Creators Of Banned And Bombed Christmas Special Return With Trailer For Paramount Plus' 'Mean Boys' (EXCLUSIVE)

“I’m afraid no one will like me at my new school,” the “Mean Boys” star says at the start of his trailer.

Growing up is never easy. But it’s a challenge especially if you’re the Elder God, you’re a teenage Jesus, and you have to control your good deeds at your new school or you could be identified as the Messiah and hauled off for a premature crucifixion.

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So, in an attempt to fit in – and an homage to the American cult film Mean Girls – best friend Lazarus comes up with the idea that Jesus is trying to go against his better nature and become a mean boy at school.

That’s the basic setup of “Mean Boys,” the 2021 Christmas Special from Brazil’s Porta dos Fundos, whose trailer Paramount Plus has exclusively shared with variety.

The Special is unlikely to go unnoticed by Brazil’s more conservative groups. This time, however, there are some crucial differences. It’s animation, ViacomCBS-owned Porta dos Fundos’ first venture into the medium. It will premiere on December 15th exclusively on Paramount Plus as the 2020 Special plays on YouTube. Backdoor, Mexico’s equivalent of Porta dos Fundos, created a voiceover for a Spanish-language version (see poster).

The same irreversible irreverence remains though. So in the trailer, Lazarus produces a porn scroll that Jesus is supposed to have in his backpack as proof that he cannot be the Messiah and drags it into the red light district of Sodom and Gomorrah, where Jesus is seen exploding copiously. Meanwhile, Barrabas – here the high school bully dressed as if straight out of a US high school movie, with a windbreaker, sideburns and a thicker haircut – terrifies his classmates. Pilot, a drooling school principal, invites the most beautiful students and young Roman soldiers to his office.

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“Mean Boys” is co-produced by Estricnina Cartoon, a pioneering Brazilian producer of animated series.

“The Bible does not speak at all about Jesus when he was young. But he was a teenager and would have had teenage questions and needs, so we said, ‘Let’s talk about them,’” said Porta dos Fundos co-founder Fabio Porchat, creator of the Special, adding that he deeply admired “the Gospel according to Jesus Christ ”, by Portuguese Nobel Prize-winning writer José Saramago, who provided a humanized version of the figure. “Not that I’m trying to compare myself to Saramago,” added Porchat.

“The First Temptation of Christ”, the Porta dos Fundos 2019 Christmas Special, featured a possibly gay Christ, sparking a petition to ban the special signed by over two million people. A temporary ban was accompanied by a Molotov cocktail attack on the Porta dos Fundos headquarters. (The fire was extinguished by security personnel.)

“We make fun of Christians, evangelicals, Muslims, everyone. We always try to push the envelope. This is one of our missions,” said Porchat.

How would they react if no one complains? “If everyone is complaining, that’s a problem. If no one complains, that’s a problem too.”

Jamie Lang contributed to this article.