Stephen Farrelly and Gary Anthony Williams want their own movie
Stephen Farrelly, aka “Sheamus,” is a WWE wrestler. Gary Anthony Williams is an actor known for “The Boondocks” and “Whose Line is It Anyway?” They might not seem to have much in common, and they didn’t know each other before getting cast as, respectively, Rocksteady and Bebop, the mutated henchmen in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.” But you wouldn’t know that sitting in a room with them. A chat with them is lousy with detours, jokes, banter and even their co-star Tyler Perry.
This isn’t one of those gritty reboots. It’s a lot like a live-action version of the cartoon from the ’80s and ’90s.
Gary Anthony Williams: We both grew up on the Turtles, and the version we grew up on was the one on television — the cartoon from long, long ago. Not so much the comic books; some of those are grittier. I like that fun-ness of this. Our guys are big, violent, tear-stuff-up guys. But they have a fun-ness to them, the same as they did in the cartoon so long ago.
Stephen Farrelly: I did second-guess it when I asked, “Who’s Bebop?” They said, “Gary Anthony Williams.” I was like, “OK, I don’t want to do this now. I don’t like Gary, even though I’ve never met him.”
You guys have good banter. How quickly did you realize that?
Farrelly: Right away we hit it off. It was really weird. Just two dudes hitting it off.
Williams: That sounds like a movie. “What’s the movie about?” “Just two dudes hitting it off.”
That could be your spin-off movie.
Williams: “Just Two Dudes Hitting it Off.” God, that sounds horrible and great.
Have you hung out since the movie wrapped?
Farrelly: Contractually we’re not allowed to.
Williams: But we’ve broken that contract.
Farrelly: I’ve stayed at his house a few times. He’s very adamant about leaving the toilet seat down. I have to bring my own toilet paper. That’s kind of weird.
It seems like you get a lot of room to ad-lib together.
Farrelly: They said, “Don’t stray from the script. You guys are not funny. Especially you, Gary.”
Williams: In my last audition I don’t think I said a single thing that was written on the page. They said, “Michael Bay really likes improv.” That floored me.
Farrelly: That made me a little nervous. This was my first time doing anything of this magnitude. But then five minutes in, we were just…going at it.
Williams: “Just Two Dudes Going At It.” That’s the sequel. [Laughs] Kevin Hart can play my role in that one. I’m not going to be in that.
As it happens, Kevin Hart is in this hotel right now. He’s at the junket for “Central Intelligence,” which is also here.
Williams: Kevin Hart’s people were totally c—k-blocking me yesterday. They wouldn’t let me anywhere near him.
Your co-star Tyler Perry actually crashed the press conference for that. He just walked in and made a few jokes.
Williams: Did he really? And they wouldn’t even let us near the hall! I’m done. I’m done with this industry. I’m retiring.
Farrelly: But you’re not Tyler Perry.
Williams: I am not. Tyler Perry has his own island, that is full of white slaves. He’s brought back slavery. He’s brought back the good slavery.
Back to the movie, though, how much did you wind up doing once your characters are turned into CGI beasts?
Farrelly: There was a lot of bulking up. There was a weight gain of 5,000, lots of cosmetic surgery. I pretty much ate McDonald’s 10 times a day. I’ve still got the stretch marks, even though I’ve lost all the weight, but it was so much fun. When we wrapped shooting it was a sad moment.
Williams: Even today is sad. We’ve been all around each other again this weekend. This part is about to be over; now the movie’s out. Now we’ve got to wait until Michael Bay decides if he’s going to do another one and if we’re going to be in it, which would be fun-tastic.
He hasn’t made the threequel official?
Williams: Legally I can’t say anything. Legally I can’t go to his house and watch what he does through his window.
What on earth does Michael Bay do at home?
Williams: That’s what I wanted to know. Now I know. Now I can’t know anymore, because of — what’s it called? A restraining order? Bunch of bull.
Follow Matt Prigge on Twitter @mattprigge
