Netflix made chess compelling and evocative for even non-players with The Queen’s Gambit, and Stephen Colbert thinks he’s found the next big drama in another the Rubik’s Cube. The colorful puzzle isn’t a game as much as it is a challenge, but on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert segment on Thursday night pitched the cube as the future of Hollywood.
Colbert mentioned a sourceless report that a Rubik’s Cube movie is in the works in Hollywood, starting a riff where he imagined just what that movie, and a potential game show, might look like.
“Little hint for the contestants, just peel off the stickers, rearrange them and pretend you’ve won,” Colbert said. But he also said he thinks “this Rubik’s Cube thing has legs” and pitched what his version of a cube-filled drama would look like. It’s a 14-part series built for a streaming service, and the intent of the show is clear.
“It mixes the element of The Queen’s Gambit with the strong desire to make a lot of money on the popularity of The Queen’s Gambit,” he said.
“I had to overcome a lot,” a red-haired protagonist said during a montage. “Sexism. A sprained wrist. Temporary color blindness.”
The mentor in the clip teased teaching her a secret move that only experienced cubers would be able to handle.
“Turn the left bottom middle forward to the front-facing part,” the guy said. “It’s not like chess, we don’t get to have cool names for things.”
And just like the show it’s loosely based on, there’s also a lot of crying and substance abuse.
It’s funny to see Colbert’s spoof here, but competitive Rubik’s Cube solving actually does exist and those that do it are wildly talented. If you really do want to see some impressive Rubik’s Cubing, Netflix already has you covered with a quick and really lovely documentary about speed solvers.
It probably isn’t as dramatic as The Queen’s Gambit, but it does tell a nice quick story that will scratch your solving itch until the movie Hollywood cooks up becomes reality.
