Bounce!, director Paul Feig.
World premiere in Main video The new action comedy ‘Boat!‘, which was directed by Pablo Feig (‘Bridesmaids‘, ‘A simple favor‘) and stars Awkwafina (‘The Little Mermaid‘), John Cena (‘The Suicide Squad‘), and Simu Liu (‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings‘).
Fone Movie I recently had the pleasure of speaking with acclaimed director Paul Feig about his work on ‘Jackpot!’, his first reaction to the script, doing a comedic take on ‘The Purge‘, his casting process, working with Awkwafina and John Cena, and executing the action sequences.
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(L-R) Director Paul Feig, John Cena and Simu Liu in ‘Jackpot!’. Credit: Image courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios. Copyright: @ Amazon Content Services LLC.
Moviefone: To start off, can you tell us about your initial reaction to the script and the themes you wanted to explore with this film?
Pablo Feig: I mean, when I first got approached about the script and sent it, I looked at the title page, it said “Grand Theft Lotto.” I thought, this is nonsense, and I put it down and didn’t read it. Then it was my producing partner, Laura Fisherwho called me and said, “I just read that script and it’s so funny. You should read it.” As soon as I finished the 40 pages, I was like, “I have to do it.” Because I love physical comedy. Jackie Chan He’s a big hero for me. I’ve always wanted to do a physical action comedy on the level of Jackie Chan. I like the message that it conveys because even though on the surface it seems to be a very dystopian and negative commentary on humanity, I find that it’s not. I find that when you get to the end of the movie, you find that there are more people who wouldn’t participate in something as crazy as this. So, it’s really Nora’s world through this, she’s just surrounded by the people who have chosen to join this lottery and kill her. But then, at the end, you learn that no, this is not most of the world. So, I think it’s a very uplifting movie in the end.
(L-R) Murray Hill and Dolly De Leon in ‘Jackpot!’. Credit: Image courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios. Copyright: @ Amazon Content Services LLC.
MF: ‘Jackpot!’ is like a comedic version of ‘The Purge.’ Do you agree with that? Was that what you were going for?
PF: You know what? Yeah, I totally believe that. I still say it’s a mix between “The Purge” and “The Dark Side of the Moon.”It’s a very, very crazy world‘. But the thing about ‘The Purge’ is, going back to the lottery thing, nobody in ‘The Purge’ has a choice to participate in the purge. Everybody has to participate in the purge. The lottery, the Big Lottery, you choose to participate. That’s why I think we’re not… I love ‘The Purge’ movies, they’re some of my favorite movies, but they’re dark.
(L-R) John Cena and Awkwafina in ‘Jackpot!’. Credit: Image courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios. Copyright: @ Amazon Content Services LLC.
MF: One thing you’re really good at as a filmmaker is casting. Can you tell us about your casting process and how you worked with Awkwafina and John Cena on this project?
PF: Because casting is 90% of my job. If I get it right, everything else falls into place, if you get it right. But I was lucky that when the script came to me, Nora (Awkwafina) and John were already committed. So I was gifted these two thoroughbreds. But again, you never know. They’d never worked together before. You always think, “I hope these people have chemistry.” But they did, in spades. I found that the best people I work with in this business, especially comedians, have chemistry with each other, because they’re like tennis players. They trust the other person they’re playing with. So there’s no ego between them because they know that each one makes the other look good, and they make each other look good at the same time. But it was a joy to see that they had chemistry tenfold.
(L-R) John Cena and Katie Awkwafina in ‘Jackpot!’. Credit: Image courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios. Copyright: @ Amazon Content Services LLC.
MF: Finally, what was it like filming the action sequences and working with the fight choreographers?
PF: It’s a dream come true. I love that stuff. But I also have a great stunt coordinator who I’m working with on this for the first time, who comes from the Wonder Jackie Chan’s world is a world where they fight every day. But he, like me, is a huge Jackie Chan fan. When we first met, we thought we could do everything we ever wanted to do. So he would go off and work with his stunt team, and they would shoot these sequences on their iPhones, and then they would bring them to me and I would say, “Oh, let’s try this. Let’s try that.” We would go in there and they would be like kids in a candy store. I would say, “What if he straps it behind his back?” He would say, “Yeah, we can do that.” So we would give him more and more and more.
“Take the money and run.”
In the near future, a “Big Lottery” has been established whose trick is to kill the winner before nightfall in order to legally claim its multi-billion dollar jackpot. Read the plot
What is the plot of ‘Jackpot!’?
In the future, a “Big Lottery” has been created in California. The trick: kill the winner before dark to legally claim its multi-billion-dollar jackpot. When Katie Kim (Awkwafina) moves to Los Angeles, she mistakenly stumbles upon the winning ticket. Desperate to survive the hordes of jackpot hunters, she reluctantly joins forces with amateur lottery protection agent Noel Cassidy (John Cena), who will do anything to get her into the dark in exchange for a share of her prize. However, Noel must contend with his cunning rival Louis Lewis (Simu Liu), who is also looking to collect Katie’s commission at all costs.
Who is in the cast of ‘Jackpot!’?
‘Jackpot!’ premieres on Prime Video on August 15.