Nick Swardson and Allen Covert Talk Bucky Larson, Merkins and Not Being Gay

As a member of Adam Sandler Happy Madison, Nick Swardson steps in the sweater vest of the title character in Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star. He created Bucky with co-writers Allen Covert and Adam Sandler and the character dons buck teeth, a pageboy haircut and some sort of Minnesotan accent. Although he looks like a special needs oddity, he just looks creepy — but Swardson guarantees that Bucky is more than just goofy-looking Midwesterner.

“(Bucky) is not based on anybody,” says Swardson. “The funny thing is, the look is kind of jarring when you see it, but when we tested the movie, so many people said, ‘Why does Nick Swardson look like a freak?’ — but they get used to it. He becomes endearing by the end of the film.”

As Bucky, Swardson owns the teeth and the hair and says that behind all that, he is a sweet kid — which is understandable. Only a sweet and innocent kid would take the discovery of a porno starring his parents as a sign to become a superstar himself.

I had the opportunity to talk to Swardson and Covert more about Bucky’s distinct look, keeping porno jokes fresh, and not being gay.

How did Bucky’s look come about?

Allen: We just developed it — the hair, teeth and accent. It so sets Bucky apart when he is standing at a party full of porno people — they are all botoxed out and have big boobs. He’s not that bad among all these crazy people. He just is who he is and nothing deters him. He doesn’t know he looks funny, he thinks he is normal.

Nick: Bucky has a tiny penis — like tiny, tiny. I actually had a group of grown men gluing a tiny penis on to my penis.

Allen: It was like a full merkin.

Don Johnson, Stephen Dorff, Christina Ricci — there are some big names in this movie. When writing the characters, did you have high wattage stars like them in mind?

Nick: We wrote the parts and brainstormed who would want to do them. A lot prestigious actors like doing comedy. If you look at a lot of Sandler’s films you see Steve Buscemi, John Turturro and there was also Nicole Kidman in Just Go With It. They want to do a movie where they’re not being shot or stabbed. They all really responded to the script. That’s what I really like about the movie — it’s very character-heavy. Sandler wanted to make sure it wasn’t a gross, stupid movie. It’s really about this sweet Bucky guy. Having someone so passionate about the movie like Stephen Dorff was a trip to watch.

Allen: Dorff was Sandler’s idea. We have known him forever and never worked with him. Sandler thought Dorff would be funny as Dick Shadow.

Nick: My favorite thing about Dorff is that in one year, he made the movies Somewhere, Bucky Larson and The Immortals

There are many movies that have millions and millions of porno jokes — and sometimes it gets old. Is there a way to keep porno jokes fresh?

Nick: It’s difficult with this film because we didn’t want to do a million different dick jokes. We really wanted to make it about the character and the journey. It was hard to walk that line to not going to a filthy place. It’s more a story about people rather than porn.

When sitting through these junkets, do you ever get tired of answering the same questions?

Allen: It’s not really questions sitting in press junkets, it’s the questions I get during Thanksgiving.

Nick: People keep asking me if I’m gay. That’s getting a bit tiresome — AND I’M NOT.

Allen: ..and they keep asking me if I’m gaining weight for a certain role.

Finally, going in line with Bucky’s story, have you ever found out anything about your parents that you were shocked about?

Nick: I found out that I wasn’t adopted. It was very jarring. I actually find out my dad was my mom and my mom was my dad.

Allen: That’s bizarre.

Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star opens in theaters September 9