Land of the Lost

Land of the Lost is a fairly obscure cult classic TV series from the early 1970s, but in the land of the remakes (aka Hollywood), everything old is new again, and under the watchful eyes of series creators/brothers Sid and Marty Krofft acting as producers on the feature, the cheese whiz is gone and state-of-the art is in. Does this mean the naïve basic premise might lose its charm? It’s hard to tell this day on set, but with box-office gold like Will Ferrell in the starring role and flanked by faves funnyman Danny McBride and British beauty Anna Friel, it’ll definitely be a different kind of fun. In the simple yet endearing series, which centered on a dad and his two children lost in a prehistoric time warp, the world was made up largely of Styrofoam sets, goofy polyester wardrobes, evil lizard-like men in clunky suits called Sleestaks, raggedy chimpanzee-like cavemen known as Pakuni, and puppet-like dinosaurs. Now, our hero, Rick, is a disgraced paleontologist forced to take a job as a park ranger, and his sidekicks are unrelated adults.

Sleestaks are sexy. Wait. Sleestaks are sexy? Yep, in this reboot of the Land of the Lost kids’ TV show which aired from 1974-1976, these reptilian men are hotties. For those of us still comfortably numb in our innocent childhood memories of the Krofft Brothers’ whimsical and whacky little Saturday morning show, the idea of Sleestak nookie is sleazy…yet undeniably curiosity-piquing.

Respected comedy television writers and longtime Ferrell collaborators Chris Henchy and Dennis McNicholas try to duck the question. It’s only fair they’d want to protect script leakage. But I saw the concept art — I know a love scene when I see one. Henchy quips that it’s “hot amphibian-on-amphibian sex,” while McNicholas says, “Just the other day, when we were shooting it, Will was saying, ‘Yup, that’s gonna get us the R-rating. The Sleestak sex — that’s gonna be your R right there.’”

Director Brad Silberling (Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events) laughs when he hears that. “It will still be PG-13. There will be no R-rating. We dreamed that scene up during shooting. That was an odd day, but it’s consistent with the movie. The movie is pretty subversive, and so you take a lot of elements that you know and love, but then they get very bent. It turned out exactly like directing any other love scene, which, for the director, means you have to be a choreographer. It was the most surreal thing. Guys with these big non-seeing eyes and giant claws, and I was saying, ‘You tenderly take that claw here…’ so we choreographed the whole scene and it was fantastic. We died laughing. That soundtrack got destroyed because we were howling.”

Screenwriters Chris Henchy and Dennis McNicholas were on hand to talk about their take on the script and its star. McNicholas says he met Ferrell over a decade ago, when they worked on Saturday Night Live. Henchy jokes, “I’ve never met Will. I get e-mails from him.” And McNicholas shoots back, “Those aren’t from Will.” But we have an interview to conduct, so after cracking the obligatory smile, I ask, “The opening credits with the song from the old show are so ridiculous. Are you going to add any type of homage to that?”

Chris Henchy: The opening credits are not so much credits in the movie, but more story — and an homage to that — but more in story, like, how did they get to that cave? So we back it up a little before, because the show picked up [with] them there. We start a little earlier.

Staci Layne Wilson: Obviously, it has been really fun for you guys to write. What was one of the scenes that you guys felt you really nailed?

Dennis McNicholas: My favorite, right now, is actually where we incorporate the theme song, which happens sort of organically, and you get the fun of Will Ferrell actually performing the song to the others. Unbeknownst to him, there’s something else. He is in great peril.

SLW: The movie is PG-13. How much did you push that?

DM: That’s the thing. It’s like part of the decision to not have children in the movie or whatever. I consider that the show has grown up along with me, and our characters now are sort of around our age, and it certainly has appealed to younger audiences. But I think we were writing it as genuine fans and how we’re revisiting this in our adulthood. It’s definitely not a strictly Saturday morning program anymore. The Sleestaks are completely nude, for example.

SLW: Being such a fan, do you know why the original series was canceled?

CH: It was never canceled. Next question. [Laughs]

After a brief conversation with Anna Friel about her costume (shorts and a belly-baring khaki shirt), it’s McBride’s turn in the hot seat. I’m curious to know about his character before he meets Marshall and Holly: he’s a store owner in the middle of nowhere and sells a lot of trippy trinkets. “The shop has multiple things I sell,” Danny says. “Fireworks, gas, bottled water…and then I sell tickets to the Devil’s Canyon Mystery Cave, which Will and Anna purchase tickets for, and we all end up going on a magical adventure from there.” To me, it sounds a lot like Captain Spalding from The House of 1000 Corpses. “It’s definitely similar! That’s my store,” says the actor, pointing to some nearby concept art. “These are the plans right here for the Indian casino that I want to open up.”

SLW: Do you have any favorite Land of the Lost memories yet?

Danny McBride: We had a really good moment the other day, because Jorma [Taccone, who plays Cha-ka] has to come in so early and get in this costume, [and so] Daniel Lupi, one of the producers of the film, bought Jorma a Wii for his trailer as compensation for having to go through so much hell. So Will and I kinda bitched about it. We’re like, “We go through hell and you’ve never gotten us anything,” so Lupi asked us what we would like, and Will said he’d like a miniature pony and I said I’d like a go-cart. We came in to work on Monday, and there was a pony outside of Will’s trailer and a go-cart outside of my trailer. He only rented the go-cart for an hour, but it was the best hour of my life. I had a helmet on and I was zipping through the studio!

SLW: But the pony is still here, right?

DM: The pony is still here. Will put it down and has turned it into glue. It’s cool. It’s disposable, but a good joke all the same.

Apparently, Will Ferrell is the worst pony-killing comedian to come along since Ben Stiller (see: Envy, Starsky & Hutch). But I don’t want to beat that dead horse, so I’ll take a more original route: “Were you a big fan of the TV show when it was on and, if so, why?”

Will Ferrell: I was a really big fan of the show. I loved it because it was really, to my memory, one of the first live-action Saturday morning kid shows. In the midst of all the cartoons and everything, this was like a brand-new sci-fi show with dinosaurs and Sleestaks and everything. It seemed so unique. It really was kind of a weird setting for a show. Even though it was a Saturday morning “made for kids” show, it didn’t play down the kids. It seemed really real in a way, so that’s what I loved about it. (Also, we have the famous “Windex waterfall.”)

SLW: What kind of gadgetry do you get to use in the film?

WF: I get to play a banjo. That’s the closest thing to a gadget I am allowed to use!