Director Andrew DeYoung has always had an eye for awkwardness (“Pen15,” “Our Flag Means Death,” and “Dave”), but with his debut feature, “Friendship,” he goes from TV’s quirky corners straight to the deep end of the cringe pool. Do you want relatable pain, emotional chaos, and jokes that are so uncomfortable that you laugh, wince, and maybe break out in hives? Look no further. With a cast including Tim Robinson, Paul Rudd, Kate Mara, and Jack Dylan Grazer, “Friendship” is the rare buddy comedy that leaves you feeling equally seen, unsettled, and surprisingly moved.
DeYoung joins Mike DeAngelo on the latest episode of The Discourse. It was clear he’s still riding the high from sharing his first feature with audiences at TIFF. “[The screening] went incredibly – more than I could have ever imagined. I’ve been in a theater that’s laughing like that, and that wasn’t necessarily my goal.” Deyong said. “Of course, I wanted people to find this funny and interesting and whatnot, but to hear people laugh at that level was really a surprise.”
While DeYong has certainly succeeded on the small screen, the goal has always been the big screen. “The goal ever since I was a kid was to make movies,” he admitted. “I’ve been very lucky with TV. There’s been some really good ones, like ‘Our Flag Means Death.’ But honestly? The dream was always to make my own film, to see what I could do on a bigger canvas.”
The big secret behind getting Tim Robinson? Friendship—the real kind. “We’re friends, which is probably why he considered doing it in the first place,” DeYoung said, laughing. “I wrote the script for him. I literally emailed him, ‘I wrote this for you. I want to shoot it like ‘The Master.” He loves that movie, too. He read it, and a couple of days later said, ‘Great.’ Of course, he brought plenty of his own ideas. The weirdness is all very collaborative.”
Casting Paul Rudd turned into one of those happy accidents that make indie filmmaking great. “The Austin character was only in the first and third acts. Paul read it and just asked, ‘Is there any way I could be in the movie more?’ So, I played around and ended up giving his character a lot more to do—and honestly, it made the movie so much better. Sometimes, the best stuff happens when you stay open to actors’ ideas.”
As for the movie’s surreal vibe—one minute you’re laughing at a disastrous marriage, the next you’re squirming through pure horror—DeYoung said, “That was intentional – the horror element lurking at the edges of the comedy. When Tim’s character loses his wife in the tunnels, I wanted it to feel scary—if there’s laughter, it comes from just how intense things get. My North Star was always honesty, even when it hurts.”
But the heart of “Friendship” is that desperate, nearly primal need to connect. “What made me write this movie is the catharsis of wanting to be understood, and how tragic and also hysterical our desperation can be,” DeYoung said. “We’re all idiots sometimes when we want to be liked, and if you see your own neediness mirrored in these characters—while laughing your ass off—that’s my dream. I root for everybody in the movie, even when Tim’s character is doing the craziest stuff. Like, he points a gun at someone and says, ‘Get to know me.’ Totally nuts! But who hasn’t felt a version of that, deep down?”
If you’re wondering about those jaw-dropping moments—like Kate Mara’s character and her son’s truly bizarre kiss, like I was. Turns out that just kind of happened. “That was Kate’s brilliant idea. She said, ‘I think we should kiss.’ Tim’s response—‘You guys kiss on the mouth’—wasn’t in the script. But we all just tried things that made us laugh in the moment. Sometimes those risks make the cut.”
Paul Rudd and Tim Robinson’s chemistry comes easily, too. “You make adjustments during the day, sure, but really, those guys just brought ideas that landed right away,” DeYoung said. “And yes, we did talk about ‘I Love You, Man,’ but only in the sense that this is the weird, evil twin of that movie. ‘Anchorman’ even came up. We wanted to make sure we were doing our own thing.”
Ultimately, DeYoung wants you to root for everyone, but he’s not giving easy answers. “I want people to feel that catharsis—the relief of seeing someone else mess up worse than you ever have. We’ve all said something dumb and then doubled down, made it worse, and kept digging. It’s painfully human, and hopefully it’s hilarious, too.”
As for what’s next, DeYoung’s already back in the saddle with Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin for a new series, “The Chair Company.” “We shot the pilot in the summer, and thankfully it got picked up,” DeYoung said. “So now we’re going to shoot seven more episodes. And I’m very excited. I know there’s a little bit of information out there, but it’s essentially like if you turn ‘I Think You Should Leave’ sketch into a mystery thriller for eight episodes.”
“Friendship” expands to theaters nationwide on May 23rd. You can listen to the entire conversation below:
The Playlist Presents: Andrew DeYoung’s Film/TV Recommendation Playlist:
- “Force Majeure”
- “Toni Erdmann”
- “The King of Comedy”
- “Three Colors Blue”
- “Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!”
- “Stath Lets Flats”
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Entertainment journalist, podcaster, and host of The Discourse and Bingeworthy podcasts, with bylines at Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and IndieWire.
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