‘Mars,’ A Dark Comedy From Cult Sketch Group Whitest Kids U’Know, Honors Their Best Friend Who Died During Production

variety.com:

William Earl administrator There are endless challenges to getting an indie feature-length animated film made: Lack of money, not enough time, fruitless rewrites, a vision that can’t get across the finish line.

When asked what the biggest challenge was while making their upcoming comedy “Mars,” co-writers and voice actors Sam Brown and Zach Cregger can’t help but riff an answer to a question that inelegantly ignores the elephant in the room. “Well, Trevor died,” Brown says. “Trevor died, that was a toughie,” Cregger says. “I guess it was getting it funded — that was bigger than Trevor dying.

No, no, no, no, no. Also, COVID was annoying. So let’s go COVID, funding, Trevor dying.” Trevor is Trevor Moore, the de facto leader of Whitest Kids U’Know, the five-person sketch group — consisting of Moore, Brown, Cregger, Timmy Williams and Darren Trumeter — behind “Mars.” The group, which began as a club at New York’s School of Visual Arts, grew in popularity due to their live shows, which turned into a series deal on Fuse and then IFC. “The Whitest Kids U’ Know” ran from 2007 – 2011, growing a devoted fanbase. “Mars” was a long-gestating project from the group that began in 2012, and after a successful crowdfunding campaign of around $300,000 during the pandemic, production was rolling along.

The plot follows a man searching for himself (and escaping a walk down the aisle) by volunteering to be on a manned mission to Mars, alongside a group of bizarre would-be astronauts and a billionaire funding the mission who matches the hubris of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.