Pitch Perfect is back in a brand-new form, thanks to the Peacock series Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin. With all 6 episodes now available to stream, the Thanksgiving holiday will be filled with music of the mouth courtesy of Adam Devine. Last seen in Pitch Perfect 2, audiences encounter his character Bumper Allen stuck in a rut and still performing with an acapella group at Barden University. But while everyone else he once knew is moving on with their lives, he is unable to turn his musical aspirations into a professional career.
That is, until he gets a call from Pieter (played by The Suicide Squad's Flula Borg), his old-time rival, who reveals that Bumper's Tiktok virality could be converted into real success in Germany. Thus Pitch Perfect: Bumper In Berlin immediately lives up to its title, sending Bumper to Europe in order to make it big. Unfortunately, Pieter isn't in the best position to do so, after an epic falling out with his own acapella group and his ex-girlfriend Gisela (portrayed by She-Hulk's Jameela Jamil). When Gisela starts living out her own pop ambitions, it becomes another rivalry worthy of the Pitch Perfect hall of fame.
Screen Rant spoke to Borg and Jamil about the toxicity that surrounds Pieter and Gisela's relationship, how they prepared for musical moments, and which of their DC and Marvel characters could take the other.
Jameela Jamil & Flula Borg On Pitch Perfect: Bumper In Berlin
Screen Rant: Flula, I'm happy to see you back in the world of Pitch Perfect. How did they get you back? What brought you here?
Flula Borg: Listen, it took three messages in a bottle, two telegrams, and a tweet. And I finally said yes. I'm so thrilled.
Jameela, I did not know that singing could be your jam. How do you approach Gisela's more electropop vibe?
Jameela Jamil: Yeah, it's really not my sort of music or my singing style. I'm a jazz singer, so I didn't know at all what to do with this kind of music. I'm a big melting pot girl, so we had to find a more Madonna-esque way of delivering the music, but it was really fun. The songs are so stupid and so funny, and the music videos that we got to shoot were so ideal. I just loved it.
The whole thing felt like being a kid in dress-up. I look so different to myself with the blue eyes and the red wigs and the pink wigs and the yellow wigs and the lederhosen. I got to leave my body for two months and exist in Berlin as this completely new person. It really liberated me and set me free in a way that's made quite a big mark on me ever since.
I love this kind of toxic relationship between Gisela and Pieter. Obviously, you left him after he made a boo-boo, but it feels like there was more than that going on. Did you discuss how Pieter feels about this relationship with Gisela?
Flula Borg: I don't want to get into the details, but I think it's not my fault. We can discuss this later, but listen, I'm still not over this thing. It's very tough. As you saw, Gisela can sing. She can dance. She has the voice of an angel; the pipes of an orchestra, an organ... A tree. She's wonderful. Of course, I'm not over her! I'm not making any more sense, Tatiana, so I'm gonna stop speaking now.
Jameela Jamil: Listen, it's a toxic relationship. The toxicity comes from Gisela. She is abusive! She picks him up and drops him whenever she wants, and she's confused because she doesn't respect him but at the same time she wants to smash, and that is a crazy place to live in your brain. She's really a bad guy. She's not just the villain to Bumper; I believe she's the villain to Pieter as well. As Flula's, and therefore Pieter's friend IRL, I'd kick her f***ing ass if I saw her. It's on sight. It's getting confusing now, because I am her.
I love seeing you as rivals on screen, and we also have this meta-rivalry of DC and Marvel. Do we think that Titania could be stopped by Javelin?
Jameela Jamil: Very possibly, but I think she'd eventually kick his ass.
Flula Borg: Yes, I would get one stab in while you're tweeting. Maybe you're distracted by your tweets, and I get one stab.
Jameela Jamil: Also, Titania has got a massive fake ass. I feel like if she just whipped around in time, it would impale her ass implant.
Flula Borg: I would suffocate between the cheeks.
Jameela Jamil: Flu has been probably my favorite experience from the whole of the shooting. We became really, really, really close friends. And that made this rivalry even more fun to play, and made the sexual tension even more upsetting. In between kissing scenes, I'd just be like, "Oh, my God. I'm so sorry."
Flula Borg: Deeply weird.
This must be the most difficult acting experience of your career is what I'm hearing.
Jameela Jamil: I have no game whatsoever. I've never been good at seducing anyone, so the fact that my character has to constantly try to seduce Flula? I have to keep asking them off set if I look possessed because I have no idea what I'm giving off. Because to me, it's like E.T. trying to have sex with someone. You know what I mean?
About Pitch Perfect: Bumper In Berlin
Adam Devine, who appeared in the first two installments of the film franchise, is set to star and reprise his role as Bumper Allen, the vocal villain whom we love to loathe. In the new series for Peacock, several years after we last saw him in “Pitch Perfect,” Adam Devine’s Bumper Allen moves to Germanyâ¯to revive his music career when one of his songs becomes big in Berlin.
Check out our other Pitch Perfect: Bumper In Berlin interviews here:
Pitch Perfect: Bumper In Berlin is currently streaming on Peacock.