Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made

Based on the best-selling book by Stephan Pastis, the Disney+ original movie “Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made” follows the hilarious exploits of Timmy Failure, a quirky, deadpan 5th grader from Portland who, along with a 1,500-pound polar bear named Total, operates Total Failure Inc., a detective agency. Somewhat of an outsider at his elementary school, Timmy is clueless but confident and wants to see his detective agency become the best in the world. But first he must navigate the world of adults around him, including his overburdened mother Patty, her well-meaning boyfriend Crispin, his teacher and nemesis Mr. Crocus, and Mr. Jenkins, a school- mandated guidance counselor, and figure out what it means to be normal when you know deep down inside you’re different.
“Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made” is directed by Tom McCarthy from a screenplay by Tom McCarthy and Stephan Pastis based on the book by Pastis. The producers are Jim Whitaker, p.g.a., and Tom McCarthy, p.g.a., with Michael Bederman and Kate Churchill serving as executive producers. The film stars: Winslow Fegley as Timmy Failure, Ophelia Lovibond as Patty Failure, Kyle Bornheimer as Crispin, Wallace Shawn as Mr. Crocus and Craig Robinson as Mr. Jenkins.
GETTING STARTED
Stephan Pastis, creator and illustrator of the syndicated comic strip “Pearls Before Swine,” wrote his first children’s book, “Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made,” in 2013. The book, a chapter book targeting middle school students, became a New York Times bestseller and spawned six additional titles (“Now Look What You’ve Done,” “We Meet Again,” “Sanitized for Your Protection,” “The Book You’re Not Supposed to Have,” “The Cat Stole My Pants” and “It’s the End When I Say It’s the End”). It also made a fan out of filmmaker Tom McCarthy (“The Station Agent,” “The Visitor” and “Win Win”).
“A colleague of mine had read the book and thought it was hilarious, so she put it on my desk and I was immediately engaged by it,” says McCarthy. “I thought the humor and the voice were original, and it had a subversive quality yet was still very accessible and unique. I fell in love with the character and his indomitable spirit.”
At that point he didn’t know what it could be, but McCarthy immediately hit it off with Pastis, as they share a love of movies and good storytelling, and the project began to take shape. McCarthy, who was just coming off the success of “Spotlight,” a film he wrote and directed and for which he won an Oscar® for best original screenplay,
was looking to make a film that parents would enjoy as much as kids. “Kids are so sophisticated right now, so we doubled down and trusted that they would elevate to the movie,” he says.
McCarthy and Pastis decided to team up and write the screenplay together, and both were intent on remaining as faithful to the book as possible. “For me, it was important that the characters kept their voices that I created for the books and that they were pure,” says Pastis.
“Timmy is a special kid,” continues Pastis. “He’s really kind of lost in his own head, but that head is pretty magnificent. He has grand ideas and he’s very imaginative and creative. His escape from the world is really that— dipping into his own head. He can survive any situation by disappearing inward.”
McCarthy reached out to Jim Whitaker (“A Wrinkle in Time,” “Pete’s Dragon”), who immediately read the book and came on board as producer. “The book has this amazing theme of being different and testing the idea of what it means to try and be normal when at heart you’re different,” says Whitaker, “and I loved what Tom was looking to do with the story. I was humbled to be invited into the process.”
Whitaker also found the fantasy sequences appealing, saying, “It’s an independent film that has these giant flash-aways that have scope and emotionality to them that I think are going to make the movie both grounded and, at the same time, incredibly funny.”
In addition to the story’s comedic elements, there are emotional elements as well. Pastis explains, “I think it’s great because on one track it’s meant to be funny, so all of Timmy’s visual fantasies are often outrageous—and hopefully funny—but at the same time there’s this heart line that runs through the story. Here’s this boy with a single mom, and no dad, and you feel that.”