'Splitsville' Stars on Open Marriages, Their Industry Ambitions, and the Current State of Comedy in Hollywood

Happy Friday, folks!

I have a special treat for you today, as I’m joined by Splitsville stars Kyle Marvin and Michael Angelo Covino, the latter of whom also directed the film and co-wrote it with Marvin.

Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona co-star in the laugh-out-loud comedy, which truly is the funniest film I’ve seen all year.

As with all interviews here at The InSneider, this one is not behind a paywall, so if you’re an unpaid subscriber who digs it, please consider making the leap to premium for a month and placing a modest bet on yours truly.

After all, awards season is just starting, and few do it better than your humble host.

As September begins, there’s no question that Splitsville is one of the Top 10 movies I’ve seen all year, and if my ringing endorsement isn’t enough to convince you, then I urge you to read this interview with Michael and Kyle below.

I’ll be back soon with my next full-length newsletter, so consider this a tasty appetizer for now…

Splitsville Duo Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin on Open Marriages, Their Industry Ambitions, and the Current State of Comedy in Hollywood

I’ve been eager to see how Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin would follow The Climb, as I was a big fan of their 2019 indie comedy about two best friends whose bond is bent — but not broken — after one learns that the other slept with his fiancée.

Since The Climb, Marvin has directed the underrated comedy 80 for Brady, and he’s preparing to direct the climbing movie Batso, starring Walton Goggins, Lewis Pullman, and Jessica Biel, which will represent a change of pace for the filmmaker. Marvin will also produce that film alongside Covino, who recently scored points in my book with his turn as Bill Murray’s entitled son in Dito Montiel’s crime thriller Riff Raff.

Thankfully, Covino and Marvin are back together again in the new film Splitsville, which co-stars Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona, two of the most beautiful women in Hollywood who were both down to clown around with the guys after seeing The Climb.

Splitsville pairs Marvin with Arjona, who asks him for a divorce, allowing him the opportunity to sleep with Johnson, who is in an open marriage with his best friend (Covino).

The film features big laughs, and not just stemming from its uproarious dialogue, but also its robust sense of physical comedy. Marvin and Covino have excellent chemistry together, and they’re clearly willing to do anything for the sake of their art, whether that calls for them to beat the shit out of each other or get naked for a laugh.

Covino excels at playing the asshole of the duo, but his puppy dog eyes lend him a vulnerability that makes us feel for his character, even when he doesn’t necessarily deserve our sympathies.

Meanwhile, Johnson is excellent in this film, and seemingly the only adult among the cast, which also includes O-T Fagbenle and Nicholas Braun from Succession.

There’s no question that Splitsville is a step up from The Climb — not just in terms of the film’s budget or star power, but in terms of its storytelling and its visuals, as the film shows evidence of Covino coming into his own as a director.

The script he and Marvin co-wrote boasts three-dimensional characters who get defensive, feel betrayed, and experience the wide range of emotions that make us all human. They also paint their characters in shades of grey so that no matter who you’re rooting for, you’re not rooting against anyone.

You’ll laugh and leave talking about some of the weighty themes that the film explores with a light touch. In that regard, it reminds me of the 1997 comedies Chasing Amy or Two Girls and a Guy. If you’re a fan of either one, you’ll dig Splitsville.

I know there’s a new Conjuring movie in theaters this weekend, and it’s Week 1 of the NFL season, but make time to see Splitsville in a theater this weekend, as there’s nothing like seeing a hilarious comedy with a crowd.

Without further ado, here’s my chat with Michael and Kyle, who discuss onscreen nudity, their goals within the industry, and the state of comedy in Hollywood. Enjoy!

Michael, you fuck Kyle's fiancée in The Climb, and he fucks your wife in Splitsville. What's this all about, fellas? Has either one of you taken the other's girl in real life?

Michael Angelo Covino: We've been trying. It hasn't worked out too well, but you never know. No, no, Kyle's been married for 20 years. I am engaged.

Congratulations. 

Michael: Yeah, thank you.

Kyle Marvin: It's funny how he says "congratulations" to you, but not to me for being married for 20 years.

I'm sorry.

Kyle: Thanks.

No, for you, I'm just sorry.

Michael: My fiancée produced this movie, so we're all over the place. 

Kyle: It’s messy.

Michael: It would probably be more interesting if we were just fucking messes in life, but unfortunately, we're a little more stable, and I think the stability allows us to kind of explore these things in really fun ways. I mean, I certainly like playing characters like this. I really wouldn't like to be this character. 

Kyle: No.

Michael: With the exception of that house and all the nice things in it.

Kyle: Yeah, that house is nice.

How do you guys feel that you've grown as both filmmakers and as actors between The Climb and this film?

Michael: I’ve gotten more gray.

Kyle: I’m maybe a little shorter. 

Michael: Compressed spinal chord?

Kyle: Yeah, compressed spinal cord… It's a tricky thing, right? Because you're just walking the path that you're on, and I think for us, we're trying to push forward and be more ambitious, and be more bold, and sort of try new things. So I think in that way, you're always trying to grow or advance. But I guess only other people can tell us whether we are or not, if we’re going backwards.

Michael: Yeah, I think you develop a shorthand with certain things. There's a trial-and-error process to this thing where you carry certain learnings with you, and do better, hopefully. And I think with this film, we were very cognizant of how the last film was a much smaller film.

We love it, but I think the ambition with this one was to make something that was unapologetically comedic, and in some ways, a more proper screwball comedy at times. We wanted to keep it centered around character and emotion, and have a cinematic point of view that gives the characters perspective, and maybe feels a little bit different, too. We also wanted to shoot it on 35mm film and do things in just a slightly different way.

Again, our hope is that each film we make, people keep going, "Whoa, what is this? I didn't expect that." And this one is probably more expected, meaning, there’s more of a direct line between our last film and this one than we would maybe do in the future.

Does it help to get reps outside of your partnership — for example, your turn in Riff Raff, Michael? Because I thought you were one of the best things about that movie.

Michael: Thank you. From an acting standpoint, for Kyle and I both, it's like, ‘Can we do good work? Is it interesting? Will it be something memorable, whether the movie's good or bad?’ You know, you don't get an opportunity to direct films that often, so even if you directed a film every year, that would just be one acting job a year.

So, I loved playing that role in Riff Raff because I got to play an impotent guy who comes on the screen later in the film, and he's sort of the hinge point of this whole other story. I'm Bill Murray's son, and I get a scene with him, so I was like, 'Yeah, sign me up.' I only did two or three days on set, so I didn't have that much screen time, but I wanted to dig in and try to go to a place with this character so it feels like there's a whole other story going on that we're not aware of.

Kyle, do you feel like marriage is more difficult than ever these days, or has there never been a better time to be married?

Kyle: I think it's neither. I think it's always hard, and it's always confusing, and it remains so. I think the truth is, one of the things that helps relationships the best is perspective. And I think nothing gives us perspective like films, in a weird way. It's such a great way to be exposed to something new and look at other people, and then open up the conversation with your significant other or ex-significant other. Just because I think it’s an interesting way to open the conversation, and when you're having a conversation, I think that's healthy.

How did you guys convince Dakota and Adria to sign on? And we're all good-looking guys here, but was there ever any concern that they may be too conventionally attractive for these roles? 

Michael: I mean, there were concerns from other people, but what are we going to do about that? 

Kyle: I can't change [how I look]. I'm sorry.

Michael: Even if I got plastic surgery, it would push the shoot dates, so it's just not practical. From a practical standpoint, there wasn't much to do. I guess we could have cast other people, but then what's even the point? Like, what are we doing here? And also, would they be able to do what Kyle and I did, which is beat the shit out of each other, and also have that kind of rapport? Maybe… I don't know. 

But also, it wasn't even a conversation because if we're not going to give ourselves work, who is? 

People brought up, ‘These are two of the most beautiful women on planet Earth, and you guys are… you guys.’ But I see this happen every day in all walks of life, so it happens all the time. We're fine with it. If that's the thing that people want to ding the movie for, Godspeed. Like, fine.

Kyle: It also helps the movie, in a way. 

Michael: It's also how the movie is built. The movie is built around two guys who are undeserving of their partners. The whole context of the movie is these two men orbiting around these beautiful women, going, ‘How did I end up here? I'm just holding on by a thread.’ 

Kyle: Yeah, that's really the point. These are beautiful women that these guys just hope they can hold on to.

Michael: Do you know how boring this movie would be if the two guys were really, really hot? 

Kyle: Yeah. 

Michael: Who would want to watch that? 

I do think that you guys have a certain everyman appeal that makes the characters more relatable. 

Kyle: Thank you.

Michael: It’s also like, ‘What is this guy doing with Dakota Johnson?’ And then the movie explores that. ‘What is this guy doing with Adria Arjona?’ And then she has no redemption, but you buy that he gets back with her at the end, because of course he does.

And to me, I was like, she doesn't actually have to be redeemed because he's just like, ‘Oh, you want to be with me again? Okay, great, let's do it.’ And I find that so true to life because I have friends who have literally been cheated on rampantly, and then their girlfriend or fiancé or whoever is like, ‘Alright, I'm done now. I want to come back.’ And he's like, ‘Oh, great.’ It's like, what? But also, I get it. 

I believe in forgiveness. 

Kyle: So do we.

Did you guys have an intimacy coordinator on set? 

Michael: We did not.

Kyle, you’re nude a few times in this movie, so I have to ask, was that all you or was that a prosthetic? 

Kyle: We're going to say no comment on that one. We'll let the people decide. 

Michael: We’ll reveal it at some point, but for now, we’ve got to give Kyle his moment in the sun.

Maybe it’s just the media, but it feels like studios have been mourning the death of the comedy genre, so I’m curious about the meetings that you guys have had, and whether you get a sense that a comeback is in the offing for comedies? 

Michael: It better be. Otherwise, we're fucked.

Kyle: It's crazy that they're mourning the comedies. They're the ones who should be making them. They're mourning the person they killed.

Michael: Well, no, they didn't kill it. Look, I think everything follows dollars. So if people go to theaters for comedies, even in a limited capacity that shows there's life [left in the genre], I think more money will flood into comedies.

But at the end of the day, if you regurgitate shit, and you're fearful of making comedies, it’s never going to work. When you have fearful, studio-noted comedies coming out, they suck. They're not inventive. They're not exciting. They're not original. They're not bold. They're not audacious. And the thing people actually want out of comedy is to be shocked a little bit. ‘Whoa, what is this? I just watched something different.’ That's what will eventize a comedy. 

You used to have Todd Phillips doing it, and in the ‘90s, you had the Farrelly brothers doing it. Those were filmmakers who had bold points of view.

When There’s Something About Mary came out, there were three or four scenes in that movie that people would just talk about [non-stop]. It was a totally different landscape back then, but there were three or four movies that you were like, ‘I’ve never seen that before.’

And that’s why The Hangover was such a revelation, because it felt like such an event. Todd Phillips is a real filmmaker with a real perspective, and he uses the camera in a certain way.

So, I'm optimistic, I just think it needs to be a little more audacious. Comedies need to just be a little more of an event.

Kyle: Yeah, and they have to be dangerous to be fun. Comedies inherently have to be just a little dangerous and feel a little bit risky. 

Michael: At least R-rated comedies do. I don't know about the other stuff, but if you're trying to make R-rated comedies, it's got to feel new in some way. 

And to that end, do you feel like Hollywood is scared of sex these days? 

Michael: No. Scared of it? In what way? 

Well, you don't see a lot of sex comedies anymore, and they’re using intimacy coordinators these days.

Michael: Oh, that stuff? No, I think that's just about trying to create a safe environment for people to feel comfortable, and to remove the possibility of overreach and other problems, which is great. I'm all for that. But I don't think that is going to affect whether or not people want to be naked on screen. That's just an individual choice that people can make. 

Yeah, I just think nudity or sex or things like that depend on the filmmakers. Filmmakers need to have a point of view and a reason for it. If there's no reason for people to be naked or to be having sex on screen, then it's gratuitous and it won't really pay off.

But you can use nudity for comedy, and you can use nudity to be very visceral. There are a lot of uses and ways in which nudity can be portrayed. So it just depends on the usage, and I think it all stems from filmmakers. To me, it just keeps coming back to having filmmakers with a strong point of view, because I think we need bold filmmakers making comedies, and then the whole landscape will change.

Do you guys have any passion projects in the works? Anything that you'd love to do either as actors or as directors?

Kyle: I think we have ambitions to exist in this comedy world and also go outside of it. I think we want to make great, interesting, bold cinema. And I think that's sort of the only litmus test. That's the only anchor that we're running towards.

I think there are plenty of stories that, at least I find really compelling, which exist in and around comedy, and I really want to make. 

Michael: I want to make a big action-comedy, like a proper buddy comedy. That'd be cool. I think something like that would be fun.

But no movies you'd want to remake or books you'd want to adapt? You'd like to stick to originals?

Michael: Well, we've been approached to do some things, and we're open to it. It's just like, ‘Why?’ I mean, there's only one movie that we've even entertained remaking, and it's an obscure German film that we got really excited about at one point.

Kyle: I think in television, there are interesting ways to extract and sort of open up and add our flavor to intellectual property. 

Michael: We're adapting a book for TV right now, and that is interesting to us.

Kyle: But in terms of finding old films and bringing them back? No, there's not a lot [of interest]. 

What's the message that you hope audiences take away from this movie? Is it like, ‘Dance with the one who brought you?’ ‘The grass isn't always greener?’ Etcetera?

Michael: I think that's cool. I mean, we’re never prescriptive in what to take away, but I think that message is there. I think that what we talked about thematically exploring with this film is just, like, the grass can be greener on the other side sometimes, but to understand the value of something, you need to know what you've sacrificed. 

It's almost like how we sometimes don't appreciate what we have because we haven't sacrificed anything for it, or we haven't been through anything. And so I think in a strange way, a lot of times in messiness and in breakups and in pain and infidelity and all these things, people go through something where they realize what the value was of that thing that they lost. And so I think the idea of not knowing what something's worth until you lose it is in there.

Kyle: I think what it is is that there’s just grass on the other side. It's not greener or anything. It's just also grass, and you have to fucking water it and mow it, and sometimes the sun just bakes it, but it's just more grass. So you can keep going to other grass, but just remember it's all grass. 

Okay, last question. Why did you guys settle on Splitsville as the title? 

Michael: Because it's real dumb. 

Kyle: Yeah, it just made us laugh.

Michael: I don't know, it’s kind of perfect. We could never beat it, and it was just, like, this dumb word for breakups that felt very in line with that sweet spot of highbrow and lowbrow comedy that we were going for. It was also a word that we could own, in a way. It's like, no one's really using it. I think there's a bowling alley, but that's about it. It just feels like something kids say, and these are grown children anyway. All of these characters are acting like grown children, so it just felt right.

Well, congrats on the movie, and that opening scene, which is hilarious. Thank you for educating people about the danger of road head. It's better on paper than in practice. 

Michael: It’s road hand, in this case.

Kyle: But you’re right.

Fair enough. Good luck with the film, guys…

Splitsville is now playing exclusively in theaters.

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