Unfortunately, when we talked to Ken Marino at SXSW earlier this week, the “Veronica Mars” Kickstarter campaign had not yet been announced, so there’s no word yet on whether Vinnie Van Lowe will return for the movie, already greenlit for this summer. What did we talk about? Marino’s gross-out monster movie – he describes it as “good butt fun” – which premiered in Austin this week.
“Milo” is the deadpan story of a stressed-out guy named Duncan (Ken Marino) whose lifelong stomach problems turn out to be the result of an angry demon living in his colon. When the monster sees the light of day – coming out, yes, through Duncan’s ass during a session with his new-age therapist (Peter Stormare) – he’s not cute and cuddly. Yes, Milo has E.T.’s wide-eyed wonder, but he and his rows of murderous shark teeth are all id.
What’s stressing Duncan out so much? For starters, fertility issues are plaguing his doting wife Sarah (“Community” star Gillian Jacobs), who desperately wants to start a family. In addition, his jackass boss (a sadistic Patrick Warburton) has moved Duncan’s desk next to the urinal and ordered him to fire half of his colleagues; his mother (Mary Kay Place) won’t stop shoving her overactive sex life in his face; and the father who abandoned him (Stephen Root) has suddenly re-appeared.
Duncan does what he can to control the monster – enticing Milo back into his colon and feeding him mice while up there (!) – but in the end, he has to bond with his demon before both can find peace.
Co-written by Benjamin Hayes and director Jacob Vaughan (“The Cassidy Kids,” SXSW 2006), Milo was co-produced by the Duplass Brothers, for whom Vaughan has worked as an editor (“Jeff, Who Lives at Home,” “Cyrus”). With no distribution deal yet in place, it remains to be seen whether “Milo” will become the cult classic it’s aiming to be.
We talked to Marino and Jacobs about playing the movie entirely straight, the metaphors “Milo” evokes, and Marino’s genetic attraction to toilet humor. Bonus: a Schwarzenegger impression!
“It’s not really a genre I’d played around in, I’d not played around in poop too often.” Gillian Jacobs said of “Milo.” Meanwhile, Ken Marino assures us Steven Spielberg is sitting just off camera.