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Thursday, July 20, 2017

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com ARTS

As 
children, 
the 
“entire 

world” can be a lot of things. For 
some, it’s the universe — every 
solar system in the galaxy. For 
others, it’s the planet Earth. For 
a few, it’s the small town, city or 
village in which they grew up. 
And for one, it’s a hermetically 
sealed bunker in the middle of 
a Californian desert. That one 
person is James Pope (Kyle 
Mooney, “Saturday Night Live”), 
and the film “Brigsby Bear” 
is a touching story about his 
discovery of the world outside 
the bunker.

“Brigsby Bear,” which initially 

premiered 
at 
the 
Sundance 

Film Festival last February, was 
presented as the closing film of 
the Semaine de Critics (Critic’s 
Week) at the 2017 Cannes Film 
Festival. On a balmy afternoon 
in the famed French Rivera, the 
Daily had the opportunity to sit 
down with the film’s creators: 
longtime friends Kyle Mooney, 
Dave McCary (writer: “Saturday 
Night Live”) and Kevin Costello 
(writer: “Brigsby Bear”), along 
with Greg Kinnear (“Little Miss 
Sunshine,” “Stuck in Love”), who 
plays Detective Vogel in the film. 
Speaking with Mooney, McCary 
and Costello, it is clear that the 
strong themes of friendship and 
dreaming present on-screen are 
even more prevalent off-screen. 
The heart of “Brigsby Bear,” 
from its inception to the finished 
product, lies in the unique magic 
that is, as McCary puts it, “the 
passion for creativity that is 
discovered... and friends coming 
together.”

Before being rescued from his 

(unknowing) 
captivity, 
there 

are a few things about which 
James is certain: he loves his 
parents (captors), Ted (Mark 
Hamill, “Star Wars”) and Clare 
(Claire Danes, “Homeland”) and 
“Brigsby Bear,” the children’s 
television 
show 
he 
watches 

each day, is the best show in the 
world. He is not only the show’s 
ultimate fan — he runs an online 
“Brigsby” 
forum, 
fantasizes 

about the female heroine Arielle 
Smiles (Katie Lyn Shell, “House 

of Cards”), discusses fan theories 
rabidly — but also, he is the 
show’s only fan. Out of captivity 
and in the real world, it comes 
to light that “Brigsby Bear” had 
been made exclusively for James. 
Every single week since he was 
kidnapped, captor Ted created 
an episode of the nostalgic, 
weird, laser-infused pedagogical 
nonsense that is the TV show 
and presented it.

There’s the crux of the film. 

In Mooney’s words, “Brigsby 
Bear” is a movie “about a kid 
who watches this TV show that 
nobody has ever seen.”

James’s discovery that he is 

the show’s only watcher sets 
him on a journey to “find out 
how his favorite show is going 
to end,” according to Costello. 
This journey — motivated by 
a simple, pure desire — serves 
as the catalyst that acclimates 
James into a world he never 
knew existed, fosters his passion 
for filmmaking and harnesses 
the power of friendship. On 
why he chose this journey for 
James, Mooney explained that, 
“what this story allows us — 
not only do we get to see the 
progression of James and his life 
(but also) starting in one world 
and breaking into an entirely 
new 
universe 
that’s 
totally 

mysterious.” 

He added a second, more 

personal reason on why this 
story: “We (Mooney, Costello, 
McCary) do love all of these 
children’s TV shows and videos.” 
It’s true. The trio’s love for this 
type of TV and video dates back 
to their younger days, when 
Mooney exposed Costello and 
McCary to his “extensive VHS 
collection.” 
The 
collection, 

says McCary, has some “really 
obscure thrift store finds that 
(they’ve) in turn become big fans 
of.”

Stylistic and thematic aspects 

of these “obscure thrift store” 
videos are central to both the 
script and finished film. Each 
collaborator — Costello, Mooney 
and 
McCary 
— 
connected 

differently with these videos. 
For McCary, it was “a nostalgia 
there because there were just 
puppeted, infinite kid’s videos 

back then. But also, they’re just 
disturbing… telling a kid how 
they should live their life in that 
vulnerable of an age, and telling 
a kid what they should believe.” 
Watching 
James 
struggle 

between what he was raised to 
believe and what he has come to 
know is an interesting paradox — 
and in a way, a completely normal 
part of growing up. Not everyone 
is 
raised 
in 
a 
bunker, 
but 

everyone ultimately experiences 
disillusionment with the world 
they thought they knew.

It’s 
for 
this 
reason 
that 

the film “Brigsby Bear” is so 
honest and relatable, despite 
its 
rather 
unconventional 

circumstances. 
The 
bunker 

feels like a unique framing 
device for a genuine coming-
of-age story. It would have been 
easy to make the film about a 
“fish-out-of-water” and spend 
the whole time putting James 
into 
wacky 
situations. 
It’s 

probably what was expected, 
given the history of the long-
time collaborators. McCary 
and Mooney are founders of 
the L.A. sketch comedy group 
“Good Neighbor” and now 
work together on “Saturday 
Night Live.”

A “SNL” brand film garners 

different expectations than 
what this film is. Even Greg 
Kinnear admits that, when 
his agent first approached 
him about the script, he was 
hesitant. “Just knowing from 
SNL, I thought it would be 
more gaggy and broad.” After 
reading the script, however, 
what 
impressed 
him 
was 

how “inspired and incredibly 
unexpected” the story was. 
The sincerity shone through.

The trio knew, from day one, 

that this was the approach they 
wanted. “It was important for 
us to never reach for jokes or 
get too silly, even though we 

have a background in comedy and 
we work at SNL... I think the most 
interesting version of this story to us 
was the most grounded,” McCary 
notes. 

The decision to find comedy in a 

grounded situation was wise. It is a 
sign of a well-trained improviser and 
comedian: They look to find “truth in 
comedy” instead of simply the easiest 
joke. It’s because the creators stayed 
true to their roots — be it longtime 
friendship, comedy, or obsessions 
with VHS videos — that “Brigsby 
Bear” is much more than an off-beat 
indie festival film.

At the end of the interview, 

McCary and Mooney reflect on the 

process.

“It was very meta and surreal 

when we were in the premiere of our 
film. We’re sitting there watching the 
film about friends who discovered 
filmmaking together put on the 
premiere of their film while we’re 
watching, as best friends, and they’re 
best friends…” began McCary.

Mooney interjects, “…and they’re 

hoping their film is received well 
while we’re sitting there hoping 
our film within a film within a film 
within a film is received well.”

All of this, thanks to a giant robotic 

bear named “Brigsby.”

Interview has been condensed 

and edited for this article 

 EMILY BICE

 Daily Arts Writer

‘Brigsby Bear’ creators discuss their brilliant 
film from Cannes

FILM INTERVIEW

SONY PICTURES CLASSICS 

SNL star Kyle Mooney stars in “Brigsby Bear”

