USA TODAY International Edition
‘Future Man’ Josh Hutcherson saves Earth
If Future Man’s concept brings to mind The Last Starfighter, it’s not a sneaky ruse.
In the Hulu comedy (all 13 episodes available Tuesday), you’re supposed to think of the 1984 sci-fi film — supplemented by a plentiful supply of grossout jokes — when watching ordinary janitor and talented video gamer Josh Futturman (Josh Hutcherson, The Hunger Games) try to save humanity after he’s selected by fantasy characters from the future.
But a well-meaning, not exactly formidable young man is hardly the superhero the game warriors Tiger (Eliza Coupe) and Wolf (Derek Wilson) expect when they meet Josh, the winner of a devilishly difficult video game that also serves as savior detector.
The closest thing he has to a superpower is an expansive knowledge of pop culture that lets him fashion solutions to time-travel conundrums and other sci-fi challenges by relying on his recall of Back to the Future, Terminator 2 and other seminal projects.
“His knowledge of tropes, how things traditionally would go in these scenarios in movies and television shows, is a very active conversation as they are trying to decide what to do,” says executive producer Seth Rogen.
Rogen and longtime producing partner Evan Goldberg share Josh’s passion for pop culture.
The overflowing basket of Easter eggs serves as more than just nerdfriendly name-dropping. It provides Josh the history and logic to solve problems on the way to completing his mission: stop a scientist discovering a cure for herpes — a solution that would also mean the end of the world.
“One of the best things the show does is take things that seem like jokes and make them into important plot points,” Rogen says. Such knowing references anchors “some pretty weird subject matter,” as does Hutcherson.
“The show is so crazy that to have someone at its core able to convey the stakes and emotional side of it is the only thing that would make all the other stuff function at all,” he says.
Hutcherson imagines Josh as overwhelmed after being sucked into Future Man’s incredible world, but having the wherewithal to succeed.
“He has a hard time adjusting to the reality he’s been smacked in the face with. He’s bewildered,” he says. “But he’s actually very intelligent. He comes up with (intricate) plans in high-pressure moments.”
The Hulu series contains the R-rated humor that Rogen-Goldberg fans love, but it takes the comedy in a different direction with action, sci-fi and fantasy. It also meets the pair’s producing criteria: “What would we want to watch?”