‘The Bad Guy 2’ director opens up about Elon Musk parody
Pierre Perifel, director of ‘The Bad Guy 2’, gets honest about imitating Elon Musk’s SpaceX
The animated animal action-adventure sequel The Bad Guys 2 includes a clear spoof of Elon Musk, and director Pierre Perifel addressed the connection.
The film, which released on August 1, is a sequel to the 2022 hit, but this time, Pierre is joined by co-director JP Sans.
Recently, in an interview with Variety, Pierre discussed the obvious parody of Musk’s SpaceX when the interviewer pointed out the similarities between the storyline and the billionaire tech mogul.
Pierre admitted, “We spoofed MoonX, SpaceX,” referring to the fictional billionaire character who dreams of ascending to the stars.
However, he clarified that the character wasn’t directly based on Musk himself. “I don’t think the character of Mr. Moon is necessarily inspired by Elon,” Pierre told the outlet.
In addition, the interviewer noted that the storyline closely resembles Musk’s space shuttle ventures, which Pierre also acknowledged.
“What’s really obvious to me is we spoofed MoonX, SpaceX,” he said. “And we have someone who’s going to conquer the stars. I don’t think the character of Mr. Moon is necessarily inspired by Elon himself.”
Pierre described Mr. Moon as a “cute, little bubbly character,” but also noted how Musk’s public persona has shifted over time — from the film’s development to now.
“But it’s weird, to your point,” he said of Musk’s transformation, “it’s weird that now Elon has emerged as this very odd, major figure, now enmeshed in all these things with Trump. So in retrospect, it’s easy to say we used Elon as a reference — but that wasn’t really the case. It was more of a coincidence, if you will… except, again, for the name of the company.”
The Bad Guy 2 voice cast includes Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Natasha Lyonne, and Danielle Brooks.
Following its release, the movie received largely positive reviews, earning an 85% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a Certified Fresh rating.
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