With his onscreen starring debut, Benito Skinner wanted to immerse viewers the gay millennial experience.
In the comedian and actor’s new Prime Video series Overcompensating, premiering May 15 on the streamer, he tells Deadline that pop culture nostalgia was “the name of the game” to capture his coming out story, with help from Charli XCX, Megan Fox, Kyle MacLachlan and Connie Britton.
Created by Skinner, the TikTok star plays Benny, a college freshman trying to fit in with a very heteronormative group of friends while attempting to come to terms with his sexuality. But there are signs, including the character’s love of Jennifer’s Body, brought full-circle with a cameo by Megan Fox as herself.
“I wanted to write her a letter too, just so that she wouldn’t read this [script] and be like, ‘What the f— is this?’” said Skinner. “And I tried to just be like, ‘You mean so much to so many people and to a lot of queer people. Jennifer’s Body means so much to queer people.’ It is kind of also this thing that Benny and Miles (Rish Shah) share, is a love of this movie. So, it just felt like it had to be her.”
Also appearing as herself is XCX, who joined the series early on as an executive producer, in addition to producing music for the show.
“I feel like I have a Charli song for every era in my life,” Skinner noted. “And I just thought, ‘Well then, that has to be her.’ She, to me, is this time [in the show], and she is now as well. So, I think there’s gonna be a nostalgic feeling, and modern.”
Meanwhile, his onscreen dad MacLachlan was just as big a fan of the 3x Grammy winner. “He was always a brat,” said Skinner, adding: “There’s nothing I had to do to make him brat. He was brat before. He had made all those videos before.”
Read on about Benito Skinner’s Prime Video series Overcompensating.
DEADLINE: Tell me about what it was like going back into the closet for this passion project.
BENITO SKINNER: Oh my God, it was scary at first, but then once I started, it was so fun to finally laugh at it. It felt very cathartic. I used to be so embarrassed of those things. It was like, when I was in college, I was embarrassed of videos of me as a kid being obviously very gay. And then, now I was like, “Oh, any video I hear of me during that time with this insane voice that I was doing and this just stiff body—” I feel really lucky that I got to do it with so many people I love, and I feel like they kind of helped create a space where we were all like, “Oh, this is so embarrassing, but we’re gonna do it.” Like, I made Mary Beth Barone dress as Alice from Twilight. I was obviously making everyone else do really embarrassing s— too, so it was communal catharsis in a lot of ways.
Benito Skinner and Rish Shah in ‘Overcompensating’ (Amazon/MGM Studios/Courtesy Everett Collection)
DEADLINE: I also loved the nostalgic element, like Jennifer’s Body is one of my favorite movies, and Brendan Fraser in George of the Jungle was definitely a sexual awakening. Tell me about mining all of those things that make up the gay millennial experience.
SKINNER: It was just like, “How many can I include? Let’s just fill it because I think it’s specificity that will help people lock in.” And that was the same conversation we had with music, with costume, with Jennifer’s Body, all of those things. And really wanting queer people to be like, “Oh my God, finally it’s on screen. That was what happened.” Like handshakes to me, I’ve been panicked because for the last like five years, I’m like, “Someone’s gonna do it. It’s gonna be onscreen, this joke is gonna be taken.” But that is a panic that I still have to this day when I watch someone reach. I’m like, “Do not.” And even straight actors on set going like this, I’m like, “Get the f— away. I can’t do it. Just hug me. I would prefer a hug.” Which sucks too. But it was as many things as we could include and as many pop songs as we could afford. That was the name of the game.
DEADLINE: It was also really fun watching you get fully naked in the woods with a bunch of other guys in this little hazing moment. What was it like filming that?
SKINNER: Thank you. It was one of those days where I’m like, “I can’t believe I wrote this. I’m full ass-out in the woods.” And I’m like, “What the f—?” It felt funny and real, and I think for me it was just thinking, “What’s the nightmare for Benny?” And for me, it was “Oh my God, I’m gonna be naked around this guy that I’m attracted to. I can’t look at him. This is a nightmare. I’m naked.” So, I’m also kind of trying to serve for him, it’s so hellish. But the cast, I’m so lucky that we got this cast. Everyone was so incredible, and we shot in Toronto, and even the day players who were in that scene with me. and we’re all just naked, we were just shooting the s—. They were telling me about their girlfriends. I’m like, I don’t know what fever dream I’m living in, it’s really f—ing weird. But it was so fun. I’ll get my ass out for the sake of comedy.
DEADLINE: I also loved Lukas Gage’s character Sam and how it’s kind of teased throughout the season, and then it becomes something very needed for your character, just finally embracing that part of himself. Tell me about building that dynamic with him.
SKINNER: I’m fortunate that we’re friends, and so we sent him the scripts, and I think he knew exactly what we wanted to do. These scenes are very uncomfortable and then very beautiful, and it is such a huge payoff. I think Sam, in the show, very much acts as this thing that is in the back of Benny’s head. It’s like the reminder all the time that he’s gay, that he knows the answer, and that also he’s making some mistakes, or not even mistakes, but choices that are not gonna make him happy ever, and that he’s doing everything else to make people happy that don’t even love him, that don’t even care. But I feel so fortunate it was Lukas, cause he came in for a week, and that scene in the car was so hard to do, but I think the fact that we knew each other and had chemistry and just felt immediately comfortable, it made it really powerful for me and for him as well. I love the bar scenes too, we wanted something like that in the show too. There are some big payoffs in that episode. There’s something very triumphant about coming home from college to Thanksgiving, it’s like you’re showing off this new version of yourself. I wanted each of the characters to have, including the parents, like a triumphant moment, and so that episode kind of stands as that.
Corteon Moore and Benito Skinner in ‘Overcompensating’ (Jackie Brown/Amazon/MGM Studios/Courtesy Everett Collection)
DEADLINE: I also loved the scene of you talking about gay sex with Megan Fox. It was just iconic. Tell me about getting her to come on board.
SKINNER: This was like something that I put in a script once, and it’s one of those things that you write and you’re like, “Is everyone gonna think I’m fucking insane? I’m just gonna send it.” And I’m very fortunate to work with Scott King, who’s the showrunner, who read it and was like, “I am cackling at this Megan s—.” It’s just this feeling that I had in college where I would go into these frat house bathrooms, and all my icons are on the wall, and I’m talking to EmRata and Megan Fox and Tyra Banks, and I’m like, “What are you girls doing in here?” And we needed that somebody for Benny to talk to while he and Carmen are kind of fighting and sparring, and he’s made this horrible lie and and gets caught. And the Megan Fox of it all was, I just had it in my head, and we sent it to her and she, I think, immediately knew the joke that we were telling, and I think also knew the heart of it. She really is the last person he talks to before he goes to the Halloween party for slaughter. But there is this hope in it, and it’s again, like a female protector in the same way that Britney pops on TV the second that a young Benny needs her. I think that that is the show. It’s these women that have all their own s— going on and still manage to create a safe space for gay boys.
DEADLINE: And I was just curious if Megan Fox, that connection came about through Kourtney Kardashian. I always quote your Kourtney videos, “The Poosh word of the day is ‘anarchy!’”
SKINNER: I’ve been dying to talk like Kourtney all day. Thank you for giving me that. It wasn’t. I think it was through reps, and I wanted to write her a letter too, just so that she wouldn’t read this [script] and be like, “What the f— is this?” And I tried to just be like, “You mean so much to so many people and to a lot of queer people. Jennifer’s Body means so much to queer people.” It is kind of also this thing that Benny and Miles share, is a love of this movie. So, it just felt like it had to be her. So, it wasn’t through Kourtney, but somehow, someway, we got her on Zoom. She filmed that in her house, and every take you see is like the first take. She was incred. When she said like, “I can’t wait to watch you guys f— in here later,” It’s not gonna get better than that for me. That’s kind of it.
DEADLINE: And I want to know about how your whole working relationship with Charli XCX came about, and also how you turned Kyle MacLachlan into a brat.
SKINNER: Oh my God, well he was always a brat. It just comes to the surface. Charli, we met at a party after exchanging mutual DMs, and I just knew that it it had to be her, cause she’s been sonically impactful in music and has been such an icon and is so important to so many people, whether it be ‘Boom Clap’ or ‘Number 1 Angel’ or ‘Pop 2’, all of these eras, I feel like I have a Charli song for every era in my life, and I just thought, “Well then, that has to be her.” She, to me, is this time [in the show], and she is now as well. So, I think there’s gonna be a nostalgic feeling, and modern. She loves music and has obviously exceptional taste in music. So, I think she knew what we were trying to do, and I sent her the script, and she boarded it and assembled the most insane team to compose this. It’s Alex Somers, who did Nickel Boys, George Daniel from 1975, obviously, and Amber Bain from Japanese House. So, it’s all the music I listened to at that time and now, and it really is like the soundtrack and score of my dreams—and nightmare—in the show. But Kyle, there’s nothing I had to do to make him brat. He was brat before. He had made all those videos before. And you can almost see, I did the ‘Apple’ dance with him and Connie, and he kind of had to pretend to not know it. He was ready to go. But I love him so much. He is so brilliant, so funny, so kind, and a genius on set. Every take was different, and he and Connie together—I almost broke and I almost cried. It was insane. They’re incredible.
