USA TODAY International Edition
‘ Brigsby Bear’ draws from classics
Offbeat comedy is influenced by ‘ Elf,’ ‘ E. T.’ and more
NEW YORK A peculiar comedy about a young man kidnapped at birth is also an unexpected ode to the magic of moviemaking.
In Brigsby Bear ( in theaters Friday in New York and Los Angeles; expands to additional cities throughout August, including Chicago, Washington, Dallas, Boston, Denver, Atlanta, Detroit and Nashville), James Pope ( Saturday Night Live’s Kyle Mooney) spends his whole life in an underground bunker watching a weird children’s TV show starring an animatronic cub, which his abductor ( Mark Hamill) created entirely for him. When he’s eventually freed, James sets out to make a final “Brigsby Bear” film, closing out that dark chapter of his life with the help of his new friends, DIY costumes and household props.
The movie, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival, was co- written by Mooney and Kevin Costello, and directed by SNL writer Dave McCary, who have all been friends since middle school. Mooney and McCary got their start making online shorts together in the sketch group Good Neighbor.
“It’s just so fun to share that experience with your best friend when you’re finding your voice as an artist,” McCary says. “The movie is extra- special to us because of that connective tissue. We’ll always carry that childlike energy with us whenever we’re making anything.”
Mooney and McCary, both 32, share the movies and TV shows that inspired Brigsby.
1 ELF
Like James, Buddy ( Will Ferrell) is a wide- eyed man- child who discovers the real world, only the latter was raised in Santa’s workshop. “That’s definitely more of a surreal, comedic- leaning film, but there’s also a lot of sweetness,” McCary says of the 2003 holiday favorite. “Buddy has a purity to him that’s infectious.”
2BEING THERE
Conceptually, the two biggest influences were 1998 satire The Truman Show, starring Jim Carrey as a man who learns his life is a TV show, and 1979 dramedy Being There, about a gardener ( Peter Sellers) who unwittingly becomes a trusted Washington adviser. “That was a big reference, in terms of that fish out of water surrounded by dramatic actors playing that bizarre concept extremely realistically,” McCary says.
3THE ADVENTURES OF PRAYER BEAR
James is invested in his educational bear hero Brigsby, who spouts off algebra facts and life lessons as he seeks to defeat the evil Sun Snatcher. The colorful fake series pulls from animated children’s shows including Care
Bears and Rainbow Brite, as well as the live- action The Adventures
of Teddy Ruxpin and Prayer Bear. The latter, which Mooney found in a thrift shop, is “about a little animatronic bear who helps a kid pray and loves Spumoni ice cream,” he says. “I love those religious VHS cassettes that toe that line between creepy and warm.”
4E. T. THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL
As James ventures out into the woods with his friends to film explosive action sequences and later track down a lost Brigsby cast member ( Kate Lyn Sheil), the film takes on the spirit of ’ 80s family classics The Goonies and
E. T. “Those movies are so timeless and nostalgic,” McCary says. “They’re feel- good adventures and we wanted to tap into the energy.”
5 FRESHMAN YEAR
When James moves in with his real parents ( Matt Walsh and Michaela Watkins), his teenage sister ( Ryan Simpkins) takes him to his first party, where he kisses a girl and tries drugs. Those awkward yet relatable scenes were inspired by Disney Channel’s Bug
Juice, a reality show about kids at summer camp, and HBO’s Fresh
man Year, a docuseries about high schoolers. “If you had a video camera pointed at you at that age, it’d be so cringe- worthy,” Mooney says. “But there’s something incredibly intriguing about humans trying to act cool and not really knowing the best version of themselves yet.”