Taran Killam Plays It Straight in Brother Nature

In Brother Nature, a new laugh-out-loud funny film, Taran Killam plays Roger, a straight-laced politician, who has big plans to propose to his dream girl at her family’s lake house. But everything goes awry when he meets his potential brother-in-law Todd (played by the always hilarious Bobby Moynihan), a full-time camp counselor with a heart of gold and a wild sense of fun. Todd pines to be Roger’s best friend and, in the process, the two get catapulted into a series of hilarious-but-unfortunate events in this fun-filled film (co-starring Rita Wilson and Bill Pullman) that opened September 9 in select theaters. We caught up with Killam straight off the Today show set where he and Moynihan were pronounced the new Abbott and Costello.

So how do you feel about Al Roker calling you and Bobby the new Abbott and Costello?

It was so wonderful. He might be dating himself a little bit but those guys are legends. Bobby and I love each other and love working together.

You mentioned that the film is in some ways an homage to films like Planes, Trains and Automobiles. People love those sorts of films, don’t they?

All of us are sharing this planet, despite being different people with different ideas and different points of view and anytime you stick people with conflicting philosophies and energies and trap them together the conflict of that and the abrasive clash is enjoyable and can lend itself to good comedy.

There were so many hilarious scenes with Bobby. How did you keep a straight face?

The trick is you don’t. You have really good editors. We had so much fun. We wanted to incorporate some of the bloopers so we put them in the credits at the end.

Do you think you’d want to hang out with Roger in real life?

There’s something to admire about Roger’s ambition. He’s a guy who wants things to happen and he will make them happen at all costs. I think the intention with Roger as a character is that it’s to a fault as he’s not one to go with the flow or bend and compromise.

Looks like you shot the film in the Pacific Northwest?

Exactly. We shot in Klamath Falls, Oregon, at a resort called Lake of the Woods. It was the best. We had poor cell reception so it was the most fun corporate retreat of all time. It was me and Bobby and Mikey Day who works on SNL and Aidy [Bryant], Kenan [Thompson] and Mike O’Brien flew out. It was the most fun summer ever.

One of the funniest scenes involves a white noise machine that cranks out casino noises. How did that come about?

When Mikey and I retooled the script, we wanted to make everything as uncomfortable for Roger as possible. When we thought about the fact that the two couples share a cabin and that Todd snores, we played with the obvious choices of things that would keep Roger up and make this yet another way this becomes the most unenjoyable week of Roger’s life. I started thinking of my two daughters who both slept with a noise machine that sounded like rain. Mikey and I then thought about what the most horrific white-noise sound would be and came up with the casino noise!

Update us on what’s next—I read that you wrote and directed Why We’re Killing Gunther, a new action film starring you—and Arnold Schwarzenegger?

I’m right now editing the film—we just shot it this summer in Vancouver. Bobby and I are teaming up again with a new cast of characters, including this new young kid, Arnold, we have high hopes for. It’s a mockumentary done docu-style about a group of up-and-coming hit men, contract killers who are new to the business and are trying to establish themselves in the industry by killing the most reviled hit men, Gunther, and that is Arnold. He is a million times better than them at everything.

Do you prefer writing to directing?

My ideal situation is that every third year I get to write a film, take the helm and work with people I like to work with. Coming up right now is Mating—a Showtime pilot we’ll begin shooting in a month. If it gets picked up, we begin shooting at the end of spring or summer. I’m open to lots of possibilities.