The Next 'Smurfs' Movie Will Have Some 'South Park' And 'Lady Dynamite' Talent
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Fans of surrealist, nonlinear, semi-autobiographical shows about female comedians diagnosed with bipolar disorder were hit hard in 2018 when Netflix canceled Lady Dynamite (now Young Sheldon is the only show left in this specific genre). Well, the fates have finally smiled upon those fans once more, because it's just been announced that Lady Dynamite co-creator Pam Brady is writing a new musical film that is sure to scratch the same irreverent, experimental, and occasionally emotionally devastating itch. It's called ... uh, The Smurfs. Yes, those Smurfs. The jolly little blue guys (and gal) who live inside mushrooms.
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We are now picturing the exact scene below but with Smurfette instead of Maria Bamford and Papa Smurf instead of her agent. And set inside a mushroom, obviously.
But perhaps Brady being tapped to write a Smurfs movie shouldn't surprise us because she does have experience with animated shows. Aside from creating Neighbors From Hell and Mr. Wong, Brady wrote a couple of early episodes of South Park -- including one starring another race of adorable little beings who live in the forest and like to sing as they work. Could her take on the Smurfs involve the title characters stealing young kids' underwear for profit, too? (She also contributed to the classic episode "Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Sl*t" but we kind of doubt the movie will echo the themes in that one.)
More impressively, Brady has some pretty prestigious previous experience when it comes to musicals: she co-wrote the South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut and Team America: World Police movies with Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The former was nominated for (and should have won) an Academy Award, and the latter includes what is without a doubt the most touching song ever performed by profane, hyper-patriotic puppets who hate Ben Affleck.
Now, there are plenty of examples of edgy comedy writers going on to write perfectly inoffensive material when the checks are large enough, but bear in mind that the same studio, Nickelodeon Animation, recently hired Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg to do a CGI Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, too. Yes, Leo, Mikey, Don, and Raph are being brought back to the big screen by the production company that gave us that movie where a bunch of sentient grocery products murder some people and have a giant orgy. (This is the point where we feel the need to remind you that turtles are f#$% machines.)
At this point, we have to assume that Nickelodeon has already offered SpongeBob SquarePants to Phil Lord and Chris Miller, Rugrats to Adam Sandler and Kevin James, and Catdog to Bong Joon-ho. As for the Smurfs: we were joking before, but if they actually cast Maria Bamford as Smurfette we will personally bribe every member of the Academy so that this movie wins that Oscar South Park should have gotten, and more.
Follow Maxwell Yezpitelok's heroic effort to read and comment on every '90s Superman comic at Superman86to99.tumblr.com.
Top image: Nickelodeon, Netflix
