“From the pitch stage with Giselle, we thought of it as School of Rock if it were filmed like Apocalypse Now.”
Alexander Heller, writer of The Musical (dir. Giselle Bonilla), sat down with me and shared a few compelling details about his script’s journey from page to screen. The new irreverent comedy starring Will Brill, Gillian Jacobs, and Rob Lowe is set for
release on Friday, exactly seven days after a significant national anniversary.
I note that last part for a reason.
The story follows Doug (Brill), a scorned middle school drama teacher who finds himself on a personal crusade of vengeance after learning that his boss, Principal Brady (Lowe), is sleeping with his ex-girlfriend Abigail (Jacobs). Doug then concocts a
nefarious plan to torpedo Brady’s career through the timeless art of spectacle.
More specifically, he calls upon the kids in his drama class to host a musical whose subject matter is, suffice it to say, problematic.
Were you ever worried about the potential backlash of writing a movie like this?
“I come from the stand-up world. Some people flirt with inappropriate comedy and create a backlash; other people stay clean and create a backlash. And then there are actual true monsters who still have a giant fanbase, and it’s like… oh, that’s crazy. There really is no pleasing everybody. People are going to be offended by everything, and truthfully, I think there are people on both sides of the political spectrum who will have things they like and don’t like about this movie. I just want to make them all laugh.”
Heller shared how any notion of doubt he had vanished after the film debuted as part of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival’s Dramatic Competition.
“During the Sundance premiere, I turned around and watched the audience, which is sort of the stand-up comedy thing to do. Watching them enjoy the movie… that’s when I breathed a sigh of relief and was like, cool, I didn’t totally fuck up my life.”
What was it like watching these characters come to life?
“When I’m writing, I have a pretty clear idea of the characters, but never in one hundred percent full form. I’m not picturing a guy’s face; I’m imagining his personality traits. The cast in this is fucking insane. Rob Lowe is a better version of the character I
wrote, and honestly, they all are. Will, Gillian… everyone.”
The performances are a lot of fun to watch. Brill leads the child troupe like a deranged, chain-smoking pied piper turned full-blown Machiavellian, and Lowe stalks the periphery of Doug’s plan with both irksome joviality and daunting vigilance, all the
while remaining totally oblivious to Doug’s diabolical notions.
Jacobs’ portrayal of Abigail, according to Heller, highlighted an integral component of the movie’s unique character modalities.
“Gillian is such an actual good human being, she makes Abigail so believable. If you were to just read the script, you might be like, ‘Nobody’s that nice’, but she just imbues the character with so much depth –that’s the only way it works at all.”
The Musical is a film that caricaturizes intense human dynamics and interpersonal drama, but it doesn’t relinquish too much of what makes the individuals on screen feel like real people. Ergo, the stakes remain high, but the laughs keep coming.
What was it like writing kids?
“The big thing I kept coming back to in the writing process was this idea that kids respect people who treat them more like adults. It’s very funny to me to watch people, you know, treat them with respect, but also give them kind of a dark message.
What Doug is telling them is a little too harsh, but he’s not wrong.”
He described the set as being like a daycare, with scores of kids running around in full “summer camp mode” stealing snacks, sharing inside jokes, developing crushes, etc.
“I was planning my wedding at the time. At one point, we had like fifty kids singing and dancing to the Osama Bin Ladin song, and my phone starts ringing off the hook. I ran outside to take it, and it was my mom asking if we should reconsider having
an omelet bar.”
It certainly wasn’t all carnival antics and reindeer games though. These kids knew when to flip the professional switch. Alex recounted an unexpected and moving moment during the filming of Doug’s impassioned speech about “the machine” when
Aidyn Ahn- who plays a student named Abel – actually started weeping.
“Everyone in the screening room was practically crying just watching this kid,” Heller shared. “Aidyn Ahn –future Oscar winner.”
Can you speak to the relationship between drama and comedy when it comes to writing a film like this?
“If you have a drama without funny moments, it’s just melodrama.”
He explained how he explored traditional Shakespearean themes to craft the foundation for The Musical’s sardonic subject matter that, despite being very much a comedy, relies upon a strong element of drama for its ultimate delivery.
“So much of the tone, the look, the feel… Giselle and our cinematographer [Tu Do] achieved that. From a writing standpoint, the whole premise of the movie is a guy who takes himself way too seriously in a very unserious environment, so there’s natural
comedy that arises.”
I asked Alex if the parallel was deliberate — a hopeless man whose life has devolved into a suburban Shakespearean tragedy choosing the ultimate act of martyrdom to theme his own act of martyrdom.
“I will never go on record saying that Doug is a martyr. He certainly blows up his life in order to get what he views as revenge, but it’s for other people to decide whether or not they think it’s justified. I just think it’s fucking funny.”
The Musical opens in select theaters nationwide on Friday. Buy tickets here.
Production: An Unapologetic Projects, Megamix production.
Producers: Rob Lowe, Greg Lauritano, Alexander Heller, Findlay Brown, Jordan
Backhus.
Executive producers: Gillian Bohrer, Jonathan Levine, Chris Quintos Cathcart, Tyler
Boehm, Giselle Bonilla, David Duque-Estrada, Sean Calvano, Vince Jolivette, Jiarui
Guo, Dan Reardon, Kyle Fox, Luke Daniel, Alan Pao
Crew: Director: Giselle Bonilla. Screenplay: Alexander Heller. Camera: Tu Do. Editors:
Chris Chandler, Devin Dulany. Music: Mateo Nossa.
Production Designer: Liz Toonkel
Costume Designer: Jennifer Eve
With: Will Brill, Rob Lowe, Gillian Jacobs, Melanie Herrera, Nevada Jose, Chyler
Emery Stern.
