Natalie Madsen, Mallery Everton, Jeremy Warner and Stephen Meek in “Go West,” which hits Utah theaters July 19 forward of a nationwide launch. Supplied by JK! Studios
“Go West” hits Utah theaters July 19 and is narrated by Sean Astin. JK! Studios
Whitney Name stars as Robert Failure Gladstone in “Go West.” JK! Studios
Stephen Meek and Mallory Everton star in “Go West.” JK! Studios
Natalie Madsen, left, Whitney Name and Stephen Meek star in “Go West.” JK! Studios
With a funds of $100 million, the brand new “Barbie” film nearly depleted the world’s provide of pink paint.
Director Greta Gerwig’s fluorescent pink Barbie Land has attracted worldwide consideration and hits theaters July 21 — the identical day as one other big-budget film, Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.”
Throughout this similar weekend, sandwiched between these two summer time blockbusters, is “Go West,” a brand new film that's markedly much less glamorous (one of many characters has dysentery) and had a considerably decrease funds (extra on par with a microbudget indie movie).
However viewers shouldn’t be so fast to write down it off, the movie’s creators say.
For starters, there’s the narrator lending his voice to the film: Sean Astin, beloved for his function as Sam in “The Lord of the Rings.” After which there’s the first solid of 10 that brings what they describe because the “Monty Python of the Oregon Path” movie to life: The unique members of BYUtv’s sketch comedy present “Studio C.”
Every week earlier than the discharge of the movie — which lands in Utah theaters on July 19 forward of a nationwide launch in August — 4 of the unique “Studio C” solid members hopped on a Zoom name with the Deseret Information. There was a palpable sense of keen anticipation — releasing a film is a aim that predates “Studio C.” However there was additionally some trepidation. They’ve by no means executed this earlier than.
Whereas “Go West” capitalizes on their comedic strengths — and stays true to the family-friendly model of comedy from “Studio C” and their very own firm, JK! Studios — it’s additionally an experiment of types to show what they’ve executed collectively for greater than a decade right into a full-fledged movie.
“To throw our hat within the ring in a month like that is each thrilling and a bit of scary, since you don’t know if it should assist or damage or someplace within the center,” Natalie Madsen mentioned. “However we actually hope that as persons are sort of in film mode, need to get some air con and a break from the warmth, they’ll see our preview earlier than ‘Mission: Unimaginable’ or no matter they’re gonna go see and say, ‘We must always deliver the household.’”
“Go West” hits Utah theaters July 19 and is narrated by Sean Astin.
JK! Studios
About ‘Go West’: ‘Studio C,’ however pioneer type
The movie’s premise is straightforward sufficient: Two sisters journey west from Independence, Missouri, to be with household. Aveline Jenkins (Madsen) is a widow who appears to deliver doom to each man she loves. Her sister Cora Jenkins (Mallory Everton) has, as Astin narrates, “an on-and-off-again relationship with dysentery.”
They encounter a slew of quirky characters alongside the best way, like Capt. Evander Lillianquist (Matt Meese), who at first of the movie cheerfully proclaims to the corporate: “I've little doubt we will attain Oregon Territory earlier than the primary frost slaughters us all!”
“Go West” options the ten unique “Studio C” solid members taking up a number of characters over the course of roughly 80 minutes, however the actors need to be clear: Followers received’t discover particular nods to their BYUtv days — no Shoulder Angel or references to lobster bisque.
“Nobody will get hit within the face with a soccer ball,” Meese mentioned, referencing “Prime Soccer Shootout Ever with Scott Sterling” the present’s most profitable comedy sketch that helped put BYUtv on the map and thus far has 90 million views on YouTube. “There’s nothing on the nostril like that. I do suppose … that individuals who have loved what now we have executed and are searching for extra of that may discover it on this film.”
And so they’ve created new characters they hope will grow to be as beloved as ones from their “Studio C” days — all of them cited Whitney Name’s tackle Robert Failure Gladstone, a retailer proprietor who's considerably of a Nineteenth-century “Boy Named Sue,” as a spotlight.
Whitney Name stars as Robert Failure Gladstone in “Go West.”
JK! Studios
“Go West” has a intelligent approach of subtly incorporating modern-day references into its pioneer-era story: The theme tune, carried out within the film by Jeremy Warner (who additionally composed the rating for the movie), is the Village Folks’s “Go West.” And there’s one character, Package Carson (Jason Grey), who seems to be the Oregon Path’s model of Chuck Norris.
The entire solid members individually created characters and sketches primarily based on the Oregon Path, after which met weekly over the course of a few months to tighten these tales, trimming a line right here or including a joke there — “We get it to 100% collectively, that’s all the time been our course of,” Madsen mentioned.
As soon as the group had an inventory of 30 sketches, Madsen, Everton and Name rented out an Airbnb for a weekend and labored on making a storyline that would join all of these moments collectively — one thing they’ve by no means actually needed to do earlier than. However Madsen mentioned beginning with their largest power — creating comedy sketches — lent itself nicely to establishing a feature-length movie.
“I really feel prefer it’s truly a reasonably satisfying ending, particularly for one thing that’s so new for us,” she mentioned. “The script went smoother than I anticipated not less than, simply because a lot of it's what we accomplish that nicely. I'd say inside possibly two, two and a half months, we went from, ‘Hey, we must always write a script,’ to ‘Oh, I believe now we have it.’”
Stephen Meek and Mallory Everton star in “Go West.”
JK! Studios
The solid spent 15 ½ days filming all through Utah, together with Provo’s Pioneer Village, That is the Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake Metropolis, and up Spanish Fork Canyon — which unexpectedly introduced them snow on the third day of filming in October. Within the post-production course of, that they had so as to add quite a lot of snow to a scene so it may match the reverse shot.
It’s their first movie, and total — even with the shock snow — it got here collectively higher than they ever may have anticipated. And that’s largely a testomony to their stalwart friendship that has weathered quite a bit over the previous decade, as they’ve gone from school college students in a sketch comedy troupe to touchdown a theatrical launch.
‘Go West’ ... an autobiography of types?
The phrase “collectively” comes up quite a bit in “Go West.”
Whereas the theme tune is a 1979 Village Folks hit — and within the film applies to a bunch of pioneers’ travels alongside the Oregon Path — it may very nicely be a rallying cry for the solid, who after 9 seasons with “Studio C” opted to depart and kind their very own firm, JK! Studios, which allowed them better artistic management and possession.
With JK! Studios, they now not had a longtime community to lean on. Past writing and appearing, they have been producers, editors and even gear movers. They entered uncharted territory, branching out into sitcoms and exploring different longer types of storytelling. And all the points they encountered alongside the best way have been theirs to resolve.
“This theme within the film feels very autobiographical in some methods,” Stacey Harkey mentioned. “This intense journey and going via it collectively and the teachings you’ve discovered of assist, and the heartbreak and the expansion.”
Collectively, the group has been navigating ups and downs since their frantic school days in Divine Comedy, Brigham Younger College’s sketch comedy troupe. Discovering success there, the comedians fashioned “Studio C” in 2012, garnering near 2 billion views on YouTube over 9 seasons and catching the eye of late evening host Conan O’Brien and “SNL” star Kenan Thompson.
However all of the whereas, that they had a artistic itch — sights on different comedy ventures. And if there’s something they discovered over time, it was that they’d be hard-pressed to discover a higher collective to make the leap into the unknown.
“There’s quite a lot of belief that exists,” Meese mentioned. “It’s very secure to take dangers, and simply attempt issues. It’s a really wholesome artistic surroundings.”
And now, after greater than a decade, the group of comedians are nonetheless battling deadlines and racing to the end collectively — final month, when the solid returned to “Studio C” to take part within the taping of the present’s 2 hundredth episode, Warner was concurrently dealing with the movie’s post-production.
“Folks have been asking if we ever get sick of one another since like 2012, and I believe everybody’s simply ready for it to occur,” Meese mentioned. “And at this level … I believe it’s simply, these are the individuals. You’re caught. Make it work.”
‘Go West’: A common humor
Whereas “Go West” marks a brand new path for JK! Studios, it doesn’t abandon their roots. The movie, in some ways, is a tribute to Utah, showcasing the state’s nice open air and celebrating its pioneer heritage. However hooked up to that specificity is a type of comedy that has confirmed to generate widespread enchantment.
“I believe one thing that stunned BYUtv about ‘Studio C’ was that everybody enjoys it, whether or not you’re an adolescent, otherwise you’re mother and father with teenagers otherwise you’re grandparents, and I believe that’s one thing we actually nailed with the film,” Harkey mentioned. “You’re gonna discover throughout the board persons are going to have the ability to relate to the humor.”
And simply as they’ve needed to do with all their JK! Studio initiatives, the solid members wore a number of hats for this challenge, together with writing, directing and appearing. On a quest for a well known narrator to inform their story, they reached out to quite a few distinguished actors (they determine their electronic mail to Morgan Freeman went on to his spam folder). They have been thrilled to get Astin — they usually didn’t even should blackmail him, Meese joked.
Natalie Madsen, left, Whitney Name and Stephen Meek star in “Go West.”
JK! Studios
Whereas they do have a workforce of producers who've been buying the film in theaters, advertising and marketing and getting the phrase out has largely been an in-house operation. Loads of work and money and time has gone into “Go West” — “No buffalo have been harmed within the making of this movie,” reads a tagline on the finish of the film. “Simply us.”
However no problem has been sufficient to fully discourage them — in truth, they’d prefer to make one other movie. Amid the continuing Hollywood writers and actors strikes, which they assist, the solid is very grateful for the extent of belief that enables them to have open discussions about their targets and one of the best ways to attain them.
They do not know how individuals will reply to their movie — they usually’re fairly nervous concerning the response.
However, as Harkey mentioned, their careers have lengthy been outlined by defying the percentages, whether or not it was promoting out tickets throughout their Divine Comedy days or changing into a crown jewel of BYUtv. Perhaps “Go West” received’t be any completely different. However whether it is, they’ll have one another to fall again on. After which they’ll transfer ahead.
“It's one thing very particular to make mates in our early 20s and to nonetheless be mates at this level and to have goals and to perform them collectively,” Warner mentioned. “You consider a sports activities workforce rising up — like what are the percentages that once you grow to be skilled that you simply’re going to be on the identical workforce and also you’re going to win a championship collectively? ... Clearly we didn’t win a championship, however we completed the factor that now we have all the time needed to do — and we did it collectively. And that’s actually unimaginable.”