The time is 9:44 AM—a Double Fine morning start-up meeting that is currently in progress is interrupted by the sound of a famous voice cooing “Jablinski in the houuuuse,” signaling that Jack Black has entered the office. Tim Schafer, President and CEO of Double Fine Productions, locks eyes with our journalist, sitting in for a story on the imminent release of Psychonauts 2. “Everyone, let’s just get this meeting finished. John, would you go ahead and shut the door?”
“Brütal Legend was legitimately one of the most fun games to produce in my career, and a big part of that was working with Mr. Black,” Schafer told Nerfwire while peeking past a potted plant and watching Jack Black refer to a succulent on an employee’s desk as “punk rock.” “Honestly, we’ll probably make a second one too, but as a studio, we really only work on one game at a time, and yeah, we’re pretty busy with Psychonauts 2, y’know? Here, you’re a journalist, here’s your exclusive, go distract—uh, interview him. Really, couldn’t be a nicer guy.”
As Tim comes into view, pushing us directly into Black’s line of sight, Jack’s eyes light up. “Schafer! Schaferino! More like chafing my thighs, why do I never hear from you, you rockstar?”
Tim quickly exchanges pleasantries with Black before offering us up for a quick interview about his weekly visits to the Double Fine offices. “Oh, dude, yeah, there’s always donuts in the kitchen here, especially with everyone doing the socialé distancing. Anyway. What? Brütal Legend 2. Yes! Yeah, we were going to make a second one, but the boners over at EA told us to shut down. So I’m here trying to get the band back together! We can do a sequel where I play bass! I can play bass, too!”
Our interview with Black was cut short as frankly, it was early in the morning and that was just a lot of energy to be dealing with. He quickly latched onto an intern who was delivering coffee and disappeared, unseen but still heard, somewhere in the Double Fine office.
Tim appears with a fresh cup of coffee. “Again, seriously, couldn’t be a nicer guy.”
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