AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Mr. and Mrs. Twit are some of the nastiest, meanest, stinkiest characters to appear in a children's book.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE TWITS")
EMILIA CLARKE: (As Pippa) The Twits hate everything, especially each other. They've been married for 47 miserable years, and not a day has passed without a mean, dirty trick. The thing is...
RASCOE: This is the new movie adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic "The Twits." In the movie version, the Twits have built a backyard amusement park to lure kids.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE TWITS")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character, singing) Fun and excitement had a baby, and they called it Twitlandia. There's a song and dance extravaganza and rides made out of toilets.
RASCOE: It's a DIY disaster shut down by the city, and two orphans get the blame for crushing the Twits' dream. Mayhem ensues, starting with a flood of liquid hot dog meat.
(SOUNDBITE OF WAILING AND LIQUID BUBBLING)
RASCOE: It's directed by Phil Johnston, who joins me now to disentangle this unruly beard of a fun story. Welcome to the program.
PHIL JOHNSTON: Hey, Ayesha. Thanks for having me.
RASCOE: So, I mean, if you just hear that opener, you can get the idea that there's a lot going on here. Explain to us - how do Beesha and Bubsy, these two orphans, find themselves at Twitlandia?
JOHNSTON: Well, their orphanage is sort of under attack by this ridiculous trick that the Twits have played, in which they have unleashed a flood of hot dog meat across their city. And as a result, there's water that's polluted by hot dog meat, and these kids want to solve the problem because it's really affecting their lives negatively.
RASCOE: And why do they decide to take on the Twits?
JOHNSTON: Yeah. Well, Beesha is our protagonist, and she's this girl who really feels like she needs to take on everything in the world. She's a kid that's afraid to ask for help. She's - refuses to be overwhelmed. She wants to take care of everyone, and she thinks she needs to fix this problem. And the idea of that is more like - I think kids right now feel so overwhelmed by the world and, frankly, by the hatred in the world. And the idea that, you know, you can do something about that is an empowering idea, I think.
RASCOE: Well, I mean, this movie really does kind of blend the gross and the fantastic really well. You do have exploding butts, magical monkeys with the power to heal. How did you go about kind of balancing that kind of humor that kids will love - 'cause who doesn't love, like, you know, the - that type of humor - and, like, you know, the - also just the whimsy, the fantastic stuff?
JOHNSTON: Yeah. I mean, it was really a balance of walking this tonal tight rope of highbrow themes, if you will, and quite lowbrow comedy. And the reason I wanted to lean into that, for "The Twits" to be so gross and, frankly, puerile, is because so much of the national discourse right now is gross and puerile. And I thought it would be interesting to have these two characters who rise to power in a way that is really unsettling - you know, based on lies and cheating and all kinds of malfeasance - and just putting kids in the midst of that and seeing, yes, often disgusting people who lie and cheat and steal become powerful. And how do you deal with that? How do you think about that? And so having these grander ambitions of empathy and dealing with hatred, in a way, while also having exploding butts kind of was a way of Trojan horsing, if you will, more thoughtful themes into a silly, lowbrow kids' comedy.
RASCOE: Obviously, you intentionally kind of bring in this political commentary.
JOHNSTON: Yeah.
RASCOE: Were you hesitant about doing that? Did you face any pushback?
JOHNSTON: I wasn't hesitant, I think.
RASCOE: OK.
JOHNSTON: I think some of the executives I work with probably were. But, you know, without being overtly allegorical for what's happening in the world today, I just think it's - I have this feeling - so many days, I wake up and feel like I'm, like, walking on a waterbed. Like, the ground doesn't feel steady underneath my feet. And seeing how kids are reacting to the world right now, with so much - people are just screaming at each other and hatred is so pervasive. And it's - frankly, it's so easy to yell and scream, and it's very hard to actually be thoughtful and have empathy. And so - I don't know. I think, yeah, the political message for sure is there. But more than that, I think it's really just about hatred and empathy and that - the battle between those two things.
RASCOE: There's also a pretty overarching theme about having a chosen family, right?
JOHNSTON: Exactly. Yeah. Our - Beesha is, again, our primary protagonist in the film. And she's an orphan, and she keeps expecting her parents to come back for her. And in a weird way, it's sort of similar to how the Twits keep promising that this town they live in is going to come back to its former glory. They're selling this lie. They're selling this idea. And I think Beesha is holding on to this thing, thinking, oh, if only my parents would come back for me, everything would be better. But in reality, she has this beautiful found family, as you said, right here before her and people that will love her unconditionally and forever. And, you know, she comes to realize that's enough.
RASCOE: The book, you know, is very short, had a pretty basic plot, which was inspired, apparently, by Roald Dahl's dislike of beards.
JOHNSTON: Yes. Yes.
RASCOE: (Laughter) But...
JOHNSTON: Always a good jumping-off point for a story.
RASCOE: Yeah, for a story.
(LAUGHTER)
RASCOE: But - and I don't want to give away the ending. But ultimately, it does kind of give a very different message than the original at the end. Why did you decide to kind of go in a different direction?
JOHNSTON: Well, I can tell you the original book ends with the Twits just dying - just unceremoniously dying - and then character we never met saying, yay, the Twits are dead, basically. So...
RASCOE: (Laughter) Yeah.
JOHNSTON: It was...
RASCOE: So you're like - you didn't want to go with that.
JOHNSTON: It was real Old Testament. I mean...
RASCOE: Yeah.
JOHNSTON: ...Very...
RASCOE: It was very...
(LAUGHTER)
RASCOE: And for 2025, that's a bit dark. It's a bit dark.
JOHNSTON: I mean, you know, again, without being political, it seems like revenge and vengeance and - let's kill our enemies - is very much, you know, in the forefront right now. And it just seemed like that's not a great thing for moving us forward. And it doesn't mean you have to think that people like the Twits are going to change, but you also shouldn't kill them.
(LAUGHTER)
JOHNSTON: That's a - that's the - boy, that's a tough theme, but there it is. Don't kill people.
RASCOE: Exactly.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "OPEN THE DOOR")
HAYLEY WILLIAMS: (Singing) If we don't agree, could you still take my hand?
RASCOE: That's director Phil Johnston. His new movie, "The Twits," is out now on Netflix. Thank you so much for being here.
JOHNSTON: Thank you so much for having me. Enjoyed talking to you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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