Rob Benedict Talks ‘The Sidekick’ And Comic-Con

The Sidekick tells the story of 40-year-old career sidekick, Max McCabe (Benedict), now past his prime in the fast-paced world of superhero-dom. When he is unceremoniously fired by his boss, Captain Wonder, Max has no choice but to somehow find a place for himself in the regular world.

FanBolt had the opportunity to chat with The Sidekick‘s writer and star Rob Benedict earlier this week about today’s world premiere. Benedict is no stranger to Comic-Con though. He first went about seven years ago with a TV series called Threshold, and he hadn’t been back until last year.

Comic-Con has changed a lot in the last 7 years!

Rob Benedict: I couldn’t believe how big it had gotten. I’m ready though! I’m drinking plenty of water and getting plenty of rest.

What do you hope fans will walk away from your panel with today?

Rob Benedict: We just want to create awareness and excitement. The business responds to people and fans. So we’re just trying to drum up support and hopefully fans want to see more.

I’ve heard rumors that there may be a TV series in the works for The Sidekick. Can you comment on that?

Rob Benedict: That’s our plan at this point. There’s different avenues that we could take, but the one that seems to make the most sense is turning it into a series. There’s just so many stories that we could tell with this guy and with this world. There’s a huge cast of characters that we could bring in.

It’d be a very unique kind of series. It’d be a cable series or even on the internet. There’s so many avenues we could take with it.

How difficult was it filming this project in just 5 days last December?

Rob Benedict: With this caliber of a cast, everyone has the smallest window to work. It was like putting together a puzzle. I had never been on the producer side of things before. It was a real eye-opener for me.

There are these wonderfully awkward pauses with Benedict’s character in the film. Are those scripted or do they just happen organically during filming?

Rob Benedict: I tried to write in awkward beats. But there are things that happened organically. Some of the best reaction shots and awkward beats – it’s not on the page. It just happens in the moment. That’s really the fun part of making movies. The script is really just a template.

You hope that you have enough of a scene set up that these magic moments happen. Some of my favorite moments in the movie weren’t in the script. Awkward stumbles and that sort of thing. [laughs]

Are you nervous at all about how fans will react today?

Rob Benedict: I’m not nervous. I’m really proud of how it came out. It was a passion project for me, and it’s very close to my heart. I’m really excited that I get to share this with people. This world we’ve created just fits into the Comic-Con audience so well.

I know the film isn’t currently available online. Besides Comic-Con, do you guys have any additional plans for making it available to the public?

Robert Benedict: Eventually. If it’s going to be the pilot for a series, we’d have to hold onto it. But we’re so excited about it, and I’m so proud of it. It’s definitely not going to sit on the shelf. Right now we’re going to see what happens after Comic-Con. Comic-Con has grown into this breeding ground, and Hollywood has taken notice. All eyes are on San Diego this weekend.

Well said. All eyes are on San Diego this weekend! I’ve encouraged Rob to put up a Twitter account for The Sidekick and have it feature tweets from his leading character, Max McCabe. Hopefully, he’ll be rolling that out at today’s panel – if not – everyone should tweet Rob that they want more from Max! But until then be sure to check out TheSidekickProject.com and the Official Facebook Page.

If you’re at Con today – be sure to stop by the Indigo Ballroom today at 3 and check out The Sidekick! We loved it, and we’re sure you will too!