Death to Smoochy

Premiere Magazine, March 2002

Release Date: March 15 (Warner Bros.)
Comedy; starring Robin Williams, Edward Norton, Catherine Keener, Jon Stewart, and Danny DeVito; directed by DeVito

"We're always looking for movies to take our kids to. This is not that movie," Danny DeVito says of Death to Smoochy, a black comedy he directed that takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the saccharine world of children's television. It stars Robin Williams as Rainbow Randolph, the chirpy host of a kids show who gets caught in a scandal and gets the boot from Kidnet, his network. His replacement is Smoochy (the versatile Edward Norton), a lovable fuschia rhinoceros (a la Barney) who lives in a magic jungle. When Randolph learns that Smoochy is having an affair with his ex-girlfriend (Catherine Keener), a Kidnet exec, he plans his revenge. "It's Robin as we love him, and in all his manic glory," says DeVito, who also costars in the film as Smoochy's agent. Not surprisingly, the atmosphere on the set seemed to be one of manic glory, as Keener explains: "We couldn't make our way through a take without laughing our heads off."

The working environment of the shoot may have been buoyant, but as DeVito points out, the film at times is anything but. "There are major twisted things in the movie...There's a lot of darkness in the joy and brightness." Indeed, some discord is inherent when grown adults play squeaky-clean characters meant to entertain children. "You're dealing with agents and lawyers and the underbelly of what we see as this candy-coated existence," DeVito syas. "There are scorpions and snakes and very scary things in Smoochy's jungle. And we have a lot of fun dealing with them."

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