AMA
Hi /r/movies, I'm Casper Kelly, writer/director of Adult Swim's TOO MANY COOKS and BUDDY (out in theaters everywhere now!). AMA!
Hi reddit! I'm filmmaker Casper Kelly. You may know me as the writer-director of 2014's TOO MANY COOKS on Adult Swim. I've also co-created the series YOUR PRETTY FACE IS GOING TO HELL and STROKER & HOOP.
My new film, BUDDY, is out in theaters everywhere now from Roadside Attractions & Saban Films.
It stars Cristin Miloti, Topher Grace, Keegan-Michael Key, Clint Howard, Patton Oswalt, Michael Shannon, and Eric Bauza.
Synopsis: Dressed as a unicorn, a beloved children's TV host reveals his true self as a dark and violent force of nature.
This AMA has been verified and approved by the mods. Casper will be back at 3 PM ET today to answer questions. Please feel free to ask away in the meantime :)
Thank you for your question! I feel like a kid in a candy store with lots of ideas I want to pursue. I am writing two scripts right now - one by myself, and one with the cowriter on Buddy. I have probably 6 ideas I want to have scripts for as soon as possible! Most writer/directors have a pile of scripts ready but I've shot all my scripts and need to fill the quiver back with arrows. I know I'm being a bit vague as far as the ideas themselves but I find it is better to not discuss that stuff until it's finished (although I want to discuss it haha)
Is Delaney Quinn doing okay? Every time I see a still of her sad little face, I worry a little. (And yes, I know it’s called acting. It’s just that she’s still quite young.)
Anyhow, saw the movie the other night, and she was fantastic! If you’re considering a sequel—and goodness knows that there’s room for one—I hope you’ll get to it before she ages out of the role.
I worked at PBS stations for my entire career, and even met Barney a couple of times. (Back in the day, there were no walk-around suits for station events, so if you met Barney it was the real guy in the real suit.) You really nailed not only the aesthetic of “Barney & Friends,” but the cadence as well. Those little filmed cutaways to real people during Buddy’s lessons were pitch perfect.
Delaney is great! She's just a great actor. IRL she is full of mirth and mischief! * Thank you so much for the kind words! Yes I was happy to put in those real people cutaways (and have it inform the story!)
There’s not much to tell, unfortunately. Both times it was at a PBS work conference. One was a photo op with Barney, DJ and Baby Bop. (I’m the non-dinosaur in the photo.)
The other was a luncheon. I don’t recall any specific things he said, but he was a bit saucier with an all-adult audience (nothing inappropriate, just a bit more intentional comedy). I also recall them showing some behind-the-scenes footage, which included a clip of him goofing around on set, playing Godzilla with a building-block city.
Hey Casper. I saw Buddy as a AMC Screen Unseen monday night movie and I have to say you're a genius. First became aware of you after you wrote some of the best Squidbillies episodes. I had to show my wife Too Many Cooks when we got back from Buddy so she could get a broader sense of your creative madness. Can't wait to see what you do next.
In Buddy you have some scenes that obviously have some gnarly stuff in them with kids either in the shot or nearby. Can you talk a little bit about what the experience is like shooting with children as main characters in a horror movie? Was there anything you ended up having to scrap because it couldn't be made to work with the kids?
Seriously an amazing movie. Up there with Backrooms as the best horror movie I've seen so far this year. Please make more horror flicks.
Thank you so much! That was a hard needle to thread and if you think about it most of the kid death's are off screen or blunted in some way - I wanted to excite people and scare/thrill them but not go so hard with kids that it knocked the audience out of the movie. Like I have lots of friends where if a dog is hurt in a movie they have to turn it off - so I wanted to go as hard as I could without turning an audience (or myself) off. Obviously other directors have different lines!
That is so cool to hear because I have friends too that can't watch certain kinds of gory movies for that reason, hurting animals. Really appreciate a genuinely cool and tense horror movie that is rooted in consideration for those kinds of people.
Thank you! I wish I had a better answer for this. But to use the metaphor David Lynch uses for getting ideas - that of putting a hook in the water and a certain fish - the idea - bites the hook - I guess weird fish are attracted to the hook I'm putting in there haha. And sometimes the fish seem to be just leaping in your boat and that is a great day!
My wife had never seen Too Many Cooks. I showed it to her and begged her to watch at least 25% before skipped through the rest. She almost divorced me. I love Too Many Cooks.
Dude it was a total trip. I was blazed af and thought my brain broke. I only recently (like within the last couple of years) remembered it existed and watched it again. Blew my mind. Again. Even sober it's a total trip.
Same here. Way too high after work and this shit came on with no warning or pretext. Luckily, another guy at work saw it that night too and we talked about it all the next workday. One of my favorite work memories.
I was asleep when I first saw this. Had Adult Swim playing in the background, and I guess my unconscious mind start picking up on the repetitiveness of the song, and I woke up, and watched the rest of it in a half asleep daze. Still wasn't sure it was real for the longest time until I saw it again.
Hey Casper! I noticed a recurring theme in some of your work (specifically Fun Size and Buddy) where characters will just kind of give up when faced with danger. Just curious about your thoughts on this!
Also, not a question, but my headcanon is that Smarf from Too Many Cooks is part of the Buddy universe.
Love this! You're right! There's also an episode of Your Pretty Face where the characters are in a horror movie and Claude says "I don't need this shit. See you back in the office." and he just kills himself. I guess life is just tough you know? I would love a Smarf / Buddy crossover!
Poor Oliver…Yeah, his character was an annoying kid at first, but I also felt a great amount of sympathy for him. He definitely gave off vibes of being a kid who had either been in Buddy’s world for so long that he had developed Stockholm Syndrome with his abuser/captor, and/or he was raised by abusive parents back in the real world, who Buddy likely mirrored with his behavior. When he teamed up with Freddy and Hannah in an attempt to escape and take down Buddy for a bit, I could definitely see that Oliver was becoming more of a normal kid for a little while. Then, he just got too tired of running from Buddy at the end, and decided to let the evil mascot kill him to get some peace.
Great question! It's hard to explain where fascination comes from. It's sort of like trying to understand why you are attracted to the people you are attracted to and not others. Somebody else said I'm attracted to stories where characters are trapped. That seems to ring true. But banality of evil - that's what we're dealing with right now, right? Like an insurance company will have a cute cartoon mascot and a little campaign all the while they are denying your coverage
Did you ask the child actors to check out Barney and/or any other 90s children’s shows as a reference? If so, which ones? The kid who played Wade really impressed me and nailed the balance between the show within the movie and acting real when things changed.
Also were there any specific inspirations for the theme song? I heard one right away.
I did ask the actors to watch it but honestly a lot already did when doing auditions. Inspirations of the theme song - well Barney used a lot of public domain melodies (ala Yankee Doodle) so we did that a lot. And there were other inspirations and influences. The one you heard is probably correct!
Oooh I don't like it! It's rated R people! How could you be confused? I don't like kids being subjected to media they don't want to see. I remember walking in on my parents watching the Omen at home and it terrified me! The thought of them taking me to the actual movie at that age is a terrible thought!
I saw a little kid at my screening. I think he was there the whole time and didn’t seem to have a problem, but there was a trailer right before the movie where a spider crawled out of a dead guy’s eye socket. So maybe not the best movie to take a kid to
I don't like to discuss meanings of things too much and I'll tell you why. Sometimes I'll read a person's interpretation (often on Reddit haha) that better articulates what I was doing than I knew myself! There's a saying if you want to know what a novel is about the last person to ask is the author - meaning the author is working so close to it, and so intuitively, that they can be blind to some deeper meanings that an attentive viewer like yourself might see clearly! (I hope this doesn't read like a cop out)
Hi Casper! I absolutely loved Buddy, and loved TMC before that. First I wanna say thanks for making such an original and unapologetic film with Buddy!
You mentioned at the LA premiere of Buddy that it was difficult to get this movie distributed by studios. What was your selling argument that finally got the movie picked up?
Did you do any research about mascot horror or consume any other media in the genre to prepare for Buddy?
What was the design process like for the character of Buddy? Was he always a unicorn?
It wasn't a selling argment (although honestly I wasn't involved with that there was a sales team that did that) I think it was more the right distributor (Roadside Attractions and Saban) finding it and seeing the potential in it!
I watched kids' shows but I didn't really watch other mascot horror things - for better or worse - because I didn't want those ideas to get in my head.
Buddy was always a unicorn! Worked with Todd Redner (character designer on Archer) and Devon Ludlow (head puppet designer). One story was they originally designed him with crazy small pupils so he looked psycho and I said no he has to look friendly. Producers also entertained giving him animatronic eybrows for more emotion possibility but I was confident that great acting underneath and Keegan's voice would do it (and animatronic eyebrows wouldn't be period accurate for that type of show).
I'm not sure. I think when I was a little kid and I first saw a kids show where all the kids are talking and then suddenlty they start singing and dancing a routine, I didn't understand how they all new to do that. I wondered if they were brainwashed because to my young brain I thought I was watching people living their lives, not actors
Hi Casper! Your work on Adult Swim, popping up at the random time that it did, has been the stuff of my nightmares for years. Were there any ideas for other infomercials you had that the network rejected for being too scary? What are some other infomercial ideas you’d hope to make in the future?
Oh man. I was interested in doing a vertical for Adult Swim but they weren't in to that. I also wanted to make a third Adult Swim Yule Log to complete the trilogy but they weren't interested in more movies at that moment. Maybe one day! I do really love the informercial block though. So many good things like This House Has People In It, Cool Dad, the list goes on! I wish it was a show with a certain number of episodes per season like Off the Air
the fact that I am both too late to this AMA to gush about how much I love the Yule Log movies, combined with the disinterest corporate side for a 3rd, my heart is crying
Any episode of Small Wonder? The last episode of Dinosaurs? Also there's a Hallmark movie called Holiday In Handcuffs that is a romcom with kidnapping!
Ahaha yeah, "everyone has to die, and also it's all our fault for not being careful" is iconic as a send off, and I still wonder why they did it that way. I've never seen Holiday in Handcuffs but the synopsis is hilariously unsettling.
Great question! No, we used all of it! There is a scene, maybe a couple, we cut or changed. I want to put out a screenplay book (do people still buy those? I love them) that has them
Buddy felt like it had a lot of homages/pastiches of other works, from more obvious ones like Barney and Wizard of Oz to slightly deeper cuts like Night of the Hunter, internet creepypastas, and parts that felt very Lynchian; what were some of your biggest inspirations while making this movie?
How did the transition into a longer form of storytelling feel for you? I was very impressed with the pacing of Buddy and was wondering how much you struggled with it.
Once we thought of Keegan we knew that was it and it was just a matter of persuading him. Thankfully he joined us for the madness! (He's awesome as a person too btw)
Best live action show in Adult Swim history. Absolute fucking gold. The fetal gun control episode may be the greatest 11 minutes in all of television history.
Oh man Godzilla Vs. Kong Vs. Buddy! I thing Buddy if he survives 1 somehow would come back much craftier and trickier so he would be a force to reckon with
I don't consider what I do quite parody but rather using a genre to break the rules of the genre and tell a story within that. Does that sound pretentious? Probably. Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell, a show I did, did have episodes that parodied things like cooking shows, ghost hunter shows, etc.
My eyes caught the title card and I knew half of these questions would be “do you know how much I both love and hate you for this?” Comments did not disappoint.
I’m glad to know that despite all of humanity's differences, we all suffer the same! xD
Please note everyone one for the largest kitchen in the world is the Langar Kitchen at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India. They stagg between 440-450 members for their meas and services. So this is infact the correct amount of cooks. Thank you Casper Kelly and your team for the amazing works and contribution
No he's a dream! Also that role was sort of tough but he brought a sweet naivete to the character, in addition to the creepiness, that I find rather poignant!
I saw too many cooks as a kid, and very much enjoyed seeing your new film Buddy in cinemas!
I have some questions regarding the lore/storytelling of this universe you've drawn up.
Are there ehnough pieces for us fans to put together the background context throughout the movie?
Is the ending most critical for us to build an understanding of the world?
Is the book reference "A wrinkle in time" connected to the plot or aid as a clue in someway or did it just act as a easter egg/inspiration for the story and world building?
Is the current timeline realworld our modern era, and Buddy's world currently stuck in the 90's?
Oh and what happens to Strappy and Mailbox, do they die due to leaving Buddy's world or do they come back when brought back with the same memories once in that dimension?
Did Buddy chain up benny in the worry well? He doesn't seem to fit... so it's not like our pal was going down there every other Tuesday.
Are there lore connections russian or american experiments?
Does Buddy have any conntection to the I.T ? I know maybe a farfetched theory 😅 but we know Wrinkle of time does.
Oh and when freddie falls back into reality, is she in the house of one of her co stars parents in story?
Some questions regarding filming.
Early on you used 4:3 aspect ratio but at time in Buddys world you also use 16:9, but in the real world you always use 16:9. This is a really neat way to signal to the viewer of a reality switch, but why did you make the choice to bounce back and forth between 4:3 and 16:9 in Buddys world?
A tough question regarding ethical issues in hollywood over the years, it seems your work is a commedy on how poorly child and woman actors are treated in older productions behind the scenes metaphoricaly but also on how color actors are first to be unalived in horror films early on which was a strong issue in the early 80's to late 90's where this universe would take place.
Is some of your writing a dark commody on these topics at a surface level? I hope this question comes off as respectful.
Were you inspried by the we hate barny song?
What emotions are you looking to trigger from your audiance throughout your art?
Questions regarding future work.
What's your next plans for future projects if you can share?
Are you willing/want to return to Buddy for a sequal or prequal film?
I would very much like to see you return to this world and give us more context on the past, and what happens to current charcters in the future.
Anyways, love your work, and can't wait to see what you make next!
i selfishly want this too, but i do think Zoe is dead for sure at the end :( i'd love to see more about the little man in the fire, but i think having the whole story would ruin being able to piece it together from the flashbacks we got in the first movie... im so glad to see other fans of yule log :))
One of my favorite of your works is one that I don’t usually see anyone talk about “Final Deployment 4: Queen Battle Walkthrough”, it’s such a trippy and funny short that I still think about a lot, but I was wondering…
What led you to the idea for it in the first place?
fantastic work casper. i’m just curious about your approach to preproduction / beginning of production. i am a studying filmmaker myself and am curious what the most significant, often forgotten, one percenter that you do to set yourself apart from the rest, and to truly give you and your film the best possible chance of succeeding is? sorry if that question doesn’t make sense, but just simplified, what is one rule you live by that many would often cut corners or just not at all out of laziness? thanks!
Of course the viewer can find "hidden messages" or deeper meaning if we choose to, but are there any themes that the movie was meant to portray that we may not have caught onto? A lot of people are saying the obvious childhood actor, abuse, and some hinting at potential trafficking. Really really enjoyed your film and haven't laughed that hard (maybe at parts that weren't meant to be funny but damnit they were) in the theatres in a long time.
How do you feel/think about all the theories surrounding Buddy? I've seen all sorts of theories about Buddy's lore and what the movie represents metaphorically - To me it was a great kooky movie but I've seen a lot of people mention it's a metaphor for abusive relationship, child abuse, etc etc. (which is why i love art, so many interesting interpretations!) epic movie btw i fucking LOVED IT even since the first trailer i saw
Huge fan! LOVED Buddy! Spoiler: Did Buddy know Grace was Freddy's mom? I assume he lured Grace in to his lair cause she was starting to notice what Buddy had done. He's obviously a very powerful being who can alter reality, surely he'd have known involving Grace in the "show" would be (and proved to be) too risky? Did Buddy make a mistake here?
Hello Casper, Buddy was my favorite film of the year! My question is: in Grace's home, there's a construction paper collage hanging on the wall, presumably done by one of the kids. It stuck out to me because it seemed to depict two faces on one head, which is fitting for Buddy's unmasking. Any other interesting pieces of set dressing to watch out for? :)
in between the 1st 3 episodes of buddy in the movie there were glitches and one of the showed buddy at the family dinner table were their extra scenes that end up being deleted or did you present it like that on purpose??
Loved the movie by the way took me back to my childhood great mix of comedy and horror
I'm pretty sure that's intentional, especially in such meta movies. It stuff to discover for the theorists out there. It's expanding the worldbuilding and is simultaneously good marketing. That's at least my theory about this
Would you say Night of the Hunter is a big influence on you? I ask because I got excited when I saw this shot seemingly homaged in Buddy. Are there any other works that you would say had a profound impact on you or your work? Great work, and I look forward to your next project
Between Too Many Cooks, Yule Log and Buddy I'm absolutely sold on any future films from you.
That said, while I know this is probably extremely early to ask. Are there any plans for future films either with the world of Buddy or exploring similar ideas with other genres of TV as the base?
Hey Casper! Huge fan of your work. I saw Buddy the day it came out and I really feel like it’s a perfect culmination of the aesthetics and themes you explore in both Too Many Cooks and your Yule Log films. Two questions for ya (spoilers for those who haven’t seen Buddy);
Were there any scenes/sequences from Buddy that were cut? I noticed during the trip sequence that there were some large flowers with beards that appear behind Clint Howard and Willie that we never see again, and was curious if there was anything on the cutting room floor. Maybe an extended cut could be released via DVD? 👀
In your mind, does Buddy have a kill count before the events of the movie? How many different iterations of the cast have existed before what we see in the film?
Thank you for everything you’ve done through the years, and always looking forward to what you do next!
I saw an interview where Keegan Michael Key mentioned a cut of the movie already being done by the time he voiced Buddy. How did it work during filming, was someone just reading his lines off camera?
What about 90s media (Barney/TGIF shows etc.) makes it so ripe for horror? Do you feel like subsequent decades (00s and 10s) will have their own things people draw from to make with the spookys?
Hi Casper, Buddy is one of my favorite movies of the year. Obviously it has the feeling of Too Many Cooks, but it has the DNA of a lot of the Infomercials, especially This House Has People In It and Unedited Footage of a Bear. Was Alan Resnick a part of the production of Buddy at all? Or any other Infomercial directors?
Can you talk about the evolution of Too Many Cooks? How long did it evolve, was it much shorter at one point and you just kept going and going, was it always more of a horror concept or did it start as more of a comedic spoof? Have you ever thought about a continuation? Either a movie or a series?
Loved seeing Buddy, but I gotta ask, since it did bug me, was the Diamond City ever real? That train had to have come from somewhere to get things delivered (unless thats manipulation on Buddy's end), all I'm curious about! (Also love your work and hope to see what more you got in the works!)
What’s the process with adding just the right amount of weird to your creations? Your work has always been able to walk that fine line between comedy and an unsettling weirdness.
PS The campfire scene in Buddy is one of my favorite moments in a theater in a long time.
I don’t remember what year it was but I was stoned af and watching tv (yes, actual tv tv, not streaming) and I happened to click over to Cartoon Network during Adult Swim hours hoping to catch something fun. What happened next was a fever dream. I thought it was a spoof sitcom theme song intro that would be some kind of absurdist journey, but I thought the journey would begin when the show began. Then the time warp began. How many people were in this show? Who were these actors? What the hell is this show even about? That’s when the giggles hit. Every new character and name card cracked me up even more. I was crying laughing now that I realized THIS WAS THE SHOW. The time warp hit its zenith when the cuts between the White House and the eagle flying kept going. I swear to god, I thought this part went on for 7 minutes. Then when the twirling super hero transition started THAT went on for at least 10 minutes. My face was sore. My cheeks were cramps and crusted with dried tears. I was in love. Then the blood. Oh lord the glorious blood! Maybe it has become its own trope now to abruptly swerve into gratuitous violence and gore for comedic effect, but it is right up my alley. Everything about Too Many Cooks felt like it was made just for me. Just to fuck with me. But I love… I LOVE that so many other people had the same experience. It may not be the most well known cultural reference, and I bet even fewer people were lucky enough to experience it how I did (how it was intended) on actual tv in real time, but it was, and is, such an incredibly special experience. Thanks for fucking me up and giving me one of my favorite memories of being high. (The runner up is when I accidentally ordered Salupa Chupremes at Taco Bell and could NOT stop laughing the whole ride home.
Can you speak to the uncanny resemblance of Buddy -- in appearance, actions, psychology, and ambition -- to a certain “leader of the free world”? How conscious was that resemblance in the writing and design of the character?
Saw your movie twice in theaters! My quesiton is, were you inspired by the classic film "Night of the Hunter" at all? Referencing the shot of Buddy in silhouette and holding a lantern as the sun sets. It's my fav shot of the film by the way!
As a suit/mascot performer myself, I'm curious to know how did you guys find Sergey to fill Buddy role? Was there an audition (and if yes, what were you guys looking for in a performer?)
Maybe they are in America still? Lots of Hispanic families would be speaking Spanish at home. Although I do feel like the ending implies they are in a different country.
Hi Casper. You had me at Too Many Cooks - big fan. Can I ask what have been some of your humor influences and other work that’s inspired you throughout your life & career?
Just wanna say I genuinely loved too many cooks and the build up to it on tv lol amazing work and to have seen you carry that talent into buddy is freaking awesome
Who was the character at the end in the well? Was that a former version of Buddy that was trapped? What about the mural in the school? Were those former Buddies?
I have a suggestion. Use the proceeds from this film to make more episodes of Stroker and hoop. Formed as a question: Why don't you make more stroker and hoop?
I haven't been as excited to see a film in years as I was for Buddy, and it did not disappoint! More than being merely scary, it was UPSETTING, and the unease it creates with the way dynamics of abuse intrude into the seemingly safe confines of a children's show has lasted far beyond the screening for me. Plus the damn theme song is stuck in my head!
My question is: how much do overarching thematic concerns enter into your creative process versus how much comes from linking inspired images together in a surreal/visionary way? I felt that Buddy had a strong thematic throughline for a Millenial like me of coming to terms with the fact that history didn't end in the 90s, the safety we were promised was a lie, and we need to leave behind everything we've known to defeat the resurgent evils of our day; I'm wondering how much of that was me bringing my own emotions to the film and how much of that reflects your own thoughts and responses to the material you were shaping.
Hi Casper, first off, I wanted to thank you for all your amazing work at adult swim and Cartoon Network and making Too Many Cooks, which I think is the greatest 11 minutes of TV ever made. Also, big fan of Stroker & Hoop and wish it got a second season.
Second, Buddy is an amazing film and I enjoyed every moment of it. The cast was amazing and absolutely loved the story and hope to see more from this character/world in the future. I've watched it twice now and am planning on seeing it again this weekend. It is easily one of my favorite films this year.
I just have a few quick questions.
Do you plan on doing a 4K Blu-ray release for the movie?
Are there any plans for merchandise beyond what is available through the movie theater stores? Would love to see stuff around that mural like posters and shirts or a nice buddy plush.
Is there any clues hidden in the movie as to what happened to Bobby or where that unicorn might be?
I recently saw this clip from an interview of Mo Willems by W Kamau Bell. He talks about ants, and ant culture and the need for random scout ants to find new sources of food to help the colony survive. Some find new food for the colony, others don’t, some get squished.
He makes a comparison to artists. Our society needs artists to create new art for our culture to survive and thrive. Artists explore new ideas, and some artists make it, some don’t, but we always need artists to seek out new cultural ‘food’ ultimately for the benefit of our society.
I’ve always been a fan of envelope-pushing, absurdist humor. Too Many Cooks is top tier comedy, parody, and absurdism. It still pops into my head often. Perhaps it’s an acquired taste, but to me, it’s a feast from the ends of the earth.
Hi! I absolutely loved Buddy and would love to see more in this universe. I talked to a few people on TikTok about how the movie seems to tackle the issue of child abuse/exploration and how ingrained in society it is (along with the issue of children disappearing for evil exploits like this and flying under the radar due to a number of societial issues like what's currently developing with the 163 kids found in Florida), but I'm curious as to what do you want people to come away with most after watching Buddy?
Also, if I can get away with a second, more fun, question: Too Many Cooks seems to have commentary on media using the Cousin Oliver Syndrome to keep refreshing the same series over and over (or just completely shift genres and try again ala Big Bang Theory), so what is your favorite Cousin Oliver?
How is the general reception when you pitch these ideas?
It seems like so much of the success of the work is having expert execution, so I can imagine that getting buy-in is challenging.
Adult Swim has basically been the home for experimental and absurdist humor on television, I really can't think of anywhere else.
You have been working with them for a long time, have you had any projects/episodes started where you all landed on "we can't get away with this even on Adult Swim, we have to dial it back"?
What's the future of human creativity and the role of absurdism in the face of the increasingly accessible generative AI tools?
Do you feel diminished by it, or are you taking a more "it's a tool on the tool belt" approach?
First of all, I was already intrigued by the marketing, but then when I actually went to see the movie in theaters, I was blown away!
I know the main thing about this movie is "OH, EVIL BARNEY! THE KIDS SANG THE I HATE YOU, YOU HATE ME SONG!", but I can't help but feel like I got some really strong Dan Schneider vibes from Buddy.
Was the movie meant to be an allegory for abusers in power and the dangers child actors get put in? Because if so, then you rock. 👏🏾
(BTW Oliver in particular really made me think of a kid who was abused by the big guy, and now plays along and does everything he says, and thinks it's completely normal. I felt so bad for him 😭)
I’m intrigued if there’s a huge amount of lore to what Buddy is and how he came to be. Was much of what we saw at the end just random elements, or do you hold all the answers to it all?
My guess is somehow, this was a creation that gained sentience, or the educators crafting the show ripped open a hole to the other dimension.
I also assume the unicorn in the one room was one of the original 3 unicorns?
There also seem to be a number of film references ( “The Dark Knight,” “The Wizard of Oz”), but the Dark Buddy creature was reminding me of the Jabberwocky creature from an old Alice in Wonderland TV movie. Am I on the right track?
Hey there! Loved the movie. Thought is was super funny and super scary and a very effective metaphor for abuse and neglect on children's TV productions. The way they just get a new kid when one gets burnt out and leaves or eventually has a meltdown. Effective stuff.
I also felt Too Many Cooks was saying something similar about the plastic environment of sitcom universes. My question to you is, are you inspired by the behind the scenes issues of these productions and if so, do you feel as if that will continue to inform your work?
Great first feature btw. I told my family afterwards that I can't wait to see what you do next.
Buddy hit the sweet spot where all of my interests meet! I absolutely loved the movie! I also thought the marketing campaign was unique and really effective, so S/O to them, too!
2 Q’s:
Q1 - The IRL scene with the family was never returned to and it felt like an abandoned storyline. Was there ever some kind of resolution thought of, and if so what was it and why was it ultimately cut?
Q2 - I thought the film could stand on its own, but the final scene in the school leads me to believe there’s a world with “lore”. Was the movie made with any intention of a sequel or series?
I just saw the film last night. I had a blast! The set designs were fantastic, and the performances of the whole cast was amazing, super well done.
Aside from the obvious, what were the biggest wells of inspiration for this movie? I enjoyed the little lost media aspect a ton, as well as the wealth of intentionally unanswered questions that make it ripe for speculative theories. Scratched a similar itch to a lot of YouTube content, those searching for lost media, or speculating and pixel peeping minute details to take a stab at the bigger picture.
Buddy has been my obsession for the past two months (since the first teaser,) and even now after seeing it (on Day 1) I CANNOT stop thinking about it! Thank you SO MUCH for making this movie, it's so incredibly clever and authentic, and it is EXACTLY the movie I needed in my life.
One thing I've been wondering for a while, how was the puppetry on Strappy pulled off? Since he's normally attached to Freddy's back, I'm curious about things like how his eyes and mouth move, and especially how he zipped himself up, plus one key moment near the end of the film.
Was there any revamped interest/pressure to deliver a sequel to Too Many Cooks and if so, could you talk about what a continuation would even look like?
What was the biggest obstacle you had making Buddy vs your previous work with Adult Swim? And were there any artistic compromises you had to make to get there?
Much of your work includes genre subversion, taking the familiar and turning it inside out. What set this in motion for you as an artist?
I've been a big fan of yours for quite awhile now and I'm excited to see what else you have in store for us!
What gave you the idea for Too Many Cooks, and how did you convince Adult Swim to air it?
Also. What gave you the idea to add furries to that one episode of Stoker and Hoop? I swear I didn't know what a furry is until then. (But I don't blame you that. That's all Dude Where's my Car's doing, along with a few cartoons like Billy and Mandy)
And woah you did a lot. Most of the shows I've seen on Adult Swim, while being to young to watch it. But if I had to pick a favorite, thats not on Adult Swim. It would be that Droopy Dog short. Loved seeing it any time it played.
Hey Casper! Big fan of your stuff, from “Stroker and Hoop” to “Buddy”, you’ve made some great stuff!
I noticed amongst all the Buddy and Too Many Cooks questions, I didn’t see one for the two Scooby-Doo specials you produced back in the day, “The Scooby-Doo Project” and “Night of the Living Doo”. These to me exemplified how much effort you guys at Cartoon Network back then put into making the channel feel special and not just another “kids” network. I just wanted to ask, how did they come to be, and what was the experience making them?
What do you think about the potential "Buddy 2" focusing more on lore development and scares 😱? I heard a lot of reviews talking about the first 30 minutes being perfect then sort of jumping off a cliff after that. I dont think I agree with that sentiment but what I can say was that those first 30 minutes and every shot we got of Buddy interacting with the kids were soo good and suspenseful. I would love to see maybe a expansion on why Buddy treats the kids the way he does or maybe even a prequel that would supplement the lore aspect. Awesome film though!
I have ALOT of questions about Buddy, but ill just do one for now. First off, loved the movie. Very fun and also surprisingly good for a mascot horror (the bar isn’t very high). I just want to know — what’s up with the school/government facility? I thought it was being set up to be some kind of supernatural demon show but I guess its actually some kind of experiment? That muddled things up for me a lot. How are they rewriting reality? Why is the show still running if everything is abandoned? What IS Buddy? Dang, guess that was more than one lol.
Hi! Buddy was such breath of fresh air in the midst of a lot of repetitive and mediocre mascot horror projects. I’ve been thinking about it nonstop since my first viewing.
I have so many questions but one that weighs on me most is one that I haven't seen anyone discuss before: Who are the people in the show credits? If I remember correctly, Buddy and Betty’s actors change a few times. I don’t expect a straight answer giving anything away but is there any hint or tidbit already in the movie that can point us theorists in the right direction?
Hey Casper! Just wanted to thank you for making Buddy and two many cooks, your segment on vhs and everything else you’ve made!! It’s formed such a funcommunity and I’m so glad you’re getting the recognition you deserve!! I’m sure seeing buddys success has been so rewarding, I’ve loved doing work in the discord server moderating for the official buddy server! It’s been so fun to see everyone share their love for your work! Keep creating! Can’t wait to see what you do next
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u/BunyipPouch Currently at the movies. 5d ago
This AMA has been verified and approved by the mods. Casper will be back at 3 PM ET today to answer questions. Please feel free to ask away in the meantime :)