If you grew up in the 1990s, you rememberthe scare that was Y2K.
It never happened but, what if it did?
Thats the idea ofY2K,the new sci-fi comedyfrom co-writer and director Kyle Mooney.
SNL alum Kyle Mooney makes his directorial debut with the comedy Y2K, now in theaters.Image: A24
Oh, and Fred Durst is in it, as himself.
Y2Kis in theaters now and io9 sat down over video chat to talk with Mooney all about it.
We discussed trying to convince cool young actors that the 1990s werent lame.
Mooney on set. – A24
Read about all that and more.
Germain Lussier, io9: I was born in 1980.
Do you come off as uncool explaining to them what Chumbawumba was?
Martel and Dennison inY2K.– A24
Kyle Mooney:Im sure I constantly come off uncool to them.
We made playlists for everybody.
We sent a list of movies of the era, mainly I think to Julian and Jaden.
Yes, that’s Fred Durst as himself. – A24
And some I feel like invested more time and some didnt.
io9: And they were incorrect.
I think the transitions, we were always conscious of them and they could be a little scary.
Before we see her as Snow White, we’ll see Rachel Zegler facing 2000s technology. – A24
Everybody had our back and knew that was a challenging component.
This is actually happening.
Its just like Okay.
NotTwinsbutJunior. – Universal
This is working, you know what I mean?
Now, I want to ask a couple of specific nerdy deep-cut questions.
Mooney:Well, now Ive got to know.
Ooo that dress look scandalous. – A24
You customized action figures?
io9: I tried to.
So I used to do that kind of stuff a little bit.
Mooney:I have a RoboCop figure.
I wonder, is it from the late 80s?
io9: Yeah, it had the one helmet that came off.
And I collect toys a little bit.
I love action figures of the era.
And then in terms of landing onThat 70s ShowI think…
But Im wondering, is the Ocarina Incident based on anything real, and were you and EvanZeldafans?
You know the closest thing that happened…
I neverI believehad my soda pissed in.
And I never did the pissing so it could have happened unbeknownst to me!
Like a spray potpourri-bang out situation.
io9: Yeah, of course.
And he tasted it and was like, Oh my god.
Did you spray that in there?
But I felt incredibly guilty at the moment.
So thats probably the closest link to something like that.
Yeah, I just pictured the little green Ick sticker that wed had stuff on stuff at the time.
What would be on the shelves?
Tell me a little bit about designing the video store.
Mooney:Yeah, that was a really fun component and credit to our production designer Jason Singleton.
And Evan is essentially in Eugene, Oregon, Im from San Diego.
But what you see on screen, hopefully, it feels like it could be anywhere.
io9: We had beads that hid it and you could hear people going in and out.
And I was young when I first noticed it but there was something incredibly mysterious about it.
I know we got aMystery Menin there.
So we got aHeart and Soulsposter in there.
io9: Yeah, thats a deep cut.
And out of all the movies they could have rented and watched, whyJunior?
Mooney:I think initially in the script it was something else.
It was something weirder that [my character] Garrett is recommending.
I want to say maybe for a while it wasTime Masters, which is this Rene Laloux animated movie.
But it evolved and eventually, I dont know, something aboutJuniorreally tickled us.
It feels like a rentable movie
io9: Totally.
Youre like Oh its Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito, how can it be bad?
Mooney:Yeah, its like Its notTwins, its what they made several years later.
It feels like so perfect and I feel so blessed that we ended up where we ended up.
io9: Yeah, awesome.
Now Ill get back to the movie but I have to ask you about anSNLsketch.
Its one of my favorites and again a deeper cut.
Nick Jonas hosting in 2021.
The amusement park where you have a doll of Joe Gardner fromSoul.
Why was it Joe Gardner?
Mooney:I love that sketch so much.
Its written by Heidi Gardner.
So shout out to Heidi for giving me the opportunity to do that.
So yeah, I guess she just really liked the idea of me being a cuck.
io9: Yeah I love it, and the specificity of it.
Okay, thank you for indulging me there.
A couple moreY2Kthings here.
The creature design is super cool.
But I definitely got someAkiravibes from it so I was wondering about your initial ideas and input on those?
Mooney: Yeah, I feel likeAkirawas probably a reference at some point.
But yeah, truly just fun again.
io9: Right, Of course.
So evocative of the era.
A song that was ubiquitous and mostly everybody loved to some degree.
And the iconography of the music video, it just really evokes 1999 to me.
And sorry was there another song you mentioned?
io9: Tub Thumping.
Mooney:Tub Thumping.
That was something that evolved over the course of making the movie.
I dont think it was actually in there as much when we were writing.
I think that was another song initially in the script.
But, for instance, it plays early on in the movie during this drunk montage.
It feels now, in retrospect, kind of obvious.
You want to set this up to some degree.
Obviously everything with Fred [Durst] that we were hoping for we were able to get.
You know what I mean?
So Its just a full guttural thing, I think.
This feels right or this doesnt feel right.
Y2Kisnow in theaters everywhere.
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