If you’ve seen this film, you might think that it started the worldwide Crocs craze. The controversial rubber shoes play a comical supporting role in the film “Idiocracy” (2006). And – at least in this crazy story – they are worn exclusively by insanely stupid people in the distant future.
The plot in brief: After a failed military experiment, the reasonably intelligent Joe Bauers (played by Luke Wilson) wakes up several centuries later. Around him: only idiots with Crocs on their feet.
Perhaps a deliberate dig by the makers against wearers of the often brightly coloured and – well – not exactly attractive Shoes? At least not primarily, revealed director Mike Judge. In an interview, Judge revealed why the kicks really made it into his film.
Judge’s funny anecdote: “Our costume designer was looking for ways to get in with our budget. And Crocs weren’t known around the world at the time, they were just a small start-up company.”
In fact, at the time of filming, no one was wearing Crocs. Judge continued: “She showed me these things and I thought, ‘Oh, they’re great, just stupid plastic shoes.'”
Above all, Judge and his team wanted to keep the film’s costs down as much as possible – the crazy look of the shoes just happened to fit well into the plot. And then suddenly the Crocs craze broke out: Between filming (2004) and the release of the film, the shoes suddenly became world famous – and were the talk of the town everywhere.
Judge continued: “When the movie came out two years later, everyone was wearing Crocs. So it was already becoming a reality, even faster than we made the movie.”
Fans of the film have since celebrated Judge and his team as prophets for their bizarre choice of shoes.
And they see the fact that the shoe prophecy has come true as confirmation that the world has slowly but surely gone to the dogs.