Latest news with #DannyMcBride
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
From ‘Hot Rod' to ‘Eastbound' to ‘Gemstones,' Danny McBride breaks down his most righteous roles: ‘It's been an absolute blast'
The Gold Standard is a Gold Derby series where we speak to legendary figures in Hollywood who take us through their award-worthy greatest hits. Below, Danny McBride revisits his greatest hits, up to the recently concluded, Emmy-contending, always side-splitting The Righteous Gemstones. There's been no shortage of Hollywood producers and filmmakers who have enlisted Danny McBride to bring his inimitable brand of coarse, Southern-drawled comedy to their projects. But whether it's The Foot Fist Way or Eastbound & Down or Vice Principals or The Righteous Gemstones, the most enduring, most McBride-ian works don't merely feature the onscreen talents of the 48-year-old Georgia native. He has played a formidable role in creating them. More from GoldDerby 'Forever' star Lovie Simone on traveling back to a 'nostalgic' time for Netflix's teenage romance show Tramell Tillman could make Emmy history as the first Black Best Drama Supporting Actor winner Kristen Kish dishes on Season 22 of 'Top Chef,' Emmys, and the show's global impact: 'It's all driven by the fans' 'I would definitely not make it as an actor if I had to rely on other people hiring me to sustain my career,' McBride tells Gold Derby. 'I don't think I could pull it off.' Here's a long look at what McBride has pulled off both behind and in front of the camera over the past 25 years. After graduating from University of North Carolina School of the Arts, McBride worked as a second unit director on his college friend David Gordon Green's acclaimed debut feature George Washington (2000) before playing a supporting role (as 'Bust-Ass') in Green's equally acclaimed follow-up, All the Real Girls (2003). I went to film school with David Green, and he was actually my next-door neighbor my freshman year of college. David graduated a year before me. We went to film school in North Carolina. It's a long way from New York City or Los Angeles, where people would typically go to film school at that time period. And it was like incredibly inspiring to see him graduate from school and a year later, come back to Winston-Salem and make a movie [George Washington]. When he was able to launch his career from that, it just sort of gave all of us, [myself and] my classmates, that inspiration that it can be done, you just have to figure out a way. But it's possible. Those two things really just sort of kickstarted my personal ambitions to push myself to do this. And once I got in All the Real Girls, when Jody Hill wanted to make the Foot Fist Way and we wrote that together. I was the only person that we knew that had been in a movie before. So that made me just slightly more qualified than our other friends to act in that. But [at film school], I didn't have any ambitions of being an actor at all. I just I felt like I could do it, and I just would do it when people needed me to. Written by McBride, Jody Hill, and Ben Best Best, and directed by Hill, The Foot Fist Way starred McBride as a foul-mouthed taekwondo instructor in a small southern town. Will Ferrell and Adam McKay made it their first acquisition for their newly formed banner Gary Sanchez Productions. We made it for 70 grand. We shot it on Super 16 [mm] and we had one camera to shoot it on, which is interesting because everything that we do now, we shoot multiple cameras [so] we can make sure that we get all the improv or any of that stuff that comes off the cuff. But with that, we didn't have that ability. We had one camera and we had no video playback. There was no way to see if what we just shot was in focus. We were just kind of running and gunning. I think we shot that whole thing in about two weeks, and it was just all hands on deck, just trying to make that dream a reality. I think it was everything [having Ferrell and McKay support it and produce it]. I owe so much to those two guys and for them to have faith to give our show that chance, to shine a light on what we were doing. The movie got one of the midnight screenings at Sundance. And so we were thrilled that it even just got to Sundance. It was going to have an audience. But then we left Sundance and the movie hadn't sold or anything. So it was kind of this moment of like, 'Well, that was fun making it.' And we feel proud, but we're not sure if anyone else will ever see this movie again. Will Ferrell and Adam McKay were just starting Gary Sanchez Productions at the time. And it came across their desk and they became champions of it. And then it started to kind of like float around the town, and next thing you know, living in Virginia, Jody's writing for reality TV shows, and then suddenly we're being invited to the set of Judd Apatow's Knocked Up and meeting Seth [Rogen] and Evan [Goldberg] and all of these guys. Everything just kind of exploded from that point on. McBride's first major studio role came as the green tea-fueled Rico Brown in the Lonely Island comedy Hot Rod starring Andy Samberg as an accident-prone wannabe stuntman. It was awesome meeting the Lonely Island guys, Andy, Akiva [Schaffer], Jorma [Taccone]. Those were like some of the first guys I met that were in this industry that were doing it, and I met them and quickly saw that they had a lot in common with what my friends and I were trying to do, that they had been childhood friends and they were trying to make their specific brand of comedy. And so I put myself on tape for that. And I remember being so excited about getting it, not just for the opportunity, but I just wanted to get to know those guys. I just felt like they were so talented and so funny, and I was just really kind of hoping that I would get a chance to work with them. And on the set of that, I met Bill Hader. Then I became good buds with him. It really kind of stuck that that summer. Foot Fist Way went to Sundance in 2006. And the next year, my life was absolutely insane. I basically went from Hot Rod, shot that in Vancouver, left there, came back to L.A. to shoot this movie called Drillbit Taylor with Owen Wilson, and then left the set of that to go shoot Heartbreak Kid with Ben Stiller. And then met Ben on there, and he gave me the script for Tropic Thunder. And so then went home for Christmas, came back to L.A., shot Pineapple Express, left the set of that. Shot the pilot of Eastbound and Down, then left the set of that and went to Hawaii to go shoot Tropic Thunder. It was f--king crazy. all my heroes. I mean … I didn't have any training as an actor, so I didn't even know what the hell I was doing. And it was sort of that imposter syndrome of just [thinking] every day, this is too good to be true. Surely there'll be a moment where someone realizes that I shouldn't be here and sends me packing, but luckily it didn't happen. McBride was a major scene stealer opposite James Franco and Seth Rogen in this stoner comedy as the eccentric drug dealer Red. It also reteamed him with Green, who directed Rogen and Goldberg's script, and included a notorious, extended close confines fight scene against the two lead stars. It was really special. Seth and those, they were on a pretty incredible run then … coming off of The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up. They were shooting Superbad. And then they had this script for Pineapple Express and I was over the moon when they offered that to me. To be able to play with those guys and see what they're going to do, and then when they were looking for directors, I think they just were starting to kind of pay attention to what our crew was doing. And our guys and I had told them that David Green made some of the funniest movies that were at our school. At that point he had only made sort of these serious Indies. But I knew he had a very wicked sense of humor that was very distinct and mischievous. So those guys sat down with David, and then he was booked on it, and we were off to the races. [The fight scene] I think was my first week of filming. With Seth and Franco coming in, and I'm explaining to them that it was my cat's birthday. I mean, we were just riffing. All that stuff was just riff. We were just pulling it all out of our ass. And it was so much fun to play with those guys. And I mean, that was a long fight. Shoot. I remember everyone got hurt at some point. I got concussed, I got hit in the back of the head with a bong and that kind of laid me out for a few moments. I think Seth broke his hand or fractured his hand or something. Everybody was getting banged up, but it felt like you weren't really participating in the fight scene if you didn't have some scars by the end of it. McBride stole even more scenes as the trigger-happy explosives expert on the set of a Hollywood war movie in this hit comedy directed by Stiller, who costarred with Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Jay Baruchel, Bill Hader, Matthew McConaughey, Nick Nolte, Tom Cruise, and more. That was that was such an insane shoot. I mean, it was like movie star camp … I was the new kid on the block. And suddenly I'm at a table reading with Tom Cruise and Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. I mean, I was just trying not to shit my pants the entire time. But I can remember that it took a while to shoot that first sequence in Tropic Thunder, where it's the war scene at the beginning. I think it was almost like three weeks of shooting. And every day there's so much going on there. And so every day everyone was called in and you had no idea if you were going to be on camera or not. And I was so nervous. I hadn't said a word in this movie yet. And every day I would go in with my stomach in knots, up in that tower, waiting to blow the whole scene up. And every day I would get ready for it. And then the day would move on and they're not going to get to me. They're still shooting stuff with Steve Coogan, or they're still shooting helicopters flying in. And so for three weeks, I was just like at the edge of my seat every day, like, 'F--k, I got to do this. And in front of all these people.' And they finally got to me, like on the last day of [shooting there]. They just came up into the tower and just let me rip it. And I was just pulling all these lines out of my ass and just trying to make Ben laugh. It was all just sort of improv and I remember as soon as it was done, everyone on the crew started clapping and I was so relieved. Basically, I could breathe, finally. And Ben was like, 'You know, you did it. That's that.' And so I felt like I had passed the first test, but it was definitely three weeks of just sitting on the edge of my seat of like, 'Am I going to get canned when I open my mouth in this movie? Is that what everyone's going to realize I don't belong here?' McBride created Eastbound & Down with Foot Fist Way collaborators Hill and Best shortly after their indie film breakout scored a release from Paramount Vantage. It starred McBride as the very politically incorrect Kenny Powers, a disgraced ex-pro baseball player forced to return to his small hometown, and became a cultishly adored hit for HBO. After we got [Foot Fist Way] set up, Will and Adam were curious of what we wanted to do next. I just had a vision of just moving into television, and they were kind of surprised about that because most people were trying to get out of TV to make movies. This was in 2006, so TV wasn't quite what it is right now. But there was something about the format of storytelling, about breaking a comedy and having like three or four hours to tell a story as opposed to just an hour and a half. It just felt like we could be a little bit more outside the box and maybe take some more risks and chances and maybe create something a little bit more unexpected. I would just sort of make choices and decisions based on what I wanted to see. I don't think it was really until maybe a season or two into Eastbound, where I started to kind of feel confident in what we were doing. Jodi and I were very lucky on Eastbound because I think if we would have made that as a film, I think it would have probably done nothing. And at that time period, a lot of these comedies were really going through the test screening process, where you put the movie up in front of a test audience and people would give their opinions. Like Foot Fist Way, they put that to a test. I mean, it was fucking abysmal. I think [the score] was in the 30s or something, and it was because it was unexpected and it was strange and it wasn't like other stuff that was out there. And I just kind of knew that our tone and our style wouldn't survive that process. It takes a little bit for people to get their heads around what we were doing, especially with the kind of characters we were choosing to tell stories about. So I don't think at the beginning our stuff was made for a mass audience. But I think the more we created stuff, I think the audience caught up to what we were doing and started to understand our style more. Kenny is so, so special. They are all my children. I've had a good time inhabiting all of these sickos. But, yeah, Kenny was just something really special. Even just [with] the making of every season of that, we were going through so many different things in our lives. And it was with just all my friends from film school. And then suddenly… Adam McKay's there, and Will Ferrell was there. And the next season we're all down in Puerto Rico shooting another season, and every season someone else would get married or someone else would have kids. I don't go back and watch things again. But every now and then people will send me clips from the show and instantly be transported in time to what that felt like and how exciting that was and how much fun we were all having. I get that question a lot, [if we're surprised we got away with being so politically incorrect]. But it wasn't like people were asking for that even then. We definitely would get hounded by critics for some of the stuff that was in there. I think that Kenny's wrongheadedness always was an extension of his character. So for us, it felt like you could get away with that stuff as much as you could get away with a character murdering someone. None of it is admirable. I think ultimately, there's obviously risky, crazy shit in there, but I think all of it was an extension of that character. And I think when you're showing a character, there's latitude there to explore things that are uncomfortable or that sometimes hit those third rails if it's in service of a story and not necessarily in service of just insulting people or just trying to be provocative. For us, as provocative as some of that shit was, it always to us felt like it served a larger purpose. McBride's status as a major contemporary comedy force was even further solidified when he was cast as 'himself' alongside other self-satirizing stars Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson and Jay Baurchel in this apocalyptic comedy directed by Rogen and Goldberg. It was honestly so much fun. I mean, what Seth and Evan built over those several years for R-rated comedies, it was sort of like unprecedented for our generation at that time. I always would look back at groups of people who made things I loved. Like growing up, watching all the old John Hughes movies or knowing that George Lucas and [Steven] Spielberg and [Francis Ford] Coppola and those guys all knew each other, or even just like watching the old cast from SNL, and seeing this group of people having fun, being around each other, creating, there's something about it and that's always what I love the most about comedies. Things like Ghostbusters and just seeing all these different talents working on something together. And I think with what Seth and Evan and Judd created for those several years, it was fun to see those familiar faces. It was fun to see everyone in something together. And that one especially was just an absolute blast because everybody was friends on there. And the fact that Seth and Evan were directing and there was nobody else calling the shots. It was these guys who were in the trenches with us making it, and man, we would have these 45-minute long takes. We would have takes that we would have to stop because the cameras overheated. They were running for so long and you would just go into a time warp. [They] would yell 'Action!' and then it was almost like the Holy Spirit was speaking through you. You just start speaking in tongues, just saying the most awful shit and just going at one another. And it was a complete joy. Vice Principals, created by McBride and Hill and starring McBride and Walton Goggins as two co-administrators vying for their high school's top post, only lasted two seasons on HBO. But it begot a fruitful relationship for McBride and his future Righteous Gemstones costar Goggins. The first time I met Walton, he actually had come in to audition for the third season of Eastbound. He was auditioning the role that ultimately went to Jason Sudeikis. And we were already kind of down the road with Sudeikis when Walton read, and so I was already going with [Sudeikis], but I was just so struck by Walton. I instantly felt pulled towards him and liked him and was just like, 'Oh man, I want to know more about this dude.' He's such a live wire. And so he was on my radar ever since then. And actually when we were shooting This Is the End down in New Orleans, he was down there for Django [Unchained]. So sometimes at the bars down in New Orleans, our two crews would end up at the same place every now and then, and I ran into Walton a few times down there. Though longtime creators Jody Hill and David Gordon Green are executive producers, McBride created HBO's The Righteous Gemstones — which follows a family of wealthy televangelists – by himself. Like Eastbound, McBride (who lives in Charleston, S.C.) filmed Gemstones in and around Wilmington, N.C. [Creating these stories and characters] is kind of what drives me more than anything. I just love telling stories, and I like creating stories, and it's honestly part of why I'm closing the chapter on Gemstones, as much fun as I've had making the show. As much as I love the entire cast and I've loved making it, I just want to tell more stories. And I see how quick time's moving on and I've been on Gemstones since I wrote the pilot in 2017. And it's been an absolute blast, but my brain is just firing and wanting to tell other stories as well. For me, that's kind of my driving force. What inspires me the most is just trying to find a new world and new characters to explore. I've never had a negative reaction to [the religious aspects]. I mean, it's not to say that maybe people haven't had a negative response, but it's been surprisingly positive. I think if you're a religious person, you might be turned off by, like, the profanity. And Walton Goggins's d--k hanging out. But ultimately, you also kind of despise these false prophets as well. This is a type of ministry that I don't think anyone who's religious really is trying to defend. And being from this region and even growing up in a religious house, I don't think the M.O. of the show was ever to be like a takedown of religion by any means. I really wanted us to walk a fine line that the butt of the joke was never someone's faith or was never belief. The butt of the joke was hypocrisy. And that's where we would find our humor. We wouldn't find it in mocking what people believe ultimately at the end of the day. And so I feel good about how we rode that line. And I think when you do that, I think you invite more people to come and enjoy the show. The [guest stars] have all been so awesome. I mean, any time we can convince anyone to come down here and play with us, we've never been disappointed, which is great. Everybody from Bradley Cooper to Sturgill Simpson to Joe Jonas and Steve Zahn and Lukas Haas and Eric Roberts, it's been absolutely nuts. The people that we've been able to talk into coming out here this season, Seann [William Scott] and Megan [Mullally] and last season, Kristen [Johnston], it's been a lot of fun. That's the thing I kind of enjoyed the most about my career in general. Just growing up watching movies, watching TV, being addicted to that stuff, with my career I've been able to use it as a way to service my fandom for all these different actors and different filmmakers. Whether it's showing up on Ridley Scott set for [Alien: Covenant] and getting to meet him and see what he's all about to casting people [like] Lukas Haas in the third season. Growing up, Witness and Lady in White were two of my favorite movies. And I wasn't bashful about telling him that. So sometimes when we cast these people, it's just an excuse for me to get to meet people I've always admired. I will miss [Gemstones], and I miss all of them. I have good, fond memories of Eastbound and VPs. And I have so many great memories about Gemstones. But I'll keep working on something new, and if I wouldn't have stopped those shows, then I wouldn't have had Gemstones. So I just think about what's next? And what's the next world? And who are the next people I'll be able to talk into coming down here and f--king around with me. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Best of GoldDerby Stephen King movies: 14 greatest films ranked worst to best The Making of 'The Eyes of the World: From D-Day to VE Day': PBS variety special 'comes from the heart' 'The Life of Chuck' cast reveal their favorite Stephen King works, including Mark Hamill's love of the 'terrifying' 'Pet Sematary' Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Danny McBride and ‘The Righteous Gemstones' Team Say Goodbye to the HBO Comedy: ‘F—, I'm About to Start Crying'
SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for the series finale of 'The Righteous Gemstones,' now streaming on Max. In the end, 'The Righteous Gemstones' said goodbye as only 'The Righteous Gemstones' could: with a masturbating monkey. More from Variety Adam Devine of 'The Righteous Gemstones' on Kelvin's Big Moment and Doing His Own Stunts: 'It Looked Like an Alien Was Trying to Escape My Body' How Danny McBride Cast [SPOILER] in an Epic Civil War Battle for 'The Righteous Gemstones' Season 4 Premiere: 'My Pie-in-the-Sky Pick' Tim Baltz Mastered Pole Dancing for 'The Righteous Gemstones' Season 4: 'I Did Most of My Own Stunts' Though most of the HBO series' final episode, 'That Man of God May Be Complete,' takes place at the titular televangelist family's palatial vacation home, the last scene actually filmed was from the prior episode. After Sunday services, the Gemstones and their entourage have decamped to Jason's Steakhouse, the gang's favorite place to hold court and hit the salad bar. There, Dr. Watson — the capuchin monkey who acts as a service animal for BJ Barnes (Tim Baltz), a Gemstone in-law who's been paralyzed in a freak pole-dancing accident — pleasures himself and smokes menthol cigarettes as the crowd eggs him on. It's a very 'Gemstones' blend of creatively crude and strangely sweet. 'Church lunch scenes are always my favorite scenes to shoot,' says Danny McBride, the creator, star, and executive producer of the four-season comedy. (McBride also directed the finale, sharing script credit with longtime collaborators John Carcieri and Jeff Fradley.) 'We usually have a whole day to do it, and it's everyone from the cast there and everyone has fun.' But that day last fall, McBride wasn't in the mood to stop and smell the roses. He was just trying to make it through a grueling production that had already sustained such calamities as the devastation of Hurricane Helene on the 'Gemstones' home base of South Carolina. Even that day, Baltz learned his mother had been in a car accident and wasn't sure whether he could complete the scene. 'I was so obsessed with just getting it over the finish line that I didn't really take pause to think about the weight of like, 'Oh, we're finished. We've done it,'' McBride recalls. But then Gregory Alan Williams, who plays Gemstone consigliere Martin, pulled him aside to express his gratitude. 'As soon as we started talking, I was like, 'Fuck, I'm about to start crying. Is this going to be sad?'' Viewers may have had a similar question in mind as they watched the final minutes of 'That Man of God May Be Complete.' In past seasons, 'The Righteous Gemstones' has gone big before going home; in the Season 3 finale, a literal plague of locusts descends on a TV studio and razes it to the ground. But the series' final action set piece is dramatically, terrifyingly stripped down. Enraged by the recent loss of his father, despite his role in it, family friend Corey Milsap (Seann William Scott) goes on a rampage through the Gemstone lake house Galilee Gulch, wounding all three siblings — Jesse (McBride), Judy (Edi Patterson) and Kelvin (Adam Devine) — via gunshot. For several agonizing minutes, we're left to wonder whether this could really be the end for them, only for Dr. Watson to save the day when he fetches Jesse's gun from his cross-body bag for men. (It's certainly not a purse.) McBride did, in fact, want to mess with his audience a bit. 'Maybe it's just because, as humans, we're all sickos inside,' he says. 'But when a show's ending, my initial knee-jerk [response] is like, 'Who are they going to kill off?' It felt fun to play with that concept and really commit to it.' That meant a smaller-scale climax than 'The Righteous Gemstones' had pulled off in the past: 'It should feel haunting. It should feel scary and unsettling and oddly grounded for how ridiculous it is.' But there was also a thematic reason to have the Gemstones face their final challenge on their own. 'I always had the idea that in the end, they would be tested to see if they ultimately have what it would take to do this job, without monster trucks or jet packs or anything,' McBride says, referencing a couple stunts the series has pulled off in the past. 'I always imagined that the culmination at the end would be stripped down, simple, back to basics, just praying.' So after subduing Corey, the trio pray for him together as he lays dying. The Gemstone kids already share authority over their family's multimillion-dollar empire. Here, though, they work together on the fundamental mission that's supposed to underwrite all the glitz, glamour and Prayer Pods: offering spiritual guidance to congregants' eternal souls. The moment also calls back to the season premiere, an episode-length flashback starring Bradley Cooper as ancestor Elijah, a thief who accidentally becomes a Confederate chaplain and finds God along the way. McBride wrote the premiere's cold open — in which Elijah murders a preacher while robbing his collection box, then assumes his identity — several years ago. It took until the series' home stretch to find a place to put the scene, and expand the idea into an explanation of not just where the Gemstones come from, but who they are. 'They have this roundabout way of attaining righteousness,' says Carcieri, a longtime collaborator of McBride's dating back to their days in film school. (He continues to rep the University of North Carolina via T-shirt on our Zoom.) 'So many of the things they're doing are misguided and not on the right path, but at the heart of it all, they still do believe in God, and they still do pray in earnest.' Just as a career criminal Elijah, whose gold-plated Bible has been passed down through the generations, could become a sincere believer by praying for soldiers about to be executed, his descendants can be their best selves by helping a lost soul who just tried to murder them. 'This is who they are, in their blood and in their bones, and this is their legacy,' says Patterson, who wrote for the show in addition to starring in it. 'Them gathered around [Corey], praying for him — I think, in a way, it's even bigger than a full-on, massive action thing. It's weirdly got more punch.' The entire sequence unfolds at Galilee Gulch, played in the show by a mansion on Lake Murray, just outside the state capital of Columbia, that happens to be the largest single-family residence in South Carolina, at around 18,000 square feet. Finding the house was an enormous challenge for McBride and locations manager Kale Murphy; initial candidates weren't distinct enough from the Gemstones' other residences, and the search took so long McBride nearly called HBO to request a pause in production. But in a miracle that's only fitting for a show about religion, Murphy cold-called the mansion's owners, who agreed to let the 'Gemstones' crew take over for two entire weeks. Even better, the house happened to feature a 16th-century altar imported from a church in England and repurposed into a fireplace. The piece became the backdrop to Corey's big death scene. The lake house was a corner of both Southern bourgeois culture and Gemstone lore that McBride and his team were eager to explore. 'One thing I always thought was cool about the first three 'Star Wars' movies was, they would take those characters' and bring them into radically different environments, McBride says. 'These are those characters in the snow. These are those characters in the jungle.' I was always looking for, 'Where have we not seen the Gemstones before?'' Galilee Gulch also played into the otherwise coddled Gemstone kids' core trauma: they haven't visited since the loss of their mother, Aimee-Leigh (Jennifer Nettles), just before the events of the show. Letting a house of that size sit untouched is an act of thoughtless extravagance. It's also, in part, an understandable act of grief. 'We always knew the show was about dealing with loss — how to persevere as a family, even though they've lost their their matriarch,' Carcieri says. Another loose thread the writers had toyed with for years before weaving it into the final season was a romantic storyline for paterfamilias Eli (John Goodman) in a definitive act of moving on. Eli ultimately strikes up a romance with Corey's mother Lori (Meghan Mullally), Aimee-Leigh's best friend and musical collaborator. That storyline gave us the gift of Karen Walker and Sulley from 'Monsters Inc.' in a passionate 69 — and closure for a family unit missing its center of gravity. 'The Righteous Gemstones' has always been a big tent spanning several genres at once. It's partly a musical, and has some of the most ambitious action on television this side of 'The Last of Us.' At its core, though, the show is a comedy, and whatever its parallels to 'Succession' as the saga of three siblings squabbling over their aging father's empire, it was never going to end on as down a note as Kendall Roy contemplating suicide. After the showdown at Galilee Gulch, the ultimate ending of 'The Righteous Gemstones' is at Kelvin's wedding to Keefe (Tony Cavalero), his best friend turned partner once the deeply repressed youngest Gemstone comes out of the closet. Kelvin's sexuality is accepted with an ease that may be surprising for a group of red state evangelicals, but leaves every Gemstone child in a happy, healthy, stable relationship. Even Eli and Lori decide to give things another go despite the Gemstones' role in the death of her son and abusive ex-husband. 'Ultimately, the fun thing about the Gemstones is they win,' says Patterson, laughing. 'Do what you fucking want to them. You cannot make them not win.' McBride did toy with the idea of giving the Gemstones some final comeuppance for their many failings as people. (This season alone, they had Keefe dress in drag as the ghost of Aimee-Leigh to dissuade Eli from dating Lori.) 'There were always thoughts about, 'Does the church go down? Do they get arrested? And like, ultimately, for me, I don't know if I really want to see that,' he recalls. 'The design for me is, I want people to watch this again, and I want it to be something that ultimately feels fun.' Though he jokes that his next plan is to 'probably make a sandwich,' McBride is eager to move onto the next series that will join 'Gemstones,' 'Vice Principals' and 'Eastbound & Down' in an unbroken chain of acclaimed HBO series. Along with Patterson and author Grady Hendrix, he's developing an adaptation of the novel 'The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires.' Whatever makes it to air next, though, it'll be in conjunction with the team at Rough House Pictures, the production house McBride co-founded with David Gordon Green and Jody Hill whose informal roster includes consistent presences like Carcieri and a local South Carolina crew that often carries over from project to project. That relative consistency in an inconsistent industry contributed to the choice to end 'The Righteous Gemstones' on its own terms. 'Whatever we do next, those people will be a part of it,' Carcieri says. So as bittersweet as it is to say goodbye, 'I have faith in the talented people that we work with that we'll come up with something good.' Besides, McBride penned the pilot of 'The Righteous Gemstones' in 2017; between four seasons, two strikes and a pandemic, making the show has taken up eight years of the Rough House crew's lives, leaving them excited for a blank slate. 'When we wrote that Civil War episode, it flowed like water,' Carcieri adds, 'just because we were writing in this new setting, with new characters.' 'It's part of why I kind of wanted to put a pin in 'Gemstones' for now, because I do see how much time creating a story and creating a show takes,' McBride says. No matter how much fun he's had with these demented, selfish, slightly-more-grown-but-by-no-means-mature people, he's making the very un-Gemstones choice to say he's had enough for now: 'There's more stories I want to tell, and more things I want to do.' Best of Variety Oscars Predictions 2026: 'Sinners' Becomes Early Contender Ahead of Cannes Film Festival New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week What's Coming to Netflix in May 2025
USA Today
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
When is 'The Righteous Gemstones' series finale? See Season 4 schedule
When is 'The Righteous Gemstones' series finale? See Season 4 schedule Show Caption Hide Caption The most anticipated TV shows of 2025 USA TODAY TV critic Kelly Lawler shares her top 5 TV shows she is most excited for this year This is the end. The fourth and final season of HBO's "The Righteous Gemstones" will come to an end on May 4, as the series finale is set to close the Gemstone saga. The show starring Danny McBride (Jesse Gemstone), Walton Goggins (Baby Billy Freeman) and John Goodman (Eli Gemstone) "tells the story of a world-famous televangelist family with a long tradition of deviance, greed, and charitable work," according to Warner Bros. Ahead of the final episode, Danny McBride told the Associated Press that he hoped "religious people" would watch the series. "A lot of people who come up to me, honestly, their first thing will be like, 'I go to church and I think it's funny,'" he told the Associated Press. "My hope honestly, with creating the show was that people who were religious would watch it. That, ultimately, they would understand that this isn't making fun of them, but it's probably making fun of people that they identify and are annoyed by." Here's what you need to know about Season 4 of "The Righteous Gemstones." How to watch 'The Righteous Gemstones' Season 4 The last episode of "The Righteous Gemstones" will premiere on HBO at 10 p.m. ET / PT on Sunday, and be available for streaming on Max at the same time they air on HBO. Season 4 of "The Righteous Gemstones" began airing on March 9. How can I subscribe to Max? Max subscription plans begin at $9.99 a month with ads, while ad-free subscriptions cost $16.99 a month. The highest tier, which is $20.99 a month, includes the ability to stream on four devices and offers 4K Ultra HD video quality and 100 downloads. HBO also offers bundles with Hulu and Disney+. Watch The Righteous Gemstones Season 4 with Sling + Max 'The Righteous Gemstones' Season 4 episode schedule Here's the full list of release dates for the Season 4 episodes of "The Righteous Gemstones": Episode 1, "Prelude": March 9 Episode 2, "You Hurled Me Into the Very Heart of the Seas": March 16 Episode 3, "To Grieve Like the Rest of Men Who Have No Hope": March 23 Episode 4, "He Goeth Before You Into Galilee": March 30 Episode 5, "You Shall Remember": April 6 Episode 6, "Interlude IV": April 13 Episode 7, "For Jealousy Is the Rage of a Man": April 20 Episode 8, "On Your Belly You Shall Go": April 27 Episode 9, "That Man of God May Be Complete": May 4 Watch the 'The Righteous Gemstones' Season 4 trailer 'The Righteous Gemstones' cast John Goodman as Dr. Eli Gemstone as Dr. Eli Gemstone Danny McBride as Jesse Gemstone as Jesse Gemstone Adam Devine as Kelvin Gemstone as Kelvin Gemstone Edi Patterson as Judy Gemstone as Judy Gemstone Cassidy Freeman as Amber Gemstone as Amber Gemstone Tim Baltz as BJ as BJ Tony Cavalero as Keefe Chambers as Keefe Chambers Gregory Alan Williams as Martin Imari as Martin Imari Skyler Gisondo as Gideon Gemstone as Gideon Gemstone Walton Goggins as Baby Billy Freeman/Baby Billy as Baby Billy Freeman/Baby Billy Kelton DuMont as Pontius Gemstone as Pontius Gemstone Gavin Munn as Abraham Gemstone as Abraham Gemstone Jennifer Nettles as Aimee-Leigh Gemstone Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at and follow him on X @fern_cerv_. We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn't influence our coverage. Our team of savvy editors independently handpicks all recommendations. If you make a purchase through our links, we may earn a commission. Prices were accurate at the time of publication but may change.
Toronto Sun
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
In final season, 'The Righteous Gemstones' embraces depravity even as it appeals to Christians
Published May 02, 2025 • 4 minute read This image released by HBO shows Edi Patterson, left, Danny McBride, center, and Adam Devine in a scene from "The Righteous Gemstones." (HBO via AP) Photo by HBO / AP LOS ANGELES (AP) — For a show about a Christian megachurch pastor and his nepo baby children — between the sex, violence and full-frontal nudity courtesy of Walton Goggins — the final season of 'The Righteous Gemstones' is rife with its trademark depravity. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account But Danny McBride, who stars in and created the HBO series, has always hoped it would speak to people of faith, even as he acknowledged his crude sense of humor might not be for everyone. 'My hope honestly with creating the show was that people who were religious would watch it. That, ultimately, they would understand that this isn't making fun of them, but it's probably making fun of people that they identify and are annoyed by,' he told The Associated Press ahead of the fourth and final season's finale on Sunday (which will stream in Canada on Crave). 'A lot of people who come up to me, honestly, their first thing will be like, 'I go to church and I think it's funny.'' McBride grew up in a devout Christian household in the South. His mom even led a puppet ministry when he was a kid. At some point, though, the 48-year-old decided churchgoing wasn't for him. But his interest remained, particularly as he began to learn more about megachurches after moving to Charleston, South Carolina. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'I felt like it kind of was reflective of America in a way that everything is sort of turned into a money game,' he said. 'The idea that like we could take something like religion and ultimately turn it into a corporation.' McBride's series follows widowed patriarch Eli Gemstone (John Goodman) and his three adult children, the eldest of whom is played by McBride. Although the series is steeped in modern evangelical culture, McBride said, in general, people of faith were not meant to be the target of his satire. 'It was more about hypocrites and people who were saying one thing and living another,' he said. Celebrity preachers like Joel Osteen and T.D. Jakes have been fixtures of evangelical culture since the early aughts thanks to their massive congregations and strategic media presence, not to mention the Billy Grahams, Jerry Fallwells and Jim Bakkers that preceded them. But a new generation of Instagram-savvy preachers has made its way into pop culture, like Hillsong's now-disgraced Carl Lentz and Justin Bieber's pastor, Judah Smith. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. With that fame comes scrutiny and the charge that their celebrity and wealth stand in contrast to the message of Jesus. But that disaffection with religious leaders that McBride exploits isn't new, says Kathryn Lofton, a professor of religious studies and American studies at Yale University. 'There's not a lot of very positive depictions of evangelists in American media in the last 50 years,' Lofton said. The Christianity of the Gemstone empire is anything but austere. The second episode of this season, for example, closes with Eli's kids hosting their extravagant annual give-a-thon in honor of their late mother's birthday. 'If the line's busy, call back. Somebody's gonna pick up. It might just be God,' implores Uncle Baby Billy (Goggins). And what's a church service without a choir, dancing and, of course, jet packs? For Deon Gibson, a graphic artist who used to work for pastor Paula White before she became the head of Donald Trump's White House Faith Office, the show is right on the nose. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'I knew those characters while I worked in the megachurches,' he said. 'Aside from the Hollywood theatrics, it is spot on. The conversations they have, the switching around of power and positions.' McBride did admit it was a difficult subject to satirize considering the viral videos that often surface showing similarly extravagant stunts and rock concerts being performed at church. One comment on the show's subreddit shares a video clip of James River Church's annual Stronger Men's Conference in Missouri. 'Thought this was a scene from the show at first,' the commenter says of the massive pyrotechnics, monster trucks and acrobats descending from the ceiling. 'My biggest fear would be that we would put stuff in the show and then like months later before the show comes out you would like see a church actually doing something we were doing,' McBride said. 'You're like, 'I just hope people don't think we're ripping them off.'' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Adam Devine said he thinks making satire in general is a challenge right now. 'Some of the headlines in the news, you're like, well, that wouldn't even work because people would be like, 'That's too crazy,'' Devine said. This image released. by HBO shows Adam Devine in a scene from 'The Righteous Gemstones.' Photo by HBO / AP For all its critique and humor though, the series also infuses moments of tenderness and poignancy. One storyline that culminates in the series finale is Kelvin's struggle with his queer identity and his relationship with his partner. 'I hope that some kids who feel like hopeless and they're battling over whether they're gay or not, that this gives them a sense of hope that you can come out and be accepted by your family, by people within your church,' Devine said. 'Not everyone is going to turn their backs on you.' But Gibson, who still identifies as a believer but is no longer part of a congregation, thinks the show's depictions of the megachurch world might be a tough hurdle for some people to get over. 'I think it would offend some people, the honesty of some of the characters. But I like the show because I saw both sides. I saw that side of the ministry corruption, but at the end of the day, they were people,' he said. 'They were regular people who just got caught up in the fame and the money.' Toronto Maple Leafs Toronto & GTA Editorial Cartoons Canada Ontario
Mint
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
The Righteous Gemstones Season 4 Episode 8: Release details, cast, plot, and where to watch on OTT
The Righteous Gemstones Season 4 is set to air its 8th episode, titled "On Your Belly You Shall Go", on Sunday (April 27). The episode will be broadcast on HBO at 10 p.m. ET/PT and will be available for streaming on Max at the same time. The fourth season features a talented ensemble cast led by Danny McBride, who also serves as the creator and writer of the show. The primary cast members include: Danny McBride as Jesse Gemstone Adam Devine as Kelvin Gemstone John Goodman as Eli Gemstone Edi Patterson as Judy Gemstone Cassidy Freeman as Amber Gemstone Tony Cavalero as Keefe Chambers Greg Alan Williams as Martin Imari Skyler Gisondo as Gideon Gemstone Walton Goggins as Baby Billy Freeman Jennifer Nettles as Aimee-Leigh Gemstone Valyn Hall as Tiffany Freeman Kelton DuMont as Pontius Gemstone Gavin Munn as Abraham Gemstone Megan Mullally as Lori Milsap Arden Myrin as Jana Milsap Seann William Scott as Corey Milsap In its fourth and final season, The Righteous Gemstones continues to follow the dysfunctional but deeply tied Gemstone family. A world-famous televangelist family known for their mix of deviance, greed, and charitable acts, the Gemstones' codependency is tested as they attempt to move forward without severing ties to their complex past. The season explores the continuing dynamics within the Gemstone family as they deal with their history and attempt to evolve while maintaining their notorious public personas. The full episode release schedule for The Righteous Gemstones Season 4 is as follows: Episode 1, "Prelude": March 9, 2025 Episode 2, "You Hurled Me Into the Very Heart of the Seas": March 16, 2025 Episode 3, "To Grieve Like the Rest of Men Who Have No Hope": March 23, 2025 Episode 4, "He Goeth Before You Into Galilee": March 30, 2025 Episode 5, "You Shall Remember": April 6, 2025 Episode 6, "Interlude IV": April 13, 2025 Episode 7, "For Jealousy Is the Rage of a Man": April 20, 2025 Episode 8, "On Your Belly You Shall Go": April 27, 2025 Episode 9, title not yet released: May 4, 2025 New episodes of The Righteous Gemstones air every Sunday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and are available for streaming on Max at the same time. To watch, you can subscribe to Max, which offers plans starting at $9.99/month (with ads) or $16.99/month (ad-free). The highest tier subscription, at $20.99/month, includes 4K Ultra HD streaming and access to multiple devices. The Righteous Gemstones is nearing the conclusion of its final season, so make sure to tune in for Episode 8 and the upcoming grand finale. First Published: 27 Apr 2025, 02:08 AM IST
