Last Updated on 05/09/2024 by Arun jain
In most ways, South Park creators Trey Parker And Matt Stone Trying to look ahead, about 27 seasons. take Donald Trump, The long-running animated series is now in its third consecutive cycle and the subject (by series veteran Mr. Garrison) is running for president. Jodi states Vanity Fair That they are working to satirize the Republican candidate. “We have tried to South Park Through four or five presidential elections, and it’s a very difficult thing—it creeps into the mind, and it seems to take on too much importance,” Stone says. “Obviously, it’s important, but it’s a Kind of takes over everything and we just have less fun.” Parker added, “I don’t know what else we can say about Trump.”
The creators, also known for their Tony-winning musicals, Book of Mormon, Tell us in our interview South Park Bypassing the November election, it will not return until 2025. Part of this has to do with “waiting for Paramount to get all their shit out,” says Parker. But ignoring Trump? “Honestly, it’s on purpose,” Stone tells me.
On a more personal level, the past is emerging for these people. We’re sitting on a balcony in Telluride, at the film festival where his documentary is Beautiful home my love! Only screened for strong reviews. (It arrives in select theaters on September 13 and will stream on Paramount+ later this fall.) Powered by Arthur Bradford, The film follows Parker and Stone to the Lakewood, Colorado, Mexican restaurant they previously frequented in Classic. South Park episode, “Casa Bonita,” more than 20 years ago. A local landmark that means a lot to two Colorado natives, my love Provides surprisingly intimate access to Parker and Stone sinking millions of dollars into a seemingly doomed revival effort. Every bit of this A kitchen nightmare-esque saga seems to have been caught on camera. Not quite the colorful fantasy land, in other words, that Cartman introduced us to back then South ParkThe seventh season of
Bradford has been pursuing creative partners for more than a decade. Since taking over the helm in 2011 6 Days to Air: The Making of South Park, He is allowed to trail them with his camera. He never knew what would come of it, yet he captured some beautiful moments late in his career: Behind the scenes, a 36-hour mad dash (like most of the rest of the country) to make an episode about the 2016 election after a stunned Trump victory. about. lead-up and execution of South Park 25th Anniversary Concert at Red Rocks. They often wondered where the movie was in all those years of random BTS filming. But as the Casa Bonita saga unfolded, Bradford knew he had his movie. As for the rest of the above footage: it’s still there, and maybe we’ll see it someday.
Between concerts and the purchase of Casa Bonita, Parker and Stone have been drawn back to their home state in a way they haven’t been since they first broke out in the ’90s. “It felt like we were finally welcome back home, because up until then, it hadn’t been,” Parker tells me as Stone nods. He recalls his classic 1999 release South Park film Big, long and uncut: “Everybody in the country has been very nice to us, criticism-wise, except for the people in Denver,” Parker says. “It was more like, who do you guys think you are?”
The reception this time, by contrast, was “great,” says Stone. But they also returned to the Colorado they left behind for La La Land. “Culturally it’s very different now with the Internet and everything—there weren’t like sushi restaurants in Colorado,” he says. “Casa Bonita just stood there as this wonderful place. There was nothing like that.” The investment he and Parker have made in renovating the beloved Mexican restaurant involves grappling with such changing times. By the end of the film, Parker describes leaving him behind—which is inevitable when they have a TV show that actually makes them money to produce—as a “break up.” Especially since the restaurant will officially be back up and running next month. “Now, people are like, yeah, I went to Casa Bonita last night and Trey Parker wasn’t there — that’s weird,” he says.
In general, of course, few TV writers respond as promptly to the changing times as this pair. And so while they’re deliberately ignoring this political cycle — “Oh, it’s more fun to be Cartman dressed like a robot,” Stone says — the last few features alone have proven they still have their finger on the pulse. Earlier this year his feature focused on the Ozympic craze. Its origins, again, were strikingly personal. “I got over it, I lost like 25 pounds, but I was like, I hate this — I feel different. I feel like something’s different,” Parker says. “Like, yeah, I want less. Eat, but I want to do less of everything else, and that’s where the whole show came from.”
No show approaching its third decade can still claim to be anticipated South Park is Parker and Stone look around at the changing comedy landscape with, at times, some envy. “The stuff I envy is TikTok—like, it’s a great joke, it looks like they had fun doing it, and then you move on,” says Stone. “We both have endless respect for him.” But he also sees continued demand for what they do: “writing a story and creating a frame so you can do more complex things.”
“We’re the Rolling Stones, man — we’re trying to get out five, six nights a year,” Stone says. “We could do more, but I don’t think it would be better.”
More great stories from Vanity Fair
Post ‘South Park’ creators on avoiding Trump, revisiting Casa Bonita and experiencing TikTok envy appeared first Vanity Fair.