@Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios
My Spy the Eternal City : Back by popular demand, My Spy’s dynamic duo, veteran CIA operative JJ (Dave Bautista) and his 14-year-old stepdaughter and protégé Sophie (Chloe Coleman), reunite to save the world when a high school choir tour of Italy is interrupted by a nefarious nuclear plot targeting the Vatican.
Q: When you guys heard about a sequel in the making, how did you feel?
Dave Bautista: Excited. Exactly excited. Just getting the band back together. That’s what I felt. No pressure.
Q: How have your characters changed from the first movie to this one?
Chloe Coleman: I’m a teenager now, Sophie hit puberty and she’s in high school and doesn’t like to talk to a lot of people. It was just kind of a little flip. But still she wants her independence. So she’s kind of separated from JJ.
Ken Jeong: It’s bigger. It’s better, a better jam. Starting with the director Peter Segal, we created an incredible working team, we could read each other’s minds about where to go creatively. We knew where Peter wanted us to go as characters where we wanted to go as artists.
Dave Bautista:I just felt like we’re always moving and learning. That’s the fun part of making a movie and elaborating, especially doing this in Italy and South Africa.
@Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios
Q: How was filming in South Africa? Did you have the chance to go to a safari?
Chloe Coleman: It was incredible. And Yes, Ken and I went to a safari…
Dave Bautista: I couldn’t go. I remember I had only one weekend off, I think it was Easter weekend. Barely had any time off. Everyone left for Serengeti except me.
Ken Jeong: My favorite part in Cape Town was sneaking out at night and joining Cragi Ferguson for some stand-up comedy show. Craig had a pop-in show and I was going to be a surprise guest. The place would be empty at first, and then when we started slowly, but surely the crowd would build. It was incredible, people coming right from the street to see us. One of the best moments of my entire career, I’ve been doing this with Craig for about 25 years now. It was kind of a flash mob of fun and again that, to me, kind of underscores the pure joy of just filming this movie. How much fun we had for three months.
Q: There’s a lot of action in this movie.How much training did you guys have in order to do that? Did you do some stunt work?
Ken Jeong: I didn’t have to train all day. Watching Dave do this and working with the stunt coordinators was amazing to watch. I was a fan of Dave since the WWE and then I could watch him just relentlessly doing that unbelievable amount of work.
Dave Bautista: The whole cast gave the best. I remember I was approaching Flula Borg whose character was supposed to drive the Popemobile in an action sequence. I was on a motorcycle and I thinkI was very surprised when I didn’t see any stunt guy driving it. Flula was actually driving it and he was really good. He blasted out of what was supposed to be the Vatican garage. Right. That was barely an inch on either side of the side view mirrors to get out of there.
Q: Can you talk about the new other members of the cast Anna Faris and Craig Robinson?
Dave Bautista: They were brilliant. Amazing and fun. It was a blessing to work with such super talented and versatile actors, ready to improvise, they all brought something extra to the table. It wasn’t all about what was on the page, they’re just chipped in a bit of their own personality and that just really shows you came across. We all felt immediately super comfortable with them.
Ken Jeong: Craig, Anna and Flula just fit like a glove. Perfect conditions.
Dave Bautista: Absolutely. Agreed. We worked together effortlessly. All three of them did. They were just perfect people to collaborate with, on camera and off. I think everyone could feel intimidated when they’re coming into something new and there’s an already established cast, some sort of camaraderie. It’s kind of a natural feeling, but this didn’t happen with them. Anna, Craig and Flula were amazing.
@Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios
Q: Which has been the weirdest scene to shoot in this movie?
Chloe Coleman: I would like to say the scene in the car with Kristen. She started improvising all these lines about the first kiss and went on and on for such a long time. It was absolutely funny, but I don’t think I needed to hear any of it. I am sure during the shooting Peter was able to capture my natural reaction.
Q: How did you work at this new side of Sophie?
Chloe Coleman: At the beginning I must admit I wasn’t that into the changes she’s going through, because it was like the whole boys thing. It took a couple of years to get this movie going, I think initially Sophie was a little bit more boy crazy than she actually is in the movie. I remember reading all of the drafts and there was a scene where she uses a dummy to practice kissing. I would freak out If I had to do that. I think we’ve got like the perfect level of Sophie becoming a teenager, she is still very reserved in many ways, she’s scared because she doesn’t know how to be a high school student or a teenager. She had no friends in the first movie and now she does have friends and she’s expanding her life.
Q: What has been the best part about filming in Italy?
Dave Bautista: I wish we stayed longer in Venice, it was so cool. Beautiful. In Rome I stayed close to Piazza di Spagna and I did so much shopping. Actually every day, I’m walking downstairs, and I’m like: “Oh Tiffany!”
Q: Did any of you steal anything from the set?
Dave Bautista: I definitely have a shirt. I also have a jacket.
Q: If there’s going to be a third movie, how would you like it to be?
Chloe Coleman: Sophie’s gotta be in college or at least graduating from high school. Figuring out which college to go to, that’s a stressful point in life.
Ken Jeong: Maybe for Kim there could be some wedding involved…I think that would be incredible. I can’t talk about it, just throwing that out there. That would be a good story.
@Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios
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