- Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Feig noted that Chan’s characters often find themselves unwillingly involved in difficult situations, trying to navigate their way out without being aggressive
By: India Weekly
DIRECTOR Paul Feig has described his latest film, “Jackpot,” as a nod to the style of Jackie Chan, referring to it as “the Lost Jackie Chan movie.”
Feig noted that Chan’s characters often find themselves unwillingly involved in difficult situations, trying to navigate their way out without being aggressive.
“His characters are always classically somebody who didn’t want to be in the situation, in over their head, trying to get out of it, not being aggressive, just trying to fight their way out of something,” Feig said.
“And that just checked every box for me. And his movies are really funny too, but they also have danger and art. So, there it was,” he added.
The action-comedy, which is set in a dystopian Los Angeles, features Awkwafina and John Cena as Katie and Noel, respectively.
In this world, a “Grand Lottery” winner can be legally murdered before sundown by someone seeking to claim their multibillion-dollar prize. The film is scheduled to hit U.S. theatres on Thursday.
John Cena, who also stars as Noel, contributed significantly to the film’s action scenes by performing many of his own stunts.
“I’m not taking anything away from our stunt team or my tremendously talented double, Spencer Thomas, but the action in ‘Jackpot’ was a lot of the skills that I can offer a coordinator,” Cena told Reuters. He added, “This one was throwing big haymakers and tossing people around, and a lot of the stuff I do on WWE as well as a lot of stunt driving, which I love driving, too.”
Despite his experience, Cena and Awkwafina did not have the opportunity to build a relationship before shooting began.
“We did not have time to build rapport before filming, but we actually ended up building great rapport while we filmed,” Cena said. Awkwafina echoed this sentiment, stating, “I loved working with John Cena. He’s really one of the most professional guys I’ve ever worked with.”
