Whenever I watch a great spoof comedy or parody movie, the often outrageous jokes leave me wondering: What kind of conversations did they have to have about that behind the scenes about this? Often, these scenes include wild lines and silly props, and I’m sure someone had to send an email or make a request about them. So, with that in mind, I asked Fackham Hall’s director, Jim O’Hanlon, about the wild conversations he had while making this Downton Abbey-inspired comedy. In response, he revealed a scene that caused hilarious NSFW discussions…at work.
While there are plenty of moments in Fackham Hall that must have required bizarre conversations behind-the-scenes, Jim O’Hanlon said the song featured at one of the dinner parties featured the wildest one. Recalling the moment in question, he told me:
I think the trickiest one was Bert Chester’s song, which is a very funny song written by David Arnold, who wrote several of the [James] Bond themes. And it parodies those scenes you get in Downton Abbey where the kind of distinguished guest comes and plays a little bit on the piano and everyone sort of claps politely.
In the film, which you can now stream with an HBO Max subscription, guests gather to listen to some music. However, almost immediately, the lyrics get very inappropriate and feature lines like “I went to the palace with my willy hanging out.” As the song goes on, he croons about nobody telling him that his “pecker was in sight,” and the musical number ends with him standing up to reveal that his “willy” was “hanging out” the whole time. It was pixilated, and everyone clapped as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Honestly, it’s hilarious.
According to O’Hanlon, the conversations he had about this moment were quite funny and inappropriate too, as he told me:
Our song is very, very, very – it's quite rude, but in a fun way. And again, without giving too much away, there's a big reveal at the end, and that had to be thought about quite a lot, the reveal. How much we revealed, whether you would – and this may be giving away the territory we go into – whether you would pixelate the reveal, or whether you would not pixelate the reveal. So that was a discussion on set that I didn't think I would be having as a grown adult.
Unless you work for Saturday Night Live, I’d never expect anyone to have this kind of conversation at work. However, in the case of Fackham Hall, it was a necessary (and likely hilarious) one.
I’m sure other conversations about NSFW lines and if they should keep a gag in or not were had throughout the making of the movie. I mean, Thomasin McKenzie told me that the scene where Eric rips a photo made her “quite concerned” in a fun way. And it is through all these silly choices that we got the well-reviewed Fackham Hall.
Now, to see all this silliness for yourself, and to watch the song O’Hanlon had to have some not-safe-for-work conversations about at work, you can stream Fackham Hall on HBO Max.
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