Following its well-received world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is finally hitting theaters! Ahead of the release, we caught up with director David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer, Role Models) and the film's titular star Zoey Deutch (Voicemails for Isabelle, Zombieland: Double Tap) to break down their hilarious new comedy.
Considering the epic journey Zoey's character, Gail, embarks on in the film, we asked the pair how they'd liken the story to Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. We also learned more about Zoey's process, how David hatched the idea for this madcap film, and a whole lot more!
As per the synopsis, "In the charming town of Willowbrook, Kansas, hairdresser Gail Daughtry is engaged to her devoted high school sweetheart, Tom. Her life takes a turn when a trip to a book signing leads to Tom meeting – and sleeping – with his "celebrity pass." Reeling from the betrayal, Gail impulsively joins her friend Otto on a trip to Los Angeles, where a psychic convinces Gail that the only way to save her marriage is to "even the scales" with her own celebrity pass: Jon Hamm. Thus begins an epic journey through Tinseltown as Gail and Otto join forces with a talent agency assistant, a paparazzo, and actor John Slattery, all in the search for Hamm. Along the way, they collide with celebrities and are hunted by a group of Italian assassins as they get ever closer to finding the elusive star."
The massive ensemble cast features Zoey Deutch, Jon Hamm, John Slattery, Ken Marino, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Ben Wang, Sabrina Impacciatore, Joe La Truglio, Mather Zickel, Tobie Windham, Matthew Cwern, Fred Melamed, Michael Cassidy, Richard Kind, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Thomas Lennon, Zac Oyama, Michael Ian Black, Toby Huss, Kevin Allison, Beth Dover, Jennifer Aniston, Henry Winkler, Elizabeth Banks, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Penn Jillette, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Herjavec, and Paul Rudd.
David Wain directed the film, with a screenplay he co-wrote alongside longtime collaborator Ken Marino.
Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is now playing in theaters!
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ROHAN: Zoey, you’re in three great movies right now - Gail Daughtry, Voicemails for Isabelle & Minions and Monsters - and have a history of picking great comedic roles - including Zombieland 2 & The Threesome - what do you usually look for in a character before you pick a movie?
ZOEY: Oh gosh, I don't have a good answer for you. There's like a strange inner feeling that you have when you connect or relate or feel compelled to, you know, fight to be a part of a project. None of these things are like things that have just come to me. All those projects you mentioned, I had to seek out myself, and I think one of the things that I can, like, indicate as maybe a better answer is, whenever I read something, and, when I'm reading a script, and I start speaking the dialogue out loud as I'm reading it, it's almost like my body knows before my mind that this is something that could be an interesting challenge, and that it fits within sort of the - that it inspires me, and I look to that as a barometer for a lot, actually.
DAVID: It's interesting.
ZOEY: Yeah, if by page 15, I catch myself, or 20, trying to say the words already, like running lines, that's usually an indicator that that's something that I want to fight to be a part of.
DAVID: I feel like if I make it to page 15 in something, then I've already been sold on it.
ZOEY: It's true. No, I have a horrible habit where I have to finish scripts, even if I hate them. It's a horrible habit, and I don't recommend it.
ROHAN: David, The Odyssey has been in the news a lot lately and this movie really feels like Gail’s Odyssey. So, when you’re breaking down the story with Ken, what was the sort of launching point for this idea? And, how did it start to come together, because, you know, to pull off the movie, you do have to get a lot of people on board for some really wild things.
DAVID: I mean, our budget was the same as The Odyssey, actually, which is weird.
ZOEY: It is weird.
DAVID: I didn't get a big response from either of you… but so, what was the impetus? We just felt like it was, we wrote this just as something to amuse ourselves, honestly. We just thought it was funny, and we thought it would be funny to do something about LA and about a celebrity sex agreement like this, and, kind of, following the broad structure of Wizard of Oz, and have an ensemble, and just have a playground to do things that we think were funny and amusing, and it kind of just grew from there.
ROHAN: Zoey, this movie jumps from one genre to another so quickly, and there are so many moving parts with all the different characters - including, of course, Jon Hamm - what kind of challenge does that present for you, as a performer, just being able to shift gears so rapidly?
ZOEY: Oh God, that's.. I have no idea, that's him. He does that.
DAVID: *jokingly* We get there and sometimes, she's not like fully present, and I have to take her to the side and slap her in the face.
ZOEY: *jokingly* Yeah, he always smacks me right into character, as we used to say. Sometimes, it takes one or two or three.
DAVID: I find that it’s a language people understand.
ZOEY: Smacking.
ROHAN: Whatever works.
ZOEY: It’s one of David's favorite methods.
DAVID: *laughing* Don't quote me out of context!
ZOEY: *laughing* I was smacked. The question was smacked out of my brain, quite frankly. What was the question about, again?
ROHAN: Just the tonal shifts. What was the challenge of going from action to comedy to thriller and so on, so quickly throughout the film?
ZOEY: That's what I love so much about it. I felt in very safe hands with David. Bad use of words after the whole smacking thing…
DAVID: But I think she, as well as the rest of the cast, were able to ride those shifts and just play their actual spine and through line character wise and story wise, and then, you know, kind of let us handle all the weird genre stuff that's happening around them.
In the charming town of Willowbrook, Kansas, hairdresser Gail Daughtry is engaged to her devoted high school sweetheart, Tom. Her life takes a turn when a trip to a book signing leads to Tom meeting – and sleeping – with his "celebrity pass." Reeling from the betrayal, Gail impulsively joins her friend Otto on a trip to Los Angeles, where a psychic convinces Gail that the only way to save her marriage is to "even the scales" with her own celebrity pass: Jon Hamm. Thus begins an epic journey through Tinseltown as Gail and Otto join forces with a talent agency assistant, a paparazzo, and actor John Slattery, all in the search for Hamm. Along the way, they collide with celebrities and are hunted by a group of Italian assassins as they get ever closer to finding the elusive star.