When The Unhealthy Guys 2, the sequel to DreamWorks’ hyperkinetic, trendy 2022 animated heist image The Unhealthy Guys, hits theaters on Aug. 1, grownup viewers will instantly make a connection that goes over most youngsters’ heads. As soon as once more, the celebs of the movie — drawn from Aaron Blabley’s bestselling illustrated youngsters’s sequence — are Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell), Mr. Snake (Marc Maron), Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson), Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos), and Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina), a workforce of legal masterminds who rehabilitated themselves within the first film, solely to return to crime for One Final Heist. However this time, their goal is Elon Musk.
He isn’t referred to as that, in fact. However Mr. Moon (voiced by Colin Jost) is instantly recognizable as an Elon Musk parody. An eccentric tech billionaire who owns his personal non-public area exploration firm (Moon X, impressed by Musk’s SpaceX), Mr. Moon is highly effective, useless, dorky, and solely desirous about speaking to folks with a substantial amount of cash. He’s additionally obsessive about cutting-edge expertise.
An Elon-esque character in a 2025 film could also be a set off for some viewers, given Musk’s function in current politics, however as co-director Pierre Perifel informed Polygon through Zoom, the film has been in planning for greater than three years — since earlier than The Unhealthy Guys hit screens. In 2022, Musk was the Tesla man who was making an attempt to purchase Twitter, not the Trump man dismantling America’s social security internet. Perifel says Mr. Moon was by no means meant as direct mockery. “We didn’t actually do a caricature of Elon Musk,” he stated. “The parody got here extra from Moon X, SpaceX — it was extra like a play on phrases, or a bit wink, let’s say. And I believe the truth that Mr. Musk has turned what he’s now pushed folks to attract that comparability with our film.”
Perifel says he and the Unhealthy Guys 2 workforce — co-director JP Sans and screenwriters Yoni Brenner and Etan Cohen — felt “Moon X” could be an immediately recognizable gag as a reputation for a billionaire’s non-public space-exploration firm. “It was really easy for us to simply name that ‘Moon X,’ after which — ‘Completed!’” he stated. “Individuals would instantly perceive what which means, SpaceX being so well-known. And now, on reflection, three years later, you see what that man has been doing, you’re like, Whoa. Persons are simply drawing conclusions. We didn’t actually intend to make a caricature of him at first — however on the finish of the day, it’s type of a enjoyable wink, too, in a means.”
Moon winds up as a goal within the film’s central heist, however ultimately, will get loads much less display time than lots of the different characters within the sprawling forged, together with new additions The Unhealthy Women: massive dangerous bruiser Pigtail (Maria Bakalova), infiltration artist Doom (Natasha Lyonne), and mastermind Kitty Kat (Danielle Brooks). Perifel says that really left him wanting extra time with Mr. Moon, one thing he’d take into account for The Unhealthy Guys 3, which hasn’t but been green-lit, however is already in growth, in case Unhealthy Guys 2 does nicely.
“I actually preferred the way in which he turned out, truthfully. I want we might have had extra time with him,” he stated. “Colin Jost did such an incredible job with him — very dry. If something, a bit extra of that man. I wouldn’t thoughts bringing him again, if we will later. I do know it will be enjoyable.”
If Unhealthy Guys 3 does occur, although, Perifel wouldn’t need to replace Mr. Moon to be extra in step with Musk’s more and more erratic public conduct, or his altering fame as a cultural determine. “The issue is, after we do these type of issues in motion pictures, you are likely to anchor your self in a time frame,” he stated. “You date your movie actually rapidly. So it’s enjoyable within the second, however afterward you’re like, ‘Okay, what are we speaking about right here precisely?’ Motion pictures age so rapidly. So I believe the thought is to not make too many pop-culture references, together with referencing anyone particularly. That’s type of contradicting a bit bit what I stated about SpaceX — however once more, that’s only a wink. The film works with it, or with out it.”
The Unhealthy Guys debuts in theaters on Aug. 1.
