Comedy Central original movie to debut on Labor Day
This Labor Day (9/4 at 8pm ET/PT) marks the premiere of Office Race, an all-new Comedy Central original movie and the feature film directing debut of Jared Lapidus, known for his comedic commercials for TurboTax, Little Caesars, Oreo, Verizon, A&W, Scotts, Quilted Northern and more, as well as TV work including Netflix’s six-time Emmy nominated series, The Who Was Show.
Office Race stars SNL alum Beck Bennett who portrays Pat, a stunted office worker who goes to great lengths–specifically 26.2 miles–to defeat his exercised-obsessed, micromanaging boss, Spencer, hilariously played by Joel McHale (Animal Control, Community). Lapidus also co-wrote the running-themed sports comedy with long-time sketch comedy writing partner James Kilmoon (Impractical Jokers).
Filmed before the actors and writers strikes, Office Race was shot over a brisk 20 days this past spring, in and around Trilith Studios Atlanta, and with the film’s imminent release, Lapidus is now available again for commercial projects via Los Angeles-based Thinking Machine. He’s back in the brand space with an expanded toolkit, having directed the film’s celebrity ensemble across scenes of immense scale, involving hundreds of background actors, special effects makeup and prosthetics, and big physical comedy set pieces featuring complex stunt work.
Lapidus saw his previous experience working with celebrities reach new heights on Office Race. “Led by Beck and Joel, there was an instant camaraderie between the cast members–they so clearly enjoyed working with each other, and that joyful spirit made the on-set experience fun and entertaining for everyone,” Lapidus said. “They’re all such pros. They showed up on set with ideas and inspiration, and it was dynamite, lightning in a bottle. They’d put a scene on its feet, I’d give them small adjustments, and then get to step back and enjoy the magic as it happened. Beck was incredibly dedicated and got into great shape. And Joel, already a very physical guy, was up at 4 in the morning working out, then would sit in the makeup chair for hours as his prosthetics were applied. Both really put in the work.”
Office Race isn’t the first collaboration between Lapidus and Bennett. The two worked together on a Thanksgiving-themed campaign for Michelob ULTRA and the Turkey Trot 5K, and on comedy sketches for Lorne Michaels’ Above Average, which co-produced Office Race, along with Academy Award and Emmy Award-winning studio Believe Entertainment Group.
Office Race features a smorgasbord of additional comedic talent alongside McHale and Bennett. There’s Kelsey Grammer (Frasier), J.B. Smoove (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Alyson Hannigan (How I Met Your Mother), Erinn Hayes (A Christmas Story Christmas), Kylie Bunbury (Big Sky), Geoffrey Arend (500 Days of Summer), Sasheer Zamata (Home Economics), Katlyn Carlson (iCarly), Matt Richards (That Damn Michael Che), Karolena Theresa (You Hurt My Feelings), along with several surprise cameos.
Lapidus enjoyed first-time collaborations with comedy muscle on his production team as well. Tim Suhrstedt (Silicon Valley, Little Miss Sunshine) was Office Race’s director of photography and Brad Wilhite (Daddy’s Home 1 & 2) edited. And Grammy Award winning multi-hyphenate talent Bryan Adams wrote two original songs for the film, including the theme song.
Carrie Coon Relishes Being Part Of An Ensemble–From “The Gilded Age” To “His Three Daughters”
It can be hard to catch Carrie Coon on her own.
She is far more likely to be found in the thick of an ensemble. That could be on TV, in "The Gilded Age," for which she was just Emmy nominated, or in the upcoming season of "The White Lotus," which she recently shot in Thailand. Or it could be in films, most relevantly, Azazel Jacobs' new drama, "His Three Daughters," in which Coon stars alongside Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen as sisters caring for their dying father.
But on a recent, bright late-summer morning, Coon is sitting on a bench in the bucolic northeast Westchester town of Pound Ridge. A few years back, she and her husband, the playwright Tracy Letts, moved near here with their two young children, drawn by the long rows of stone walls and a particularly good BLT from a nearby cafe that Letts, after biting into, declared must be within 15 miles of where they lived.
In a few days, they would both fly to Los Angeles for the Emmys (Letts was nominated for his performance in "Winning Time" ). But Coon, 43, was then largely enmeshed in the day-to-day life of raising a family, along with their nightly movie viewings, which Letts pulls from his extensive DVD collection. The previous night's choice: "Once Around," with Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfus.
Coon met Letts during her breakthrough performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" on Broadway in 2012. She played the heavy-drinking housewife Honey. It was the first role that Coon read and knew, viscerally, she had to play. Immediately after saying this, Coon sighs.
"It sounds like something some diva would say in a movie from the '50s," Coon says. "I just walked around in my apartment in my slip and I had pearls and a little brandy. I made a grocery list and I just did... Read More