A lovable character can help a filmmaker get away with anything, even a murder, says Peter Farrelly, the director behind Hollywood comedy classics such as "Dumb and Dumber" and "There's Something About Mary".
Farrelly and his brother Bobby were also the brains behind films such as "Me, Myself & Irene", "Shallow Hal" and "The Heartbreak Kid". "The first thing we do is try to create a character that is likable enough, that we can hang our jokes on. We don't think about jokes up front. I think of the character. If we create a character that is lovable, you can get away with murder," Farrelly told PTI in an interview.
The director's new solo project "Ricky Stanicky" is currently streaming on Prime Video. The film features Zac Efron, Andrew Santino, and Jermaine Fowler as three friends who invent an imaginary friend, Ricky Stanicky, to bail out of tricky situations. When they are forced to introduce Stanicky to the family, they rope in John Cena's raunchy celebrity impersonator. Farrelly recounted a conversation he had with a studio executive when he made "Dumb and Dumber" back in 1994.
"On 'Dumb and Dumber', our first comedy, there was a scene very early on where Jim Carrey's trying to talk Jeff Daniels into going to Aspen. And he's at the window and he suddenly gets very real and emotional. He goes, 'Come on, man, I don't have anybody. I don't have anyone.' "And the studio called us the next day and they go, 'What are you doing? That's stupid. This is a comedy.' And I was like, 'He's going to be selling a dead bird to a blind kid in a wheelchair in two minutes. You better like him.' But if you don't like him, then when he sells the dead bird to the blind kid, you're done. The movie's over. So make sure you like these characters," the 67-year-old director said, recalling the conversation.
"Ricky Stanicky", which also features William H Macy, is an adult rated comedy, a rarity these days.
Farrelly, whose 2019 movie "Green Book" won three Oscars, including best picture and best original screenplay, said comedians have become a "little gun shy" in trying to come up with jokes in movies.
"If you look back at the comedies of the 80s and 90s, people were not (scared). I think people maybe got over PCed (politically correct). I mean, PC is a good thing to a point but I think it scared a lot of comics," he added.
Macy, who plays Summerhayes, the boss of Efron's character Dean, said he boarded the project as he wanted to work with Farrelly.
"I loved this script. I love Peter, every film he's ever done and I just I wished I was in it. I love the character and it was a no brainer for me. I said yes instantly. I've done a lot of comedies, actually. I did a TV series that was comedic. I did as outrageous things on 'Shameless' as I did here," he said.
The 74-year-old actor said Farrelly excels in "speaking the truth" through his films with a dose of humour.
"Comedies have to be true. They have to speak to the human condition and they have to say things that are unsayable any other way. We can be absurd and speak the truth. That's what he does really well," he added.
"Ricky Stanicky" also stars Lex Scott Davis, Anja Savcic and Jeff Ross.
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