Photo by Daniel McFadden/IMAGE COURTESY OF AMAZON MGM STUDIOS – © AMAZON CONTENT SERVICES LLC
Awkwafina is learning that possessing the winning lottery ticket will lead to her admission to a different type of lifestyle. However, she learns that such a change in her financial fate isn’t a positive one the new action comedy, Jackpot!.
The actress’ character in the movie expects people to view her differently after they realize she possesses the ticket. However, she’s shocked to learn that they’ll drastically change their ways – and even resort to murder – in order to take control over her newfound fortune.
Rob Yescombe wrote, and Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, The Heat, Spy) directed, the film. Besides Awkwafina, Jackpot! also stars an ensemble cast that includes John Cena, Ayden Mayeri, Donald Elise Watkins, Sam Asghari, Murray Hill and Simu Liu. Feig also executive produced, and Cena served as a producer, on the comedy.
In Jackpot!, which is set in the near future, a Grand Lottery has been newly established in California. However, it comes with a catch: if anyone is able to kill the winner before sundown, they are legally allowed claim their multi-billion dollar jackpot.
When Katie Kim (Awkwafina), a struggling actress, moves to Los Angeles, she mistakenly finds herself with the winning ticket. Desperate to survive the hordes of jackpot hunters, she reluctantly joins forces with amateur lottery protection agent Noel Cassidy (Cena), who will do everything in his power to get her to sundown in exchange for a piece of her prize. However, Noel must face off with his slick rival Louis Lewis (Liu), who also seeks to collect Katie’s commission at all costs.
Feig, Awkwafina, Cena and Liu generously took the time last week to participate in a press conference that was moderated by Hill. The director and performers discussed their experiences making Jackpot! in honor of its global premiere on August 15 on Prime Video.
Photo by Daniel McFadden/IMAGE COURTESY OF AMAZON MGM STUDIOS – © AMAZON CONTENT SERVICES LLC
Q: Paul, what inspired you to take on directing Jackpot!? Is there any way that this movie is like your other films?
Paul Feig: I was sent this script, and it was called Grand Theft Lotto when I first received it. I thought, that sounds so stupid, so I’m not going to read the script! So I put it on my pile.
It was only days later that my producing partner, the great Laura Fischer, called me up and said, “You should read this script, it’s really funny.” So I picked it up and read it. I got 40 pages into the 100 pages of it and said, “I have to do this movie.”
To me, it was just too much fun. It’s an action comedy, and I love that from my movies, Spy and The Heat. It was just the chance to make a really fun and silly, but also an emotional, story about someone who’s in over their head.
Q: Awkwafina, what was the pitch that Paul gave to you to make you want to star in this movie?
Awkwafina: Well, it was actually the opposite – I was already attached to the movie before Paul signed on, and we were looking for a director. When Paul was interested, I was so happy because I’ve been a huge fan of everything he has done since Freaks and Geeks.
Q: What was the first creative meeting you had together?
Paul Feig: We had dinner, and we were both on the same page. We both wanted to make sure it felt real. It’s always dangerous when you do a story about an actor because it’s hard for an audience to invest in them trying to become famous. So we wanted to make sure it was relatable, and I think we did that.
Q: John, this role seems right up your alley, given your WWE legacy and comedy acting roles. What was it like for you to mix comedy and action in Jackpot!?
John Cena: It’s indictive of my life – it’s just comedy and action. So it’s just another day in the office! I don’t think there’s anyone better to play an amateur protection agent than me!
Q: Awkwafia, a lot of the stunts you did were physically demanding. What was your preparation like to do all of these stunts and physical work?
Awkwafina: It did kick off my fitness journey, for sure. I had to train extensively for a lot of the scenes. So it felt important to me to work with the team, which was amazing. My stunt double, Kiera O’Connor, was also amazing. Working with John was also great – I appreciated how he handles action scenes and he’s all about safety. So I felt very safe when I was doing the scenes as a group.
Simu Liu: You looked great in the movie – you did a lot of your own stunts, and really nailed the physicality and action. I love watching you in your scenes.
Awkwafina: Thank you!
Photo by danmcfadden-legendary
Q: Simu, you play the villain in Jackpot! Did you have to do some training for that?
Simu Liu: Is my character, Louis Lewis, a bad guy, or is he just a really solid entrepreneur? He’s a very ambitious guy and has a solid business practice.
When you’re introduced to Louis Lewis, he’s a boss. He’s everything that Noel, John’s character, wanted to be. Noel is like this ammeter insurance agent, ambulance chasing opportunist who’s running after people and is like, “Hire me!”
Louis Lewis has the money and resources to rent out billboards. He also runs a whole compound with an entire staff working for him. So if you won the grand lottery, who would you go with?
Q: There are a lot of stunts in the film. John, did you do your own stunts for the movie?
John Cena: I think (Awkwafina) said it best; my concern is always safety. I always want to do as much of the activity as possible. What I loved about a lot of the action in this film is that it’s comical but also realistic. I thought the stunt team did an incredible job of finding things in the locations where we filmed and incorporating them into the scenes. All of that yields itself to comedy well.
In situations where things were safe, I was definitely able to do the stunts. But I was also grateful for my stunt doubles, including Spencer Thomas. Safety is my prime concern, and I’ll do whatever is asked of me. But when they want the stunt double to come in, Spencer’s my guy.
Simu Liu: I also loved doing my own stunts when they were safe.
John Cena: Simu’s a lot braver than me!
Simu Liu: My movements were a lot more straightforward. There were a couple of falls that I did. But I also had an amazing stunt double, William Tang, who stepped in when necessary.Do you remember when I sent a stunt guy to the hospital? There was a little contact there.
John Cena: Don’t let Simu’s nice demeanor fool you! He was taking the choreography and amplifying it. He’s very gifted!
Simu Liu: The stunt double was playing the cop. It was the scene where I doing a back kick, and I couldn’t really see where I was going. So in this take, something happened and I kicked him, and I felt so bad. He then came back to set in an hour! All of his kicks were tougher after that.
Awkwafina: The whole stunt team was the best. Without them, action movies like this can’t exist.
John Cena: I think they were also happy to do an action comedy. They usually do serious choreography, but they were having fun with the fact that they could laugh at some of the stunts on this movie. It was fun.
Paul Feig: Big shout-out to our stunt coordinator, James Young. When we met with him, he had just come off of doing a lot of serious stunt work. So he was so happy when I told him what we wanted to do with this movie.
Photo by danmcfadden-legendary
Q: Paul, you have quite the reputation of working with very talented and eclectic actors in your movies. Besides Awkwafina, John and Simu, Jackpot! stars Seann William Scott and Taylor Ortega. How did you go about getting this entire cast together?
Paul Feig: Well, when I do comedy, I cast people who I call money in the bank. That means that even when they only have one line, they can easily turn it into something else.
Seann and Taylor were on a show that I produced called Welcome to Flatch that was on FOX for two seasons before we got cancelled. It was a farm team of these new, up-and-coming comedians. They’re all so funny. So I like to have a deep team of really talented comedy people who can take what we have and elevate it.
Q: Further speaking about the cast, you had another big pop culture star in the movie, Machine Gun Kelly, who’s playing an exaggerated version of himself. What was he like on set?
John Cena: He was great. I was lucky enough to have had Machine Gun Kelly play a serenade during a WrestleMania I was in, so I had met him before. I thought he was spectacular in the movie because he didn’t take himself too seriously. He was also very open to trying jokes. So he was really great to work with on set. He was fantastic.
Awkwafina: He truly was great. He was improvising and super open. He had great jokes. The day he was on set was so fun! I still think about it.
Paul Feig: When we hired him on, we had heard that he was interested in doing something like this. I had done a Zoom with him, and he seemed really great.mBut at the same time, I was like, a rock star is going to show up. So I don’t know what’s going to happen. But he came in so ready to play. He let us throw him in a pool and let us drag his head down cement stairs. So I’m a fan of his for life!
Q: Comedy duos are a tried-and-true format. But this comedy duo with Awkwafina and John is one that we haven’t seen before. So what was the vibe between you both like on set?
John Cena: (Awkwafina) was great. I think you put yourself in the best place when you create an environment that brings out the best in the people around you. (Awkwafina) and I had great conversations on set. Whenever we have the chance to catch up after that, it’s like we’ve never missed a beat. From my perspective, that makes me relaxed and take chances.
I knew that I could take creative chances on set. So we created an environment in which I wasn’t ashamed to be me. Hopefully I tried to do the same for you all, as well. We all have talents and gifts. So I think when we get to flex those muscles, and also learn something along the way, we can create something good.
Awkwafina: You definitely did do that. Thank you for saying that.
Paul Feig: With all of the stress over the things we had to do to make movies, this project was one of the lowest stress suits that I ever had. Everyone had so much fun and got along so well!
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Here’s the trailer of the film.