The hero of upcoming superhero comedy Gentlemen Broncos is played by Sam "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" Rockwell, who says his character has "two sides" — a self who appears in an original novel written by a teen, and a self who appears in a plagiarized novel written by a guy who steals the hapless teen's idea. Rockwell, out this week in Choke, shared a little character insight with us on what he called his "Flash Gordon drag gueen" character and working with Flight of the Conchords' Jemaine Clement, who plays the plagiarizing author.Gentlemen Broncos, directed by Napoleon Dynamite helmer Jared Hess, is about the Orson Scott Card-esque author Ronald Chevalier, who steals a novel idea from one of his teenaged fans. Rockwell is the main character in both the original novel and the ripoff one. In in interview during press time for Choke, Sam Rockwell told io9 about his experience with Gentlemen Broncos:
That's just silly, that's sketch comedy for me. He's [ Jermaine Clement] is brilliant, by the way, that Jermaine, I saw some of his rushes him and Jennifer Coolidge are...phew.
As for what the movie is about, he said:
It's kind of like Rushmore and Flash Gordon and I play the Flash Gordon character. I play two versions of him because they plagiarize the story within the movie. Jermaine plagiarizes it from our kid, Michael [Michael Angarano]. That's a really awesome movie.
But the really important question: Does he get to wear a superhero costume? Rockwell said:
I wear a lot of costumes in this, some really tight uncomfortable costumes in this. I'm in drag basically in one of the characters. I look like Captain Kangaroo in drag like a transvestite version. When we filmed it, it was insane. It took a month in the desert in Utah, but it was great. It's a comedic hero, it's silly. It's like Will Ferrel meets Flash Gordon, that kind of thing. It makes fun of itself.
I can not wait for this film. Sam Rockwell plus Jemaine Clement = comedy genius.