In 2015, HBO dropped a sports documentary called7 Days in Hellthat sure looked like a genuine chronicle of a legendary tennis match, but was actually an artfully concocted comedy from the minds ofAndy Samberg, directorJake Szymanski, and writerMurray Miller. The trio have reunited for an all-new sports mockumentary follow-up of sorts calledTour de Pharmacy, debuting on HBO on July 8th, this time taking on the sport of cycling.
Narrated byJon Hamm, this mockumentary chronicles a 1982 cycling event in all its silly glory, with Samberg,Orlando Bloom,Daveed Diggs,John Cena, andFreddie Highmoreportraying the main players in that event while a litany of celebrities contextualize the story in modern day, talking head-style interviews. It’s a hilarious, insane, and surprisingly compelling watch complete with some genuine twists and turns and fantastic cameos (hint: listen closely to the voiceover work).
In anticipation of the film’s debut, I recently got to speak with Samberg for an exclusive interview aboutTour de Pharmacy. We discussed how the project came together, the fast-paced production process, how they went about assembling the ridiculous ensemble cast, whether it was tough to convinceLance Armstrongto participate, and a lot more. Additionally, we also chatted aboutKyle Mooney’s excellent upcoming filmBrigsby Bear, which Samberg produced, as well asMark Hamill’s performance in that film. We also touched onBrooklyn Nine-Nine’s cliffhanger finale, if they’ve discussed an end point for the series yet, and the creative process on that show. And if you’re wondering why I didn’t bring up the sorely underseenPopstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, watch this space—I conducted a lengthy, exclusive interview with the whole Lonely Island crew about all thingsPopstarthat’ll be on Collider soon.
If you liked7 Days in Hell, I can pretty much guarantee you’ll digTour de Pharmacy. It’s a bonkers, funny ride that definitely doesn’t overstay its welcome, so I highly recommend checking it out. Read the full interview with Samberg below.
So how did this idea first come about? I know it’s kind of the same team behind7 Days in Hell.
ANDY SAMBERG: Yeah me and Murray Miller, and then Jake Szymanski directed it. Basically, after7 Days in Hell, and kind of even before it, we had hoped that we could try and turn this into like a comedy30 for 30, or HBO Sports Presents kind of a thing. And then7 Days in Hell, as far as we could tell, was received well, and we were really happy with it creatively, so we asked HBO if they’d be up for another one and they said “Absolutely.” So we just started racking our brains for sports that we thought we could do funny stuff with, and cycling definitely leapt out at us. So we just kind of started to hammer it.
When did you guys shoot this? Because I know you shot7 Days in Hellsuper quickly. Was it kind of a similar production process on this one?
SAMBERG: It was. It was definitely a little more ambitious, but not totally dissimilar. We shot it last summer, right before I started shooting the most recent season ofBrooklyn, and I think the primary shooting day, like all the cycling stuff, was like four days, and that was intense, heavy, big shoot days in the mountains all around LA and outside of LA. And then, we just sort of pick up talking heads throughout the year to finish it, which is how we did7 Daysalso.
Is it mostly scripted, or is there a lot of kind of finding it on the day?
SAMBERG: Mostly scripted, and then— Actually the majority of the time we improvise and add stuff is in the talking heads. So we’ll set an hour or two hours, whatever the actor has, to sit down with somebody, and we’ll have a ton of alts to try with them, and then once we’re there, Murray, Jake and myself will come up with stuff and throw it out as we’re shooting.
The talking heads are great. I knew that J.J. Abrams was in the cast, and I was like, “Oh, is he playing like an older James Marsden?” and then it’s like, no, it’s J.J. Abrams, filmmaker.
SAMBERG: (Laughs) I was so excited to do it with J.J., he’s so funny.
How did that come about?
SAMBERG: He and I have been kind of friends since I hosted the MTV Movie Awards. I did this video called “Cool Guys Don’t Look at Explosions.” I was obsessed with J.J. for all of the stuff he’d done before, but then especially at that moment, he had just made the firstStar Trekmovie, the reboot that he did, and I was obsessed with it, and I also knew that he played music and stuff, so I asked him to come do the keyboard solo in that video with Will Ferrell and me. And we kind of just got to be friendly through that, and I’ve stayed in touch since then, and when we had this whole bit inTour de Pharmacyabout the French New Wave in filmmaking and stuff, and somebody who could speak really whimsically about filmmaking, and I was like, “Oh my God, I’ve gotta ask J.J. because he’s arguably the biggest director in the world.” And how funny would that be? And he was totally game for it. It was funny.
He’s so great in it, he’s really funny.
SAMBERG: Yeah, I agree, I thought he killed it. I’m super happy.
I mean, the whole movie is silly, but when you see that Jeff Goldblum is playing the older version of you, what’s it like to not only cast Jeff Goldblum as the older version of yourself, but to watch that play out?
SAMBERG: (Laughs) I mean, it was a dream come true obviously. In retrospect, we shot his stuff after we shot my stuff, and I think if we’d shot him first, I probably would have leaned harder into doing a young Goldblum. And also, I will say, it’s hilarious that he’s in better shape now than I’m supposed to be in 1982 as him. Because he is fit. A real tall drink of water.
He seems totally game to just really ham it up, and just go super silly on this.
SAMBERG: Yeah, and he was swimming in it. Like, when we shot with him, he did like 20 takes with every line. It was definitely one of those cliché moments of like, everyone on set was trying hard not to laugh at takes, because he’s such a goof. And you know, it’s Goldblum. He’s a legend.
Yeah, there’s no one else like him. And the rest of the cast is terrific too. I didn’t know I needed a comedy with Daveed Diggs and John Cena, but I mean, here we are. And Freddie Highmore. How did all of that casting come about?
SAMBERG: Yeah, he was great, and also just the sweetest guy, Freddie, I love him. Yeah, it all weirdly just came together. I mean, the cool thing about doing this one was that we had7 Days in Hellas the calling card a little bit, so when we started casting, we were just like, “Oh, you know who would be great is Freddie Highmore and John Cena,” and we just called up people and were like, “Tell them to watch7 Days in Hell,” and if they like that, then, it’s gonna be like that. It made it really nice in that, everyone who showed up was like—John Cena kept being like, “Yeah, let’s get weird. Let’s fucking get weird, I’m up for it. Let’s do it.” Because he came in being like, “Yeah, it’s gonna be bonkers.” And when you have everyone there sort of understanding what you’re going for, you generally attract people that are into that. So it was really smooth actually.
Was it tough to convince Lance Armstrong for this? Because I thought maybe he’ll be in it for a couple of scenes, but he’s in the whole movie.
SAMBERG: Yeah. It was not that bad. We figured it would either be impossible or it would be a yes, depending on wherever he felt like he was at with everything. But we sat down, we’re like, “We’re making a comedy about cycling and the tour, how do we not at least ask him?” And Murray wrote all that stuff for him, and it was making us laugh so much, we’re like, “Fuck it, let’s just try.” And so we sent it to him, and he was into it. He was just like, “Yeah, fuck it, it’s funny.” We’re like, “All right, great.” We had one chat with him, and he was perfectly pleasant.
He’s really funny in the movie.
SAMBERG: He also tried a lot of weird shit we threw at him. Going into it, I think he was like nervous going into it, and then once he was there doing it, I think he started having fun, and he started screwing around with it more. We ended up with even more that we expected.
When he just thinks that he’s incognito and just goes off on terrible rants about like foster dogs and stuff, I was just kind of gasped.
SAMBERG: (Laughs) Yeah, it was very fun. It’s such a dumb bit.
And that’s kind of the conceit of the movie, that’s why I’m a big fan of your stuff, is that it’s very silly, but it works. This kind of movie could come off as just a really extendedSNLsketch that gets old really fast, but I feel like there’s some dynamism to it, and an actual story that propels it forward, and it’s engaging to watch, while also like, “What the fuck is happening?”
SAMBERG: Awesome, well thank you. We tried super hard in editing to make that the case. So I appreciate you saying it. When you do something that’s super bit-heavy, you definitely struggle to find the ones that work, and not have it overstay its welcome. And I felt like something people responded really positively to about7 Days in Hellwas that we didn’t waste a lot of their time, and that has kind of been how we’ve done it Lonely Island style, we’ve always wanted —our digital shorts got shorter and shorter the longer we were atSNL, and we tried to keepPopstarreally short, and I don’t know … All of my favorite comedies are short, I’ll say.
Yeah, and this feels like the perfect length, the 50 minutes for this kind of HBO Sports mockumentary thing, I feel like is really perfect.
SAMBERG: Yeah. But I’m glad you like the story structure of it all too, because that was part of what attracted us to doing sports mockumentaries. All those30 for 30episodes, they hook you in because you know that they have a beginning, middle, and an end, and they basically tell you what it’s gonna be, but you just have fun watching it anyway.
Yeah, and it was surprisingly wrapped up in who’s gonna win, and then it’s kind of like, “Oh, Daveed Diggs is a dairy farmer now, I guess he’s out.” And then you just keep throwing curve balls to change that up.
SAMBERG: (Laughs) Yeah, we try to keep people on their toes a little.
I also appreciate your commitment to graphic male nudity in these movies. Was that a stipulation of doing another one?
SAMBERG: It was a self-appointed stipulation. We just find it so funny. But we definitely are big supporters of equal opportunity nudity. When you do HBO, obviously, there’s a lot of boobage, but definitely pushing for more wang is a good thing.
Have you guys talked about doing another one? Do you have an idea of what kind of sport you might want to tackle next if you do another one?
SAMBERG: We do want to do another one. We have a few ideas that we like, but we haven’t decided yet. But I’ll tell Collider first thing when we decide (laughs).
Okay, thank you. I would happily break that news.
SAMBERG: You guys are the guys (laughs).
Well I also wanted to ask aboutBrigsby Bear, which I saw at Sundance, and it’s fantastic, really surprising, really sweet. What was it like producing someone else’s movie, and how did that kind of come about?
SAMBERG: Well, I agree with you, I love that movie. It came about that we, Lonely Island, have a production company now, and that script got sent to us, and we obviously love [star/co-writer] Kyle [Mooney] and [director] Dave [McCary] already. We were part of the slow movement of people that were recommending them toSNLbefore they got hired, because we loved their stuff. And we read that script, and we were like, “Holy shit, this is awesome, this has to get made.” So we we’d love to help any way we could, and Phil Lord and Chris Miller also did, and we kind of all joined forces to try and get it done. My main contribution, personally, was being in it I think, and now talking about it. But our then head producer, Billy Rosenberg, played a huge part, and we just gave him our thoughts. But honestly it’s really their deal. Kyle and Dave did a really awesome job, they knew what they wanted it to be tonally, and they’re so specific, that’s why we love their stuff so much. So, we kind of just let them do their thing and gave them help wherever they needed it, and it was mostly like logistical stuff, because creatively, they know exactly what they’re doing.
I really like Kyle’s stuff onSNL, it’s a little idiosyncratic, but I’m a big fan, and that movie just felt like being dialed in 100% into his mind. And the kind of stuff that he does.
SAMBERG: Agreed, and he’s great in it. And everyone was great in it, but Mark Hamill in particular, I thought was so excellent, and such a cool thing to watch him do.
He’s incredible, and he brings this weight of his role as a voice actor, which is a whole other side of him that some people don’t know, but some people are huge fans of. But he really brings that kind of foundation to it.
SAMBERG: Yeah, you may see little hints of Joker in there.
Yeah. And he’s so good at it, that towards the beginning of the movie, you’re not necessarily sure if that’s his voice or not, because he’s pretty great at switching that up.
SAMBERG: Yeah. He’s a super talented dude. And he’s Luke Skywalker (laughs).
Did you get to go to set and kind of barrage him withStar Warsquestions or anything?
SAMBERG: We did cross over. When I shot my stuff, he was on his way in, so we all went out and had dinner one night. I tried not to jock him too hard specifically aboutStar Wars, but I definitely was soaking up just meeting him and getting to hang with him. Super nice guy.
Yeah, he really seems like it.
SAMBERG: Yeah, it’s such a gift when that happens, you’re like “Thank goodness you’re nice.”
It’s a small movie, and it doesn’t have a ton of big stars in it, but I feel like him lending his presence, especially now, with the resurgence ofStar Wars, will get a lot more asses in seats.
SAMBERG: That is definitely the hope. And I think the themes in the movie, sort of this undying love of creativity and collaboration and stuff, I think that stuff really spoke to him. And it’s a great part, he murders it. Really, there’s a few scenes with him where I was like, “Holy shit, this is good.” I’m glad we’re a part of it.
I also really loveBrooklyn Nine-Nine. It’s a sitcom that continues to be funny, but it feels ambitious in its storytelling; it’s not one of these sitcoms that’s been going on for years, and it’s just the same stuff over and over again. Was there any trepidation on your part on leaving on that big of a cliffhanger for this finale, knowing that it is kind of possible that you guys might not be back?
SAMBERG: Not because we thought we might not be back. We were operating under the assumption that we would be back. But man, if we hadn’t come back, that would have been a sucky end.
It’s a great episode.
SAMBERG: And that’s one of the best parts about doing a TV show, it’s a weird thing to do a TV show and being like, “Well maybe we won’t get to finish telling our story.” It’s such a strange creative endeavor in that way. But no, we felt pretty good about coming back. Just in general I think you’re like, “This is a pretty ambitious thing to bite off. It has lot of potential darkness to it, and also, how do you get out of it and all that stuff. But I feel like Dan Goor and the writers have done such a good job so far, in terms of making things feel earned, but also keep trying to keep everyone’s attention, and have twists and turns and that kind of stuff. But also not sacrificing sort of the comfort food aspect of the show as well, which is like, these people that you hopefully want to hang out with and spend time with.
Yeah, I mean, I know Mike Schur is ontoThe Good Placenow, but I know that he and Dan both worked onParks and Rec, and something that was great about that show is that no matter how ridiculous and how mean they were to Jerry, it felt like these characters were never outright mean to each other, they loved each other, and that’s very effervescent inBrooklyn Nine-Nine. And I think it makes it stand out as opposed to like, “Oh, let’s just be mean spirited to get a couple laughs.”
SAMBERG: Yes, agreed, and that’s definitely the heart of it, and I think that’s why Mike initially, and Dan also, when they first asked me to take part, I think that’s part of why they asked me specifically, because I lean towards that, even when I’m doing sort of dirtier, darker stuff, I never want it to be mean spirited or trying to take anyone down in a masochistic way. And that was why I lovedParksalso, it’s such a sweet show, while also having really high quality comedy in it, which is tough to pull off.
Yeah, and I feel like you guys have created this really great dynamic with the cast. And now, like having been on it a few years, are you kind of involved in the storytelling aspects, or where the characters are going at the beginning of each season, or is that kind of Dan and the writers still just kind of doing their thing?
SAMBERG: It’s mostly them. Dan and I will talk all the time, and he’ll sort of run stuff by me to get feedback. Sometimes he’ll just use me as a sounding board to hear himself talk it out, and I’ll say like one thing, and he’ll go, “Right, right, okay great, you figured it out.” Well, you did most of it… But he definitely checks in with me a lot about that kind of stuff, and every now and again I’ll have a suggestion or be like, “Just make sure that we stay true to this,” because I feel like people are gonna really want to know how that played out, or stuff like that. Just little reminders here and there. And then, my major contribution creatively onBrooklynis on set. Usually, I’ll throw things in and sort of get with whatever writer’s on that week and we’ll come up with different ways to try stuff, and then I also just give a ton of editing notes with Dan.
This story really did take an interesting direction this year, and I feel like that’s also something that they did well onParks, was changing the dynamic a lot in terms of the storytelling. Have you guys discussed kind of an end date, or where you want the show to go, or how many more seasons you want it to run for?
SAMBERG: We haven’t. I think we’re kind of playing it by ear in that regard. I think we’re not going to rush anything out of fear, but I also think just because we’re entering our fifth season, just as the way I am personally as a viewer, if I was into the fifth season of the show, I would want to see some progress with the characters, and I think that will happen accordingly. But nothing is set in stone yet, it’s sort of amalgamous in that we’ll be halfway through a season and then suddenly Dan will be like, “We decided we wanted to do this,” and I’ll be like, “Great, let’s do it.” It’s not always 100% mapped out, at times you just kind of feel your way through it, and when you have 22 episodes, that actually becomes an option, you don’t have to write them all and tweak them all and then post them all at once.
Do you have any indication of where things are going next season, is there anything you can kind of tease for fans of where things might pick up?
SAMBERG: I don’t think I can, just because we left in on a cliffhanger. All I’ll say is, the stuff I’ve talked to Dan about, I really like. I think it’s gonna be super cool.
