Jorma Taccone Talks About the Unexpected Lonely Island Surprise in ‘Over Your Dead Body’
Jorma Taccone’s Directorial Return in Over Your Dead Body Lacks Lonely Island References
In a surprising turn, Jorma Taccone’s latest film, Over Your Dead Body, marks his first directorial project since the 2016 satire Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. Notably, Taccone decided against incorporating references from his former comedy music group, The Lonely Island, into this new project.
While promoting Over Your Dead Body, Taccone highlighted a spontaneous moment in the film that alludes to Popstar. In a scene featuring Juliette Lewis’s character Allegra, she delivers the line “motherfucking, titty-sucking, two-ball bitch,” a lyric from the song "Rock Roll Skate" by the group’s fictional band, Style Boyz. Taccone revealed this line was improvised by Lewis, and he only recognized its Popstar origin in hindsight.
“And by the way, that was Juliette improv-ing,” Taccone recounted. “I was like, ‘Oh, s—t!’ Because everybody has their own version of that from third grade, or I do, but I was very surprised when she said it.”
Taccone expressed his amusement at the unexpected reference, admitting, “I didn’t realize that — I was like, ‘I thought this was just a Northern California thing.’ In normal life as an adult, you don’t say that to someone. That doesn’t come up as something that you say. [laughs] So yes, I was thrilled when she said it.”
Over Your Dead Body tells the story of Dan (Jason Segel) and Lisa (Samara Weaving), who embark on a romantic weekend getaway to a secluded cabin in an effort to save their marriage. However, their plans take a dark twist as each secretly plots to kill the other. Their sinister plans unravel when two escaped prisoners and a guard intrude on their weekend getaway.
Taccone, who was one-third of The Lonely Island alongside Andy Samberg and Akiva Schaffer during their tenure on Saturday Night Live from 2005 to 2010, co-directed Popstar with Schaffer. The duo also co-wrote the script and featured in the film alongside Samberg.
