Like much of our greatest art, Dicks: The Musical began in the basement of a now-abandoned Gristedes grocery store in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.
It’s been a decade since that Upright Citizens Brigade production, and what Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp started as a 30-minute off-Broadway musical they performed for their queer comedy friends (and those who love them) is now an indie film hit from trendy studio A24.
The film debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. There, audiences were sent into a state of hyperventilation, gasping in disbelief at what they were seeing on screen—and then laughing hysterically at how absolutely, unabashedly, gloriously, and egregiously ridiculous it all is.
Last week, the film generated one of the best limited openings of the year at the box office, and starting Oct. 20, Dicks: The Musical opens in wide release.
That means the whole country can now go see the heartwarming tale, in which identical twin brothers reunite to try to “Parent Trap” their parents back together. They’ll also see Nathan Lane chew up and spit out ham to feed his coven of caged “Sewer Boys” like a bird; Megan Thee Stallion rap about the patriarchy; and Megan Mullaly set free her flying vagina—which, she mentions repeatedly, had “fallen off.” But that’s all just a tease for the biggest crowd-pleasing moments: The twins start rabidly fucking each other, and God (played by Bowen Yang) sings a barn-burner of a number celebrating it, called “All Love Is Love.”
“I know that [scene] and other things are quote-unquote ‘offensive,’ and I’m not about to say they're not,” Sharp tells The Daily Beast’s Obsessed, asked whether he and Jackson were nervous if the audience would “go there” with them and the raunchy incest comedy. (The incest is depicted, and it’s graphic, wildly gymnastic—and quite funny.) “At the same time, the first joke of the movie is that we’re twins, and we’re absolutely not.” Note: Sharp and Jackson, indeed, look nothing alike. “So if any part of you in that scene thinks it’s even one iota of us trying to be realistic—just know it’s more Hanna-Barbera than Stanislavsky.”
Back at Gristedes, Dicks: The Musical was called Fucking Identical Twins. When A24 began developing the project as a film—and comedy legend Larry Charles (Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Borat) came on board as director—concerns were raised by the studio that Google searches for the title might surface other…let’s say, “content” ahead of the movie. Then there was the tiny issue that theaters wouldn’t show a film with that title.
Dicks: The Musical, then, stars Jackson as Craig and Sharp as Trevor, who are first introduced in a montage having outlandish orgasms while having sex with multiple women. They are both salesmen for Vroomba vacuum parts—the parts, not the vacuums—and, after being called up to corporate, sing a song about how big their penises are and their erstwhile, macho manliness. (Jackson and Sharp are two gay men who portray their characters very much as they themselves are in real life.) It’s at the office for the first time that they realize they are long-lost twins, devise the plan to get their mother (Mullally’s Evelyn, a recluse) and father (Lane’s Harris, clearly a homosexual) back together—and the musical mayhem ensues.
Ahead of this weekend’s wide release, we talked to Jackson and Sharp about Dicks: The Musical’s unlikely journey to the big screen, the mechanics of filming twin incest, and the miracle of people understanding their sense of humor. (“Kevin, I want to give this to you to print in the piece,” Sharp says. “One of the few notes we’ve gotten from the press team during this press tour is, maybe don’t call your own film ‘stupid’ so much.”)
It’s an honor to talk to two brave homosexuals. I love that title card. [The film opens with a “disclaimer” that reads, “The following film was bravely written by two homosexuals, the first time gay men have ever written anything. These same two LGBTQ+ gay guys are also starring in the film, bravely playing heterosexual men. Which is again, brave.”] What’s the origin of the idea to start things with that?
Sharp: Back in the stage show, we used to joke, “This show was written by homosexuals, so you can’t be offended or you’re a bigot.” We thought it was funny to bully people to be like, “Well gay people made it, so…” But it really did telegraph that we’re gay guys doing a drag queen version of straight guys. We wanted a version of that for the movie, and this felt more fun, to play full-dumb and say it’s the first time gay people have written anything. It also gives you the lens that we’re doing buffoonish, cartoon straight guys.
Jackson: The audience knows right away that we’re not trying to depict this with accuracy. This is a comedic choice.
You both have a very specific comedic voice, which leads to content that’s as out-there as this is. Do you think an audience needs to be familiar with that voice and your work to fully submit to the ludicrous nature of it all?
Jackson: I think if you know that it’s a big, broad, fun, silly comedy, you’ll be in a good space for it. If you’re in the mood for something like Tár, I don’t think you'll respond.
Sharp: I think if you want Tár, you might respond to this!
Jackson: It is gay!
Sharp: I think it’s fun when people are teed up that it’s outrageous and crazy, and are excited for a wild ride.
As collaborators and friends who have been so close for a decade, what was it like to shoot incestuous sex scenes with each other?
Jackson: It was really fun. That was the last day of shooting. We wanted it to be the last day because the sex is not romantic—we’ll call it “acrobatic,” and we are not acrobats. We were worried we were going to hurt ourselves. I had cuts, scars, and bruises all over myself. But that and the scene in bed leading up to it, we’re very proud of those scenes.
Sharp: They’re my favorite scenes. But we thought of it more as a piece of physical comedy than a sex scene. It was like, what are the funniest choices we can make? None of the physics of that sex makes sense. To us, it was like, if these guys were to finally have sex with each other—or anyone—they’re gonna do it like aggressive little chihuahua dogs.
Jackson: Jackhammer sex. These characters are not very nuanced characters, and I think their sex would not be very nuanced. It’s so funny because we had a great time, but it was also very sentimental because it was the last shot in the movie. We finally got the movie made. There are pictures of us, like, hugging Larry Charles in the bed after we wrapped, and we’re very teary-eyed.
Sharp: In the blooper reel from that scene, because it was our last day, I just was laughing. Then Aaron was like, “What are you laughing at? And I truly was like, “That we made this movie!”
As someone who obviously does not present as an aggro, macho, heterosexual man, I imagine it must be fun to parody that kind of guy, like you both do at the beginning of the movie.
Sharp: Yes. But at the same time, we’re never once trying to sell it like we aren’t [playing] us. We’re fully playing it as us. It’s cartoon. It’s so clown-y. Like, “Oh, I got a big dick and 1,000 cars…” Although I did live as a straight man for 18 years, so I did put in the work, I would not say this was an attempt to be all of that realistic of a portrayal.
Jackson: It doesn’t matter if they’re straight or gay. We just love really extremely confident characters. Unearned confidence, really. Unearned arrogance is so fun.
It’s amazing how perfectly Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally seem to understand and nail your brand of comedy—not to mention be on board for all the ridiculousness. What was it like to get them to that place?
Jackson: It sounds like a very canned-for-press answer, but they were our top choices. We did not know them personally. We can be very… not pessimistic, but realistic. Like, “This person will say no.” But I remember when the offer went out to Nathan, I was like, “I think he’s gonna say yes.” And the same with Megan. They’re both just so brilliant and they really did, I think, understand the piece. Nathan has said he wasn’t sure he was the one to do it. But then he met us, and we had this wonderful dinner. I think he learned that we have a controlled insanity, and aren’t actually insane people. But Mullally was fully [like], “Oh yeah, let’s do it.”
Megan Mullally and Nathan Lane are known for being game in the comedy world. I think it’s probably more surprising to people that Megan Thee Stallion was fully on board and got it.
Sharp: She showed up and was so down to clown. I mean, she’s an incredibly good performer, and raps and dances the shit out of [her song]. But on top of that, she was very funny.
Jackson: We were having a rehearsal with her. Our jobs [in the movie] is that we sell Vroomba parts, and she’s clarifying, “So we sell Vroombas?” And we were like, “No, we sell the parts. And she was like, “Ohhh, so it’s stupid…” And I think it’s stupid! So she did get it. Mullally, on our first meeting with her when she’d said yes, she met us via Zoom and she just went, “Oh boys, it’s so stupid.” And she says, “I mean that as a compliment.” We also mean stupid as a compliment.
Sharp: Kevin, I want to give this to you to print in the piece. One of the few notes we’ve gotten from the press team during this press tour is, “Maybe don’t call your own film ‘stupid’ so much.” So now when we do, I go, “To be clear, that is one of the most positive adjectives that you can use.” It comes from a place of love and praise when I go, “That is so stupid.” I love it. So you had a lot of people who got the joy of being stupid together, and why it is so funny to allow yourself to do all this dumb stuff. Especially when you have these legends doing it. It’s doubly as funny to me.
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