The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
b-side
Thursday, March 22, 2018 — 5B
With feats in entertainment,
technology
and
production,
The Rogue Initiative is a
true triple threat. The Rogue
Initiative builds worlds with
the aid of technology and
immersive storytelling in a way
that goes beyond the mediums
they explore. Through film,
television and video games, the
tech-fueled,
entertainment-
driven and collaboration-based
start-up is making waves in
Hollywood and beyond. The
Daily had a phone interview
with University alum Brad
Etheridge,
The
Rogue
Initiative’s Creative Executive,
about the power of a story
and the future of immersive
content.
The Rogue Initiative builds
the medium around the story,
making the company a “cross-
medium” production studio.
“That looks like the user would
want to be that character, make
it a video game,” Etheridge
explained. Tailoring the stories
to the medium creates a unique
perspective and a changing
role for production studios.
But then again, Rogue is not a
regular production studio.
Etheridge
wants
to
tell
stories,
because
it’s
about
“finding
those
stories
and
partnering
with
Hollywood
creatives
with
those
new
and unique ideas.” How does
technology
influence
the
stories they tell at Rogue?
Etheridge explains that the
intersection
is
incredibly
relevant to what they do.
After all, they are both an
entertainment studio and tech
company.
The Rogue Initiative is a
story-focused studio that sees
entertainment as a vehicle to
tell stories and build worlds.
Working
in
video
games,
Rogue
understands
the
immersive power of media.
So what do they think about
the direction of virtual and
augmented reality? Etheridge
explained that at Rogue, they
want to be on the cutting
edge as a “forward-thinking”
company and take part in the
“community”
involved
with
new tech.
“It’s really about the idea
of being part of those first
movers,”
Etheridge
said,
following up with the fact that
it needs to make “financial
sense.” Keeping up with the
hottest and newest tech is a
risk — a very expensive risk
— so for a rising start-up like
Rogue, they want to ensure
the choices they make in terms
of innovative entertainment
experiences
are
wise
and
rational.
As of now, the company
is working on a top secret
creative partnership project
with “Transformers” director
Michael Bay. By associating
with creatives and Hollywood
big shots like Bay, The Rogue
Initiative and their focus on
stories is sure be recognized.
The intersection of mediums,
technologies
and
worlds
collide at The Rogue Initiative,
and we can’t wait to see what’s
to come.
On Friday, Mar. 23, Netflix
is releasing an original movie,
“Game Over, Man!” starring
Adam DeVine, Blake Anderson
and Anders Holm, of Comedy
Central’s
“Workaholics.”
The film, which was created,
written and produced by the
three stars, follows the antics
and adventures of three hotel
employees who, in the midst
of making a pivotal deal with
a young, reckless, millionaire
party-boy (Utkarsh Ambudkar,
“White
Famous”)
to
fund
the making of an original
video game, find themselves
combating
terrorists
and
fighting for their lives.
In a sense, the movie is
reminiscent of “Die Hard”
— a “Die Hard” for stoners,
if you will — filled with
suspense, shock, stunts and,
of course, humor. Between
scenes involving capers, such
as the building of a rig in an
attempt to defeat the terrorists
through Salvia asphyxiation
and full frontal nudity, DeVine,
Anderson and Holm are in
their element, proving their
writing, production and acting
chops.
In an interview with The
Daily, DeVine, Anderson and
Holm discussed the process
of writing and creating “Game
Over, Man!,” how it differs from
their work on “Workaholics”
and their favorite production
moments.
“We wrote the movie about
six years ago, and we’ve been
working it, and re-working it
and changing different stuff,”
DeVine said. “We finally shot it
last year at about this time, and
then we did post-production.
We’re excited to actually have
it come out for everyone to see.
“
The movie’s original release
date was Apr. 20 but got moved
up to Mar. 23.
“Netflix saw it and was so
excited, and wanted to release
it sooner,” DeVine said. “We’ve
been sitting on the movie for a
while, so they were like, let’s
just put it out. Also, we like
to think it’s a 4/20 gift for all
the people who are celebrating
4/20
every
day
in
their
lifestyle. It’s a 4/20 miracle.”
The
personalities
and
energies of the three are
electric, with their sense of
humor just as present and
sharp in real life as it is on
screen. While each has his
own
distinct
charms
and
characteristics, they seem to
speak and think in harmony,
in a way that is only possible
if you have written, produced
and acted together on a TV
show for over seven years.
“The story (of “Game Over,
Man!”)
was
something
we
were all throwing around,”
said Holm, who is credited
as the principal writer of the
film. “I’m the guy that goes
and takes our dreams and our
ideas and turns it into what I
like to refer to as ‘The Quilt of
Comedy.’”
“And you keep them warm
at night. Thank you for that,”
Anderson chimed in.
“That’s right,” Holm agreed.
“I bundle the ideas up, and
keep them warm. But this is our
movie — the group’s movie. It’s
a labor of love for me to be able
to go off and write for these
goddamn comedy geniuses.”
“God, I love you,” said
Anderson. “I love you Anders
Holm and Adam DeVine.”
“Okay. Now we’re hugging,
and kissing. We’re currently
kissing,” Holm said, feeding
kissing noises into the phone.
“Workaholics,”
which
wrapped up its final season
in 2017, features characters
Blake, Ders and Adam who,
as college dropout druggies
working in a telemarketing
office, may seem quite similar
to Joel, Darren and Alexxx of
“Game Over, Man!” But, when
asked if character confusion
was a concern, Holm seemed
optimistic.
“When you start from the
ground up, and you go, OK:
Who are these people, and
why are they in this movie?
Then, you start to find out
why they’re different,” Holm
said. “And then, when you start
writing for actors, because
you know their strong suits
are in certain places and not
in others, you can still play to
their
performing
strengths.
By putting a different point of
view and perspective in the
story, all of a sudden you have
a new man.”
Though
the
film
was
originally written six years
ago, it is quite hip to the times,
including a number of jabs at
current societal trends, such as
the obsession with vaping and
the purchasing of social media
followers. But the heart of the
movie stays true to the original
script.
“Everything else was added
later on. But we were like, ‘The
world needs to see Adam’s
penis. Everything else, we’ll
come up with at a later date,’”
said Anderson and Holm.
“You
know,
we’re
like
anyone else,” Anderson added.
“We’re walking around seeing
idiots vaping, and we’re lucky
enough to be able to create a
movie and put those freakin’
Bozo the Clowns in a movie.”
DeVine, Anderson and Holm
have been working on the film
with Seth Rogen and Scott
Rudin’s company for five to six
years.
“We had a few studios that
were pretty interested, and
then Netflix came in, in a real
way, and gave us the budget
that we wanted to make the
movie as big and as fun as we
needed it to feel,” DeVine said.
“We wanted to come from
‘Workaholics,’ which is this
small, basic cable television
show, and make the movie feel
much larger than anything
you’ve seen from us. And
Netflix was able to give us a
proper budget to do that.”
The
movie
features
a
number of cameos, including
Shaggy, Steve-O and Flying
Lotus, as well as people who
have appeared in episodes of
“Workaholics,” such as Jillian
Bell (“SuperMansion”).
“We filmed the whole movie
up in Vancouver, and a lot of
people we were calling just
for one day of work. So, you
gotta kind of pull the ‘Homie
Pass’ for something like that.
You know, the ‘Homie Pass,’”
Anderson said.
At the risk of giving away
any
spoilers
(apart
from
DeVine’s nakedness), it is safe
to say that the film has its fair
share of unexpected plot lines
that drive the exciting and
unpredictable nature of the
movie.
“Anything that comes off as
shocking ties into the story.
There’s not nudity for nudity’s
sake — it is pushing the story
forward,” Anderson said.
“Though, I have been dying
to see Adam’s nude penis,”
Holm said. “It served my story,
I’ll tell you that.”
“Yeah,”
DeVine
agreed.
“Ders has a life story, and at
the end of it, he gets to see my
penis.”
Not only is “Game Over,
Man!” the three’s first major
motion picture together, but
it is the first production of
this caliber that they have
approached as a single entity.
“Weirdly, for me, it was kind
of seamless,” Holm said, of the
transition from “Workaholics”
to “Game Over, Man!” “We
walked onto our giant set
where we literally built an
entire floor of a hotel, with
hotel rooms, stairwells... it was
a trip. But then I was like, let’s
do this. We shoot tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I think if we would
have done this movie during
season one or two or three (of
‘Workaholics’), we might have
been overwhelmed,” DeVine
said. “I think we got to this
movie at the perfect place in
our lives and careers. Because
it is a lot, to be given millions
and millions of dollars to go off
and make a movie. But since we
were able to do ‘Workaholics’
for
so
long,
and
feel
so
comfortable, and be the bosses
for seven years, by the end of
it — we got pretty comfortable
steering the ship.”
While
there
is
no
disputing
their
experience
with
“Workaholics”
greatly
prepared them for their work
on “Game Over, Man!,” there
is a stark difference between
working on a TV show and a
high budget film.
“When you’re making TV —
and we were involved in every
aspect of the show — you’re
reading scripts for episodes,
you’re acting, you’re casting
episodes, you’re watching cuts
of episodes. So stuff can really
back up on you,” Anderson
said. “But in the movie biz,
you really get to focus on each
thing individually, and you
have a lot more time to live in
the scenes and the comedy, so
that was refreshing.”
“Also, TV shows move so
quickly. We would have to
shoot, sometimes, eight to 10
pages in a day, which is a ton,”
DeVine said. “In a movie, you
only need to shoot two to four
pages for the whole day, so you
really have time to make sure
you get it right. So when you
see a bad movie, just know that
they really, really blew it.”
“Also,”
Anderson
added,
“we were coming off of seven
seasons of a show on TV, so it
was kind of refreshing to have
all those freedoms that a movie
allows you to have.”
“And especially at Netflix,
where you don’t have to worry
‘Game Over, Man!’ stars
talk on set hijinks, hilarity
ALLIE TAYLOR
Daily Arts Writer
NETFLIX
ARTIST PROFILE
The Rogue Initiative and
cross-medium storytelling
about popcorn or candy sales —
they allow you to be as creative
as you want to be,” DeVine
said. “They also don’t have “R”
ratings, so... anything goes.”
“Anything
goes,”
agreed
Anderson.
When asked about the ideal
way to view “Game Over,
Man!,” Anderson sung, in a
teasing tone: “With your pants
off.”
DeVine and Holm scoffed
and laughed at Anderson, as if
they suddenly disapproved of a
joking, insincere response.
“I
would
say,”
DeVine
started, “get the biggest TV you
can find. Watch it with your
friends. Watch it on a gigantic
TV — the biggest TV that you
can get your hands on. Because
it’s a cool, big movie, and it’s
kind of a shame to watch it on
your phones. This is a movie
that I think will play better on
a larger screen.”
“Take all the bedsheets in
the dorm and you tie them
together, and hang them out
the window to make a giant
screen, and project it,” Holm
said in a booming, affected
tone.
“I know you’re doing, like,
a fake voice, but that’s a really
good idea,” DeVine said.
As the creators and stars,
picking a favorite moment of
the film proved to be difficult
for the bunch.
“They’re all our babies,”
DeVine
confessed.
“A
fan
favorite is probably the fist fight
when we first encountered the
terrorists, and I am fully nude
from the waist down. That was
also pretty difficult to film,
because Blake wouldn’t stop
staring at me.”
“Knock it off!” Anderson
refuted. “One of my favorites
was the big stunt with us
hanging
between
the
two
buildings,
because
we
had
never really gotten to do a stunt
of that scale. It almost felt like
we were Marvel heroes for a
second.”
“I like watching all the bad
guy stuff,” Holm said. “I’ve
acted with these guys for so
long, which is fun, but to sit
back and watch characters
that I’ve never seen come to
life, and do what was in my
brain in my basement, was a
lot of fun. Watching the scene
where Jillian (Bell), who’s just
credited as somebody who shits
her pants... that was funny.”
“Also, Blake shit his pants
one time,” DeVine stated.
“No I didn’t!”
“I wish that were a joke — ”
“I did not do that,” Anderson
said.
“Well,” explained DeVine,
“something happened that one
day. We’ll never know, but he
definitely left the room and
changed his pants, so...”
“It
was
a
wardrobe
malfunction,” Anderson said.
“Yeah.
A
wardrobe
malfunction,”
DeVine
repeated. “Sure.”
COMMUNITY PROFILE
BECKY PORTMAN
Senior Arts Editor
SINGLE & VIDEO REVIEW: FREAKY FRIDAY
Last week, comedic rapper Lil
Dicky released his first single
in three years. “Freaky Friday,”
a spin-off of the iconic mother-
daughter comedy popularized
by Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay
Lohan, recruited Chris Brown,
Ed Sheeran and Kendall Jenner
to help compose a song in which
Dicky and Brown switch bodies.
As Lil Dicky’s brand is self-
deprecation based on his admit-
tedly white and lame style — an
oddity in a genre mostly domi-
nated by Black men with swagger
— switching bodies with Chris
Brown opened the floodgates
for funny lyrics that play on art-
ist stereotypes. The song begins
with Lil Dicky’s realization that
he’s woken up in Chris Brown’s
body. The lyrics (actually voiced
by Chris Brown), “I’m so fly and
I can dance / There’s tattoos on
my neck,” hilariously expose the
stark contrast between Dicky and
Brown. The lyrics go a step fur-
ther, as Lil Dicky (again, actually
Chris Brown) takes advantage of
his ability to say the N-word and
rejoices at the size of his member.
Controversial and uncomfort-
able? Maybe, but Lil Dicky has
never shied away from push-
ing the envelope or discussing
penises.
The track gets even funnier
when Chris Brown wakes up as
Lil Dicky and realizes the perks
of being white and barely rec-
ognizable as a celebrity: “Ain’t
nobody judging ‘cause I’m Black
or my controversial past / I’ma go
and see a movie and relax.” Even-
tually, though, Brown (Dicky’s
voice) grows tired of being some-
one else, and after he realizes he
truly likes being himself (can I get
a cliché?) the rappers are reunited
with their own bodies. The outro
provides some extra comedy, as
Lil Dicky is thrown into the body
of Ed Sheeran and then Kendall
Jenner, after which he realizes
Chris Brown is much cooler than
Ed Sheeran and having private
access to the female anatomy for
a day might be interesting.
Sonically, “Freaky Friday”
is extremely basic, with a thin
chord progression and beat akin
to last year’s hackneyed hit, “I’m
The One.” The track is much
more entertaining when paired
with the elaborate and extended
music video, the driving force
behind the growing popularity of
the new single.
- Mike Watkins, Daily Arts Writer
With a Chinese red paper lan-
tern as the first shot of the video,
I didn’t exactly have high hopes
for this music video. What was to
follow? Subtle racism? Cultural
appropriation? Goody, goody.
Couldn’t wait.
My bad feeling turned out to be
spot on. I shouldn’t have to spell
out why implying that the Asian
server can’t understand English
is racist and tokenizing as heck
(Reminder: General Tsao’s Chick-
en is in no way actually Chinese.
Nobody in China knows what
that shit is). Of course, the server
also turns out to be a mystical
wizard and suddenly gains Eng-
lish comprehension skills when
it serves to forward the sloppily
constructed plot of the video. And
all of this perfectly dropped right
before Asian Pacific American
Heritage Month in May.
Follow with a brief scene where
Lil Dicky commiserates about his
own un-coolness whilst watching
some clips of Chris Brown doing
his thing. Brown may be “so good
at dancing” and have the “sickest
tattoos,” but did Dicky forget his
idol also nearly beat Rihanna to
death? Brown even references his
“controversial past” a bit later on
in the video. Assault isn’t funny.
In comparison to the rest of Lil
Dicky’s music videos, “Freaky
Friday” isn’t all that unique; it has
the same cringey mid-2000s bad
meme humor, objectification and
downright stupidity that many of
Lil Dicky’s creations share.
There were times when I did
laugh. Who doesn’t enjoy watch-
ing someone poke fun at them-
selves for three minutes straight?
Maybe if Dicky hadn’t gone out
of his way to include every single
problematic thing that’s common
in movie media — objectification,
emphasizing the “otherness” of
non-Western people and cul-
tures, rampant sexism, tone-deaf
racist undertones and tossing the
N-word around as if it was some
sort of joke — I would have even
enjoyed it.
Try harder, Lil Dicky. Being
intentionally offensive is not a
good look.
-Sam Lu, Daily Arts Writer
“Freaky Friday”
Lil Dickey ft. Chris
Brown
School Boy Records