CANNON FODDER
‘Blockers’ director doesn’t back away from raunchy comedy
As Hollywood wrestles with industrywide gender disparity, Kay Cannon is a timely addition to its directing ranks with her debut on “Blockers.” An accomplished comedy writer on “30 Rock” and the creator of the “Pitch Perfect” trilogy, Cannon, 43, had “always thought when I would direct it would be television first, baby steps.
“Then this script was sent to me and I connected to it on a couple of levels.”
Written by Jim and Brian Kehoe, “Blockers” is a raunchy comedy set on prom night as three best friends (Kathryn Newton, Gideon Adlon, Geraldine Viswanathan) make a pact to lose their virginity and their parents decide their mission is to stop them.
“For the parents, I wanted three actors who would look like they would never be friends if the movie hadn’t brought them together,” Cannon said with a laugh.
“That’s what happens. I have a daughter who goes to preschool and whoever your daughter becomes friends with, you end up becoming close to because you share all these experiences. So there might be some unlikely pairings.”
Leslie Mann (“Knocked Up”) is the overly possessive single mother, John Cena (“Daddy’s Home”) is the hulking dad all too easily reduced to tears and Ike Barinholtz (“Suicide Squad”) is a divorced absent father attempting a reconciliation.
Cannon found the script “very fluid. I knew how I wanted to change it and from the female perspective. The script had three dads originally and was very different.”
After a rehearsal and the actors’ input, an instant rewrite wasn’t uncommon. “This isn’t to take anything from the Kehoe brothers but I used my tools.”
What she didn’t want was “to tone down anything. I think there’s a flawed idea that women don’t find this kind of comedy funny, that with gross-out humor we don’t laugh at the same things guys laugh at.
“This movie has butt chugging (see John Cena in the trailer) and at my first meeting I think they might have thought I wanted to get rid of butt chugging.
“But I said it has to stay for sure. It’s a representation for how far you’ll go to ‘save’ your daughter or how crazy your parents are getting.
“I feel you can’t have a movie just be funny these days. Yes, you want to be hilarious but you want to move people emotionally and you have to be saying something.”
(“Blockers” opens tomorrow.)