The new European film “Spermageddon” has sparked significant backlash due to its sensitive material, with many wondering how the project was greenlit.
The film centers on two teenagers engaging in sex for the first time, personifying semen and following its journey to find an egg. Rasmus A. Sivertsen, the film’s co-director, described the project as Pixar’s ‘Inside Out’ but for adults. However, he did emphasize that the movie was also made for teenagers.
“We didn’t want it to be R-rated – we wanted it to be for teenagers. You see what happens to your brain and your body when you fall in love or feel passion,” Silversten explained to Variety.
Co-director Tommy Wirkola added, “It’s cute, it’s awkward. I used to listen to this radio show where people asked the host about sex. It was surprising how little they knew sometimes. We wanted to have this innocence but also reflect the world where you have access to all sorts of sexual imagery and pornography.
The directors emphasized their intent to make the film more relatable and less shocking. “We never talked about whether we can make it more shocking. We talked about whether we could make it sweeter and more relatable. We wanted to demystify sex and having sex for the first time. It’s normal for it to feel awkward,” said Sivertsen.
“We decided to approach the world of humans in a more realistic way – even the ‘acting’ is toned down. Inside of the body, we go crazy. It’s almost a parody of our own reality, where everyone is fighting to be the best and the fastest,” he continued.
The movie creators claimed that the film was inspired by crude comedies like the TV show “South Park” and the movie “Sausage Party.” The film also addresses themes of safe sex and pro-choice beliefs. “When we wrote the script, it wasn’t that controversial. Then it suddenly became a ‘thing,’ not just in the US but also in many places in Europe. In Norway, no one will even blink,” explained Wirkola.
“I am proud of it, and I am proud of that ending and the fact that despite it being silly, we are also saying something important. It’s not just fun and games: this feels real for these characters," he added.
The movie is set to release next January in Norway. Wirkola previously explained that he had tried to release the film in the US but Hollywood executives refused to promote the film.
“I initially tried to get it set up in the U.S., and had a lot of fun meetings, with plenty of laughs, but every time it went up the ladder, there was an executive who said: ‘No, we’re not going to do that, we won’t go there.’ So I thought, let’s see if we can make it in Norway, where there are really no restrictions on what you can do, and nobody telling you that this is too much.”
