D'Arcy Carden, Yassir Lester, and Isaiah Lester On Hilarious Script and Improv In The Gutter
When Walt (Shameik Moore) discovers a talent for bowling, he goes pro to try to save his local alley — but ruffles some feathers with his hilariously unorthodox antics — in The Gutter. Pop Culture Planet’s Kristen Maldonado spoke with writers and directors Yassir Lester and Isaiah Lester and actress D’Arcy Carden about the new sports comedy.
The Lester brothers took inspiration from their own bowling experiences — with a bit of a family twist — when it came to creating Walt and this world. “Me and Isaiah and our third friend Reza would go bowling. We'd go to one particular alley on cheap bowling night and it was always us and then gang members,” said Yassir Lester. “There was always a birthday party too. So it was gang members and birthday parties. I was like, it would just be so funny to see a gang member become the face of bowling. The more I thought about it I was like I don't know if people are gonna laugh at like a Crip being like the best bowler in the world, so then we were like what's the second best to a gang member? Our cousin Walt! So I just rewrote it as our cousin and it unlocked itself from there.”
“We just went balls to the wall. No pun intended,” Yassir Lester continued. “What can we do that's crazy and this is the movie. By the way, this is the less crazy version of what the movie was.”
Shameik Moore and D’Arcy Carden are the most iconic duo as Walt and Skunk. Despite a lack of rehearsal time, the duo were dedicated to going full out together. “This is going to sound silly, but it's almost like we clicked brains. We melded our brains and we were like, ‘Okay, for the next month, this is every day. We're going to be in scenes together every day, let's really go for it,’” shared Carden. “I think we both felt protected and supported by each other. We had each other's backs and comedy can be a little vulnerable and it's sometimes scary to go for it. The Lester brothers — Isaiah and Yassir — really created this sort of warm and comfortable set where comedy could really bloom. […] You could try anything because they were they were non-judgmental and surrounded themselves with people that they were excited to work with. It felt really free and fun like a ‘go for it’ environment.”
The Lester brothers left a lot of room for improv, with the goal of “the best joke wins.” There is a scene where Walt and Skunk are arguing. Initially it was going to be a montage over music, but their improv’d fight was so funny it made it into the film in full. “We just both come from a mindset of the best joke wins,” said Yassir Lester. “Whether we wrote it, whether Isaiah wrote it, whether it was me, an improvised line, whatever, that's who wins.”
The Gutter is available on VOD.
