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The six-foot-three funnyman portrays Lars Erickssong, a shaggy-haired neer-do-well with delusions of pop-music grandeur.
Actually,thats not true.
Thats what was crazy: Hes been wanting to make this movie for almost two decades.
He started showing up to the contest hes been there four, maybe five times.
He got the rights to make theEurovisionmovie and brought it to Netflix.
Thats how into this thing he was.
What was your first response to the material?I did not know what [Eurovision] was.
I finished the script and still did not know what it was.
Im not doing that.
He was like, Well, Wills asking you to read it.
Will and I have been trying to do something forever.
The script at the time was really short.
But overall it was really funny.
But also a lot of heart.
So as a filmmaker, you have to present all that with accuracy while also having some fun.
How did you strike that balance?The tone was very specific.
Theres a huge audience that loves this contest.
Theres a campiness, but theres also a high level of performance, of dancing, visual.
They put it on live in front of 20,000 people.
Tonally, I knew I did not want to make a parody.
I did not want to make fun of these people or the contest.
I wanted to just tell a funny story with that as the setting.
They have their limitations and strengths because theyre from that part of the world.
But theyre never looked down upon by the filmmakers.
Nobodys up there being dumb about it, because that would be insulting.
You started out directing music videos.
That must have come in handy.I went to NYU.
And I figured, Well, maybe I can do that.
My first paid gig was for a rapper named Tupac who was not incredibly well known at the time.
But thevideos we did blew up and becamebig hits.
I ended up in a career in music videos for quite a number of years and loved it.
Ive always wanted to make a music movie.
I have a fastball that suddenly showed up.
Its that thing where you have to see to it both sides of the story are arcing.
They cant be going through the same story.
They have to be going through different things, but they have to somehow land together.
And you have to get through it in an authentic way or it doesnt work.
She is so smart in finding those dynamics.
Something funny or surreal thats grounded in reality.I dont direct comedy scenes for laughs.
I direct them dramatically, and the laughs come from the situations and the delivery.
Im directing it as drama because I want there to be a real base to it.
This script [forEurovision] was so absurd.
The whales jumping its insane.
And I was like, Oh, I love this.
The culture is changing very quickly these days, and so is comedy.
During awards season, Todd Phillips said he felt hecouldnt make films likeThe Hangoveranymore.
I have always considered myself to be an equal-opportunity offender.
I think that we should be able to laugh at anything.
I would never make a joke that I thought was racist.
And as an R-rated director, youre usually pushing the irreverence button.
Thats what Richard Pryor did.
Thats what Lenny Bruce did.
Thats what Eddie did.
Yeah, you do get to be criticized.
Its okay for people to tell you youre being insensitive.
We are in the middle of an uprising and a cultural reshifting.
Resetting that is going to be confusing for comedy for quite some time.
People are trying to figure out the rules.Especially for white men.
Im a white guy.
Todds a white guy.
God bless Jordan Peele.
He could do whatever he wants and should be able to.
Same for what Tiffany Haddish does, what Kevin Hart does.
Theres a reason that Louis CK cant do what he used to do.
This is a different conversation, but Im a huge Louis CK fan.
I really wish that he hadntdone what he did.
Hedoesnt seem to have learned from it, but he was able to confess it.
Its going to be confusing, man.
This is where were sharing the humor from.
Thats where it kind of elevates.
By the way, we want to hear those voices.
Im frankly sick of hearing white guys stories.
Weve been watching them our whole lives.
