From A Flying Pussy To Terrifying Puppets, ‘Dicks: The Musical’ Is As Bizarre As It Sounds
Cult-like film studio A24 has become the industry’s indie darling, selling merch, boasting over 135K members on Reddit, and it’s a real awards contender too – they’ve been nominated for 49 Oscars and won 16.
They’re the studio behind films like Everything Everywhere All At Once, Moonlight and Lady Bird, and have dipped their toes in period dramas, unhinged horrors and arthouse films. But there’s one genre they’ve previously avoided: the humble musical.
With their history of supporting independent cinema, it shouldn’t surprise anybody that their new camp movie-musical Dicks: The Musical is truly bizarre. I’d sum it up as an X-rated version of The Parent Trap combined with some of Troma’s horror-comedy monsters from the ‘80s and set to a soundtrack written by The Book Of Mormon’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone. To explain how that mixes together, all you need to know is there’s a character whose pussy literally falls off… and flies away. I can’t believe I just wrote that.
Nathan Lane, Megan Mullally, Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson in Dicks: The Musical. Image credit: A24, Dicks: The Musical
Creators and stars Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp play the Lindsay Lohan characters from The Parent Trap, attempting to get their kooky parents back together.
The film is stacked with a killer cast, and I have to admit, there were many moments where I wondered how on earth they managed to land Broadway royalty Nathan Lane, Will & Grace’s Megan Mullally, Megan Thee Stallion, Bowen Yang, D’Arcy Carden and Nick Offerman. During a chat with the two creators and stars Aaron and Josh, the pair joked that they simply “blackmailed” their fellow actors.
Aaron and Josh first created a stage version titled Fucking Identical Twins for the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. The UCB, founded by Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh, has been known for producing a slew of comedy stars, including Donald Glover, Ed Helms, Aubrey Plaza and more.
I’ve been a musical theatre girlie all my life, and in my teens, I got really into splatter films. When I turned 16, I forced all my friends to watch Cannibal! The Musical – the film made by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, before creating South Park and The Book of Mormon – under the guise of a birthday party. Dicks has some similarities, with so many crude jokes that land, minute details that are both witty and smart, and a really catchy score.
After I watched the film, I had approximately one million questions such as: if there’s going to be flying pussy merch in the future, how the pair convinced Nathan Lane to spit chewed-up ham onto terrifying puppets, and what Megan Thee Stallion is really like.
So, I sat down with Aaron and Josh to get the inside scoop about Dicks: The Musical.
Note: This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Punkee: How did you convince Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally to come on board?
Josh: We’ve got some dirt on Nathan.
Aaron: Yeah, we’re blackmailing him! No, we just sent him the script. Josh and I did it as a two-person sketch show like 10 years ago, and we had a video of that. Then we went out to dinner and we stayed there until they turned the lights off in the restaurant.
Josh: He told us this story where he’s like, ‘I read the script and it was SO funny. But I wasn’t sure I should be the one who should do the things in the script’. But we all got along at dinner and he was like, ‘Alright boys, let’s make a movie.’
Josh: Megan was an easier ask. It’s not even bullshit to say that we got everyone we wanted in this film. She was the one that most of all we were like, well, Megan Mullally will get this. We also sent her the script and the video and hopped on Zoom with her. She was like, ‘Oh boys, it’s so stupid, I love it.’
Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally in Dicks: The Musical. Image credit: A24, Dicks: The Musical
We have to talk about Nathan Lane’s character feeding the Sewer Boys like a mother bird feeds her chicks, how did that play out?
Aaron: The Sewer Boys were invented because we loved the practical puppetry in ‘80s movies like Gremlins and ET.
The feeding scene had been in the script the entire time, and everybody kept thinking, ‘Well, surely this will get cut somewhere along the way’. I think Nathan thought the same thing until it came time to shoot it. He was like, ‘We’re really doing this?’ But Larry Charles, our esteemed director, walked him through it. I think he knew he had to go for it, he knew it was a big moment. It was also at one in the morning, the last shot of the day. I think he had film set delirium.
Josh: Now, unfortunately, him spitting ham onto those awful puppets will get played at his In Memoriam at the Oscars. I think it’s gonna be Nathan Lane iconography.
He said in the blooper reel that it’s potentially the most humiliating thing he’s done in his career.
Josh: We’re honoured. That’s high praise.
What was Megan’s reaction when you gave her the prop pussy?
Josh: She was horrified. The animation looks beautiful, but the prop that we gave to her – which you don’t see in the movie – everybody was like, ‘Oh it looks like this awful little burrito’. It was really disgusting.
Aaron: Yeah, it looked like a hairy potato.
The Sewer Boys in Dicks: The Musical. Image credit: A24, Dicks: The Musical
Would you ever make Dicks: The Musical merch?
Josh: There’s a t-shirt already and vinyls on the way, but we want a pussy and a Sewer Boys Christmas ornament, that would be fun.
Aaron: Also an artist drew some things inspired by the movie, and he wants to make a pussy kite which I think would be lovely. That’d be great merch. I was also thinking a pussy drone would be fun to fly around.
How does it feel to have created A24’s first-ever musical?
Josh: It may be their last, honestly. We love musicals and wanted to make an original musical because a lot of things in the comedy space are parodies, so this concept and to add onto it as an original musical was a big ask. It felt like the only place for it was A24, who would be like, ‘Yeah, go for it!’.
Aaron: They have a lot of horror fans and film bro fans, so we’re very excited to give them this big wacky gay musical.
Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson in Dicks: The Musical. Image credit: A24, Dicks: The Musical
There are some great cameos in the film, were there any cameos you were hoping to get but didn’t land? Was Lindsay Lohan ever on your mind?
Josh and Aaron: Lindsay Lohan would’ve been incredible.
Aaron: Darcy and Bowen are our old friends, saw the old stage show back in the day, the mailman is Josh’s boyfriend of 10 years.
Josh: Aaron’s husband is in there.
Aaron: My sister is the nun at the end, Nick Offerman is married to Megan Mullally, so it’s like a big family band that felt really cute. It wasn’t like we were trying to get Nicole Kidman, though we would’ve loved her.
How did Trey Parker and Matt Stone influence Dicks?
Aaron: They’re a big comedic inspiration for us.
Josh: And there’s John Waters and Little Shop Of Horrors. With Trey and Matt, they’re doing offensive humour well but what I also love about them is whenever they’re doing original musicals, the music is original and fabulous. They managed to write great songs, I think you need that when your humour is outlandish or stupid or bizarre. Once the music slaps, then these jokes have wings.
Could we ever see a Sewer Boys spinoff?
Aaron: Maybe they could get their own spinoff, they deserve an extended universe.
Josh: I think a Saturday morning cartoon show for children would be great.
Aaron: With the pussy as their friend, she flies them places.
Megan Thee Stallion performing ‘Out Alpha The Alpha’. Image credit: A24, Dicks: The Musical
There’s some Oscars buzz around Megan Thee Stallion’s single ‘Out Alpha The Alpha’ – the Sewer Boys could present her with the award.
Josh: Sorry Billie Eilish!
Aaron: It’s our turn.
Josh: She was a dream to work with. We felt like we were so lucky to have her that we were like, she could be an awful witch and it would be worth it. But she was kind, lovely and fun.
Aaron: She improvised a lot too, and so much of her stuff made it in.
Will we see Dicks: The Musical on Broadway?
Aaron: We would love to take it to the Great White Way.
Josh: Or at least to The Sydney Opera House, could we do it there?
With Nicole Kidman?
Aaron: She’s dying to return to stage I’m sure, the money is so good.
Dicks: The Musical hits Australian cinemas on December 7, 2023
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Image credits: A24, Dicks: The Musical