Yeah, because in 2012, that was when you guys started writing it, right?
Willingham: Yeah. I had it down in 2012. It’s probably more like ’13 because I started formulating my follow-up to First World Problems. I wanted it to be like that, but a bigger version. I had some stuff written up, and I was like, “Let’s crank this thing out!” and Drew started coming on-board with Beast Mode. We had the title. There was just a lot to do. We just slowly started layering the screenplay. By the time we finished, it wasn’t quite shootable.
There was a lot of great stuff, but then Chris (W. Freeman), our co-director, came in and helped flesh it out more with some structure. I mean, this guy’s known for his screenwriting, so that was awesome. He also knows many people who helped us get this movie made, so it would have been pretty tough without Chris. Drew and I had a lot of fun nights watching movies, writing Beast Mode, coming up with fun names for characters—
Oh, my God! That was something I was going to ask because I love the names. That was the first thing that stuck with me. Like, Breen Nash (C. Thomas Howell’s character) is hysterical to me. So how did this work? Did you write a bunch of names down or what?
Willingham: The names thing is sort of my obsession. Some people are like, “Look, these are a little too crazy. Let’s reel this back a little bit.” If you look on IMDb at my other smaller movies before Beast Mode and look at the character names, you’ll see that I go for really weird stuff. So, Drew and I were like, “Let’s come up with some fun ones!” One of his friends had a dog named Finnegan—
Fortune: Oh, can I tell this story?
Willingham: Yeah.
Fortune: Okay, so one night, I had to get something from my friend Nicole when Spain and I were writing in-session. I forget why we were there, but she had the door closed when we were walking, making sure something doesn’t get out. We were like, “Oh, you got a dog?” and she said, “Yeah, it’s Finnegan. Don’t worry, just don’t let him out!” So all of a sudden, we hear this “reee reee reee” sound. It was a Weiner dog. It’s back legs were paralyzed and in one of the wheel things. We went to leave, and Finnegan got out in his wheelchair. Remember that?
Willingham: Kind of. Oh, my God! Hey, I kinda do, actually.
Fortune: It was this whole nightmare because we were being blamed because it was her roommate’s dog. So, it was just this odd situation we found ourselves in, and that’s how we named Finnegan Mutto, the TMZ-knockoff guy.
“…look at the character names, you’ll see that I go for really weird stuff.”
Haha! Because of the wheelchair! Oh, my God!
Fortune: So, Nicole’s ex-roommate, you have a tribute to your dog. But, I remember, real quick, going back to the writing process. I remember one day, Spain’s like, “I got this great idea.” He was writing furiously when I got there. He said, “Well, it’s basically this agent is driving around L.A. super fast. We don’t know where he’s going yet, but he accidentally kills his main client.” So that was the set-up, I remember. That was the bare-bones genesis of the project.
Willingham: And I don’t want to make any qualms, like “Oh there’s a movie called Bowfinger and Weekend at Bernie’s and The Stuff,” and all this other stuff. Yeah, I know!
Fortune: We’re aware!
Willingham: We had a lot of fun, and I want to continue doing that. It’s just elements of some of my favorite movies growing up. Just kind of throwing them at the screen for fun and nostalgia but also for the new generation who maybe didn’t see some of those films.
Fortune: Bowfinger, yeah, that’s just a biggie. I remember my first time tripping in high school on mushrooms. Someone put on Bowfinger, and it was this hysterical, eye-opening experience. It’s like, “Whoah! It’s a movie within a movie! Like Whoooahhh!”
