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Progressive Super PAC MeidasTouch is releasing the first film from its media division — a mockumentary about two fictional MAGA devotees named Derek and Dale who host a podcast and aspire to become Fox News hosts.
The Supporters stars Jason Selvig and Davram Stiefler, a political sketch comedy duo known as The Good Liars, who also directed the film. It’s executive produced by MeidasTouch and Michael Rapaport and will be released Nov. 4, one year after the 2020 election.
In the lead-up to the election, The Good Liars executed a series of stunts — including proposing marriage to Elizabeth Warren — some of which went viral at the time. The film, which has been described as Borat-like in nature, also includes footage shot during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
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“It’s a very important, very funny movie about a historical time, whether we like it or not,” says Rapaport. “I can’t wait for the world to see it.”
Stiefler says they started filming during the January 2020 Iowa caucus, initially planning to document “whatever ridiculous mess was about to play out in the lead-up to the election.” But, he says, with conspiracies about the election continuing to this day, they knew their story didn’t end there. “We continued filming, ultimately recording the events of January 6th,” he says. “After seeing what we saw, we knew that this surreal assault on the democratic process would be our story. How do this many people get caught up in the collective insanity it takes for something like that to happen? It’s scary. And funny.”
Adds Selvig, “There is so much phony stuff that you see on the campaign trail, not just from the right but from the left as well. Everything the candidates do, for the most part, is choreographed and insincere. Some of our stunts provided some truly genuine reactions, which is something you don’t see much of during a presidential campaign.”
MeidasTouch, which was founded in March 2020 by brothers Ben, Brett and Jordan Meiselas, initially made headlines with viral videos targeting Donald Trump and other GOP politicians. After the election, the backers told The Hollywood Reporter they had their sights set on creating a growing media company and they’ve since launched five podcasts. While this marks the first foray into film for Meidas Touch Pictures, Selvig and Steifler previously made Undecided: The Movie, another prank-centered project centered on the 2016 election. They launched The Good Liars in 2011 by posing as investment bankers during the Occupy Wall Street protests, and creating the satirical movement Occupy Occupy Wall Street.
The film will be released on Nov. 4 for free across all social media platforms. Fans can opt to pay $9.99 if they’d like to financially support the project, but it’s not required.
“This movie is so good we do not want to limit our audience,” says Ben Meiselas. “In some of our preliminary talks with the big streamers, they seemed hesitant to touch anything that was ‘too political,’ which we found odd. So, we were just like fuck it. If they come along great, but if not we know we are going to break records by releasing this on our platforms and get just as many views if not more.”
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