What if Charlie Day played Charlie from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia in Pacific Rim? Well, it might look something like the vid above from Official Comedy, which weaves snippets from the new film into the irreverent sitcom's cold open structure and opening theme song, before capping off with a well-placed Charlie freakout. 3D can be upsetting for first-timers.
When casting for Guillermo del Toro's science-fiction epic Pacific Rim began, most of the cast announcements were welcomed but not big surprises. Prometheus's Idris Elba as a marshal leading a fleet of giant soldier-operated robot warriors? Makes sense. His Hellboy star Ron Perlman is onboard? Of course! But when came word that It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Charlie Day was among the ensemble, and movie bloggers around the world made a collective:
We initially called the choice "a bit strange." Though let me make it clear: here at Cinema Blend, we're big fans of Charlie Day. The unexpected breakout star of It's Always Sunny made a successful leap to the big screen in 2011 with the dark comedy Horrible Bosses. Not only did the movie go on to make an impressive $209 million worldwide, but also it showed what star power Day really had as he stole scenes from his far-better established co-stars Jason Bateman and Jason Sudeikis. This landed Day a coveted hosting gig on Saturday Night Live and effectively launched him in the movies.
Already Day has proved himself a born scene-stealer with a manic charisma and sharp comedic timing that we can't help but gape in awe at his antics, even when he's not physically onscreen. While Disney's latest hit Monsters University has earned mixed reviews—and a whopping $400 million in just two and a half weeks—Day showed to be a bright spot to many critics as a trippy beast named Art who has some of the film's best one-liners. ("I can't go to jail again!")
In the soon-to-open Pacific Rim, Day from spaced out monster to massive monster enthusiast/researcher Dr. Newton Geiszler. In the witty—but sadly brief—mash-up above, you can see Newton talking with Perlman's character, who has one of the best names to ever be in a movie: Hannibal Chau (pronounced Chow). This is just one in a long line of wonderfully intense names in the movie, like Hercules Hansen (Max Martini) and Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba, obviously). Unfortunately, I can't give you any further insight into this clip without revealing major spoilers for Pacific Rim. But I can tell you that this is just the beginning of Newton and Hannibal's bizarre association.
Despite the high energy that Day brings to all the roles we know him for, Pacific Rim offers him a chance to play a part pretty different from his sitcom Charlie. Newton is an arrogant scientist whose devoted his life to studying the mammoth monsters—called Kaiju—that have risen from the Pacific Ocean to wreak havoc on seaside metropolises. He's brilliant, arrogant, and impulsive, and that mix makes him a welcomed edition to the Pacific Rim crew, from an audience perspective anyway. He's their wild card.
Pacific Rim opens Friday.
