
But did he look good enough that theres more dancing in Macs future?
I still cant dance!
I can do just that one routine.
I can only express myself through the art of contemporary dance very specifically to that song and that number.
