Original-Cin Q&A: The Creators of Dicks: The Musical, on 'Going There' with Nathan Lane and Friends

Dicks: The Musical is coming to a theater near you, no pun intended. Or maybe…

The hilariously absurd and overtly perverted movie, which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival, is one wild ride. The brainchild of friends and comedians Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson, Dicks: The Musical involves two self-obsessed businessmen who discover that they are long-lost identical twins, and who then hatch a scheme to reunite their eccentric, divorced parents (Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally).

Read our review of Dicks: The Musical

Directed by Larry Charles (Borat) the movie is completely off the wall and one of most absurd cinematic experiences out there. Our Bonnie Laufer spoke with creators and stars Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson about pushing the envelope.

Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally in Dicks: The Musical

ORIGINAL-CIN:  How exciting for you both that Dicks: The Musical had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.  What was it like for you to be in that audience watching the audience watch the film?

JOSH SHARP: It was a whirlwind. We didn't find out that we got the interim agreement from the Actors Guild until the day before, so we weren't even sure we'd be able to be there.

We had already processed that, and so when we could actually be in Toronto it was surreal.  Getting to watch it in front of such a big theater at midnight with a rowdy crowd and with Canadians who were going buck wild. It was like a dream. We had such a fabulous time. You Canadians can cut it up!  We love you guys!

ORIGINAL-CIN:  Let's go back to the origins of this show,  because you guys started on stage in the comedy troupe, Upright Citizens Brigade. You created this half-hour show that had a different name which you give homage to in this film. I’m just trying to wrap my mind around where in your brains this even came from?

AARON JACKSON: (Laughs).  It's hard to recall when it all started. But honestly, we really wanted to do something crazy together.

Josh and I  were doing a variety show and other things like that around town and we really wanted to write a two-person comedic musical. We can't remember who, but one of us thought about the movie The Parent Trap, mostly because it's filmed with one girl pretending to be two girls. So for that movie, it's mostly a lot of two-person scenes and we thought that we could play the twins. And then one of us would play the mom and one of us would be the dad and then we just came up with this insane idea.

SHARP: It just sort of evolved into a comedic Parent Trap.  We thought it was funny that they're grown men, and instead of the parents being amazing they were truly awful.

O-C: On a small comedic stage like that, you can get away with a lot. I am sure you never dreamed that it would evolve into a film.  So, have you considered a Broadway run now that it’s been fleshed out? Would changes have to be made?

SHARP: People forget that theater, even Broadway, is pretty radical and out there. Perfect example is The Book of Mormon which was a huge hit. It was insanely absurd, and the language was pretty rude, and that was in 2008!  So, I think that we would definitely consider work-shopping this movie for a Broadway adaptation.

O-C: Speaking of Broadway, you have a pretty amazing cast in this movie. Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally were clearly ready to play and let their guard down.

JACKSON: I know this sounds like a typical press answer, but I promise you they were our first choices. Nathan got attached to the project first. He read it and really loved it, but as he says wasn't sure he wanted to do it.

Then he met with Larry Charles, who he really loves and respects, to discuss it further. After that meeting, Josh and I and Nathan went out to dinner, and that lasted about five hours.

They were turning the lights off, kicking us out of the restaurant and that's when he said, “Okay, boys, let's make a picture.”  He thought it was outrageous and hilarious, but truthfully was a little hesitant about chewing  ham and spitting it out, but he did it!

When we went to Megan, I think having Nathan attached maybe made it easier for Megan. But she was onboard right away, and was very down to clown and be as absurd as possible.

Once they were on, we were off to the races.

O-C: And Bowen Yang as Gay God?

JACKSON: Bowen’s our old friend so he was thrilled. He said, “Yes,” but he was an easy yes.  We knew we could ask anything of him and he would be on board.  We were ecstatic and everyone was incredible to work with.

O-C: Getting Nathan Lane to chew up ham and spit it into the mouth of  “The Sewer Boys” - in my opinion two of the most disgusting characters I’ve ever seen - was truly nauseating.  I can't even imagine the outtakes making this film. (Some are shown during the end credits)

SHARP: So many outtakes we could literally do a second film! But, regarding the ham spitting, we had a hairdresser who came up to Aaron and I after seeing that, who said, “That's some John Waters shit right there. People are gonna lose their minds.” We  looked at each other and said, “We're making the right movie.”

O-C: The film absolutely has a John Waters feel to it. Do you know if he has seen it yet?

JACKSON: I don't think so. I'm dying for him to see it. We would be so honored.

O-C: Having Larry Charles on board as your director must have been a great experience.  We know that he can be open-minded, especially after working with Sacha Baron Cohen on Borat. But was he in any way shocked at some of the material in this film?

SHARP: He wasn’t shocked by anything. As a matter of fact he wanted the movie to go for it even harder. I remember him saying early on, “If this film doubts itself for even a single moment, people will smell it and the whole thing will fall apart.”

So he pushed us to go crazy. There's lots of things we didn't do just because it felt like it didn’t work for a movie but never did we not do something because it was too outrageous.

O-C: I guess he wanted to keep it as true to your original as possible?

SHARP: Totally, and he wanted to let it have that sort of kinetic energy and feel like it's electric and dangerous and it's a runaway train.

So I think there are elements of how to make the whole thing cohesive and work together. But it was incredibly rare that Larry Charles said we shouldn't do that. He was often saying the opposite.

JACKSON: He was so instrumental in making this work and was really so protective.

O-C: Now having seen it with a few audiences, what kind of reactions are you getting?

JACKSON: We've been getting such great responses. And even the critics, who we thought would just despise this, have mostly gotten it. And even the ones who don't get it are still  praising certain scenes.

I think people are responding to it. I also think that people are excited to go to the theater and have a movie that you can scream at and feel like it’s a communal experience.  A lot of the comedies that are being released now are good, but they're more like dramas and they're more like they have a lot of heart and they're not going for laughs.

I think you have to respect, even if it's not your taste, that we're just going for it. And I think audiences are ready to see people put  foot to the accelerator to the ground and go for the ride.

We've gotten to watch it a few times now, and it's always a blast to watch a packed theater react together. But no one's gotten it as hard as Canada, baby!

SHARP: I think people like to talk about the outrageous and offensive parts, of which we understand there are plenty. But I think that’s what sets this film apart from others. It's absurd and crazy and silly and pushing in 100 directions, and one of them is truly offensive. 

At the end of the day we just wanted to make something that was a big, joyful, crazy absurdist movie more than it is just like a naughty movie. We just love to celebrate all the things that make us laugh.