Following last night’s hilarious second third episode of HBO’s new series “East Bound & Down” we were surprised, but not shocked, to see the directorial credit being snagged by none other than indie-auteur David Gordon Green (“Pineapple Express,” “George Washington”). The show, which stars Danny McBride as a washed up, egotistical and borderline sociopathic ex-baseball player who returns to his backwoods North Carolina hometown, is being produced by the raunchy comedic duo of Adam McKay and Will Ferrell (who legitimized McBride’s “The Foot Fist Way”) and carries their signature, extremely over-the-top humor (Green apparently directed EP 2 too).
Odd on the surface, but it does make sense. Green, who has recently been systematically tearing down his own signature style, is signed on to be one of the main directors on the show, and has shot multiple episodes of the first season, which isn’t surprising since the director is known to be as an uber-prolific writer/director with a variety of projects constantly on his plate, and he and Danny McBride are also pals from college (Green’s “All The Real Girls” in 2003 was the comedian’s first feature-film role).
Though the gig may not actually be as out there as one would initially assume. The show plays up its southern setting, and when Green says things like, “I have a sense of humor. I’m not always this lyrical, slow-moving, Southern crybaby,” the direction behind ‘East Bound’ makes all the more sense. We just wonder what his new job means in respect to the status of “Freaks of the Heartland,” the horror movie he is supposed to be making for Overture Films.