SPOILER ALERT: This text comprises spoilers from “Rick and Morty” Season 8, Episode 7, “Ricker Than Fiction,” which aired Sunday, July 6 on Grownup Swim.
DC Studios CEO James Gunn and fellow filmmaker Zack Snyder made shock appearances on this week’s episode of “Rick and Morty,” lending their voices to visitor star as over-the-top variations of themselves.
“They have been good sports activities,” stated “Rick and Morty” exec producer Scott Marder. “Each of these guys form of implied that that is the present they watch after they have downtime. So that they have been thrilled to get to be part of the world, and there was no pushback or bristling. If something, they laughed at something we threw at them. There have been in all probability, frankly, much more digs and extra foolish issues we may have used. All they did was giggle it off.”
Gunn, particularly, was framed as a villain in Season 8 Episode 7, “Ricker Than Fiction.” Written by Rob Schrab, the episode kicks off with Rick and Morty not glad concerning the inventive path of their favourite film franchise, “Most Velocitree.” So that they head to the Warner Bros. lot — and extra particularly, they confront Gunn (the director and producer of “Most Velocitree”). After they’re not glad with Gunn’s response, Rick and Morty use Rick’s “Film-lizer” to rewrite the franchise themselves.
Within the Warner Bros. cafeteria, Gunn runs right into a swole Snyder – and after some “Superman” ribbing (“Simply noticed your new reduce of ‘Superman,’” Snyder tells Gunn, “and phrase of recommendation, he’s the ‘Man of Metal,’ not the ‘Man of Dialog.’ Do extra photographs of him punching!”), Snyder tells him all about Rick Sanchez: “That’s the man who sealed Christopher Nolan within the big bookcase to ‘punish’ him for ‘Interstellar.’ He doesn’t characterize actual followers. He’s simply the neatest man within the universe. Don’t sweat it. He can’t do what we do. Most likely.”
In the long run, Rick and Morty — with the assistance of Jerry — handle to certainly give you a greater ending, having been sucked into the Film-lizer, and turning into new “Most Velocitree” villains. After they die within the film, Gunn tearfully proclaims: “They did it! What an ending! They out-done the Gunn!”
Rick and Morty discover their method again into the true world, however Gunn steals the Film-lizer’s laborious drive and takes it to Warner Bros. He tells “Mr. Brothers”: “They cracked the code! This gained’t simply put butts in seats and promote popcorn, it may give individuals hope! It may save Hollywood, it may change the whole lot.” Warner Brothers is impressed and tells his henchman: “Give this man a sundae!” Gunn is then killed by a gun named “Sundae.”
“I’m excited for the followers to get this one,” Marder stated. “I really feel like they’re at all times hungry for traditional ‘Rick and Morty’ episodes, ones that really feel like a enjoyable plug-and-play, episode-of-the-week. This one feels prefer it checks that field in a giant method, however then has enjoyable surprises.”
The concept of the Film-lizer had been floating across the writers’ room for some time, Marder stated. However initially it was the “E book-alizer,” and revolved round Jerry writing a novel. Then the thought pivoted to motion pictures. “Most Velocitree” was dreamed up as a wink on the “Transformers” and “Quick and Livid” franchises.
“We have been like, if we’re going to do a film and we’re going skewer Hollywood, we really feel like we now have to incorporate our bosses,” he stated. “So we began fascinated with Warner Bros. Who’d be a superb face to be type of the villain right here? James Gunn simply appeared like such a sensible choice. We have been all fairly certain that every time Schrab reached out Gunn he can be one million % in the midst of doing ‘Superman.’ However he not solely did he reply immediately with a sure, however I feel he ran it up the chain at Warner Bros. that very same day. We had individuals on our manufacturing facet who have been like, ‘How is it that James Gunn and Zaslav and all these individuals already find out about this episode?’ We didn’t assume it might really transfer this shortly.”
Based on Marder, Gunn even made certain to seek out time to cease by and do his strains within the “Rick and Morty” recording sales space the morning after he completed principal manufacturing on “Superman.”
“I feel Gunn known as individuals over him to be sure that this wasn’t going to mess something up. And it seemed like he obtained the inexperienced gentle fairly shortly,” Marder stated. “They each got here in and have been actually good sports activities. I’m a really proud nerd, I idolize each these guys. They’ve obtained inventive freedom only a few individuals have in Hollywood to take massive swings.”
Collection co-creator Dan Harmon additionally obtained excited concerning the concept of each Gunn and Snyder displaying up — and joined in to jot down that “Superman” dialogue between the 2. “When he heard that they have been on board and so they have been coming in, he form of cracked his knuckles and needed to verify the episode lived as much as and was worthy of them, having to ship these strains,” Marder stated.
Gunn and Snyder recorded their strains back-to-back and took an image collectively that day that went viral on-line. However fortunately for the present — which needed to maintain their cameos a secret — nobody picked up that they’d run into one another due to “Rick and Morty.”
“I respect that we have been capable of hold it tight lips till now,” Marder stated. “We’re fairly Fort Knox over right here, we’re actually clamped down. Something that goes out into the general public we see, and we get approval on as a result of the followers have a look at the whole lot, just like the Zapruder movie or by a jeweler’s lens.”
The storyline to “Ricker Than Fiction” was additionally meta, centering on fan discourse over franchises, sequels and long-running I.P. like each “Superman” and, sure, “Rick and Morty.”
“For certain, it’s a really excessive class scenario to have such a passionate viewers,” Marder stated. “It was actually very natural to the episode. You’re at all times listening to how everybody may do it higher and the way it appears really easy. Rick and Morty assume they’ll make a greater film. They’re given the keys to the dominion. And it’s not as simple because it appears. Writing is basically laborious. It’s rather a lot simpler to take a seat in your sofa and nitpick one thing than it’s to do the heavy lifting of doing it your self. In order that was all of the stuff that we tried to do in a extremely enjoyable, fast, kinetic method on this episode, with out being too up on a soapbox.”
Gunn is shot on the finish of the episode, however who is aware of — he may at all times return now that he’s part of “Rick and Morty” canon. As for Snyder, the filmmaker is such a fan that he nearly instantly requested to do extra.
“I direct all of the voices, so I directed each these guys, and Snyder left, and he got here again like a fan, saying, ‘I’ll do something for the present. Throw me a tag. Throw me a factor,’” Marder stated. “It was simply cool to listen to such enthusiasm from him.”
So how a few “Snyder reduce” of “Ricker Than Fiction”?
“That might be cool,” Marder stated. “I do love a superb Snyder reduce!”