We’re still pissed off that The Interview was pulled from theaters. Not that it was on our “to see” list but FUCK THAT! No one tells ‘Merica what to do! We’re ‘Merica.
To add insult to stupidity, theaters are now forbidden to play Team America: World Police in it’s place. Alright now this shit is just getting out of control! That movie is over ten years old.
Wait? Ten years?!? Can you believe it’s been ten years since Team America: World Police premiered? Not since Being John Malkcovich have we laughed so hard at a sex scene between two puppets that went on way too long.
Released in October 20o4, Team America: World Police made over $50 million dollars worldwide and probably offended about 50 million people. That was nothing new for the movies creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, since they’d been offending audiences for years with their hit animated show South Park.
Ten years have passed and Team America: World Police is still offensive, still original and still hilarious.
Since you’ll definitely be watching it again in your life, here are fifteen crazy things you probably didn’t know about Team America: World Police.
15 Insane Facts About ‘Team America: World Police’
The Original Idea
The original idea for the movie was to do an all-puppet remake of Armageddon or The Day After Tomorrow. The only reason it didn’t happen is because the studios that owned the films wouldn’t give them the rights to use it.
The Original Prank Footage
The initial Team America: World Police footage screened for Paramount executives was of a poorly crafted puppet in front of a background of a badly drawn Eiffel Tower. This prompted one executive in the audience to allegedly yell, “Oh God, they fucked us!” This was a prank by Matt and Trey. The shot eventually then pulls back to reveal a highly refined marionette manipulating the crappy one and a beautifully detailed Parisian landscape full of believable yet cheesy marionettes. This shot ended up being the opening of the movie.
The Michael Moore Beef
Matt Stone was interviewed by Michael Moore for his film Bowling for Columbine because he grew up near the infamous school. Matt was pissed about the way his interview was edited for the film and felt compelled to take his revenge by depicting Moore in Team America: World Police as a fat, slobby, greedy madman. Before the puppet of Michael Moore was blown up in the movie, it was filled with ham. This was probably the first time a ham-filled puppet was blown up onscreen.
Sex Changes
Excluding the Kim Jong-il puppet, all the other characters in Team America: World Police were done with two different puppets, male and female, only with the heads swapped out.
Offensive Language
Most of the Korean spoken in Team America: World Police is not Korean, but rather Asian-sounding gibberish. The only lines actually spoken in Korean are when the North Korean soldier is torturing one of the team members, he is saying, “Die, you bastard”, when Kim Jong-il tells his soldiers to salvage Team America’s planes after the ambush, the soldiers reply with, “Yeh,” which is “Yes” and when Gary enters the North Korean palace, the North Korean soldiers are shouting “Who are you, you bastard?”
French Jokes
If you look closely in the opening scene in France, the streets are actually paved with croissants.
The Teaser Trailer
When Trey Parker and Matt Stone showed the first footage of Team America: World Police at the 2004 San Diego Comic Convention, it began with the tagline “Alec Baldwin, George Clooney, Janeane Garofalo, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Sean Penn, Michael Moore, George W. Bush, John Kerry, Kim Jong-Il …. will all HATE this movie!” A teaser trailer shown in theaters used an even longer list of names.
Clooney and Damon React
George Clooney was a driving force in getting Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s South Park on the air. He also appeared in the show and the South Park movie. Both Clooney and Matt Damon were cool about their portrayal in Team America: World Police are quoted as saying “they would have been offended if they weren’t in the film.”
Sean Penn Overreacts
One celeb who wasn’t a fan of Team America: World Police was Sean Penn. Penn was totally pissed off about the movie. He actually wrote an angry letter to Parker and Stone about their suggestion that it’s ok not to vote. The letter was signed with “a sincere fuck you, Sean Penn.”
Stoner Gags
If you recognize the foliage in the background of the scenes in Panama, you’re probably a stoner. All the plants are cannabis.
Dirty, Nasty Puppet Sex
According to Matt Stone, the infamous puppet sex scene in Team America: World Police was meant to distract the MPAA from the rest of the movie so they’d only focus on cutting down that specific scene. It was edited down nine different times to get an R rating, but is available in the unrated version.
Getting Technical
If you’re wondering if there’s a technical name for the puppet technique used in Team America: World Police, Matt Stone has an answer for you. His nickname for it was “supercrappymation.”
Cheap Is Expensive
Paramount decided to go through with the movie as soon as it was pitched because they thought puppets would make it cheaper. The final budget was $32 million. The movie made $50 million worldwide so the studio made their money back.
War On Terror
A White House adviser told Matt Drudge that he was horrified that Trey Parker and Matt Stone would make comic fodder out of the “sacred war on terror” with Team America: World Police.
Team America 2?
If you’re hoping for a sequel to Team America: World Police, it’s not going to happen. Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who had to rewrite the first script several times because of issue of “making puppets work in the scene” said it was so difficult working with puppets they’d never do it again. Matt Stone also vowed never to make another film with partner Trey Parker again because the two already work together all day for South Park and the movie had them together 17 hours a day, seven days a week up until three days before the film opened in theaters.