Ricky Stanicky Director Peter Farrelly Talks Cena, Efron and Going 'Too Far'

After a small detour in his career to win a few Oscars, the filmmaker Peter Farrelly is back with his first full-fledged comedy in a decade: Ricky Stanickywith Zac Efron And John Cena.

Now available for streaming on Main videoTHE Amazon the comedy follows Dean (Efron) and two lifelong friends (Jermaine Fowler and Andrew Santino) who invent an imaginary friend named Ricky Stanicky to blame for their various detours. When their romantic partners finally want to meet him, the buddies hire a struggling actor known as “Rock Hard” Rod (Cena) to become Ricky.

Ricky Stanicky returns Farrelly to the genre of silly comedy, which he and his brother Bobby Farrelly became synonymous with in the 1990s, thanks to hits like Stupid and even dumber And There's something about Mary. Their most recent co-directing effort was the 2014 sequel, Dumb and dumber. Peter Farrelly has remained busy as a solo director, helming 2018's Green Paperfor which he won the Oscars for best film and best original screenplay, and that of 2022 The greatest beer run of all time which also starred Efron.

During a conversation with The Hollywood ReporterFarrelly discusses Ricky Stanicky'The long road to release, Cena going the extra mile to prepare for the project, the complicated feelings around the film not hitting theaters, and the current landscape of R-rated comedies.

This script was blacklisted in 2010 and has been associated with various directors and stars. Why did it take so long to make it?

This is not new to me. I had so many long developments (processes). Stupid and even dumber It took five years to make, and it was the same scenario. He was shot down by everyone. There's something about Mary was a screenplay written by Ed Decter and John Strauss that was 10 years old when my brother and I found it and rewrote it. I always expect it to take forever.

Stanicky was longer than normal. Over the past two years, we've made some nice improvements to the script. At first it was a really funny storyline, but it was thin. There's more heart in it.

How did you know John Cena would be a perfect fit for the title role?

Someone called me and said, “Have you ever seen Peacemaker” I said, “What is this? This isn't normally what I would watch. I kept watching and I was like, “This guy is amazing.” What he does in this show is hysterical, and as soon as I saw it, I thought, “That's Stanicky.” I was hoping he would accept, and he did.

He has many memorable moments as an unconventional celebrity impersonator. Did John have any say in all of this?

It's mostly in the script. It's still with us. Some people start with a free script and find it. I don't have the confidence to do that. I have to have it and know what we're doing. But once we understand it, we say, “Try this, try that.” The line at the airport where he says, “Don’t worry, it’s not what you think.” It's just piss. It wasn't in the script. Without a doubt, I would say he was the most prepared actor I have ever worked with. The first day, he knew the entire script, start to finish, every line.

Did you think of Zac for this while working with him on The greatest beer run of all time?

I actually met Zac probably seven or eight years ago. We were trying to get him involved in a project. I really loved him, and it just didn't work out. SO Beer run happened, and I was extremely impressed by this guy's talent. It's also a dream for any director because when you come to him, he says, “What do you think?” How are you ? A lot of actors, it’s in their heads. He trusts you completely, and that's a good thing.

It seems like you've taken some time away from comedy films with projects like the Oscar-winning one Green Paper. What made this the right movie to bring you back?

It wasn't a conscious decision to move away from comedy. I heard this story of Green Paper from my friend Brian Currie, who was an actor. I met him one day and he said to me: “I'm going to write a screenplay based on my friend's father. He was quite racist and drove this black concert pianist in the early 1960s, and they became friends. I said, “Home run.” I ended up agreeing with him and writing it, but that was because it was just a great idea. I wasn’t thinking, “I have to do something serious.” I liked it.

Same thing with Beer race. I loved the idea of Beer race – it reminded me of something the kids I grew up with in high school would have done – and then Stanicky arrived at. It’s not that I’ve moved away from it, but you just have to listen to what’s happening and do it.

Do studios no longer seem to prioritize theatrical comedies, and has it become more difficult to make them?

This seems to be the case, but I don't know why. Amazon's thing is to go straight to streaming. This is their model and I respect it. They gave us all the freedom to make this film and they supported it very well. My brain wonders, “How come this isn’t in a movie theater?” But that’s just not how it is. I agree 100% with the company that invested the money and their plan. There will probably be more people watching this movie in the first week than would have gone to the theater. It's much easier to see, and that's really what you want. I want people to see the film.

It has some crazy moments reminiscent of your previous classic films. Have there been any notes from the studio on what might be acceptable these days, or is there a difference between today and the 90s in terms of what can fly?

Not really. The studio certainly didn't hold me back, and they didn't say, “You should do this or that.” We cut a few things that I thought were maybe a little broader than what this movie should have had. But what I liked is that it’s an original idea. Nobody has seen this film. It's our own thing, and then we let things happen and don't worry about pleasing everyone. It is essential. I know some people will say, “You’ve gone too far here; you went too far there. But if you like the characters and think their hearts are in the right place, I think you're fine.

Your series Stronger milk launched seven years ago and ran for three seasons, but has been discovered more recently since arriving on Netflix. Is there a chance to win more?

I want to do more. This show was a dream come true. We did three seasons of Stronger milk, and everyone is great, starting with Ron Livingston, Will Sasso, Anja Savcic and Brian Reagan. It was on a network that doesn't exist today, Audience Network on DirecTV, but it was a blessing. We didn't get paid much, but they said, “You can do whatever you want.” »No one was holding us back.

That was a big lesson for me because we pushed this show pretty hard, and yet if you keep going (on social media), no one complains. We have offended everyone and no one at the same time. No one says, “That’s a bad example of a 12-step program.” “It actually gets a lot of love from the 12-step program, and we have all kinds of diversity on the topic, and every single one of them makes fun of it at some point. People are happy that we pushed it, and it reminded me that it was possible.

Are there any updates on your Christmas comedy Dear Santa with Jack Black?

It's coming out at Christmas, and my brother has already shot it with Jack Black. Ben Stiller is in it. It's really fun. I wrote it with Ricky Blitt and I'm really happy with it. It was supposed to come out this Christmas, but because of the strike, Jack Black couldn't promote the film early enough, so Paramount pushed it back a year.

What are you most excited for fans to experience? Ricky Stanicky?

It's such a fun movie, and it also feels like when Married was released because there weren't many R-rated comedies at that time. We really pushed it, and after it came out, there were millions of R-rated comedies, and it was hard to do that. But now it's gone and people are going to be pleasantly surprised.

Can a comedy still have this much scope? Married time these days?

Married is its own thing. It's just nice to see an R-rated comedy, but I wouldn't compare it to Married. They are different things.