Marvel’s Loki Inspired Pitch Perfect TV Show, Says Elizabeth Banks
Actress and director Elizabeth Banks states that inspiration for the upcoming Pitch Perfect spin-off television series actually came from the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s series Loki. The original Pitch Perfect film starring Anna Kendrick was a sleeper hit back in 2012 and the eventual success was followed up by two sequels in 2015 and 2017, the former being directed by Banks herself who also produces and stars in all three films. In September 2021, Peacock ordered a television reboot of the films centering around Adam Devine’s character from the first two movies, Bumper Allen, while also confirming Banks’ involvement with the project.
Filming for the series began back in early 2022, with star Flula Borg reprising his role as Pieter Krämer from the second movie. In addition, the show also cast Sarah Hyland, Jameela Jamil, and Lera Abova as series regulars for the spin-off, with Hyland playing a potential love interest for the character based on the first-look images of the series. The two stars would be reuniting as Devine had a re-occurring role in the show Modern Family where he acted opposite of Hyland in the past. After filming wrapped in May 2022, it was confirmed that the series would be titled Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin and was later given the release date of November 23, 2022.
While on The View (via GamesRadar), Banks recently made comments about the upcoming show, stating that inspiration for the idea came from an unlikely place. Rather than other musicals, the inspiration for Bumper in Berlin came from none other than the Marvel Cinematic Universe, more specifically the 2021 series, Loki. Check out her full quote below:
« Honestly, we were a little inspired by the Marvel Cinematic Universe Loki show. They took a villain [played by Tom Hiddleston] from Marvel and they gave him a television show, a whole backstory. We thought, can we do that with Adam DeVine’s character, Bumper? He’s kind of a lovable villain. »
With Banks’ comments on the show, it appears that she is interested in delving deeper into the character of Bumper and getting audiences to understand why he is a villain, similar to how Marvel has done with Loki. With that being said, over the course of several films, Marvel has already been able to flesh out a character arc with Loki and so when the time came to focus a series on his character, the transition was more seamless, and they were able to tell new stories while still honoring what came before in the MCU. With Bumper there are less compelling aspects to the character that audiences have seen so far, which made more sense for the comedic nature of the films as he was a likable villain because of how humorously unlikable he was. Therefore, it would be interesting to see if the show can really get audiences to care about the character, especially since the franchise was originally built on an ensemble of likable characters.
With the series releasing later this year, it won’t take long for fans to see how well the series follows up on the Pitch Perfect films. Whether they can get audiences to latch onto Bumper the same way Marvel has been able to do with Loki remains to be seen, but it is clear that Banks and the creators of the show are interested in adding previously unseen depth to the character. However, regardless of how well the series pans out, it is interesting to see how Marvel carries influence to other films even outside the superhero genre.
Source: The View (via GamesRadar)
