Australian comedy trio Aunty Donna to star in Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves

The surrealist comedy group experimented with flatlining to prepare for their roles as corpses in Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves

Mark Bonnano, left, Zachary Ruane, and Broden Kelly of the comedy group Aunty Donna

Aunty Donna, the surrealist Melbourne comedy group with a penchant for Christmas pudding, will star in the blockbuster Dungeons & Dragons Honour Among Thieves

Mark Bonnano, Zachary Ruane, and Broden Kelly will play corpses — Unnamed Soldier, Sven Salafin, and Toke Horgath, respectively — who are happened upon and revived by the film’s heroes. The corpses hold clues to the whereabouts of a hallowed relic, which could save the land from evil. Once revived, they can only be asked five questions before they die again.

Most attempts to bring the D&D role-playing game to screen have been a bust – and successes like Stranger Things have been intimidatingly huge – so there’s a lot riding on writer-director duo Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley’s adaptation. With a star-studded cast featuring the likes Chris Pine, Bridgerton’s Regé-Jean Page, Justice Smith, Michelle Rodriguez, and Hugh Grant, along with a $220m budget, there are reasons to be optimistic.

In a deathly serious interview, Aunty Donna talks The Australian through their roles.

In Honour Among Thieves, you each play corpses. How did you prepare for your role? Did you dip your toes in method acting?

Zach: I did flatlining. You know that film Flatliners, with Julia Roberts and Kiefer Sutherland? I did that. I stopped my heartbeat so I could experience death and understand what it is to be a corpse. Then I came back.

Was it beautiful?

Zach: It was a profound experience. I got a little addicted to it in the second act. By the third act, we realised I had opened a portal to a very dangerous place.

And you, Broden, and Mark?

Broden: I read the script and took some direction.

Mark: I ate a big meal. Which is different to how I usually prepare for a roll. Usually, I’ll toast it, or I’ll go down to the deli first – pick up some cold cuts, maybe some salad, bits of cheese, mayonnaise, pickles.

Zach: I should jump in here. Mark is under the impression that we‘re not talking about roles as in the parts that we played in the film, rather he thinks we’re talking about bread rolls.

Yes, that is what I was asking.

Zach: Oh, god, the reason I talked about flatlining for four minutes was that I thought you were asking about Dungeons and Dragons. Now I know that you are talking about bread rolls, I feel like an idiot.

Sophia Lillis, left, Sophia Lillis, Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez in Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves. Picture: Paramount Pictures and eOne.

If you were woken from a deep, dead slumber, what is the first question you hope whoever revived you would ask?

Mark: I would like someone to ask, “Would you like me to put a deposit down on a house for you?” And the answer is yes.

Where would you buy?

Mark: Brunswick. So the person asking the question better have a bit of bloody cash reserve. You’re not getting a three-bedroom for less than $1.2m.

I’m putting this out there: I want someone to kill me, now. Please come to my house, kill me, wake me up, then give me money for a deposit. I want to get in on the market.

Did you battle it out for which corpse you would play, or were your roles assigned to you?

Broden: Mark said, “I don’t want to have to do an accent. Can I just do the one that says ‘yes’ a lot?” and we said “sure”. And I said: “I genuinely don’t care. Whatever is left. I don’t care.”

Zach: I came to the guys with a case. After reading through the scripts and watching the scene, I really wanted to play the goofiest one. I said: “I really think I should play the silly one. It plays to my strengths. It’s the right part for me.” These two were so chill about it that it was embarrassing.

I did want to ask about the corpse’s accents, which lack an Australian twang. What’s the deal with that?

Mark: Well, you can’t choose where the corpses come from. The corpses are British.

Zach: Are they British, though? This is set in the world of myth. It’s a fake land.

Mark: Yes, like England.

Zach: This man thinks that England is not real. That’s what happening here.

I think the Australian accent would be quite abrasive in a film like this. You’d be watching it and you’d go: “Woah, Australians.”

I say the word “no” a lot in the film, and the American dub director was, like, “I don’t know if you know this, but Australians say no funny.” We say it like ‘naaaauurrr’. I didn’t even realise, we had to do so many takes.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves arrives in cinemas on March 30.