When The Bad Guys 2, the sequel to DreamWorks’ hyperkinetic, stylish 2022 animated heist picture The Bad Guys, hits theaters on Aug. 1, adult viewers will immediately make a connection that goes over most kids’ heads. Once again, the stars of the film — drawn from Aaron Blabley’s bestselling illustrated children’s series — are Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell), Mr. Snake (Marc Maron), Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson), Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos), and Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina), a team of criminal masterminds who rehabilitated themselves in the first movie, only to return to crime for One Last Heist. But this time, their target is Elon Musk.
He isn’t called that, of course. But Mr. Moon (voiced by Colin Jost) is immediately recognizable as an Elon Musk parody. An eccentric tech billionaire who owns his own private space exploration company (Moon X, inspired by Musk’s SpaceX), Mr. Moon is powerful, vain, dorky, and only interested in talking to people with a great deal of money. He’s also obsessed with cutting-edge technology.
An Elon-esque character in a 2025 movie may be a trigger for some viewers, given Musk’s role in present politics, but as co-director Pierre Perifel told Polygon via Zoom, the movie has been in planning for more than three years — since before The Bad Guys hit screens. In 2022, Musk was the Tesla guy who was trying to buy Twitter, not the Trump guy dismantling America’s social safety net. Perifel says Mr. Moon was never intended as direct mockery. “We didn’t really do a caricature of Elon Musk,” he said. “The parody came more from Moon X, SpaceX — it was more like a play on words, or a little wink, let’s say. And I think the fact that Mr. Musk has became what he is now pushed people to draw that comparison with our movie.”
Bad Guys 3 could double down on Bad Guys 2’s Elon Musk parody, director says appeared first on Polygon.
