Interview With Sam Brown, Darren Trumeter, and Timmy Williams of The Whitest Kids U’ Know
A pinnacle of early 2000s comedy, The Whitest Kids U’ Know, comprised of Timmy Williams, Sam Brown, Darren Trumeter, Zach Cregger and the late Trevor Moore, weren’t sure if their new animated film Mars would resonate with more distinguished Tribeca Film Festival attendees. Brown and Trumeter recall at one screening seeing an elderly, Tribeca-established couple sitting down near them in the 19th street AMC theater in downtown Manhattan. “Darren said to them like, “Hey! So, what are you doing here?” They were like “Oh we just like to see the festival!” We were like, “Do you know what this movie is,” and they said “oh we’re younger than you think!” Brown remembers. The two quickly left after the film started, turning to Trumeter to say, “Congratulations, it’s just not our humor.” “I was waiting for that. I’m surprised they made it 15-20 minutes.” Trumeter says. Though the troupe’s humor will speak to a certain audience, their connection with each other and friendship is evident throughout the 5 seasons of their show and Mars is no different. This project is especially personal as it marks the last official Whitest Kids project due to the unfortunate passing of Trevor Moore who’s responsible for the foundation of the group. Honoring and acknowledging the hilarity of this eccentric group and each of its members, Mars serves as a fitting send off. With unforgettable voice performances and characters (some whose names might sound familiar), Mars is certainly a festival standout, having the extraordinary opportunity to appeal to longtime fans and cultivate new ones.
Zach Cregger and Trevor Moore in Mars
Q. This film has been brewing for quite some time. Sam and Darren announced at the penultimate screening that development took about 12 years. How rewarding is it to see the film actualized and premiering at Tribeca?
A. Sam: It’s been an unparalleled experience. [It’s] kind of like anything in my life where it’s been such a build up to a big moment. So much was emotionally at stake there with Trevor passing. Also, because I think even without that, I mean a lot that just our fans, fans of us for so long, have helped out to make it possible. It’s so ironic, because the movie is so silly, stupid. You know, you’re like, oh, this thing means so much to me and then you’re like, oh, yeah this big dick joke movie.
Darren: In the q&a afterwards, because I was just like, how does this feel? It’s like, I feel sad because of Trevor, but excited about the movie. I need to be professional because I’m at a film festival doing a q&a but this is a silly dick joke movie and it just felt weird [laughs].
Sam: A lot of emotion.
Q. This film was financed through a massive amount of fan donations and the credits make sure to shout out every individual who contributed. Why was this important for you to include?
A. Sam: I mean yeah it wouldn’t have happened without them for multiple reasons. Because I think for one, it wouldn’t have happened without them because it [was] their money that was being put toward this and it was the fact that we owed them this. That made it something that we like, had to see grow and had to take the time to finish. It’s one of those things where like “oh all these people think I’m a fraud if I don’t have the product that was employed.” So that’s a good motivator.
Timmy: We got a good relationship with our fans. Even when the show was airing we would sometimes do live video chat with them and stuff. The fans have always been super important since it’s how we do things. Even if someone donated a quarter we still put you in the credits right Sam?
Sam: Yeah, I mean I don’t think anyone donated a quarter [laughs].
Q. On a scale of 1-10 1 being least alike and 10 being most alike, how similar would you say you are to the characters you voice?
Timmy: Well I’m not religious but besides that probably nine. I would say 10 for the second half. I’m not like a quiet shy conservative person, and [Wimmy] looks exactly like me and I’m kind of an I don’t know kind of a weird guy.
Sam: I think we’re all twos. I don’t think you’re a repressed murderer. It’s not like you’re holding onto religion as the only thing that’s stopping you from killing everyone around.
Timmy: I don’t think we have the same life and problems but I feel like there’s personality similarities and we’ve always made things like ourselves a little bit right? But no, I’m not a repressed murderer as far as we know.
Darren: Zach is the closest out of anyone.
Timmy: Yeah. Which Trevor [character] is the closest to Trevor the billionaire guy or Cooter?
Darren: No, it’s the teacher.
Timmy: The teacher! Yeah.
Q. Long time Whitest Kids fans might recognize some references to previous skits. What are some of your favorite easter eggs in the film?
A. Sam: The funny thing about the easter eggs is [a lot of them] we didn’t come up with. A lot of them were from the animators. Like I’ve got to draw a crowd, what am I gonna draw in the crowd? Oh I’m gonna draw one of their characters. I feel like it’s an animator thing to do like oh I don’t wanna be boring and draw people all day.
Timmy: I mean it makes sense. Can you imagine having to draw our faces over and over again for like months?
Darren: My favorite Easter egg I mean, I felt weird about the sexy fawn. I think it works but I didn’t realize until like a second screening that that was the dixie devils that didn’t hit me until the second screening. Yeah, I like that one.
Q. What was it like for you all to come face to face with so many Whitest Kids fans at the screenings of Mars? What were some of the most memorable interactions you had?
A. Darren: Well, I mean I have to say, so first of all when the movie premiered I barely slept the night before. Kind of like what Sam was talking about, like, there was just a lot of this delivering back to the fans and I was just really nervous. I hadn’t seen the cut of it since like 4 months before and it was very far from being complete. Sitting in the crowd, especially in our first theater, it was like one of those hallway theaters and we’re all crammed in together. And it was just like us and fans, and it was just laughter the whole way through and for me, I was like [sigh of relief]. It just felt so amazing it felt so good and sad and all those things. I was so happy that it was something that our audience really, really loved. So that was my favorite part of it.
Timmy: I liked that some people came up and just said their screen name from Twitch. There’s another fan who over the years has sent me cookies and stuff. She came to a stand up show Sam and I put together the night before the premiere and because my luggage got lost I didn’t have a belt for my pants. So, my pants were falling off and she knitted me a belt in the audience [laughs]. Cause she got there early and she was knitting you know and then she threw me this belt thing.
Sam: It’s funny that Darren mentioned the theater being tight. We did the intro the first night and it was a very tough to say, emotional [moment] before the movie. We talked about Trevor’s family and that appreciation. Then we sat down to watch the movie and the way they set it up there were like reserved seats and I was at the end of the reserved seats and there was one more seat with just like a random fan in it. So I sat down and he was like “Hey man.” [laughs]. I was like oh this is like awkward like here’s this random fan and we’re watching the movie together. Then when the movie was over he was like, “That was good.”
Timmy: I remember at that first screening that they originally didn’t have our seats all together, we were in the same row but there were like people in between us. I was like, “I need to sit by Sam.”
Q. Timmy, you’re quite active on Letterboxd. What are some films you’ve seen recently that have made an impact on you? Any at Tribeca?
A. I saw ours twice at the festival so that was impactful. But the only other one I saw was a music documentary called Alien weaponry about this death metal band from New Zealand and a lot of it is about their Maori culture and how they sing Maori. That impacted me because I listen to their music because I found out that Maori is like the most metal language to sing. It’s like it’s crazy. I started Letterboxd because I don’t remember what I watch. Right now I’ve got a lot of movies that I’ve already watched this year. So it’s like geez, you know, it’s kind of all I do. I saw a really weird movie called Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla. That was a great movie. It’s basically Taxi Driver but with an ice cream truck.
Q. One of the most integral parts of this film was Trevor Moore. How does Mars honor Trevor’s legacy?
A. Sam: I think this is very much a realization of something he was very proud of. He always said how much he thought that this was the best thing we ever wrote. I like to think that he was always proud of Whitest Kids and the stuff that we made and this being the thing that he said he was the most proud of. I like to think that we managed to execute it where he would still be like, something he would stand by. The crazy thing there too, kind of going back to what I was saying earlier. It’s always really impressive to me that people have stuck with us through all this time. Trevor’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met, one of the funniest people I’ve known, one of the funniest people I’ve ever encountered and one of the funniest people I’ve done stuff with. What I hope for this movie is that it introduces Trevor’s humor to a world of people that haven’t had the chance to get introduced to him while he’s been alive. I think it was that kind of thing where I think he was underappreciated in his time.
Darren: I would say like, especially these three characters that Trevor plays in this movie are just golden characters. Like I know he loves playing these types of characters and I know he had a blast doing it so I think it means a lot.
Timmy: We always told people leading up to it, this is the movie he wanted to make. It’s very much his kind of thing.