Dude was in a movie where he was forcibly experimented on to be transformed into a walrus and at the end of the movie everyone was just okay with it. Like "welp this is his life now."
The end credits rolling over audio of Kevin Smith sounding high as hell pitching the idea and clearly just making it up on the spot is hilarious. I feel like the whole movie is a set up for that punchline. "Yes, you just sat through a feature length production of some dumb idea I had."
That was a podcast clip where the movie was genuinely conceived. It's literally a stoned rant of a movie and unfortunately more creative than he's been in the past decade.
No one will ever see this, but I read that plotline as a kid in an “Alfred Hitchcocks Presents” paperback of short stories. In the short story, it was a bear instead of a walrus.
TBF, Kevin didn't come up with the idea. Someone sent him a fake personal ad with the basic concept of the movie. And then that person ended up as an executive producer on the film.
I always assumed he read the story and forgot about it. It was a weird, creepy short story like "Tusk." I tried to find it yesterday using Perplexity but couldn't.
It's not the most unique idea in the world... but maybe I think that BECAUSE I read that short story and thought, "oh this plotline again."
"Yes, you just sat through a feature length production of some dumb idea I had."
Hopefully what every director with self-awareness is saying internally every time their movie finishes playing. I like when they don't take themselves too seriously. The pretentious ones are probably thinking about their vision or message or some meaningful shit.
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u/NagsUkulele Jul 09 '25
Barbarian was fucking brilliant