Susan Sarandon, Shameik Moore & The Gutter Team Discuss Sports Comedy And ’90s Influences [SXSW]

Summary

Shameik Moore returns to the genre that helped launch his career with The Gutter. Before becoming the voice of Miles Morales for the animated Spider-Verse movies, Moore became a breakout star with his role in the 2015 coming-of-age comedy Dope. In addition to the webslinging movies, Moore has also gone on to lend his talents to the Sylvester Stallone-led superhero movie Samaritan and Hulu’s Wu-Tang: An American Saga show as Raekwon.

Moore leads the cast of The Gutter as Walt Liquor, a struggling twentysomething who finds a new home in working at a bowling alley, though his talents are put to the test when he joins the pro tournament and has to face off against a former star fresh out of retirement. Alongside Moore, the movie’s ensemble cast includes Susan Sarandon, A League of Their Own’s D’Arcy Carden and Paul Reiser. The sports comedy hails from Yassir and Isaiah Lester, with the latter making his directorial debut on the project.

Related 10 Best Sports Comedy Movies Of All Time There are sports movies that inspire and thrill audiences, but the best sports comedies leave audiences laughing long after the game is over.

In honor of the movie’s South by Southwest premiere, Screen Rant interviewed Yassir and Isaiah Lester, Shameik Moore, Susan Sarandon, D’Arcy Carden and Paul Reiser to discuss The Gutter. The stars opened up about the movie’s energetic and fun environment on set, while the Lesters reflect on some of their influences in crafting the sports comedy, namely two classic Paul Thomas Anderson films.

Isaiah Lester Was Incredibly Confident In His Brother’s Vision For The Gutter

Screen Rant: Give it up for the team behind The Gutter. Yassir and Isaiah, as the writer and both directors of this, set this one up for us. I’m hearing early comparisons to Citizen Kane. You guys have compared it to Citizen Kane.

Yassir Lester: More like Citizen Paint! [Laughs] Honestly, it is just a very straightforward, fish-out-of-water story. You don’t see dudes who look like Shameik in the bowling world. And we were like, “What would happen if he was in the bowling world?” This Shameik, the actual Shameik, is a very elegant, poised, intelligent young man. We were like, “What if Shameik Moore was stupid and old?” [Laughs]

And that was the movie we made. He just goes head-to-head with dear Susan Sarandon, whose character’s name is Linda Curson. And he is coached by the incomparable D’Arcy Carden, whose alias is Skunk in the film. Paul [Reiser] likes to say he’s playing a Howard Cosell type, but it’s much more Marv Albert, I would say. [Laughs]

Isaiah, tell us a little bit about what spoke to you about your brother’s script.

Isaiah Lester: He spoke to me. He spoke to me about it for a lot of years as he was making it. [Chuckles] No, I always say the ultimate compliment I have for Yassir in the film is that if you were not my brother, I would have worked on it anyway. I thought it was really funny. I thought that it was a brand of humor that you don’t get to see often on film, because people are afraid to go for it.

But, Yassir’s never been afraid to go for it in his comedy. So, I think that’s what spoke to me about it, outside of himself, and his mouth, and his words. [Chuckles] I was like, “Yeah, I want to do this, because I want to be a part of something like this. I want my name attached to a film that’s this kind of” — you know, I call it — “brave”.

Yassir Lester: Philadelphia. This movie. Both brave. [Laughs]

Isaiah Lester: Yeah, I also thought that with the two of us together, and how we’ve always, since being very young, understood each other and our sensibilities, the ones that are the same and the ones that are different, we can make the best possible version of the script.

Yassir Lester: Just to piggyback off that, I’ve said this many times, but I mean it lovingly and literally. I could not have made this movie without him. He’s brilliant in ways that my mind wouldn’t even think to go in certain places. And he’s also more grounded in places where he’s like, “Well, that this part can’t be a cartoon.” I’m like, “[Sarcastically] Okay.” [Chuckles] So, for everything he said about me, it’s tenfold back to him.

The Gutter Invited Moore To Explore A New Side Of Himself

Shameik, tell us a little bit more about Walt and how you connected to him.

Shameik Moore: Walt, Walt Liquor. [Chuckles] Yeah, the whole experience was really the opportunity to let loose, as D’Arcy said, and explore this, within my soul, energy. It was an opportunity to do that. I feel like I’m very serious, and I need more joy in life in general, I need to look at the brighter side of things, be more optimistic and smiley, like I was when I was 12, you know, so getting —

Susan Sarandon: Off your drugs. [Chuckles]

Shameik Moore: For the kids at home! “Nah, I’m gonna do my own thing.” [Laughs] Yeah, that’s what it was playing Walt Liquor. Working with seasoned vets that know exactly what they’re doing, and having a partner that I’m really able to play tennis with. And again, you [D’Arcy] said something in the last interview, the trust. I always have to trust the director, and the people I’m leaning on to bring the performance to life. So, that’s my experience as Walt Liquor, just actually finding some joy inside of my own suit, you know?

Susan, D’Arcy, and also Paul, I’m gonna ask you guys all the same question. Tell us something you got to do in this movie you’ve never done before that really excited you.

Susan Sarandon: Throw my a– out. [Laughs] I was trying to learn to bowl, and let me tell you, that’s not easy. If you do it the right way, you’re standing on one foot with the other foot behind. But, other than that, I thought it would be fun. I met with these guys, I saw who was in it, and I just thought, “Yeah, let’s get wild, and let’s have a fun time.” And it was a fun time, it was definitely a fun time. We haven’t seen the finished movie, so I hope it seems like a fun time.

How wild did you get?

Susan Sarandon: How wild did I get? On a scale of one to 10, I mean, there were moments.

D’Arcy Carden: You got wild. Everybody got wild. This was a very joyful, wild, trusting, rowdy, just pure fun experience. With these two leaders who, I have to say, brothers — hold on — you are brothers with each other. [Laughs] They speak the same language, they finish each other’s thoughts and sentences. You guys are so good at working together, it was really lovely. I look back on that month with just full joy, we had so much fun. And for me, this character, when I read the script, I sort of had the feeling like, “Oops, they sent it to the wrong person. I really like the script, but obviously, they don’t mean me for this character. That’s crazy.” [Chuckles]

But then, when I met with them, actually, you did mean me. The email went to the right place. [Laughs] It was a really different character for me that was really outside of my — not even outside of my comfort zone, almost maybe too in my comfort zone. But just something that I hadn’t done before, and we just had the best time. We had the best time.

Paul Reiser: You know, this is one of the few scripts that you read and you’re actually laughing. Not like, “Gee, I hope this will be fun.” It’s like, “Oh, I’m actually laughing.” And the character that I play, Angelo, sort of the broadcaster of the bowling world — which is not the highest calling [chuckles] — and just he says things that are so wrong with not the slightest clue that they might be wrong, which really made me laugh. And it was just really fun to play.

And you’re so right [D’Arcy] about these guys working together. There was such a collaborative, joyful spirit. It just felt like a truly independent comedy that came from two guys coming from a place of fun, and it was a joy. And then, you get to bowl in the middle of it. Not me, but I was broadcasting the bowling, and that was close enough for me. And, by the way, I threw my a– out doing that, as well. Just announcing, I pulled a little muscle, I shouted too hard. [Chuckles]

How would you guys characterize the tone? I’m trying to get a handle for the tone, it sounds pretty mad cap. I would imagine this has an R rating.

D’Arcy Carden: Yeah, we say s–t and f–k. Oh, actually, we barely do. Wait, that’s right, we don’t say the F word. In fact, sometimes we would — did we get really improvise-y? We didn’t really, did we?

Susan Sarandon: There was some.

D’Arcy Carden: Yeah, we did. We did. Okay, I guess I’m thinking —

Isaiah Lester: She does not remember that month. [Laughs]

D’Arcy Carden: No, no, no. I mean, the script was so good, we stuck to the script. But yes, you would let us like kind of go loose, and if we said the F word in our loose improvs, you guys would be like, “Everything but the F.” Which was so fascinating, because you would think this would be littered with F’s. But it’s not, and you’re gonna have to see.

Paul Reiser: What gives it its really unique tone has nothing to do with language or cursing.

Susan Sarandon: Or nudity.

Paul Reiser: There’s no nudity. Backstory, there’s a lot of my character nude, but you don’t see it. But you can imagine it, and then you won’t enjoy the film. [Chuckles] But there’s an innocence about Walt that’s so funny. And Skunk’s role, she’s just so seemingly misguided and wrong, so the flavor is very unique. I’ve never seen a movie that —

Susan Sarandon: Because it is grounded. People aren’t winking at the audience, everyone’s completely off the chart with some ADDS, QR, I don’t know what you would [call it]. But it’s grounded, and I think the connection between everybody really reads to help with that. But what everyone’s doing, you haven’t seen in a lot of anything.

Yassir Lester Had A Very Unique Inspiration For The Movie’s Tone

D’Arcy Carden: Do you [Yassir] feel like it’s almost like a movie from our youth? I think we’re similar ages. When I read it, I felt like this maybe is a comedy that I — although I can’t really place which one, but I just felt like a sort of hard comedy, like a ’90s comedy, or something.

Susan Sarandon: I think it’s gonna bring back bowling. Make it more popular.

Yassir Lester: To your point [D’Arcy], I think that me and Isaiah, in particular, were talking about the comedies of our youth and all that stuff. But we also particularly talked about Paul Thomas Anderson a lot in that in his films, you always find something that’s so incredibly funny, but it’s in the context of something very dark. One of the scenes we reference a lot just between each other is in
Boogie Nights when Don Cheadle
is going to buy the doughnuts, and there’s just a giant murder, and he’s like, “I’m gonna take the money.” [Laughs] It’s just such a weird thing, but it comes from an honest place.

And so I think our formula, honestly, was for every very stupid thing someone does that’s believable, they have to do something pretty incredible. Or the joke has to be very smart, too. So, everyone here has, I would say, a pretty good balance of saying something very stupid and then saying something very smart. So, speaking of the Paul Thomas Anderson thing, me and my brother are huge fans. I think that’s our first, honestly, film link. Yeah. And so, again, talking about Paul Thomas Anderson, we just love the movie Punch-Drunk Love. It is so funny.

It’s 84 minutes, you genuinely believe it’s like a perfect movie. And so me and Isaiah a lot, were like — I think on paper, the character of Skunk drinks a lot, so I think a lot of people come in being like, “Whatever”. And we were like, “What’s the alcoholics that we know?” [Chuckles] “What are they like? What’s a buttoned-up alcoholic, if you will?” And so we were kind of [looking at] Barry Egan, which is the main character in Punch-Drunk Love, and that’s kind of what we came to.

When we met Darcy, we were just talking about, “We want someone like more of a Barry Egan type.” And she held up a painting on her desk of Adam Sandler as Barry Egan, and literally, me and my brother texted each other in the moment, like, “It’s her. It’s her. It’s her.” We would be so lucky. She’s a truly a force of nature in this movie, I absolutely love her.

Who’s the best bowler in the cast?

Susan Sarandon: Shameik.

D’Arcy Carden: I think Shameik, yeah.

Shameik Moore: I accept that. [Chuckles]

What’s your average score?

Shameik Moore: Oh, I don’t know, man, I don’t play it for the points. Whenever I started talking my talk, I lose. Every time I go in there, and I keep it humble, I start striking.

Moore Has No Updates For Beyond The Spider-Verse (But Is Excited For The Future)

Shameik, Spider-Verse was robbed last night. I just have to put it out there, that movie was brilliant, just like the first one. But 3’s coming up quickly. We’re huge Spider-Verse fans, so I’ve got to ask you about that. What can you tease about Beyond the Spider-Verse?

Shameik Moore: Not much to say on part 3. You know, I’m lucky to have a job right now. People are upset about what I said on Twitter, but it’s okay. We were robbed, but that’s alright. Respect to the legend [Hayao Miyazaki] that won, and that’s all I really got to say. Respect where respect is due. But impact is important to me. Representation is important to me. But much respect to where it’s due, you know I’m saying? Seriously.

D’Arcy, there’s also lots of The Good Place fans watching. Do you think we’ll ever see these characters again? Every once awhile, there’s a rumor that there’s going to be a spin off. What do you think?

D’Arcy Carden: I don’t know. I think we would all be down. Spinoffs or reboots or whatever. I don’t know much about them other than I loved those people. I love Mike Schur, I love the writers, and I should be so lucky to work with any of them again. And I love Janet. I think I texted [my husband] last night or the night before. I was talking to my husband about something, he brought up The Good Place, and I just wrote, “I miss Janet.” Out of nowhere. Why? I just miss playing that role. But I do! I miss her. I miss her. I miss her.

Screen Rant: Paul, I know you can’t say much about Stranger Things. Can you tell us what you’ve enjoyed most about working on that series?

Paul Reiser: First of all, I felt just carrying that show was my burden. [Laughs] In such a condensed role, I was able to support and let those kids really sail. And what I do is I played back. I’m in the new Beverly Hills Cop movie, and I gave Eddie Murphy the bigger part – because you know what? I don’t need it. I’m confident. He could use the break, and God bless him, he did a nice job with it. So, that’s what I do. Same here. I gave the kids [space]; let everybody take the lead. That is my thing. Stand back. Try to not stink up the joint.

About The Gutter

When frequently fired Walt lands a position tending bar and de-roaching shoes at his local bowling alley, AlleyCatz, he feels like he finally found a home. When money issues threaten AlleyCatz, Walt is pressured by former pro-bowler and current champion drinker Skunk to accept his role as the greatest bowler ever put on this earth. While Walt’s love of big checks and in-your-face style of play dominates the pro tour, his detractors, including “Bowl Lives Matter” host Angelo Powers and fresh-out-of-retirement bowling-legend Linda “The Crusher” Curson, furiously attempt to snuff out Walt’s flame before it burns too bright.

The Gutter

premiered at SXSW on March 12 and has yet to land a wide release date.

Source: Screen Rant Plus

The Gutter (2024)

When frequently fired Walt lands a position tending bar and de-roaching shoes at his local bowling alley AlleyCatz, he feels like he finally found a home. When money issues threaten AlleyCatz, Walt is pressured by former pro-bowler and current champion drinker Skunk to accept his role as the greatest bowler ever put on this earth. While Walt’s love of big checks and in-your-face style of play dominates the pro tour, his detractors, including “Bowl Lives Matter” host Angelo Powers and fresh-out-of-retirement bowling-legend Linda “The Crusher” Curson, furiously attempt to snuff out Walt’s flame before it burns too bright.

Director Isaiah Lester , Yassir Lester

Release Date March 12, 2024

Writers Yassir Lester

Cast Susan Sarandon , Adam Brody​ , Paul Reiser , Shameik Moore , Kim Fields , D’Arcy Carden , Adam Pally , Paul Scheer

Runtime 89 Minutes

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