#INTERVIEW: “JACKPOT!”

By Mr. Will Wong

Would you believe one of this Summer’s most anticipated blockbusters can be enjoyed right from home?

JACKPOT! stars Awkwafina, John Cena and Simu Liu. Directed by Paul Feig, this Action-Comedy arriving August 15, 2024 on Prime Video Canada, is set in the near future where a new lotto, the Grand Lottery, has arrived in California. To win it though, you’ve got to kill the winner before sundown to claim the riches, which are worth billions! Katie (Awkwafina) finds herself in trouble moving to L.A. and finding herself in possession of the winning ticket. She tnen finds herself in a race to save her life from these jackpot hunters. She’s protected by lottery protection agent Noel (Cena), and he must fend-off rival Louis (Simu Liu), the latter trying to get a commission off Katie!

We were delighted to sit-in on a conversation with Feig, Awkwafina, Cena and Liu today as they did the rounds to promote JACKPOT!

Paul Feig, who has brought us his comedic genius in Bridesmaids, Ghostbusters (2016) and The Heat, is asked what drew him to this project.

Feig: I originally receive a script titled Grand Theft Lotto, thought it sounded stupid and was not going to read it. It was days later that my producing partner Laura Fischer said, ‘You should read the script, it is really funny!’. I got into page 40 out of 100 and said, I have to do this Movie. It was too much fun. It was the Jacky Chan movie I always wanted to make. It’s funny, silly, emotional – a story about someone in over their head.

Awkwafina explains her excitement about getting to work with Feig.

Awkwafina: I was attached to the Movie already and we were looking for a Director, and Paul was interested, I was so happy. I’m a huge fan of everything he’s done since Freaks and Geeks. Also, I’ve been friends with him for some time.

Feig: We had dinner and we were both on the same page. We both wanted to make sure it felt real and grounded. It’s always dangerous doing a story about an Actor because it can be difficult to get an audience invested in someone wanting to become famous. Our goal was to make it relatable, and I think we did that.

John Cena talks about joining the project.

Cena: It’s just another day in my life – a bunch of Comedy and Action! Another day at office! I don’t think there’s anybody better to play amatueur protection agent than me!

Awkwafina takes us through her fitness journey prepping for her role as Katie in Jackpot!

Awkwafina: This did kick off my fitness journey for sure, especially in the opening sequence. Simu and I were already in action movie together and for that one I did not train. We were just hanging out at Westfield. This one I felt like it was important for me to work with the team, who are amazing and my stunt double Kiera O’Connor, and also working with John (Cena) too. I really appreciate the way John handles action scenes and is about safety. I felt very, very safe when doing scenes as a group.

Cena: You killed it, you looked great out there. You did a lot of stunts yourself and nailed the physicality.

Simu Liu describes for us his character Louis Lewis, who is seen as the villain.

Liu: Is he a bad guy or just a solid, ambitious Entrepreneur? When you’re introduced to him, he’s kind of a boss – everything John’s character wants to be. Noel is an amateur ambulance-chasing insurance salesman, who’s running after people to hire him. Louis has money and resources to rent out billboards and has got a whole compound working for him. If you won the Grand Lottery, who would you rather go with to protect you?

Feig: And nobody rocks a three-piece white suit like Louis.

Cena: What I love about the Action here is that it’s comical and realistic. There is a scene in a strip mall where we’re going through a karate studio, a yoga studio, etc. What I love about Paul‘s creativity when he said this is his Jacky Chan movie that he wanted to film – when you look at the way Jacky Chan tells a story, he’ll choreograph a fight when he gets on-set. He’ll see the audio guy or a loose chair and he’ll incorporate all those things into the action. I thought the stunt team did an incredible job at incorporating various things you’d find in a karate dojo and all that stuff yields itself to Comedy. When situations were safe, I was happy to do it. But I’m not going to sit here and say I wasn’t grateful to my stunt double. All it takes is for you to lose one of your testicles to find out that you’ve only got two more. Safety is now my prime concern. I’ll do whatever is asked of me, but when they want the stunt double to come in, Spencer (Thomas) is my guy!

Simu Liu recalls an incident where he sent a stunt perfomer to the hospital.

Liu: 90 to 95% of my movements were more straightforward – a couple falls and I had an amazing stunt double Will (Tang) who stepped in. Do you remember when I sent a stunt guy to the hospital?

Cena: Don’t let that sleuth fool you, he’s an athlete! He was taking Choreography and amplifying it!

Simu: What was his name? I did a batckick and couldn’t see where I was kicking, the wires got crossed and I felt so so bad!

Cena: He was back on-set within an hour!

Awkwafina: The whole stunt team was the best, without them, action movies cant exist.

Cena: They were actually happy finally to do Action-Comedy so that they could laugh at the stunts.

Paul Feig comments on his casting eclectic and talented Casts.

Feig: When I do Comedy, I have people that I work with who are ‘money in the bank’, where they can literall have one line and I know they’re going to make it into something… It was like a team of these up and coming Comedy people.

Dolly De Leon whom I saw in Triangle of Sadness and was so great. I couldn’t believe we got her. I just like to have a deep team of really talented Comedy people who will take what we have and make it into something else.

Don’t forget to stream JACKPOT! when it arrives August 15, 2024 on Prime Video Canada.

(Photo/video credit: Prime Video Canada)