This post lists information relating to the movie, Mystery Team. Aubrey Plaza is in the cast, as well as Dominic Dierkes, D.C. Pierson, Donald Glover and Bobby Moynihan. The movie was released on DVD on May 25, 2010.
Mystery Team is now available! It retails for $27.98, but Amazon.com is selling it for $19.49. | Buy
May 21, 2010:
Movie Web conducted a Q&A with Mystery Team’s director Dan Eckman. Below are a few selections from the interview. Follow the “source” link for the full version!
Aubrey Plaza isn’t a member of Derrick Comedy. How did you go about casting her?
Dan Eckman: Actually, I knew Aubrey Plaza back in film school. She was in film school at the time. I had a weird, creepy roommate. And he stalked her. I knew her. She was a comedian around the scene. When we auditioned for Mystery Team, she really wanted the part. I was dead set against casting a comedian. I thought it was the one serious role in the film, and that it should be done by a serious actress. But everyone they brought in was too serious in a bad way. Aubrey was always great. We made her audition three or four times, and she kept nailing it. While we were on the set, my brother taped her audition for Funny People. They did that in the Lumber Yard. She got the part, and we thought, “That was the best decision we ever made in our entire lives.” She is amazing in everything. And she deserves everything that is coming to her. When we took this film to Sundance, most of the cast was unknowns. Now a lot of them are emerging. The cast is moving on up. It’s hilarious. We can’t take credit for it, either. We are just riding the wave. Its not like Mystery Team came out, and then they got famous from that. We are benefiting from the fact that these guys are all very talented, and now people can see them here.I know that you guys were under some time constraints. Were there ever ideas that got jettisoned simply because they were too ambitious? What sort of stuff wound up not making it into the movie simply because you guys didn’t have the time or budget for it?
Yes. Certainly early on, when we were having our first discussions about stuff. The Lumber Yard was originally a Power Plant. I knew that my uncles had something that resembled a Lumber Yard, so I said we should think about that. Instead of trying to find a power plant that is going to let a bunch of idiots come in and do a bunch of poop jokes. There were a few gags that got cut, but thinking back on them, I don’t think they would have made the film fundamentally better. At the last minute, while we were driving up to New Hampshire, we didn’t originally have that chase scene in the woods. They hit the stop sign, they jump out of the van, and they run through the woods for a little bit. Originally, they just hit the stop sign, and that was it. We got out there and realized that it would be good to put a chase scene in at that point. It would be cool for the trailer. It caused a minor freak out. How were we going to edit this into the film? Well, we found a way. There were certain other things that went by the wayside because of that. At the end of the day, we were very happy with the film we made. With the content we had.How did you come to be the man behind the scenes? Did you never have aspirations to be someone who gets in front of the camera?
No. I’ve done a couple of jokey cameos in the sketches. In the film, I am the one fucking the bread. We all met while we were at NYU together. I was at film school with Dominic Dierkes, and he was in a live sketch group. That the other two guys were in. Dominic, Meggie, and I were working on our film school shorts together. The sketch comedy group wanted someone to shoot videos for them. So I started shooting their sketches. Then one thing led to another.
March 22, 2010:
Mystery Team will be released on DVD on May 25. Here’s a list of the DVD’s special features:
- Audio commentary
- Deleted scenes
- Rehearsal footage
- The Making of Mystery Team featurette
- Sword Club featurette
- Who is Wally Cummings? featurette
Link: Mystery Team Solves the Case on DVD on May 25th
December 11, 2009:
Music video for “The Stand (feat. MC Chris)” by Childish Gambino, featuring behind-the-scenes clips and footage from Mystery Team:
July 20, 2009:
New trailer is up!
May 19, 2009:
Mystery Team has been acquired by Lionsgate’s indie shingle, Roadside Attractions. The distributor is expected to embark on an advance-release tour of colleges this summer, followed by a national release in the fall.
Congrats, Aubrey!
Link: Mystery Team Finds a Distributor!
April 24, 2009:
Mystery Team’s trailer
