Latest news with #Pen15
Otago Daily Times
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Comedian takes centre stage
Friendship gets an uncomfortably funny examination in director Andrew DeYoung's new movie. Filmmaker Andrew DeYoung didn't initially set out to make a Tim Robinson film, but that's what ended up happening. The writer and director, who has helmed episodes of TV's Pen15 and Our Flag Means Death , makes his feature film debut with Friendship , starring Paul Rudd and Tim Robinson as two men whose bromance sours quickly. While the movie plays out like an extended I Think You Should Leave sketch, DeYoung is not a member of the show's creative team and had never worked with Robinson before Friendship . DeYoung talks about how the movie came to be and how it came to be so Tim Robinson-esque in style and execution. Q I'm interested in the nature of the movie, because it seems like it's such a Tim Robinson project. Was it written as such, with Tim Robinson in mind? A It started off as just a regular movie idea. As I started to write it, I of course started to imagine who could possibly play these roles and Tim popped in my head probably halfway through the process. I loved the idea so much and it felt so right, that I started to kind of write it toward his strengths, never knowing if he would do it or not. But it just helped me picture the character, as if he was doing it and thankfully it worked out. Q Once he came on board, did you work with him to mould the character, or was it your words on the page and then his performance? Because it screams Tim Robinson and his very specific style of humour. What was your collaboration like? A Tim is Tim and I think people would say that no matter what he does, just because he's so unique in his performances and his performance choices. But he, of course, would have ideas to pitch and I love collaboration. On shooting days, if things weren't working, we'd do alts on certain lines and things like that. But the structure and how the team moved and played, that was on the page. Q How is Tim as a collaboratorand how was he to work with throughout the process of making the movie? A I've never worked with anyone who cares as much as he does. He really cares about quality and I think that's why people are so rabid for his work. And if something doesn't feel right, he'll let you know and if it goes right, he'll let you know, too. And he's really good at expressing if something's not feeling right and then we'd pause and kind of figure out how to make it feel organic and honest and as real as possible, because everything he does comes from such a real, honest place. Q Paul Rudd is such a big deal and he has his own gravitational pull as an actor, but he really kind of bends to the universe of Tim in this movie. How was he in terms of shaping his performance to fit into this world and reacting to Tim's utter strangeness? A Rudd is an absolute professional and also just the best, most lovely dude in the world. He had a tonne of ideas coming into it and I love when actors have ideas and I try to incorporate them as much as possible. When we started shooting, he kind of did a bunch of levels and we figured it out. From the jump, we knew we were gonna shoot this and perform this as if we're in a drama. Of course there's a lot of silly stuff happening and goofy situations, but we play it as if it's high stakes for these characters. And he was really good about committing to the drama and the emotion underneath it, while also knowing, like, what behaviours would get a laugh. He's really good about knowing when to go to the line of something that feels joke-y and not crossing it. I think why he's so brilliant and so loved, because he really has such a precise gauge on his performance and what's funny and how to make things grounded or do what the scene needs. He's in all kinds of stuffand he can go so many places, but for this, he really knew from the jump that this needed to be a certain kind of underplayed performance. And it's ultimately Tim's movie and he's there to support Tim in the best way possible. Q In the real world, if you came across someone like Tim Robinson's character in the movie, how could you control that situation and not let it get out of hand, the way it does in the movie? A We can't control everyone, that's for sure. (Laughs.) I wrote the (Rudd) character in hopes that he would display, at least in the first act, healthy masculinity. And to be someone who's so OK in themselves that they can let other people have hard feelings by saying, "This friendship is no longer going to continue". Which is, I felt, so rare, not only in male relationships but in relationships in general. We're so under-socialised now to let people have hard feelings. And I was hoping to exemplify in some way that this character has the ability to express themselves and put boundaries in place that are healthy for themselves. The fun of the movie, quote-unquote, is watching (Robinson's character) not listen to those boundaries in such an adolescent way. Hopefully by the end, he has a seed of how to handle it. — TCA
Tom's Guide
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Tom's Guide
This is the show I watch to beat the Sunday Scaries — and you can stream it on Hulu
No matter your age, Sunday Scaries — that creeping sense of dread that starts to settle in around late-afternoon every Sunday, when you realize that your glorious weekend is nearly over and another week of responsibilities is before you — is a very real phenomenon. We've found that one of the go-to methods of holding those weekly anxieties at bay is by watching something comforting and, extra important, hilarious. And for this writer, that's "Pen15." One of the best shows on Hulu, "Pen15" is a time-capsule, coming-of-age sitcom that will take millennial viewers (or anyone who wants to revisit the turn of the millennium) back to the year 2000, when radio stations were full of Britney and boy bands, when jeans were concerningly low-rise, and when it took 3-5 business days to download anything on your computer. (Remember those colorful Macs?!) "Pen15" follows the all-too-relatable middle-school adventures (or misadventures) of 13-year-old outcasts Maya and Anna, cleverly played by their adult counterparts, Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle, who co-created the comedy series alongside Sam Zvibleman. Adding to the absurd hilarity is the fact that the rest of their schoolmates are portrayed by real-deal pre-teens. As Maya and Anna navigate everything from braces to bad haircuts to boy crushes to their own changing bodies, the hidden gem show will have you blissfully forgetting all about that upcoming Teams meeting, overdue project or ever-growing pile of laundry. Need more convincing? Here's why you should add binge-watching "Pen15" to your Sunday to-do list. Creators, writers and stars Anna Konkle ("The Afterparty") and Maya Erskine ("Mr. & Mrs. Smith") play fictionalized, school-reject versions of their own 13-year-old selves in "Pen15" as their characters experience the universal struggles and everyday awkwardness of being teenagers. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. The series picks up on the girls' first day of seventh grade in the year 2000, "where the best day of your life can turn into your worst with the stroke of a gel pen," per the show's official description. In the two seasons thereafter, Konkle and Erskine tackle everything from the early days of AIM culture, complicated family dynamics (especially among first-generation immigrants), confusing sexual desires and the hilarious horrors of puberty with equal parts raw humor and decades-honed wisdom. Along with offering up one of TV's best depictions of female friendship, "Pen15" is also a so-precise-it-hurts send-up of what it was like to be a middle-schooler in the early aughts, not only because of its on-point cultural references and wardrobe choices, but also its exceptionally honest and frankly funny depictions of young girlhood. Both seasons of the Emmy-nominated Hulu comedy, which aired from 2019 to 2021, were deservedly praised by critics. "Stirring up plenty of yucks and pathos amidst the farce" of Erskine and Konkle reprising their adolescent selves, season one earned a very strong 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. And season 2 managed to best that, with a perfect 100% approval rating on the review aggregator site; critical consensus called it "an excellent showcase for Maya Erskine, Anna Konkle, and their well-cast classmates" that "goes deeper into the nuances of middle school life without losing any of its cringey charm." Watch 'Pen15' on Hulu now
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
19 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About "Friendship," One Of The F-U-N-N-I-E-S-T Movies I've Seen In A Looooooong Time
In case it hasn't landed on your radar yet, Friendship is a new ~wild~ comedy film from A24 starring Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd. The quick pitch is: Suburban dad, Craig (Robinson) falls hard for his charismatic new neighbor (Paul Rudd), but Craig's attempts to make an adult male friend threaten to ruin both of their lives. And let's just say, if you're a fan of the show I Think You Should Leave, this will be 1000% up your alley because the film feels like an extra-long episode of that show. And it's great, 10/10 would recommend. Because I enjoy a good deep-dive into things I like, here are some interesting behind-the-scenes facts about the film I just learned: is writer-director Andrew DeYoung's debut feature film. His previous credits include directing for shows like Our Flag Means Death, Pen15, and Shrill. the writing and jokes seem ~very~ Tim Robinson, he was shockingly not a writer (or even co-writer) on it. DeYoung says that Tim did come to mind while writing his script. "Thankfully, he said 'yes' when I sent it [the script] to him," he told Entertainment Weekly. and Robinson are actually good friends IRL, which maybe explains why DeYoung was able to capture Tim Robinson's comedic voice so well in the film. might think there was a ton of improv in the film, but apparently, Robinson doesn't like improv. According to DeYoung, they did do it [improv], as Rudd is "exceptional" at it. But while a few things made it into the movie, for the most part what you see was written on the page. of DeYoung's inspiration was his own friendship "issues" IRL. He explained, "A few years ago, I had my own Friendship issues that I was trying to resolve, and I realized that I'd never seen a breakup story about two middle-aged men. It's something that's happening all the time. It's tragic but it's also deeply funny." interestingly, DeYoung wrote the script in 2020 during the pandemic. surprising inspiration for the film was actually Paul Thomas Anderson's film The Master — a dramatic story about a guru who becomes dangerously entangled with one of his acolytes. Robinson was immediately on board with that concept. DeYoung said, "When I finished the Friendship screenplay, I told Tim that I had written it for him and that I wanted to shoot the story like it was The Master. He got right back to me and just said, 'Great, let's do it.'" the supporting role of Austin was a smaller part, which DeYoung says "made attracting talent trickier than expected." the part of Austin was actually rewritten for Paul Rudd. DeYoung explained, "It [the script] got to Paul Rudd, and it was just clear how amazing that would be." fact, Paul Rudd's character was originally named Brian. But then Rudd pointed out that "Brian" was the name of his character in Anchorman, who is ALSO a news guy. it was Paul Rudd who pitched the name "Austin" instead of Brian. for the role of Tami, played by Kate Mara, DeYoung wanted Robinson to act against someone not traditionally known for comedy. fact, Mara was one of the first people pitched to DeYoung. He told Entertainment Weekly, "I met her and immediately was like, 'Yeah, you're perfect. Let's do this.'" 16."Spiritual emptiness" is a theme DeYoung wanted to really emphasize in the film saying that in today's society, "capital has replaced religion." He continued, "I wanted to point to that, and to the almost religious grasp that companies like Marvel have on our culture." that empty feeling, they actually filmed in ice-cold weather — upstate New York in January and February for 23 days. despite the film being a comedy, DeYoung didn't want the audience to feel "safe or settled." to emphasize that uneasy feeling, the filmmakers used as much natural lighting as possible. In fact, they took inspiration from the 2018 psychological thriller Burning. In particular, they looked to a scene where the characters in that film are sitting outside at sunset. "We were reaching for something similar and to bring it into a comedy, where everybody's guard is down," said DeYoung. Friendship opens in theaters on May 9. And if you wanna see more, you can check out the official trailer here: Unless otherwise noted, facts were sourced from the film's production notes.
Buzz Feed
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Friendship Comedy Movie Behind The Scenes Facts
In case it hasn't landed on your radar yet, Friendship is a new ~wild~ comedy film from A24 starring Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd. The quick pitch is: Suburban dad, Craig (Robinson) falls hard for his charismatic new neighbor (Paul Rudd), but Craig's attempts to make an adult male friend threaten to ruin both of their lives. And let's just say, if you're a fan of the show I Think You Should Leave, this will be 1000% up your alley because the film feels like an extra-long episode of that show. And it's great, 10/10 would recommend. Because I enjoy a good deep-dive into things I like, here are some interesting behind-the-scenes facts about the film I just learned: This is writer-director Andrew DeYoung's debut feature film. His previous credits include directing for shows like Our Flag Means Death, Pen15, and Shrill. Although the writing and jokes seem ~very~ Tim Robinson, he was shockingly not a writer (or even co-writer) on it. However, DeYoung says that Tim did come to mind while writing his script. "Thankfully, he said 'yes' when I sent it [the script] to him," he told Entertainment Weekly. DeYoung and Robinson are actually good friends IRL, which maybe explains why DeYoung was able to capture Tim Robinson's comedic voice so well in the film. You might think there was a ton of improv in the film, but apparently, Robinson doesn't like improv. According to DeYoung, they did do it [improv], as Rudd is "exceptional" at it. But while a few things made it into the movie, for the most part what you see was written on the page. Part of DeYoung's inspiration was his own friendship "issues" IRL. He explained, "A few years ago, I had my own Friendship issues that I was trying to resolve, and I realized that I'd never seen a breakup story about two middle-aged men. It's something that's happening all the time. It's tragic but it's also deeply funny." And interestingly, DeYoung wrote the script in 2020 during the pandemic. Another surprising inspiration for the film was actually Paul Thomas Anderson's film The Master — a dramatic story about a guru who becomes dangerously entangled with one of his acolytes. And Robinson was immediately on board with that concept. DeYoung said, "When I finished the Friendship screenplay, I told Tim that I had written it for him and that I wanted to shoot the story like it was The Master. He got right back to me and just said, 'Great, let's do it.'" Originally, the supporting role of Austin was a smaller part, which DeYoung says "made attracting talent trickier than expected." And the part of Austin was actually rewritten for Paul Rudd. DeYoung explained, "It [the script] got to Paul Rudd, and it was just clear how amazing that would be." In fact, Paul Rudd's character was originally named Brian. But then Rudd pointed out that "Brian" was the name of his character in Anchorman, who is ALSO a news guy. And it was Paul Rudd who pitched the name "Austin" instead of Brian. As for the role of Tami, played by Kate Mara, DeYoung wanted Robinson to act against someone not traditionally known for comedy. In fact, Mara was one of the first people pitched to DeYoung. He told Entertainment Weekly, "I met her and immediately was like, 'Yeah, you're perfect. Let's do this.'" "Spiritual emptiness" is a theme DeYoung wanted to really emphasize in the film saying that in today's society, "capital has replaced religion." He continued, "I wanted to point to that, and to the almost religious grasp that companies like Marvel have on our culture." Echoing that empty feeling, they actually filmed in ice-cold weather — upstate New York in January and February for 23 days. And, despite the film being a comedy, DeYoung didn't want the audience to feel "safe or settled." Finally, to emphasize that uneasy feeling, the filmmakers used as much natural lighting as possible. In fact, they took inspiration from the 2018 psychological thriller Burning. In particular, they looked to a scene where the characters in that film are sitting outside at sunset. "We were reaching for something similar and to bring it into a comedy, where everybody's guard is down," said DeYoung. Friendship opens in theaters on May 9. And if you wanna see more, you can check out the official trailer here:
