Letterman funds Colbert, Sedaris film
LAS VEGAS (AP) – Need money? Plug Explod-O-Pop.
When secret investors pulled out from Strangers With Candy, a comedy starring Amy Sedaris and Stephen Colbert, director Paul Dinello turned to late-show host David Letterman’s production company, Worldwide Pants Inc.
“We needed to get money in a week. We called Worldwide Pants and they said, ‘We’ll pay for the whole thing and you guys can do what you want,’ ” Dinello said at the CineVegas film festival last week. “The only thing we had to do was we had to put in Explod-O-Pop.”
The plug for the microwavable popcorn that Letterman gives to guests and sells at the CBS online store was a nice gesture, not a condition for funding, Dinello said. Besides, Letterman adores Sedaris as a comedian, he said.
“He gives that money to charity,” Dinello said. “I mean he didn’t like say, ‘Either you put this in or we’re pulling our funding out.’ ”
Strangers With Candy is the $3-million US prequel to the Comedy Central cult hit show that ran from 1999 to 2001. It is about a 46-year-old ex-junkie, Jerri Blank, who leaves prison and re-enters high school to succeed and hopefully snap her father out of a coma.
The film is set for a limited distribution by Think Film Company Inc. at around 100 theatres in major U.S. cities starting June 28.
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