Bill Hader: ‘There Will Never Be A Stefon Movie’
When it was announced that Bill Hader was leaving his eight-year run on Saturday Night Live, fans of both the show were conflicted. Some were in shock and never thought this day would come, and the others saw the writing on the wall once series favorites like Andy Samberg and Kristen Wiig left last season.
After the initial reaction wore off the next question became what would happen to Hader’s legendary characters? Would they retire with the other fantastic impersonations of comedians past? Or would they relive in another medium? In the past many SNL players have milked their characters for films during their run on SNL. Most recently Will Forte in his MacGyver-like character McGruber. Would Bill Hader follow with his most beloved character Stefon?
The answer is absolutely not. On the heels of his announcement, Hader sat down with GQ to discuss his next steps, and one of them does not involve making a Stefon film. When asked about the potential of a Stefon spin off, he explained why the film wouldn’t work:
“There’s no emotional through line. Sometimes people say to me “I want a Stefon movie” and I’m like, you think you want a Stefon movie but then you’ll see the poster for it and think: “Wait, I don’t want this.”
Hader does have a point. For those of you not in the know, Stefon is a comical take on a stereotypical local scene kid, who enjoys raves, outrageous parties in bizarre locations, drastic gelled haircuts, boys, and black nail polish. Every location he talks to Seth Meyers about on Weekend Update is fresh, hot, or fantastic. Every restaurant or rave he goes to is just the absolute best thing of his life at that moment. In fact, it’s safe to say the character just lives in the moment, so we can imagine a Stefon film would be one messed up, possibly drugged up experience in a rave that tells a five minute story and stretches it to an hour and a half. While it felt good in a retelling for his sketches, we don’t think it would translate well to the big screen either.
On writing such a fierce character, Hader said:
“We have this great writing staff, let’s see if they can help us. Club takes place in a soup can or a church, not really funny, what could it be? and someone will say ‘what about a disabled submarine?’ and John goes ‘on a diaper’ and I’m like ‘yeah, on a diaper, that’s it.’
What do you think? Would you be up for a Stefon film?
