Josh Duhamel & Dan Bakkedahl Interview: Buddy Games | Screen Rant
Buddy comedies that celebrate arrested development and male friendship may seem in short supply as of late, but Josh Duhamel is here to change that with Buddy Games. In his first project as both writer and director, Duhamel tells the story of a group of friends who reunite to participate in a high stakes series of challenges for their honor and a whole lot of cash.
Saban Films acquired the rights after its world premiere at the 2019 Mammoth Film Festival, and the release finally came to pass over Thanksgiving. With best friends played by Nick Swardson (The Wrong Missy) and Dax Shepard (The Ranch) among others, and a beleaguered girlfriend played by Olivia Munn (X-Men: Apocalypse), the comedic talent abounds.
Duhamel and his costar Dan Bakkedahl (Life In Pieces), for whom the Buddy Games are reinstated in the film, spoke to Screen Rant about the process of making the film and the need to find the grounding elements amidst the humor.
Josh, this was your first time directing and writing. What was the genesis of that experiment? How did we get here?
Josh Duhamel: Well, experiment is probably a good word. I'd written stuff before, but never actually written a full - you know, anything had been done. I'd write ideas, and I normally just give it to a screenwriter to go finish it. I worked with Jude Weng, who was awesome through the process, who really kind of helped me structure this thing.
But I just really, truly wanted to make a movie that... I guess I'm a bit of a contrarian by nature. I like to go against the grain and push things as far as I can, and see what happens. And those are the kind of movies that I love. I love the Farrelly brothers; Something About Mary, Dumb and Dumber. I love Todd Phillips, I love Judd Apatow; these movies, to me, are the ones that people remember. And I really wanted there to be moments in this thing that people would go, "I cannot believe they actually showed that." That was what we want.
But we also wanted to make a movie that was grounded, and it is grounded. Despite all of the hijinks and all the crazy debauchery, there's a real group of friends there that would do anything for each other. And this movie is about a guy who's down and out because of something that went bad because of these guys years ago, and they feel obligated to this guy to bring him back. You know, no man left behind. And that's where I think Dan did such a beautiful job of playing that character.
Speaking of that grounded side of Shelly, he's been through a lot when the movie starts. How do you pull from the human side of his character, along with the hijinks and the strength of a friendship that would survive something like that?
Dan Bakkedahl: I think for me, what I did was I just approached it. I came from a Second City in Chicago background, and the first thing they taught me there was, "let's not go for comedy. Let's go for believable first, and then let the audience tell you where the comedy is." This section is gonna laugh at this, that section is going to laugh at this, everyone's gonna laugh at this. And you just let them decide what's funny.
There was a moment when preparing for my favorite scene in the film, when Josh and I are in the ward when he comes to rescue me from the hospital. And I sat for a long, long, long, long time with earphones on, just listening to sad music, trying to get in the mindset that I'm at the end of my rope. And let's not concentrate on comedy. I hope there's funny moments in this scene. I hope I don't ruin Joshua's script and take away all the comedy, but let's concentrate on how broken this person is right now. And then let the comedy come wherever it is.
Josh Duhamel: This is why I love this guy. This is why I love Dan, because he is an actor first. He truly is a gifted actor. And that's really what I wanted: guys who weren't necessarily just comedians, but actors. I mean, look at Dan. He's one of the most real dudes you'll ever meet, and that comes across in the film. He's a guy who you believe that he has really been through this. And I want him to go there first, to really believe this guy is really at the end of his rope. I mean, he's on suicide watch in this psych ward slash drug rehab, hospital - whatever that was.
We needed to believe that. It couldn't just be a guy who was just clownish; we needed a real grounded actor. And that's what we got. We're so blessed to get Dan, and he was the last one we cast; this character he played. His character was the last one we cast, because we needed to get it right. We needed somebody who had some gravity to him.
On the lighter side, in real life, who would win the buddy games?
Josh Duhamel: Of course, I would.
Dam Bakkedahl: Josh.
Josh Duhamel: You're supposed to say you. Believe me, the real ones, I think I've only won once in 20 years.
Dan Bakkedahl: If it was between the people that played in the movie, it would be you or Dax every year.
Buddy Games is currently available through digital and VOD.