SPOILER ALERT: This text incorporates 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 had been good sports activities,” mentioned “Rick and Morty” exec producer Scott Marder. “Each of these guys form of implied that that is the present they watch once they have downtime. So that they had 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 chortle it off.”
Gunn, specifically, 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 route 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 lower 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 symbolize actual followers. He’s simply the neatest man within the universe. Don’t sweat it. He can’t do what we do. Most likely.”
Ultimately, Rick and Morty — with the assistance of Jerry — handle to certainly provide you with 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 manner again into the actual world, however Gunn steals the Film-lizer’s onerous drive and takes it to Warner Bros. He tells “Mr. Brothers”: “They cracked the code! This received’t simply put butts in seats and promote popcorn, it may give individuals hope! It may save Hollywood, it may change every part.” 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 mentioned. “I really feel like they’re all the time 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 an enormous manner, however then has enjoyable surprises.”
The thought of the Film-lizer had been floating across the writers’ room for some time, Marder mentioned. However initially it was the “Guide-alizer,” and revolved round Jerry writing a novel. Then the thought pivoted to films. “Most Velocitree” was dreamed up as a wink on the “Transformers” and “Quick and Livid” franchises.
“We had been like, if we’re going to do a film and we’re going skewer Hollywood, we really feel like we have now to incorporate our bosses,” he mentioned. “So we began occupied with Warner Bros. Who’d be a superb face to be type of the villain right here? James Gunn simply appeared like such a good selection. We had been all fairly certain that each time Schrab reached out Gunn he can be one million p.c 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 aspect who had been like, ‘How is it that James Gunn and Zaslav and all these individuals already find out about this episode?’ We didn’t suppose it could really transfer this shortly.”
In line with 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 referred to as individuals over him to make it possible for this wasn’t going to mess something up. And it appeared like he bought the inexperienced gentle fairly shortly,” Marder mentioned. “They each got here in and had been actually good sports activities. I’m a really proud nerd, I idolize each these guys. They’ve bought inventive freedom only a few individuals have in Hollywood to take large swings.”
Sequence co-creator Dan Harmon additionally bought excited concerning the thought of each Gunn and Snyder exhibiting up — and joined in to write down that “Superman” dialogue between the 2. “When he heard that they had been on board and so they had 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 mentioned.
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 that they had run into one another due to “Rick and Morty.”
“I admire that we had been in a position to maintain it tight lips till now,” Marder mentioned. “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 every part, just like the Zapruder movie or by way of 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 state of affairs to have such a passionate viewers,” Marder mentioned. “It was definitely very natural to the episode. You’re all the time listening to how everybody may do it higher and the way it appears really easy. Rick and Morty suppose 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 absolutely onerous. It’s loads 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 very enjoyable, fast, kinetic manner 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 all the time 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 mentioned. “It was simply cool to listen to such enthusiasm from him.”
So how a few “Snyder lower” of “Ricker Than Fiction”?
“That will be cool,” Marder mentioned. “I do love a superb Snyder lower!”