I am liking this sick, twisted show way more than I thought I would. Especially the opening dance credits!
I remember seeing James Gunn’s The Specials at its premiere.
Oh, here’s a story about that! In the ensemble cast of The Specials is Judy Greer—terrific actor!
I don’t remember when or where it was, but I was at a premiere party later on, and I saw Judy Greer, and I sort of point her out to my friends while sitting down in a booth—“Hey, look, it’s Judy Greer, from The Specials!”
She saw me—and sat down next to me! She smiled warmly and asked my name—thinking we had worked together on something. I politely explained no, sorry, I’m not X, and no, we haven’t worked together—and she said, “Oh,” got up and walked away.
Honestly, I was an idiot back then (true), but it was just a misunderstanding.
I also remember seeing Jordan Ladd at the Specials premiere (she’s also in the movie), and she’s like five feet tall and chain smokes.
Oh, and there was an actress named Diane Farr (who is not in The Specials, but was at the premiere party) who was the female cohost of Loveline on MTV, which was big at the time. You know, dispensing health and wellness advice—and she chain-smoked.
Kids, don’t smoke!
The Specials isn’t very good—it was directed by Craig Mazin, of all people (Chernobyl)—but it has a good cast, and had a sense of humor, which was James Gunn’s doing.
Years later, Gunn became huge with Guardians of the Galaxy—and I get it. The pop references, the banter, but really, the sense of camaraderie and belonging amongst these broken characters. It works.
I thought his take on The Suicide Squad was too violent and mean-spirited, but The Peacemaker is back to the character camaraderie, and it’s really fun.
It even makes me slightly nostalgic for all that hair metal that I hated that the kids liked in the 1980s—kids who were otherwise bullies towards me, while I was listening to Star Trek soundtracks. (I certainly knew how to put a target on my back.)
John Cena is wonderful and the character of Chris Smith is sort of like our friend Rob Burnett (who edited my short film) as a violent superhero.
I’m halfway through the first season and digging it. More to come!