These childhood best friends are on a mission to solve the ultimate treasure hunt.
“Saturday Night Live” breakout trio Please Don’t Destroy, comprised of Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy, wrote and star in Peacock film “The Treasure of Foggy Mountain.”
The film follows three best friends on an adventure as they fend off hairless bears and desperate park rangers (X Mayo and Meg Stalter) in search of priceless treasure, a golden bust of Marie Antoinette. Conan O’Brien also stars as Ben’s father, with Bowen Yang in a cameo role as a hypocritical cult leader. John Goodman narrates the film.
The Please Don’t Destroy team started working together in 2017, with their name stemming from a stand-up show hosted by Marshall and Herlihy called Please Don’t Destroy My Farm about corporate greed. The group’s ties to “SNL” have been decades in the making: Higgins’ father Steve Higgins was a writer, producer, and voiceover artist on the sketch show since 1995 and also is Jimmy Fallon’s late night announcer. Herlihy’s dad Tim Herlihy was the head “SNL” writer and closely worked with Adam Sandler. This is the group’s first feature-length film.
“Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain” is directed by Paul Briganti and produced by Judd Apatow and Jimmy Miller.
Director Briganti told Entertainment Weekly that the production felt like “summer camp.”
“They have this group chemistry that feeds off each other,” Briganti said of the Please Don’t Destroy troupe. “They’re so happy when they’re together. That is sort of the core and the warmth of the movie.”
Briganti added that late night talk show host O’Brien mentored the cast.
“He was so good with the younger comedians, and he almost took them under his wing,” the director said. “He was like a little comedy Santa Claus, just going around, giving little gifts to everybody.”
The film is executive produced by lead stars Herlihy, Higgins, and Marshall, as well as director Briganti. Josh Church, Sam Hansen, Matt Riley, and Michael Sledd also serve as executive producers, with Albertina Rizzo co-producing.
“Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain” premieres November 17 on Peacock. Check out the trailer below.
