"It's "Office Space" for superheroes!", "It's like the live-action version of "The Tick!" These are a couple of the project descriptions that were offered during Comic-Con round table interviews with the cast of the new comedy short "The Sidekick", which had its world premier at the con on Thursday.
If either of those descriptions appeals to you, definitely check this out: Rob Benedict ("Supernatural") plays Max McCabe, a down on his luck sidekick whose career backing up superhero Captain Wonder (Ron Livingston, "Office Space") has just come to an unceremonious end. Fired and facing a mid-life crisis, Max connects with Bailey (Lizzy Caplan, "Party Down"), who helps him realize that he can discover a new purpose in life.
When asked about his inspiration for the project, Mr. Benedict revealed that as he was turning 40 he realized that, "if I gave up acting, I wouldn't be qualified to do anything else; I couldn't go back to school, it was too late for me, I'm too old. And I started thinking about superhero sidekicks: what happens to the sidekick when he loses his job? And I wrote this script about a sidekick who turns 40 and gets fired, he's lost his step and can't keep up anymore and he's got no real skills beyond being able to yell, "Look out!" or "Here, catch!" So, "The Sidekick, it's a 30-minute featurette, we're premering it here (at Comic-Con), and we're hoping it will become a series."
Packed to the rafters with great comedic talent, "The Sidekick" is clearly a labor of love, and it's equally clear that the cast had a great time making it. Mr. Benedict's long-time friend and co-star, Lizzy Caplan, described the project as, "a really, really fun thing... it's all of our buddies hanging around, wearing silly outfits, making a really sweet movie." Also along for the ride are Martin Starr ("Freaks and Geeks"), Ike Barinholtz ("The Mindy Project"), Josh Meyers ("MADtv"), and Jordan Peele ("Key and Peele"), playing a range of sidekicks with names like Lightning Mike, Jimmy T, and Sidecar Willy.
"The Sidekick" is lots of fun but there's an important message here as well, about reinventing yourself and finding your place in the world. The project's premier was very well received at the con, and with luck it will be picked up and move forward as a series; in the meantime, it's well worth checking out the trailer at thesidekickproject.com.
