Spermageddon Clip Teases ‘Inside Out for Adults’; Directors Ask ‘How the Hell Did We Get This Made?!’

Prepare to witness a movie so risqué and bizarre that even its filmmakers are surprised they were allowed to make it. Titled Spermageddon, this animated musical follows two awkward teenagers, Jen and Lisa, who have sex for the first time. Co-directed by Tommy Wirkola (Violent Night) and Rasmus A. Silversten (Louis & Luca: The Big Cheese Race), the film takes the perspective of Simon the Semen, one of Jen’s sperm, as he undertakes a perilous journey to find Lisa’s egg. Yep. You read that right.

Spermageddon debuted at the Annecy Animation Festival, and Variety has released a clip of the movie online. Spermageddon seems like an odd creation for a partnership between a horror director and a filmmaker with an extensive background in children’s animation, but the pair believe that’s why the project works. While the description sounds like Spermageddon could be a Norwegian sequel to the Seth Rogan-led Sausage Party, it’s actually intended for an adolescent audience. Siversten said:

“We would say it’s like Inside Out for adults, but we didn’t want it to be R-rated – we wanted it to be for teenagers. You see what happens to your brain and your body when you fall in love or feel passion”

Wirkola then added that the inspiration behind the movie came from his teenage years listening to a call-in radio show where listeners asked educational questions about sex. The director said:

“It’s cute, it’s awkward. I used to listen to this radio show where people asked the host about sex. It was surprising how little they knew sometimes. We wanted to have this innocence but also reflect the world where you have access to all sorts of sexual imagery and pornography.”

Spermageddon Aims to Challenge Western Reservedness

As absurd and hilarious as the concept seems (and the first clip certainly leans into the humor), Spermageddon‘s purpose is to “demystify sex and having sex for the first time. It’s normal for it to feel awkward.” Following the film’s premiere, Wirkola revealed his surprise that studios actually let the pair make the movie, saying:

“When we finally got to make it, there were times when I was looking at the screen, thinking: ‘How the hell did we get this movie made?!’”

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Wirkola followed up his internal question by saying how the pair looked outside the Hollywood system to get the project funded. Wirkola and Siversten (both Norwegian) reached out to European studios to help get Spermageddon made, and European attitudes towards sex meant that those studios were more open to exploring the film’s themes and subject matter. He continued:

“We made it in Europe – that’s how. Years ago, I pitched it in Hollywood and it never went anywhere. When it comes to sex, it’s more delicate over there. When we wrote the script, it wasn’t that controversial. Then it suddenly became a ‘thing,’ not just in the US but also in many places in Europe. In Norway, no one will even blink.”